Not Another Homeschool Blog

This goes out to you my fellow homeschoolers.  If you are homeschooling, you have probably realized that you are in for the fight of your life.  It is you against the world. Your friends will argue with you or turn on you.  Your parents will very likely disapprove.  You may even have a sibling call children services and report you for bad parenting.  You are truly in for a fight against their misconceptions and prejudices, but don't let the fear make you run.  Stand up tall and prepare to fight. This video is for you. But how do you fight? You can join the Home School Legal Defense Association.  I know I did.  Paying this organization $100 or so dollars a year, just in case I had to fight someone in court, gave me a bit of a sense of security... until I realized what I was funding.   Why I won't be HSLDA's Pansy   I feel like HSLDA is

I don't know if people are really ready to hear this. In all the years I have homeschooled, I have formulated one well-kept gem. It is the tool that every successful homeschooler I know (and I know a lot) has relied on.  It has saved many a homeschool disaster and re-railed a lot of  derailed trains. It is simple. R E L A X It's not that serious.  Sit down, put your feet up, let your kids put their feet up too.

True Story: Friend decides to try homeschooling and puts very desperate sounding messages on FaceBook, so I contact them.  They are at their wits end.  They need help.  They've been homeschooling for just a few months and they are struggling. I set a lunch date and spend hours upon hours putting together information that I think will be useful to them, and show up at the designated time and place.  We sit down and have the niceties and person informs me that kids are back in school. She gave up.  I'm fine with that, but I am not fine that she wasted my time.  I would have gladly still kept the lunch date, but I wouldn't have spent time preparing

I recently wrote about 5 homeschool battles I have stopped fighting . One of these battles was trying to teach teenagers.  I mentioned that it was important to teach them a love of learning before they turned 13, because if you did, they would take over their own instruction. Since I received a request for more information on this point, I thought I would oblige. Developing a love for learning is a wonderful thing.  It means that your kids can't wait to open their books when they get up in the morning, and are avid researchers who like to report their findings back to you.  I think the key is not so much to develop this love for learning but to not squash it. Children are naturally curious and enthusiastic learners.  We as adults then to have them put aside what they want to learn in order to steer them toward what we think they should learn.  This makes them begin to resent learning and they will rebel against it. Of course, not all of us want to be unsch...

So how much does homeschooling cost anyway? Do you need to spend a lot of money to homeschool? What can I do to lower the cost of homeschooling? Find these answers in this video FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

This is in response to questions on "how do I get my parents to let me homeschool"... it is basically advice to teens. Transcript: Hello, this is A. Hermitt, and today I want to address teenagers deciding they want to start homeschooling, and I am going to go ahead and read from an article that I wrote some time ago on this subject. Excerpt:  I like to peruse questions and answer boards on homeschooling. I also get lots of emails from

 So before I even get started, I am going to say go read this blog post , then come back.  In the aforementioned post at Hip Homeschool Moms , the writer recounts her very first introduction to homeschooling.  She said something innocently, and was greeted with cutting sarcasm.  I think this happens a lot.  Are we all just so jaded that we can't tell an innocent question from a stupid remark.  When I think back to some of my earliest introductions to homeschooling, I shudder.  First there was the family that accosted us as a pool party, all happy, and shiny, and educated, and tried to convince me to homeschool Rambo style.  Then there was the time I tried to inquire into a homeschool group when I lived in New Orleans.  After describing myself to someone who agreed to meet with me, she almost abruptly hung up the phone.  We were having such a great conversation until I described myself as African American with braids...then it got...

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....

I can hardly believe how many people have informed me that they intend to start homeschooling in the fall. Just this week it must have been five families. All of these families have small kids below grade 4. I am very excited for them. I have share my favorite homeschool book I have shared my favorite curricula for young kids time4learning.com, and shared a few homeschool email lists too. If there are any other new homeschoolers out there, don't be afraid to ask questions and advice from people who have homeschooled for a while and don't be afraid. Before long you will be an old pro too.

I noticed some time ago that the Scholastic website had featured articles with homeschooling advice. I found this advice cursory at best as a way to make homeschoolers, who were also their clients, feel a little warm and fuzzy. Today I came across and article that cemented my feelings about the level on insincerity of Scholastic's dedication to homeschoolers. I find the article Why Homeschooling Isn't Right for Us by Carole Moore just as surface and insincere as many of their other articles like 8 Steps to homeschooling which includes watching for common pitfalls like lack of socialization for parents and kids. I could go on, but you get the point.... you won't catch me purchasing homeschooling materials from a company that doesn't respect homeschooling enough to write articles that lack any depth at all and continues to perpetuate stereotypes about homeschooling. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Free Home Ed. Homeschool For Free!

Have you ever felt like someone was trying to sabotage your homeschooling efforts? Have people done things that make you wonder if they are just pretending to be agreeable while their actions say otherwise? Do you find that some people have a bad habit of interrupting your homeschool day? If you suspect someone is trying to sabotage your homeschool efforts, you need to take action. read more at ehow.com Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Here is my latest homeschooling article written for ehow.com Have you ever felt like someone was trying to sabotage your homeschooling efforts? Have people done things that make you wonder if they are just pretending to be agreeable while their actions say otherwise? continued Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Should I Homeschool My Senior Year in High School By dreahwrites , Oct 04, 2007 This video discusses homeschooling the final year on Homeschool Watch» Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

How Do I Homeschool Myself? By dreahwrites , Oct 04, 2007 I have noticed allot of high school kids asking how to homeschool themselves. Here is my advice on the subject Watch» Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom