Not Another Homeschool Blog

As it is an expected requirement that students have taken two years of the same foreign language in high school, 8th grade is a good opportunity to try out a few languages to see what might be a good fit.

I have come to realize that those rude, hurtful, shady comments from homeschoolers are just a projection of questions they have about homeschooling.  Deciphering those questions and answering them gently has been a key to better understanding.

I understand: That I have outlived most of my family that I grew up with (as there was a lot of illness in our family). Therefore, I understand the gift that my life is. That I know more than I did when I was a 30-year-old idiot, but in 20 years I might be shaking my head at my 50-year-old self. That as individuals, most people have redeeming qualities, but the mob mentality is strong, so you gotta watch out for that shit. That it is OK to swear. That I am loved, and not just by my immediate family, but by people who I hardly know. It surprises me when I run into someone who has "met" me through social media, and they praise me.  That's mind-blowing. That after years of finding a new purpose (after graduating my kids from homeschooling), that it turns out that nothing is more important to me than education. That I am open to spending the rest of my life teaching and learning. That it is OK to cry. (whether happy or sad). That happiness is a choice.  Su...

This video walks you through keeping track of and giving your child credit for homeschool, high school electives. This ranges from taking care of the home, cooking, sports teams, clubs, hobbies, music instruction, and just about any other recreational activity your child might do... including scouts.  You can give your child a great deal of homeschool elective (and even subject matter) credit for scouts

notes: Most colleges require a student to have studied at least biology and chemistry and two other lab-based sciences. I also like to get a jump on these requirements in 8th grade. This is also a chance to get your child more interested in science and to build a positive attitude around it. Note: don’t jump into chemistry until you have done the math to support it, preferably Algebra 2. Likewise, I prefer calculus happen before physics. For 8th grade, you don’t NEED a lab science, but you can use this opportunity to introduce your student to lab work. Still, your options for high school science are numerous. I like this college course from MIT called Kitchen Chemistry. It allows chemistry to happen at home with a manageable mess and no danger of explosions. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/experimen... My child followed this curriculum. It was not too difficult for her at 14, and we did her lab work on Wednesday, just in time for dinner. Yum. If you are not too kee...

The series continues- College Prep Homeschooling: 8th-grade history and language arts. I teach these two subjects as one cohesive unit.  Find out how. Find out why.  Here are the notes from the video White paper on weaving literature into social studies; https://britannicalearn.com/wp-conten... Book lists for novels set in other countries for children and teens. https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books... In addition to reading for Language Arts, students should be using a grammar/writing workbook. Here are some good options. Editor in Chief, Critical Thinking Company https://amzn.to/2y1AeFT SAT Reading and Writing Prep https://amzn.to/2Mgtlnc Holt McDougal World Geography https://amzn.to/2JEpHBM (Teachers version) Holt McDougal World History https://amzn.to/2Mgr3EC The Critical Thinking Company, World History Detective https://amzn.to/2y1AeFT Sparknotes.com has online questions that your student can answer for many of the novels you can choose...

Here is my second video of the series Here are the links I mentioned. I talk about a few curriculums here, but I prefer you go through some curriculum reviews and choose for yourself. My preference, however, is Khan Academy, and even if you use another curriculum, I like to use Khan Academy as a supplement. Why? It teaches to mastery, and it is FREE. But to be fair, I will be linking some curriculum reviews that could be helpful to you. Teaching textbooks review: https://youtu.be/LqbZ1fEKNbw Teaching textbooks: The good, the bad, and the ugly https://youtu.be/LCBOGjXQhUQ Khan Academy review: https://youtu.be/s1ifjuTC2zU Saxon math review: https://youtu.be/-BJ_linfdVM ALEKS MATH https://youtu.be/N0nX8eGu0HU

You know how I have been saying what feels like a decade that I was going to write a homeschool book?  I have written, re-written, scrapped and started over a dozen times.  But. My 30ish days of homeschool videos has prompted me to get this done.  I am currently going step by step into college prep homeschooling and am writing a guide along side of it... so, yep.  A goal being accomplished! Here is the link to the first video:

Let's just say, that once we verbalized our intent to homeschool, things got interesting.

It took a while from the time I started learning about homeschooling to when we actually did it. This video shows our awkward journey.

I don't know if I ever told the full story about why we homeschooled our children. It was so many years, ago, but the journey to homeschooling will always stay with me.  Some people homeschool for religious reasons. Some homeschool for academic reasons. Some feel that homeschooling protects their child. Why did you decide to homeschool? So why did you decide to homeschool your children?

The first question asked on my youtube videos was: How do you transition from homeschool to college. Here are the highlights Step 1. Set their habits. Get them used to the amount of work required in college by demanding that from them early. Step 2. Prepare for standardized tests. Step 3. Take the standardized tests... a lot. Step 4. Figure out what the best colleges for your children are (that will scholarship them) based on their test scores. Step 5. Let them go happily with joy and celebration... save the crying for later! Here is the video

Almost-Free curriculum?  About 5 years ago when I graduated my last homeschooled child, or maybe sometime before, I stopped making youtube videos.  When I started making the videos I was working as a content writer while homeschooling, and so I didn't have a lot of time for videos.  When the content industry dried up (it seems temporary) I also stopped doing videos because: 1. It threw me when people I knew mentioned my video to me... when I was doing it, it felt so anonymous, and I realized that not only were people following my videos, but people I knew were following my videos.  I am more shy and introverted than people realize, so that was hard. 2. I thought my videos were goofy. 3. I didn't really believe that I had much to add to the homeschooling conversation... I do now.  so I am back. Here's my first homeschool video in 5 years. Maybe I will get that book done soon too.  Who knows?