Not Another Homeschool Blog

Video Tuesdays Entry: I have a special place in my heart for kids struggling to finish highschool. Students who have dropped out, who are in the process of dropping out, or thinking about

 This week's carnival comes from New Orleans, (A city that captured my husband's heart).  Cajun mama Amy Bayliss did an excellent job putting the carnival  and gives you a peek into each entry.  Enjoy. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I have seen it written on many a message board that homeschoolers are lazy and one of the reasons they homeschool is so they don't have to get up in the morning to get the kids on the school bus or drive to school...  While that is crazy, as EVERYTHING we do is so much harder than just getting up in the morning, I am not ashamed to say that I am glad I don't have to take them to school every morning. If you follow my blog, you know that we homeschool on Mondays, and Wednesday through Friday.  On Tuesdays,

Can't fathom not being in mixed company  I finally had to teach the lesson today that I never, ever, wanted to teach.  I'd done a pretty good job avoiding over the years. NO, it is not about sex ed, or even higher math.  Those things don't scare me.  What scares me (or scared me) as teaching my African American Children about

A lot of homeschoolers complain about being accosted in public with people questioning them about homeschooling as if they have a personal stake in their children.  ( Mama Julep , who I just discovered writes about these intrusions, among other cool stuff.) Interestingly enough, no one does that to me... anymore. Maybe it's because my kids are 5'5" and 6'2" (they're both 4 inches taller than when this picture was taken)  and people rarely notice that they're school age.  Maybe it's because I've perfected a look that tells them "don't even go there".  But regardless,

 Here a collection of homeschool question and answer articles I recently wrote.  FYI... I am always open to answer homeschooling answers! Homeschool Questions and Answers: What If I Make a Homeschool Curriculum Mistake? What do you do if you realize you don't like the homeschool curriculum you purchased. Published 8/29/2010      Homeschool Questions and Answers: How Do You Teach Your Student a Subject You Don't Know? They say homeschooled parents are ill-equipped to teach... at least in some subjects. In some instances that may be true. However, a parent with good commons sense can make up for missing credentials any day. Published 8/29/2010      Homeschool Questions and Answers: Are Homeschoolers Hurting the Public School System? As parents you must decide if you are advocating for your child or the public school system. It is your job to do what is best for the child. Publi...

As you may or may not know, besides homeschooling, I am a freelance writer, writing articles and blogs for numerous sites.  Here are some of the homeschool and education related articles I have written recently that didn't make it onto my blog.    Dorm decor for less: Back-to-school privacy that isn't pricey  (WalletPop) Dorm living can prove challenging, especially the living-with-strangers part. But take it from those who have gone before: There are stylish ways to divide the space without being divisive. And it doesn't have to cost a lot.

 It has recently been announced that Micheal Jackson's oldest two children will no longer be homeschooling.  ... and I think it is probably a good idea. If you think this is a strange thing for a homeschooler to say, consider the facts. They were homeschooled due to the fact that their father was one of the most famous human beings in the world.  He was afraid that others would use his kids to get through to him, or that their friends would likely be false friends.  Since his death, their situation has changed dramatically.  While they are still wealthy, they are much less of a target. To homeschool a child, you must truly understand homeschooling and be dedicated to the home education of the child.  The Jackson family only continued to homeschool the Jackson children in order to keep a sense of familiarity... not because they feel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note:  I rarely have guest bloggers, because most people that have asked aren't as familiar with homeschooling as I would like and so their prospective posts don't really add much to the conversation of homeschooling.  (Do we really need a blogger who's never homeschooled telling us how to homeschool?) This is one of those rare cases when a guest blogger greatly impressed me, as did her service to homeschoolers.  Enjoy the following guest blog!  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The beauty of homeschooling lies in the total versatility of selecting curriculum and classes for our children. As homeschool parents, we control what knowledge our children receive and best of all, who shares that knowledge with them. As a mom, I love this aspect of schooling my children, but the part that throws me occasionally into a panic attack is the responsibility that accompanies it! The panic subsides to some ext...

