|
|
|
|
|
Did you hear the story when my brother, my mom, and my aunt, and I were walking in a cemetery. It was very peaceful there. My brother and I were riding bike. I slowed down while my brother sped ahead of me. Then he suddenly stopped, and motioned for me to come to him. About half way there, I saw why he was motioning. There was a deer standing by a tree. By then, my mom and aunt caught up to us. They saw the deer too. The deer stared at us, I got kind of scared, but was very excited. We rode up closer, but the deer didn't move. We went even closer, Then the deer ran away very fast. We were all amazed.
THE END!
By Barry F. Mete
|
|
|
|
Homeschool Buyer's Co-op
The Homeschool Buyer's Co-op is the nation's largest purchasing cooperative for homeschooling families. This site is worth a mention all by itself. It is a great resource for homeschoolers to obtain bulk pricing discounts on curriculum, homeschool supplies, and much more.
Membership in the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op is FREE! With your membership, you get:
-
Exclusive member discounts for homeschooling families from educational suppliers
-
Frequent Group Buys that give homeschoolers even deeper discounts
-
A fully searchable database of Free Curriculum and other educational Resources
-
The Internet's largest database of educational Contests & Scholarships available to homeschooled students
-
The Internet's largest database of local, retail merchants that offer discounts to homeschoolers
-
Money-saving and making tips, specifically for homeschooling families contributed by homeschooling moms
-
Ongoing sweepstakes of prizes from their network of educational suppliers
-
Discounts for educators and students from Academic Superstore
-
Free classifieds section for members
Buy Used
Many homeschool support groups have a once a year book sale where homeschoolers can come and sell their used curriculum and supplies. Homeschool conventions and expos often have vendors who sell used books and curriculum, or they host their own used book sale.
Yard sales, thrift stores, Freecycle, "for sale or trade" message forums for homeschoolers online are some more places to find inexpensive supplies and curriculum. Public library sales and used bookstores are places to find lots of inexpensive books to fill out your family's bookshelves.
There are a number of homeschool auction and classified sites that allow you to sell your used books and curriculum. Some are free and others charge a small fee. These are great alternatives to eBay who no longer allows Teacher's Editions to be sold on their website. Some of my favorites are:
Get Creative!
Homeschooling can bring out creativity - not only in your children, but also IN YOU! Why not design your own curriculum? Create your own unit studies. Make a "living books" curriculum by making lists of reading material and getting the books from the library. There is an unbelievable number of free online worksheets (just search for what you need, for example "free third grade math worksheets", etc.).
Make your own math manipulatives. Instead of buying fancy things, use things from around your home to teach your children math - dried beans, dried macaroni, Lego toys, wooden blocks, etc. These items are wonderful in teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and basic geometry.
Find Homeschool Freebies
Many office supply stores host teacher appreciation days once a year around August. These are a source of free and discounted items and giveaways. Many larger bookstores such as Barnes and Noble also offer discounts to teachers throughout the year, including homeschooling parents. They often have free book giveaways in the summer.
Public libraries are also a neverending source of free homeschooling materials. From the obvious unlimited free books to educational DVDs, great music on CD, arts and crafts activities open to the public, symphony days, storytime, even continuing education for older teens and adults. Some library systems have audio books to loan online.
Public domain books can also be downloaded and printed freely from the internet at Gutenberg.org.
With a little creativity and time, you can homeschool frugally. Not only will you be saving money, but you will also create more flexibility in homeschooling your children.
Kelly Ling is a work-at-home, homeschooling mother of five. She has mentored many homeschooling and work-at-home moms over the past eighteen years. Kelly also owes a home-based web design business. When not doing web design, she is constantly updating some of her homeschooling/work-at-home websites - Homeschool Top Sites, ChristianWAHM.com, WAHM Contests, and others. Article Source
|
|
|
|
|
Parents that are new to homeschooling are often overwhelmed with all the products that are now available to homeschoolers. Homeschooling has become a big industry. Open a homeschooling catalog full of curriculum and supplies and someone can easily get the impression that homeschooling is going to cost thousands of dollars a year. Some parents have no problem going this route, but others have to budget what they spend on curriculum and homeschooling supplies.
