Not Another Homeschool Blog

A guest post by Blondee . There is no relationship that lasts longer in this world than the relationship of siblings. God's gift of best friends to us in life. Meet Lauren Belius and her twin sister Erica. Beautiful baby girls, aren't they? The girls were inseparable, Lauren being the brave 'older' sister, and Erica being the shy little sister. Older brother Nolan didn't just have to share the spotlight with one cute little sister, but two! These three joined our Taekwondo studio last spring. Busy little kids that we all got a kick out of watching as they learned their counters, kicks and kata's. Lauren and Erica- blessings beyond words, beautiful memories made of first birthdays, milestones, holiday mornings and their sweet personalities. Until one horrific morning in July of 2011. David Trebilcock stabbed Lauren to death in her own bed as her twin sat inches from her in the very same bed, horrified and screaming for help. D...

The shot heard round the world this weekend was that of a father who got fed up with his daughter complaining and lying about him on Facebook.  He made a response video in which he shot her laptop entitled Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen . It went super-mega-extravaganza-like-viral. 6 days, over 21 million hits and remember ya'll 1 million hits makes a video viral. I am not going to judge him about his parenting skills because depending on the moment, I am either for or against him.... usually based on what my kids are doing or saying at the time.  I can say that I don't find his reaction that unusual.  I found another other parent electronic breaking video on Facebook, with the main difference being between a gun and a bat.  Beat a cell phone with a bat, get 6 thousand views.  Shoot a laptop with a gun... that's money baby! Anyway, it all just gets me thinking about parenting in the homeschooling community.  As I watched the

I am changing my blog title today from Notes from a Homeschooling Mom to Notes from a Homeschooled Mom. Why past-tense?  For two reasons.  Homeschooling (of my kids anyway) is almost in my past.  I have one Senior set to graduate in a few months, and another child counting the day to when she too will be a Senior.  Second...  In the near decade since I began homeschooling, I have learned so much... about kids, education, and the world.  Homeschoolng doesn't just benefit the kids.  Parents get smarter too. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

Thought it as time I did a homeschool update video.  Items discussed: My son will graduate this year.   My daughter will graduate next year.   Planning for my daughter's senior year.  Curriculum overview for next year.     FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

My brain can't even process this: Former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who resigned last year amid a school board's firing proceedings, was charged last week with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with pupils, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday. He is accused of taking bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths. In response, after years of ignoring complaints about this teacher, and a second teacher abusing the same kids, the entire school was emptied and restaffed. What is worse? ~That it happened? ~That it was ignored by the principal and others? ~That a knee-jerk decision was made to yank everyone from the principal to the janitors? ~That parents want their old teachers back? (~that this video is followed by the stupid titillating Valentine's Day commercial suggesting that women will give it up if you buy them flowers) What a big mess.  This is an ar...

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...