 I used time4learning to homeschool my kids from the time they left school to roughly 5th and 6th grade.  As they move forward and now that they are at high school level, I realize they do so with ease because of the strong foundation that was laid.  Here is series of reviews I did for on website. A Peek into Time4Learning Pre-K and Kindergarten It has been several years since I have used time4learning to homeschool my now high school level kids. By using the program, an excellent educational foundation that was laid for my children. Published 8/25/2010 A Peek into Time4learning Grades 1-3 Since it's inception 2002, Time4learning

 This is in response to Dewey's treehouse who discusses: Another year of boxes, bins, notebooks: trying not to duplicate where s he shared her homeschool organization boxes, bins and binders.   As I mentioned previously a large bulk of our homeschool program is online, and we used Google Calendar to communicate and plan assignments.  Still, the books, notebooks, and other learning materials are supposed to land somewhere.  So... this is our homeschool shelf.  

 Heather from OMSH wrote a post at The Pioneer Woman entitled The TWO BIGGIES:  Patience and Socialization .  In the blog post, she discussed the to questions she is asked the most as a homeschoolers.  She asked other homeschoolers to share their own most asked questions.  Mine are: 1.  How do you start homeschooling 2. What about socialization (It's asked so much I had to repeat it.) Here are my responses. How do you start homeschooling? Step1:  Read. Get your hands on everything you can find about homeschooling.  Read blogs.  Read books on homeschooling , unschooling , relaxed homeschooling , classical homeschooling , Charlotte Mason homeschooling and anything else you can find.  Also read about learning styles , and education as a whole. Spend a good 3-6 months

Homeschool dad presents The panorama of homeschooling for this weeks Carnival of homeschooling .  An awesome job was done with this carnival and have already started scouring it.   PS.  Love the Star Trek Panorama and other panorama pictures! FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

It happened again this morning.  The internet connection suddenly went down.  This means homeschool lessons were put on hold as the bulk of the children's academics are internet powered.  When this happens, I have to re-arrange and have them do their piano practice, and non-internet stuff until the web is up and running again.  Fortunately, it did not take long today.  However, there have been full weeks when we have had connectivity issues. I always seem to find a way around it, but the downside to using the internet for homeschool is the fact that it may suddenly go down at any moment. Pair that with the fact that I also make my living online, and I bet you can imagine my frustration! Do you use the internet for homeschool? How do you deal with outages? FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I had a conversation with a new homeschooler today asking about teaching science and social studies to homeschoolers.  She is planning to use Time4learning , and wants to supplement those two subjects.  I followed up our conversation with an email to give her links to specific materials I had mentioned.  Here is the bulk of the email:  Here are the main books I used for History and science in elementary school grades... and I am still using them! The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia We used Artios Academies classes (one day a week classes) for History through the Arts. Another option is to use the reference books and create a time-line teaching them a different time period each year.  This is very popular with Classical homeschooling methods. A newer series for teaching history to young ones is The Story of the World series which allows you to teach history in the order it happened.  It reads like a st...

Mrs C. asks what you're spending on education stuff and shows off her list.  In 2 parts... part 1 and part 2 .  Read it and then come back... I'll wait. OK now... I am going to preface my list pay saying, "the cost of the materials and programs I use are not typical of the average homeschool experience, but are unique to the needs to the particular homeschool children in question and the resources the parents have opted to use for their homeschooling needs and pleasure".  With that said, here goes: 2 Children, grades 10&11, both in a fine arts school for homeschoolers for 12 hours on Tuesdays, and doing mostly AP level work the other 4 days of the week. Clothes: $24.00 on required T-shirts for arts program.  $40.00 on new dance (jazz) shoes, Leotards, and tights for Daughters Tuesday Dance class. (got great deals on eBay and Amazon.) Supplies:  $50.00 on a film camera for my son's film photography class.  (I got off easy this year....

So I took another look at the debate and  as Mrs. C said in the comments it appears to be a high school debate website.  Another thing I noticed is that the side AGAINST homeschooling in European, most specifically from the Czech Republic.  That explains most of the positions for the ban as a whole.  With points such as "homeschooling harms society" and "breeds separatism", it is clear that the arguments against homeschooling are not in line with any American Values.... and thank goodness.  I would hate to see American students coming up with such brain-washed responses. On the side FOR homeschooling, American students have weighed in.  While they don't have the typical responses that a homeschooler gives, probably because they haven't homeschooled, they do give intelligent points that address the feasibility of such a ban altogether. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE   MY BUSINESS WEBSITE   WalletPop Contributor