For homeschooling parents that have a more limited budget, there are many things that you can do to cut your expenses for homeschooling and not cut the quality of your child's education. Here are a few tips:
Set a Budget
Before you start purchasing supplies for your homeschool, set a budget. Consider how many children you are homeschooling and what their grade levels will be. Look for ways to consolidate some of your teaching, like teaching the same level of history or science to more than one child at the same time. This will cut down on what you need to budget for your curriculum and supplies. Consider this your own "one room schoolhouse". Then you may only need to purchase one curriculum or one set of supplies and use them for more than one child. This will help keep you from purchasing things that are unnecessary and keeping them in the closet.
Decide on Curriculum
Before you decide on curriculum, consider your child/children first. Write down questions and answers about their personality, strengths, and weaknesses. What is their learning style? Does you child like to do lots of exciting hands on activities? Do they love to read or not quite so much? Is character development as important or less important to you? Considering these questions will help you select the curriculum that works best for your child/children.
Once you have written down some of these things, then take a look at the different methods of homeschooling and determine which is the best one for you. These homeschooling methods include (but are not limited to):
Remember, there is not one way of homeschooling. Every child is different and what might work for one child and/or parent, might not work for you. Deciding in advance what your style will be means you can adapt the tools to the method, not the other way around.
Once you've decided which route you want to take, then you can "test drive" your chosen curriculum and other tools before you start buying.
-
Look for online demos
-
Check out curriculum reviews online
-
Attend a homeschool convention or expo where homeschool vendors have an opportunity to show you their curriculum, products, and supplies
-
Talk to other homeschool parents and find out what they liked or disliked about curriculum they've purchased or used
-
Check out homeschooling support forums or blogs online and do the same your support group. Ask them what they like and dislike about curriculum they've purchased and used. Read messages on homeschooling support forums online and do the same.
Kelly Ling is a work-at-home, homeschooling mother of five. She has mentored many homeschooling and work-at-home moms over the past eighteen years. Kelly also owes a home-based web design business. When not doing web design, she is constantly updating some of her homeschooling/work-at-home websites - Homeschool Top Sites, ChristianWAHM.com, WAHM Contests, and others. Article Source
|
|
|
|
|
If you are a parent to more than one child, then you will readily agree that each of our children is very different. They may have similar looks or traits, but in the end, each is unique and has different learning styles that they prefer. Homeschooling allows parents to intricately weave together these different styles and educate our children efficiently with a vested interested in having them reach their academic goals. However, we often spend days in frustration along the way as our children can lapse into grumbling and complaining about this or that task at hand. One little exercise can be an invaluable tool into transforming those little complaints and murmurs. It takes very little time each day, but when consistently done over time, this tool will actually change the way your children look at life, including their schooling.
This tool is called a “Gratitude Journal,” or you can create your own fun name for it, but the concept is fairly simple. Each child should have a notebook and before they go to bed every day, or perhaps before dinner, etc., they are to list five things that they are grateful for that happened or that they discovered that day. This can be a part of your homeschool schedule, so make sure that they have time to do this each day. They need to list different things each day, so the idea is not to repeat the items. If you do this before dinner, it can be a topic of conversation with your children about their day. Or, if you opt to do this at bedtime, it can be a source for bedtime prayers. Work it into your homeschool plan and emphasize writing if you wish, or make it an art project. Whatever works for your homeschool will be fine, but keep the items fresh and new every day.
Initially this will be a simple exercise and your child will find that they list items that are pretty obvious – their family members, their pets, etc. But fairly quickly, they will have “used up” these items and it will be a bit of a stretch to look for new things for which to be grateful. They will need to shift their attentions to deeper things. They will even find that they will begin to anticipate the “good things” in their day so that they will know what to write down at the appropriate time. It will actually cause them to look for the good things, not focus on the “grumbles.”
