Not Another Homeschool Blog

I've been asked a lot of question about my accelerated homeschooler lately.  The conversation tends to go like this. Them:  So, now that your son is starting college, you only have one child to homeschooling.  What is she now?  A Sophomore? Me:  No, she's a Senior. Them:  A Senior? Me:  A Senior. Them:  So, did you rush her through so you could be done? (knowing smile) Me: No. Both kids worked at their own pace and both were on pace to graduate at about 16.  My son decided at 11th grade level that he didn't want to graduate so soon, so he took longer.  My daughter made it

Overall, I am happy about our homeschool experience. But there are still some nagging regrets. Basically, when we started out there were some things that I just assumed would happen, but they just never did. They are: Travel:  We did get to Los Angeles, and SanFrancisco and to the Georgia Coasts and parts of Florida but we had hoped that since we were homeschooling, we'd get to see more of the country and even get overseas, two things stopped us. Scheduling.  Our schedule was not as flexible as we thought it would be.  Because the kids were in a homeschool program that met weekly, our lives weren't as flexible as we thought it would be.  Money.  They economy went screwy so flying a family of four around the country went from something that we didn't think twice about to something we didn't even think about.  You never know though.  Maybe we can squeeze in a big trip this year and get a good deal on flights to Sydney

 I've been getting calls from a person who I suspect wants me to homeschool their kid. Since we are of close relation, that wouldn't be a problem except that since they live far away, so homeschooling their kid would involve moving their kid into my home. Don't get me wrong, I want to help, but I don't want to raise any more kids. I am looking forward to my last year as an active homeschooling parent and don't really want to tack on a few more years as mommy to a teenager.   I get the sense that they feel homeschooling would be impossible for them without proper training, special permission and guidance from the school district, but that is not going to happen... and it doesn't have to.  If homeschoolers can teach their own ADHD, developmentally delayed, and Autistic children successfully without a special education degree , you can certainly homeschool a child - your perfectly normal child

As long as I can remember I have been strange.  My family told me so.  The only problem is that they made it seem like a bad thing. First I was the quiet one in my family.... always thinking.  (yes, that was said negatively) Then I was the bookworm. (also an insult) Then I was the home-girl (which was a good thing in the 1980s' if you were hip and cool, but in my case, they meant it quite literal.  Everyone else was a homegirl, and I was a home....girl. get it?  Not funny.)   Then I was just strange (my mother's own words.... expressed after I brought home a creative writing assignment with A+ written on it.  It was a take on Tale of Two Cities where we were required to write from the viewpoints of either a Surf or Nobility.... I chose Nobility.) At this point, I'd have enough of my family of 11 pointing out how much I stood out from the pack.  I decided to embrace it.  Soon after, my mother was calling me strange based on something ...

 I can't tell you how many times I have been asked that question. Then answer is NO. I will however, help you to homeschool your kid.  Here are my reasons. 1.  It's called HOMEschooling for a reason.....  your home, not mine. Once you send your child to someone else's home for instruction, it ceases to be homeschooling and becomes a small private school.  This is LAW in many states.  Now that may be fine for someone seeking to find a qualified homeschooler to work with their child, but if that person is still homeschooling their own children, as I am, it changes the dynamic in the home and can take away (and in some cases add to) the education of my own child. This is the main reason I say NO. 2.  Homeschooling is more about family relationship than academics.  I spent my first year of homeschooling strictly relationship building with my kids (after taking them out of public school).  Once I felt our relationship was re-claimed, I was...

Typical Group of Homeschoolers I just read another one of those TIRESOME articles about how homeschooling is great and all, but we are sacrificing socialization and well-roundedness for intelligence. WHA? Call me an education snob, but I think that's a fair trade.  While the student dubbed "most friendly" in high school may do a great job in sales... a very good job with commissions in the six figures even, the kid ignored from the list altogether because he is too nerdy to make the popularity contest will start companies like Apple and Facebook and make millions. While I am not necessarily expecting this kind of genius from my kids, I am expecting them to be the best at what they are passionate about because they have been given the time and resources to concentrate on those things rather than worry about being popular. With that said, I feel like I need to address another aspect of this socialization question that I have been seeing as of late.  I keep no...

