Notes for today: blogging to learn & then some

I mentored a homeschooled boy a couple of years ago who had a lot of work to do in the language arts area.  In a very short time, we (his mother and I) managed to turn him into a very good writer.  He was soooo good in fact that his college essays were primarily the factor that got him into college.  How did we do it?  We encouraged blogging.  So when I came across this site today, I had to recommend it to you.  

Stop homeschooling preschoolers!  Let them play and they will learn.    At most, get them some games that are educational in nature. 

The first step to winning a debate is to always respect your opponent.  I don't think we can call what was on TV last night a debate.  ...And then there's rule #4.  Don't confuse passion with hatred.  I think maybe we should bring debating back into childhood education. 

Another case of schools over-reacting: "A few weeks into the school year at Jordan Middle School, school officials took note of Colman's medical history, information that eventually was shared with another Jordan parent whose two children have classic cystic fibrosis and are predisposed to chronic lung infections. "The school district freaked out," Colman's mother said."  And asked him to transfer to another school.  The family is homeschooling until the issue get's straightened out.  Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Boy-in-school-flap-over-cystic-fibrosis-3944802.php#ixzz29ZRI0xY2  Once again, people have to realize that schools are not interested in what is best for the individual student.  Sometimes what is best for the school, school districts, etc, can be very detrimental to the child.  This is why the option to homeschool is so important. 

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Go read: Carnival of Homeschooling - Reflections from the end of the road

I love the way this week's carnival is organized into a handy-dandy guide.  If you are thinking about homeschooling, or already homeschooling, you will certainly want to read this edition.


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Homeschooling saved me today. True Story

I went to the elections office today for early voting. I have to vote early because of my position as a poll manager means that I cannot vote on election day.  I was not alone.  Dozens and dozens of other people  had one reason or another why they should vote early instead of waiting for election day.

I stood in line for well over an hour.  In that time, people around me struck up conversations.  It's only natural. We're in GA... that's how folks roll, regardless of who you are voting for.  So this one particular lady takes a liking to me.  That would have been fine except for...

1.  She was a close talker
2. She kept touching, stroking my arm
3. She was kinda slovenly and had a hole in the hiney of her dirty pants... and I could see her bare tooshie.

So she kept talking, and touching me, and asking questions, and touching me, and then she'd talk to someone else, and then come back to me with more talking and touching.  At this point, I am feeling like Howie Mandel... very OCD and I am slowly dying inside with each touch, rub, and such from this very familiar woman.

After asking every question she could think of to keep me talking, she finally asks the big question....



"Where do/did your kids go to school."  I answered nonchalantly, "they're homeschooled".

Well, you'd think she had been bitten by a snake.  Her hand recoiled, she averted her eyes, and she backed away like I had the plague.  Thank the Lord.

I'll be purchasing more homeschool t-shirts soon.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

My last year homeschooling.... and I finally find the perfect math program

Ok, so we all no that there's no such thing as a perfect math curriculum for all children, but this one is as close to heaven as you get.  I am really upset that it took to now for me to find and implement this math program in our homeschooling program.  Oh the program... its called ALEKS.

ALEKS is available for every grade, K-12 and then some.  I discovered it because many homeschoolers who were taking CLEP exams were using it to learn college level math and science.

When we realized that the Personal Finance program my daughter was using did not give enough guidance, I decided to try ALEKS Business Math instead (as it included all of the personal finance

If we would just let them learn

If we know that "knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave" (Frederick Douglas),then we understand why a little girl with a book is a threat to the Taliban.





The way I see it, those terrorists know that if girls became more educated that they could not control

I didn't teach them that!

Things my homeschoolers learned without my help.

So now that homeschoolers have disputed all of the stereotypical questions that homeschoolers are hit with...

What about socialization?

What about the prom?

How will they get into college?

What about the graduation ceremony?

There is still one question that makes some of us stop in our tracks and scratch out heads.  That question is how will they learn things you don't understand yourself?

To date, my stock answer has been "If I can't teach it, I'll hire a tutor".  But I honestly can't hire a tutor for every single item they want to know that I don't understand and can't teach.  There just isn't enough money to go around.  Because of this, my kids missed out on horseback riding, soccer, and animation classes... things that didn't fit into my budget when there was an expressed interest.

For all of the things I couldn't pay for, I managed to hire a tutor for something

Planning the college visits

As of today, my daughter has 2 college acceptance letters, both with merit scholarship offers attached.  This is very good. Also, where my son got about a dozen different colleges soliciting him last year, my daughter gets about a dozen a week. It's insane.  All of this activity gives both me and her a little wind under our wings and makes us want to see where else should she apply to.  How far should she go?

We had planned to visit NY this winter to go to a couple of plays.  Perhaps we should head there early to check out AADA and AMDA, two theater conservatories in New York.  Perhaps we should get flights to Florida, and check out the College