Not Another Homeschool Blog

So this was an interesting week. My son had a recital where all of the kids in the Artios conservatory program demonstrated what they had learned this year... my son played a Mozart piece that he had only been practicing for two weeks, so he wasn't exactly happy with is performance, but it was a valiant attempt... He was also in his first Movie short that one of his friends produced. But on the homefront, my kids learned about the importance of research. You see, my husband and I decided to replace out 12 year old sofa and ordered a sectional. Delivery was supposed to be Friday and I did not find out otherwise until I called for a delivery time... apparently there was a problem and I was livid because they did not have the courtesy to let me know in advance. I my angry state I went online to see if the same furniture was on sale anywhere else... and guess what... it was. $200.00 saved! Take that! So my kids have learned that proper research can save you $200.00.... I just hope...

We just finished a run of Once Upon a Matress for my daughters Drama club. My son's class did The Secret Garden earlier this year. Coming up in one month is the combined production of Suessical the musical. Here are some photos of my daughter in her once Upon a mattress costumes. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Great Deals on School & Homeschool Curriculum

Not because I have a hankering for a baby around, but because I just stumbled onto some books that would be great for teaching early math in a more relaxed way... too bad they are already into Algebra and Geometry... Anyway, here is a post that you may find helpful if you are teaching little ones math... I am most intrigued by the Rooke Reader books. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

There is a new website designed to help college students share notes with other students. It allows them to flesh out classnotes, and to get a different perspective. The way this works is that a student in a... at lets say University of Wisconsin POLI SCI 104 course is working on a Political Science Paper and feels they are missing something. They can go through this facebook application to to access notes of a student in another college in another state, or even in the same class to see if their notes reveal something different. In short Coursehero allows students to share information and coursework over a facbook application. Now if you are thinking that this is an excellent way to cheat and plagarize, you should know that you can and very likely will get caught. This site was designed for ethical sharing of personal class notes and nothing more. What does this have to do with homeschooling you might ask? Well, if you autodidact homeschooled child is interested in learning...

Yesterday I wrote about preparing my kids to start taking CLEPs. For that reason, I will be compiling information that I may be able to use later... If you can use it too... then great! Anyway, here is a site you can use to take practice tests for CLEP and PETERSON exams http://tinyurl.com/94dgbb Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

I have decided to get my kids started taking CLEP courses next year. In my own words, CLEP exams are tests used to allow students to test out of a College course. For homeschoolers, they are a great AP substitute because it allows a student to study college level coursework and take a test to prove they learned it. No one can argue that MOMMA assigned a grade with no real basis. While CLEP exams will allow students to fast forward through college, that is hardly my concern. My interest in CLEP exams is to show that my kids really know what they know and to make them more attractive to the best colleges (should they plan to go that route.) I will mostly be working with my 14 year old son and a 16 year old friend. My daughter will probably take some as well just to get a feel for it. The first test the boys are planning to take is supposed to be the easiest... Interpreting and analyzing Literature, but the test isn't exactly a no brainer for me. I am planning to have them rea...

Who do you consider to be your homeschooling community? It is an organized homeschool group. It is members of a homeschool co-op or academic program? Is the the people from your child's homeschool sport group? Is it another homeschooling family from down the street? Regardless of who you consider to be your homeschool community, they are important to have. Read this article I recently wrote about homeschool communities. Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com