Changing our focus is not quickly done sometimes, but if a gratitude journal becomes a habit and part of every day, it can have this effect. Homeschooling is full of many joys, and your children will come to value your gift of time eventually, but sometimes we have to help them to seek the good things. Sometimes we have to lead them into gratitude because it doesn’t always come naturally to our children. You might even find that keeping a gratitude journal for yourself is a good idea. Model the act of giving thanks, and see if your children don’t begin to pick up on that, too!
Mrs. Camille Rodriquez is a wife and mother, with experience as a pastor’s wife for more than a decade and as a homeschool mom for almost 20 years. Visit her website at National Homeschool Academy. Article Source
|
|
|
|
|
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is “why should I teach my baby sign language when he/she is not deaf?”
Well that is a good question. Even if your child is not deaf, there is scientific research that has been done to show the benefits of sign language for hearing babies.
Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn, founders of Baby Signs program, have spent a lot of time and energy into research before they developed the program Baby Signs. In their research they focused on hearing babies and the benefits of using signs.
They wanted to make sure that if they made a product for hearing babies that they were not going to cause problems for them in the future.
One myth is that using sign language slows down the baby’s ability to speak. If they can communicate using signs then they will never talk, right? No… research actually proves the opposite.
Results of the study were amazing!!!
The tests revealed at 11-30 months signing babies had a three-month advantage over the non-signers. The babies using baby sign language were also putting together significantly longer and more complex sentences. At 36 months, signers were almost a FULL year ahead of their non signing age mates!!!
Test results at 8 years old, showed those who had used sign language as babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ tests then their non-signing peers.
Not only does using baby signs with your baby increase their IQ, it also has other benefits as well.
Some other benefits are:
-
Using sign language with your baby can reduce the frustration levels for both baby and mother alike. Have you been in a situation that you could not tell what your child wanted? The only thing that your child could do was drag you to the kitchen, and then point. Well does he want a drink, food, or something on the counter? You could not help him, and after many attempts to figure it out you get frustrated and so is he. Sign language comes in very handy.
-
Using sign language with your baby builds trust between the baby and you. Imagine the above situation again. Your child drags you to the kitchen (actually this would not happen if you were signing with them). You are in the kitchen and your baby signs “drink”. You know exactly how to help them, and you give them a drink. Not only does your child walk away with new confidence about himself, he also walks away with the trust that you know how to help him when he needs you.
-
Using sign language allows babies to share their world to you. Babies are able to communicate at a very young age. But unfortunately their verbal skills fall far behind, and they are not able to communicate things with us. If they know sign language and have the confidence that you understand them, they will show you what they are thinking and looking at, what they want to know more about, what their interests are, what they don’t like, the list goes on and on.
-
Using sign language boosts their positive emotional development, confidence, as well as self esteem. They know what they want, and they have to figure out a way to communicate to us before they can speak. Sign language “bridges” the gap before they can verbalize it to us.
In conclusion, the evidence shows that using sign language with your baby is good for baby as well as for you, the parents. Now you know that signing with your baby increases their IQ throughout their life, decreases the frustration level, builds trust, allows you to share in their world and understand what they are thinking, and boosts confidence and self esteem. The better question to ask would be “Why not use sign language?”
Mandy McCollum has been passionate about sign language since she was young. She is one quarter away from receiving her sign language interpreting degree and has taken classes at the Chicago Deaf Center. She has also taught children sign language as part of a homeschool curriculum. For more sign language resources visit http://www.hands4sign.com. Article Source
|
|
|
|
We did it. We started year 2 of our homeschool journey, today. I have to say, I still had the "nerves" that I had last year when we started our very first year of home school, although I did have a little more confidence this year than last. We used a different curriculum this year than last. Last year, we used My Father's World, which I did enjoy, but it did not seem to be quiet enough for my oldest daughter who is in 3rd grade this year. This year, we are using Abeka Online Academy, and day one was today. So far, my 3rd grader really likes this. Today went rather well. She loved that she was "a part" of the class. She liked her teacher and she said that she felt like she was "a part of it all". But, that is her type personality. She is very outgoing and enjoys being right there in the middle of things. And, Abeka is challenging, at least in my opinion. So, it just goes to show you that every child is very different and learns differently. My youngest, who will be in K5 next week, will also be using Abeka Online. I am looking forward to seeing how she will do with this method. They are two very different personality types. We shall see....... 
