Not Another Homeschool Blog

I wrote an article this morning about how people perceive homeschoolers as weird. Frankly, I'm Ok with it. Read the full article here Other recent article I have written for families.com are: Perceptions of Homeschooling: When others think you are doing a bad job Dealing With Homeschool Inconsistencies College Bound Homeschoolers, Check out the College Board Website Invalid Reasons to Homeschool: A Rebuttal to a Public Educators Opinion Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom and more Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

And people wonder why we choose to homeschool. He's in 11th grade. His course in American history -- or whatever name they disguise that by these days -- is coming to an end and the finale is a big project that will largely determine his grade for the quarter. In my high school, the college-tracked kids were taking electives by that time, and I remember writing two 20-page papers, on topics of the student's choice, approved by the teacher. One of mine was on the legal challenge to Reconstruction after the Civil War, the other was on the Congress of Vienna. My son's comparable assignment: To write about the significance of the lyrics of "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. And it gets worse. full story here Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

I have been hesitant to mention who I plan to vote for because for me politics is not something I like to discuss with homeschoolers. Let's face it... Homeschoolers are passionate people. When we believe in something we champion it. We fight for it. We will argue you to the death. Politics was not something I wanted to get into. Still as a homeschool blogger,it is difficult to segment my life and to keep my political affiliations separate from who I am as a person, and who we are as a family. Politics and homeschoolers have to mix if homeschooling is going to be a cohesive life endeavor. After all, politics is a part of life. Who am I going to vote for? Obama. Why? My reasons are emotional, intellectual, inspirational, reasonable, and necessary. Sure, as a conservative Christian who also homeschools, there are things I don't like about Obama... his stance of Abortion for one. It is a hard pill for me to swallow. Still, when compared against McCain, I have to look a...

In February, a state appeals court in California ruled that parents without official teaching credentials could not legally homeschool their children. Naturally, this sparked outrage across the country and not just within the homeschooling community. If this law could be passed there, why not everywhere? Are our civil liberties at risk throughout the nation? The judge in this outrageous case used a state education law to support his ruling. He stated that, “parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children.” Thankfully, the appeals court is going to rehear the case this month. There are currently over 160,000 children being homeschooled in California and their way of life is being threatened. It is estimated that the homeschooling population is growing 7 to 12 percent a year. This has the public school system and some higher government officials running scared… but for all the wrong reasons. While they may hide behind the guise of concern that parents aren'...

Why do we have to learn English, anyway? My son asked. We already speak it. Aren’t we wasting our time? I had to sit and think about it for a while before answering. Then I remembered what my mother told me when I asked the same question. We need to learn English because most of us, do not speak true English. Our language in a mixture of English from England, foreign words that were mixed in as immigrants came over, slang and mispronunciations that have managed to stick over the decades. The reason we must learn English is so that everyone across the country, other English speaking countries, and other countries where people learn English for business and educational reasons are all on the same ground. If we did not teach our kids English, then they could pick up bad habits from your family (whose family does not have a few made up words), from your friends, your ethnic makeup (i.e. Ebonics and Jamaican patios) and from your region. Before you know it, it will seem like people fro...

Here is an 8th grade test from the year 1895. The answers are at the bottom of the page. Can you answer the questions? Can your eighth grader answer the questions? I can probably answer half of them, with research. I will make sure my kids can answer this before they finish high school. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Homeschoolers and the Great Subway Debacle by Andrea Hermitt In the last two weeks, here has been a huge uproar in the homeschooling community. It seems that Subway, the restaurant that serves sandwiches, has snubbed homeschoolers by introducing a writing contest, and adding the stipulation that no homeschoolers were allowed to compete. Why So Many Parents Homeschool "Problem" Children by Andrea Hermitt A teacher of a five year old boy is recorded calling the child "pathetic", "selfish", and "ignorant" and discouraging other kids from being his friend. The teachers union saying that the teacher's rights have been violated. An Entire Georgia County Could Turn to Homeschooling by Andrea Hermitt I recently wrote an article entitled Clayton County GA Parents Should Look into Homeschooling I do not think I really believed that an entire school district might have no other choice than to actually turn to homeschooling. Tennessee Homeschool Graduate...