 For me the short answer to that question is no, but I know many former homeschoolers whose kids are now happily in school. Happy Elf mom asks, if the school system was trying to sell you on returning to public schools like ( the Custer School District in South Dakota), what would your answer be. Based on the reasons we all homeschool, I know our answers would be vastly different.  Because we homeschool based on personal experiences in school, our list would look something like this: 1. You know my son is gifted... stop holding him back. (Because he had regular migraines, they made excuses to keep him out of gifted classes). 2. I'm not giving my daughter Ritalin, so get over it. (By the way she will be graduating homeschool at 16, so being a little hyperactive has served her well.) 3. Make the kid behind my son stop smacking him in the head. (The teacher never saw him get smacked, but always saw him turn around and say something to the child who had smacked him.) 4...

 Here's a great read on homeschool socialization Home-schooled students like me are occasionally subject to one awkward question: Do you ever socialize? There's a misconception about home-schooled students: They can't socialize normally because they're cooped up in their houses every day. This is only true if you assume home schooling is exactly what it sounds like: studying at home, only at home and never interacting with others in the "outside world." This is a false assumption.  read more here FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

I've always done my best to not even suggest to my kids that they need to homeschool the next generation, but I do know my daughter has no intention of sending her own kids to school.  Will she be at traditional homeschooling mom?  Probably not.  She intends to work in theater and drag her kids along... whatever that means.  I wonder if her future will look anything like Tim Hawkins....  She's definitely a younger, darker, female version of him. I just came across a video by Tim Hawkins, who was homeschooled and is now homeschooling his own.    I really like the fact that homeschooling kids turned adults manage to find their passion in life and are able to chart their own paths.  I feel like he has done that. Tim Hawkins per Wikipedia:  Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian, songwriter, and singer, best known for parodying popular songs, such as Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel"   and "The Candy Man" stand-up...

Transcript (summarized) I just want to do a quick video about homeschoolers and the GED. I hear a lot of people ask me how I prove that homeschooling is complete, that it is done, that the child has learned enough.  And when I answer that we look at what others are doing and what the colleges have done

Video Transcript I have so many things to talk about that I am going to go ahead and make an update compilation video.  So here goes: It is November 21st.  So, my son graduates in April so we've done 4 months of the homeschool year with five months to go. We are almost to the halfway point and I find myself correcting some miss-steps that we took this year. Major Miss-step: Using online schooling through the public school system for the first time in my son's senior

I'm not talking about food. Transcript: So, crime is running rampant in Atlanta Schools lately, but it's not the kids.  A former bookkeeper, at Jefferson High School, Stone Mountain, agreed to a 10 year sentence after being convicted of using a school card to buy more than $10,000 in products for her personal use. ...And this money was meant for school activities.  And before that Chyrokessia Rucks was sentenced to 15 years probation after

Today is my daughters 15th birthday.  At exactly 8:10 this morning, she had her learners permit in hand.  She kind of lives that way... accomplish as much as possible as soon as possible.  This is why she'd already driven by noon. This is why she will be graduating before her 17th birthday. Her brother lives at a more deliberate speed.  He likes things slow, easy, and careful.  This is why he does not have a drivers licence yet when he will be 17 soon.  This is also why he opted to take another year of homeschooling instead of taking one more class last year to graduate at 16 like his sister. Now that she is driving, he demanded that we pay for lessons for him.  He says we make him nervous and he wants a real instructor... so be it.  He is finally ready to drive, partly because it is time, and partly because his sister is putting a little pressure on him. So what does this have to do with homeschooling?  Lots. There are so...

When I was in highschool I used to get pretty bent out of shape about studying and grades.  I had to understand every single concept in my math or science book (the areas I struggled in) or I would become distraught.  I remember my mother asking me, if I thought I might not pass a test, as I always passed my tests.  I would reply "Of course, I am going to pass the test, but by how much". I had to have A's.  That is how I was wired.  Yeah, I was high strung. I am wired differently now.  Somewhere along the way, I learned that there would be areas where I would absolutely excel, and there are some areas, that I struggle in and I am OK with that.  As the parent of homeschoolers, I know that there are some areas where my kids deserve A's, some areas where they deserve B's, and some areas where they deserve C's.  Sometimes this is due to a lack of enthusiasm and effort.  Mostly, it is due to a weakness in a subject matter. Sure I want my kids...