Hope you all have a blessed school year and remember that all of your kiddos are different in some way, so don't compare them. ( I am still working on that one.  )
Renee
|
|
If you want a quick and easy way to find "Hands-on" Science lessons, join the Hub's Science group!
On the group page you'll find under the "Science Resources" several buttons (based on Subject or Grade level) on which to click. When you do, you'll be taken to a site with a lot of great hands-on Science activities!
Happy Homeschooling ~ Lynda
|
|
|
|
 SNEAK PEEK: Lord willing, the first of the Ancient History Scrap-Lap Books will be available in September.
The Ancient Egypt Scrap-Lap Book Kit contains 30 Scrap-Lap Book templates. The colors are desert browns, sunset orange, and Nile River blue.
It can be used with any unit study, curriculum, or text book.
Sample Lapbook Folder
This Scrap-Lap Book Kit includes:
-
Guides, Tips, and Ideas
-
30 Booklet templates
-
40 Clip Art Images
-
Topic Labels in coordinated colors
-
Coupon for a Free Kit when you share a photo of your finished lapbook! (limited offer)
Sample Pages
Sample Clip Art
Not all shown
Sample Booklets
Many of the booklets use have ink on less than 1/3 of the page.
Also Available: Ancient Egypt Scrapbook Papers
Want even more booklet options? When you purchase the lapbook you can get the Ancient Egypt Scrapbook papers for only $2.00!
Use coordinated papers for digital scrapbooking OR use these papers for more booklet options. Simply cut and paste over template covers. Your student’s Scrap-Lap Book will be unique based on his or her design choices.
Ancient Egypt Combo Package
Get the Scrap-Lap Book kit with the Ancient Egypt Unit Study. This Multilevel, Bible Focused, Heart of Wisdom Unit Study utilizes the Charlotte Mason Approach, and the Internet!
What You Get!
This organized yet flexible Bible focused unit study includes:
-
Overview
-
Objectives
-
Timeline
-
Vocabulary
-
Annotated Resource Lists (books, Internet sites, videos, software, etc)
-
17 Four-Step Lessons
Download Sample Lessons
 Sample Lesson 1 Sample Lesson 2
Get everything in the Ancient Egypt Combo Package: the Ancient Egypt Scrap-Lap Book Kit, Ancient Egypt Scrapbook Papers, and the 150 p Ancient Egypt Unit Study.
|
|
|
|
|
The power of a successful homeschool journey cannot be over emphasized. Every parent who home schools wants to enjoy the adventure, grow close to their children and have well rounded children at the end of it. But moms hold the power to sabotage their own homeschools and often they do not even know they are doing it. Here are some warnings (and remedies) for homeschooling parents so that you are do not become one of them.
Warning #1 - You have no systems in place
How do you know this is happening? You cannot find your school books, the children cannot find their pens and pencils, your laundry is piling up and you cupboards and fridge are empty.
Solution - Take one afternoon on the weekend to plan your meals, do your grocery shopping, get your books ready for the next week and get your children to make sure their desks and pencil boxes are ready for Monday. Set up a laundry system in your home to make sure that your family has clean clothing and linens.
Warning #2 - Your children take forever to do their work
Some children are slow workers, but many are dawdlers. If your junior grade children are taking more than a 3 hours to do their work or your high schooler more than 6 hours then chances are that they are wasting time.