I just came across some kind of debate blog with the post title being "Homeschooling should be banned."   I have a headache from rolling my eyes so hard.   I may go back to it and weigh in later, but right  now I need a shower...  it made me feel dirty. All I can say is it's a good thing that these people have no say on homeschooling and education... I am so... not worried. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I was prepared for this video to be awful. The reason is that I keep coming across how-to homeschool articles and advice written by people who haven't the foggiest clue on how to homeschool... it drives me crazy. Anyway, this video is concise, and well informed. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I have observed that a homeschool "blog" is stealing content and posting it as their own. They are mostly stealing questions and answers from boards. Please unite and help take steps to stop this junk site from stealing our traffic and hard work. http://homeschoolninja.com/ FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

Way  funny homeschool skit: I only homeschool two kids so I am not going to confess to having a day like this one, but sometimes my kids display the habits of the two older girls. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I am doing a Homeschool Curriculum Giveaway on Sept 1, 2010 So I am going to make this simple.  I will submit: 1.  1 entry for following me on twitter (ahermitt) 2.  1 entry for tweeting about this contest 3.  3 entries for blogging about this contest and leaving a comment to let me know you did. * UPDATE:  please drop me a comment to let me know you tweeted or otherwise. What am I giving away?  My copy of Reading Detective A1 (recommended for grades 5-6) This book is in very good condition.  One page has been written in (using pencil) Find our more about the book on Amazon.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This giveaway is being promoted through Giveawayscout.com  FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor

I don't need a study to tell me that 1 million children are misdiagnosed with ADHD .  My daughter could have easily been one of those children.  This post written a year after we started homeschooling tells what she was like at the time. If the Kindergarten and first grade teacher got their way, she would have been put on Ritalin to make their lives easier. Sure, she was a handful.  She was certainly the youngest in her class, which the study pointed out was the main reason for misdiagnosis.  A child who is a full 11 months younger than the oldest child is going to act a year younger.  They are going to be baby-like in comparison and more physically active.  As we had moved from NY to Atlanta, she had started school at a younger age than most children and her summer birthday allowed her to squeak into a Kindergarten class younger than most kids. Her immaturity read as hyperactivity and inattention.  But I knew better.  Even if I was wrong, I...

Help me populate my Homeschooling blogroll I just went through my blogroll and deleted more than half as the blogs were defunct. Please send my your favorite homeschool blogs to check out so I can repopulate. Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

Some time ago, Crimson Wife over at Bending the Twigs wrote a post entitled Are the Doubters Right about Homeschooling for High School?   In this post, she revealed some test scores showing that homeschoolers in charter schools fared worse academically each year they homeschooled.  In the end, she works it, out pointing out that many homeschoolers move on to community college and higher education options, so these scores showed the lowest of the barrel.   I noticed another disturbing factor... something veteran homeschoolers have been warning us about for years.  These test scores were from charter schools.  Charter schools that have been used for years to lure insecure homeschools back under the umbrella of the public education system.  That means these kids also among those whose parents are  not actively involved in homeschooling their kids but simply have them at home doing public school work.    Do you know what these stats really tel...

Because Tuesdays can be as long as 12 hours or more (Fine Arts classes on the other side of the county), the kids and I have the urge to sleep in on Wednesdays.  This year we are resisting that urge.  You can't sleep till noon when you have 5-6 core classes to complete in a 4 days a week schedule!  I know it's a lot, but they would not give up Artios Academies for the world, and I would not want them to. In fact, they came home so energized and happy, I had thoughts of letting them do their academics at Artios too (as they had in middle school years) which would mean two days  a week, but logic prevailed as my budget and their individual needs put me back in check. So as  I drug myself out of bed at 7:30 this morning and took a whole hour to wake them up and another 30 minutes to get them to swallow their breakfast smoothie and bacon breakfast (yum!) I kept reminding myself that at their ages, keeping a schedule is important and sets good habits th...

Well, sort of. If you've googled "homeschooling" and "news" lately, then you know that Tom and Katie Cruse have announced their plans to homeschool Suri. This adds another number to the many lists of famous homeschoolers . I am realizing however, that the fact that the rich and famous are joining the ranks of homeschoolers does nothing for (nor takes nothing away from) homeschooling. Maybe it's because celebrities are expected to be eccentric, or because no one expects or worries about them falling short in their homeschool duties as it usually involves merely hiring a teacher as mentioned in this Katie Holmes interview: "...And we homeschool Suri -- she has a teacher who is with her every day. We like the one-on-one education. I'm happy that my daughter is strong-willed and determined. You really have to go with what the child is wanting." A Huffington Post reporter however, mentioned that homeschooling is popular with Scientology a...