My last post on People Don't Want Teachers , I mentioned how in my area, there aren't a lot of parent run homeschool co-ops but instead hybrid schools so parents can essentially check out for a few hours or even for a full day.  I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, (especially since I live my child-free Mondays) it is just an observation that parents like to take advantage of the time the kids are with teachers, meaning these teachers also become babysitters. In public schools, this is multiplied exponentially. I remember standing at the school bus stop back when my kids went to public school.  Mom's started debating year round schooling.  One mom insisted that it was necessary because parent's didn't get summers off and had to PAY for childcare during that time of the year.  She felt that if school was year round, then parents would be able to save money and not need childcare.  I was kinda floored. When I replied that childcare was not the...

 People don't want teachers... they want babysitters. My husband and I were just having a conversation about SKYPE.  He was telling me about someone he knows who got an online certificate to marry people and now he is not only marrying people, but he is doing it without ever leaving his home!... He just fires up his iPad, and he marries them virtually! I know Skype is awesome I say, while the virtual officiant thing is stupid (IMOP). Too bad that would never work for homeschool teachers, is the next thing I realize.  Too many parents want to be able to leave and go take a break when their children are taking classes and tutoring.  They don't just want to person to impart knowledge to their kids... they want them to take full charge of them...to babysit them as well. I think this is why homeschool co-ops aren't working in my area.  We had a great co-op once, but none of the parents wanted to teach or supervise.  Now, instead we are all paying private s...

Note:  The inexpensive curriculum I purchased for my nephew were "Teacher Wraparound" editions of public school textbooks.  These books have the same page the student's edition would have, but it is a bigger page with notes written on the sides and bottom to give the "teacher" information on presenting the material to the students.  A highly involved parent with average intelligence can easily teach from these books.  Just search for "teacher wraparound" on Amazon.com with the subject you need.  Here's an example: ps.  Older editions, USED, cost just a few dollars plus shipping.  FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

I spent the bulk of last week in a coffee shop.  Since my daughter had to be in Atlanta this week for her internship, I found a nice place to work and play on my computer while I waited for her. I also took the time to observe the people in the coffee shop, which by the way was jam-packed with people... young people... and older people too.  It kind-of reminded me of homeschooling.  All of these people co-existed together, all in each other's space, without anyone getting bent out of shape. Well, actually, I got bent out of shape a little when someone put their dirty-used cup on a table I was using to eat a salad... That was annoying, but I merely lifted an eyebrow, and had the cup taken away.  As the week moved on, I found myself playing twister with people as we plugged in and unplugged computers, sometimes each-other's accidentally.  I found myself watching laptops for people as they went to the bathroom, and asking the same for myself.  One time I...

This New York Times article   almost suggests that homeschoolers are caving by having a traditional graduation after bucking the system and having a non-traditional education.  Meanwhile, I am looking forward to my son's graduation next May and trying to figure out how to make a great big honking deal out of it. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

 I wrote this article on the proposed changes to the HOPE scholarship here in GA. Governor's Proposals Would Dim HOPE Scholarships Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's proposed changes to the HOPE scholarship would significantly alter the pledge that Georgia made to students back in 1992 .  Read more  Basically, the HOPE scholarship is taking a 10% cut plus fees will no longer be paid.  This may cost the average student $1500 a year. If students are superior with a 3.5 GPA and 1200 SAT, they get the full ride, minus fees. But what about homeschoolers? As of right now, homeschoolers need a 85th percentile score to get HOPE as a Freshman.  They can get it retroactively if they maintain a B average.  So, why do homeschoolers need a higher SAT/ACT score than the Top public school students who will get a full ride.  And, if they do get that higher score, do they get the full HOPE or HOPE lite.  And if there are two tiers now, do they set a higher tier ...