Solution - Make sure that you are giving your children short lessons so that dawdling is discouraged. Ensure that you alternate a hard lesson for a easier lesson. Take the time to train your children in the habit of attention so that they learn the importance of giving something their full attention and completing work in a timely fashion.
Warning #3 - Your children spend more time on school work than life
If your children are spending more than a third of their day in formal academic pursuits, it is a sure fire way of producing burnout in mom and child.
Solution - Raymond and Dorothy Moore, grandparents of the homeschooling movement, make use of a head, heart and hand principle. They said that a child's day should be balanced equally between these three occupations. Head refers to academic pursuits; Hand refers to work in and around the home like chores and entrepreneurial activities and Heart refers to spiritual and moral training a parent should impart.
Warning #4 - Your children are allowed unlimited daily doses of TV and computer
Children should not watch TV or work on the computer everyday. It is an unhealthy situation as the stimulus that the brain receives from these two activities causes a dumbing down process where the child forgets how to entertain themselves, play out imaginary games and be productively and creatively busy - to mention just a few negatives.
Solution - Make a list of all the productive pursuits that your child can do and put to when they nag and ask for TV or their computer games. Ensure that you draw them alongside you in your day to day activities - and set the example yourself!
Warning #5 - Mom does not ensure that she is sufficiently rested
When a mom is tired, burnt out and running from play-dates to sports all afternoon and never takes a moment for a quiet cup of tea and a book, she is bound to be tense and overwrought. When mom has nothing left, she cannot give to her children and be a healing presence in her home.
Solution - Mom needs to set aside small moments in her day to take a breather. This can be a chapter of a good book, a walk around the garden, a cup of tea - on her own. It could also mean getting to bed earlier so that she can rise before her family with a small head start on her day. Mom needs to take time out monthly as well, so that she can set her hand to a craft or hobby where she can take off the "homeschooling mom hat."
Warning #6 - The homeschooling parents talk of nothing but their children
Does it seem like whenever mom and dad go out or have a moment together, all they talk about is homeschooling and parenting? While there is time for that, it is also very important that they take time to remember that their relationship ranks right up there in importance.
Solution - Make a pact that you will do something special together, weekly or monthly, where you do not talk about homeschooling, parenting or household matters. Just enjoy being together.
Warning #7 - Parents control their children rather than build relationship with their children
This is a tough one... isn't it? We want the best for our children; we want them to be all they were created to be and to achieve much in their lives. But often a parent will go overboard and forget that the reason they are raising children is so that they can be strong valuable members of a community.
Solution - Like a young sapling tree, protect your children as they need it. Train them in moral and spiritual guidelines as you take hold of those truths as well. As they grow and show maturity in certain areas, permit them to begin making their own decisions within the realm of what is permissible to your boundaries as a family unit.
Warning #8 - A homeschooling mom who spend too much time feeding on other lives
I left this for last because this one point can be the single most damaging thing that can happen to any homeschool. When a mom is always comparing herself and her children to what the next person is doing, what the other children have achieved, the projects that they are doing, instead of getting on and living her life with her children, she is bound to become frustrated and defeated.
Solution - Accept the season that your family is in - perhaps you have just had a baby and an in-depth unit study will sent your teetering over the edge! Perhaps your children have special needs and are not able to concentrate for long. Whatever the reason... accept the season. Also remember that each home and family is unique and your family has a specific flavor to it. When you try and bring in another family's culture to your own, you dilute the beauty of your family.
Wendy Young is the homeschooling mom to 4 children aged 7 – 14 years. They have always been at home. She has been married for 19 years. Wendy’s website, Homeschool-Curriculum-For-Life, is dedicated to helping moms choose curriculum, get organized, and enjoy the homeschool journey by equipping them as their roles as wives, women, and moms. Article Source
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join us on
"The Hub"
today!
Click here
Where...Membership, Friendship & Encouragement are always FREE!
----
Download Club Membership requires a small annual fee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Email Site Founder
Lynda Ackert
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Make Homeschooling Friends today...
Click on a member's name, then click
Add as a Friend
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