So I received a phone call from a new homeschoolers who was told that if she handn't already filed her homeschooling forms that she could be arrested. That is the kind if misinformation and alarmist reactions that scare people away from homeschooling. I gave her the correct information she needed, but I made a video to vent. The moral of the story is, don't let random educators (who are not intimately aware of homeschooling) to give you homeschooling advice. Chances are they will be wrong. My guess is this person got their information from the fact that a local homeschooling mom was arrested last year for educational neglect. They had been "homeschooling" for years and had not filed any paperwork or done any testing. (If I remember correctly, there were some other illegal things going in the house too). So please, don't let peopel scare you... check with a homeschooling expert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Educat...

Welcome to the August 17, 2010 edition of carnival of homeschooling.  Let's start with a little housekeeping. Please, Please, Please, promote the carnival on your blog. If everyone participates, then everyone will benefit even more. Failure to promote the carnival may get you excluded from future carnivals. (I know I wasn't afraid of using the delete button.) It wouldn't hurt to use the graphic either.. it is here:  Now on to our back 2 Home... school edition... hope you enjoy the personal photos I have enclosed.  My family just completed our first week of back to home... school for the 2010-2011 school year. Today is actually the kids' first day back to their homeschool program which meets once a week on Tuesdays, giving me time to work on this carnival. When back to school time starts, it is inevitable that a neighbor will corner me on the subject.  Today, my neighbor caught me outside and our conversation immediately went to schooling.  He was very ...

 I had a conversation with a neighbor today who tried to convince me that I should consider putting my kids in the new math and science charter school that had opened near our neighborhood. Bless his heart.  He was clearly well intentioned, but just like all my other neighbors feels that my kids would be better off in a real school and not homeschooling...   As great as that school might be, the facts are that my daughter is not a math and science person, and if she were going to attend a charter school it would need to be an Arts Charter School... and my son... well, he's almost done so the point is moot.  Its so funny that people are willing to look past the needs of the individual child to do what society determines is acceptable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

I had stopped making video blogs because of technical difficulties and also because I got many ugly (and racist) responses for no good reason. But today is a new day. I am making video blogs again for 3 reasons: 1. Too many of my kids homeschool friends are returning to traditional schools as they enter the high school years. While that is OK and each parent must do what they feel is best, I would like to encourage those on the fence to consider sticking to homeschooling and finishing strong. 3. I have seen far to many pushouts and drop-outs from public school with no means of completing their education. I feel they can use homeschooling to finish and get into a good college. 3. Just from my personal experience alone, I can see that homescholing is growing exponentially. I would love to be a person that helps influence that growth. See video below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FRE...

 I have viewed alot of homeschool transcripts, and a couple of public school transcripts too.  I don't pretend to be an expert on transcripts, but I am a quick study.  I came up with my own one page form that I plan to use. Update:  This transcript was used to get my son accepted in multiple colleges with scholarship offers. It is easy to scan, makes room for all the electives homeschoolers participate in.  It also takes into account the possibility of weighted grades due to AP classes and CLEP exams. I have already customized one for each of my kids even filling in classes that I plan for them to take in the future... it really helped this visual person to see it laid out like that.  Click here to view the transcript sample with notes:   Feel free to use it as your own sample. I've discontinued selling the template for this.  I feel it needs updating.  Thanks for your patronage. 

As you are homeschooling your child, do you have qualities in mind that you hope they possess as an adult? Do you know someone with those qualities so you can fully picture what they look like? I have known this young lady for about 8 years or longer. She is 5 years older than my daughter, and I have always seen the qualities in her I would like my daughter to possess. They are both talented musically, and this young lady is modest about her talent, and grateful to God for it. Here is a video she just did as a contest for a local radio contest. I am posting it for two reasons: 1. To demonstrate what I see for my daughter in the future and 2. To support her and help her reach a million views by the end of the month. Please click away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

You may or may not have noticed that many of my old Youtube video blogs are disabled.  Sorry.  Looking back over them, I just didn't like them.  I felf some were unprofessional, and others were just not what I want to present.  I want to thank those people who still regularly encourage me to make videos and tell me that they have helped or inspired them.  It's kind of weird to realize that people you know actually follow your videos and others recognize you on the street. Nevertheless, I plan to start making homeschool video blogs again.  I will not allow comments on them because some people can be downright evil and hurtful.  (The experience made me painfully aware of racism.)  Instead, commenting will be strictly reserved for my blog readers.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

This year my daughter chose voice instruction over piano instruction.  This means she is doing piano solo this year.  Our goals for her self piano instruction is to build a repertoire of songs that she can play well, and to put together a binder to include these songs that she can play on demand.  We are not recreating the wheel.  We are going through all the songs she has learned these past 8 years of formal instruction and committing to practicing them on a daily basis. At the end of the school year she should have 10 to a dozen songs she is very good at playing.  Next summer, I will find someone to go over her repertoire with her to further strengthen her skills. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

My middle school book purg e is almost over.  It looks like I am getting decent prices for most of my old middle school homeschool books.  Still, the prices are far below what you would pay for them new.  Check it out. I did come across some critical thinking books we never used that I will be listing this weekend.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

I am cleaning out my shelves to make room for this year's curriculum.  (Versus buying a new bookshelf!) Since I did so well selling a few items last week, I decided to list my old homeschool books on Ebay.  As I had duplicates of many of the books, with 2 kids taking local co-op type classes during the middle school years, these books I am selling are in pretty good condition.  All but one of these books were used successfully by my kids in the middle school years.  I highly recommend them! They are for sale on Ebay and started at .99 cents.  See partial list below: Analytical Grammar student workbook Homeshool gr 6-8 BJU Spanish 2 Teachers Edition Activities manual The Boy's King Arthur Middle School History Novel Signs & Seasons by Jay Ryan Grade 6-8 Astronomy Middle School history Augustus Caesars World -Foster Exploring Creation with Botany by Jeannie Fulbright , Apologia Books: Science Middle School Botany Monarchs of the Nile by Aid...

Granted, I don't love eBay as much as I did 5-10 years ago when I was an active eBay seller and making a good amount of money on a regular basis.  Ebay is hostile towards the small business right now.  But as a homeschooler, eBay is Da-Bomb! So far for this school year I was able to get the bulk of my money back for used Teaching Textbook DVDs AND I sold my son's science book set and turned around and used the same money for the camera for his film photography class.  Considering I spend $300 on his digital camera last year (it is valued at almost $500) I didn't want to purchase another camera for another photography class, but if I could trade a science book for the camera, then I am happy.   I got the same camera  as the one on sale at Amazon for $119 for $50 plus shipping!   It took a bit of patience to find it. ~Still on my homeschool shopping list: Graphic Design materials Dance class gear including size 10 girls jazz shoes.......

 Keep in my that my kids are in grades 10 and 11 and planning to go to college.  In fact, we have already started our college search.  (As previous posts demonstrate).  We are eclectic homeschoolers with a cross between Classical and Charlotte Mason. Here is a sample of my daughters weekly schedule.   *On weeks when she doesn't have a science center lab class, her Friday schedule  resembles any other day.  * This does not include completed assignments (mostly drama and dance practice) for Artios Classes, which must be done on evenings and weekends. *If she needs a day off, she will need to do work on the weekends, but I will excuse non-core courses such as piano practice, test prep time, and Chinese lessons. *There are about 4 weeks during the year when the entire schedule gets scrapped because of trips with Artios Academy or for Drama Club productions.  *My son's schedule is similar except that he is only studying one language and...

The kids and I had an excellent morning touring SCAD Atlanta. I was prepared to not be impressed because although the college has a stellar reputation of educating and hiring out talented artists and designers. The main campus is in Savannah GA  (which we will visit soon). I fully expected a skeleton of a college, with deserted halls, especially since we visited during summer session. I was wrong. SCAD Atlanta, made me want to go back to college. It strongly impressed my daughter though their theater major is in Savannah, she loved the interior design and fashion design departments too. The college made my too-cool-for-school son GIDDY. This is a kid that doesn't show emotion.... but this school moved him. I couldn't ask for a more creative environment for a graphic arts/ media type person. It is definately at the top of my son's list. While it is a longshot, my daughter hopes they add a theater department to the Atlanta Campus in the next 3 years so she can go there...