home schooling

Studying High School at Home

2007-07-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

The mainstream concept of educating children has to be the common thing: dispatching them everyday to the big grounds of a private or public school run by organized institutions. It is quite rare to find families choosing the option called "high-school home schooling" for their kids. The truth is, the higher percentage of parents availing this option, are those of higher educational attainment.

It is almost impossible to project high school students and their social life if they are taking home schooling. In a complete study kit of formal home education, socialization is part of the curriculum, where they intermingle with fellow home-schooled children on field trips and assigned extra curricular activities.

These outdoor activities are required weekly. Contrary to what has been traditionally expected, home-schooled children excel academically, more contented and socially mature compared to the rest who attend the institutions.

What are the advantages of high school home schooling?

Bad peer influence is the primary reason why teen-agers and minors go astray without parental control. It happens in institutions where classrooms are gaping open to all possibilities of worse vices like drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, pornography; formation of clandestine groups or fraternities; being influenced with religious perversions and cults.

Confining a teen to high-school home schooling is a very smart but tough decision a parent can do as best option for a child, especially if the family is influential in the community. The ultimate advantage of home schooling is SAFETY. It means the child, who is a very vulnerable minor, will be fully attending a complete education without the hazard of unsafe classrooms.

This option may not work for all families, but it has been noted in researches that home-based high schools have higher percentages of students pursuing higher education because of the programs' focus on the academic aspect of studying without distractions. Thus, faster learning on advanced subjects efficiently happen at home. Families who opt for high school home schooling are those who want to create stronger family bonding by keeping the relationship intact, instead of the teen-ager always away for 6 to 8 hours a day.

High-school home schooling are available online and in every advertisement directories. Choose the reputable one, read the information and interview the personnel about the program. It is lesser in cost and everyday maintenance compared to attending institutions. Availing this option is a personal choice. Schooling will not determine a person's success. Peo

The Best Environment in Formal Education

2007-07-07T05:10:00.002-07:00

It is a great task of parents of today's generation to establish a fixed curriculum standard in getting their children started for a valuable formal education. The home handles the informal education of each individual from the time he is a toddler, after which parents may choose the kind of school, that will later be a trademark institution linking him to wherever his objectives and goals bring him.

There are many highly exclusive schools for either gender. Educational settings of this kind are highly expensive, are opened to the rich and affluent. There are those simply private, inclusive of all coeds, a much more highly standardized than a public school. Public schools operational systems are based on the economic condition of a place.

Products of public schools of the third world and poorer countries, and those promoting scholarships of some kind don't meet the normal standard level in education. Institutional systems' lack of certain criteria fails to cope in developing confidence, and competitiveness in business, and harsh brutalities of life when they go their own, in job seeking, entrepreneurship, or raising a family.

The modern-day complexity in today's lifestyle, made possible the accreditation of various studies within the confines of a home. There are various reasons why it is done so, especially to exceptional cases in the nature of work, and the situations of life one has been drawn into. Examples of individuals that need apply a home schooling curriculum are those in the entertainment world, such as in the movies, television, theatres, and advertisements when there's no definite time in photo or filming footages.

Actors, especially children characters are left to study with tutors, and thru correspondence schools, where materials are sent to their homes in form of packages and mails for self- study, with a domestic teacher, or the parents themselves.

The home schooling curriculum opens opportunity for some parents to act fairly against any risk on drugs, travel, and social elemental influences in school environments today, and find themselves in direct management of their children in the home.

Home-based schools studies cater some cautious parents in giving education to their children up to some grade levels where they're mature enough to handle themselves. Leaflets of the well-based curriculum planned for home study are also delivered by the agencies of correspondent schools. Progress of the child is sent the same way around, or by mails.

A random study of families adapting this study method has run surveys to be positively favorable. Compared to all their peers among accredited schools, private or public, home schooling curriculum results of validating exams for college entry, favors 80% mark of competence against counterparts, rating only 50% in effectiveness survey.

Education, both formal and informal could still be at best, if outright guide or adviser of the child is the parent who has the definite full concern for him.

The Cheapest and Safest School Ever

2007-07-07T05:10:00.001-07:00

Countries have an obligatory criterion in their respective local laws to offer free education, serve in their local public schools. Education set a high hierarchy in the rules of laws that each individual, or citizen should enroll in a public school if he reaches a certain school age.

This is a general policy to each citizens of any nation, except however, where one's choice is to go elsewhere of his afford and desire, such as in private schools, foundations, and non-government organizations' learning institutions.

The 21st century parents discover free home schooling, favorable, cheaper and convenient for so many reasons. It is becoming popular in the U. S. and some other richer industrial places around the globe.

Present-day school beginner is more exposed to so many complications about the environment, atmospheric conditions due to global warming that cause weather conditions unpredictable. Negligence to react in Reforestations that could prevent possible floods, landslides and all the inconveniences during rainy seasons, situation most difficult for school children or high graders on school sessions.

Roads or pathways became vicious scenarios as it open to muddy and slippery ground of apparent danger to passers-by kids during bad weather conditions. Mom has the best choice to get into a chartered school and get the know-how credentials in order to get accredited if she herself teaches and guides her child personally in the home, where she could be assured of the child's safety. It could still be the cheapest schooling one could ever get.

To get accredited, and cope with your country's demand that you're into terms to educate your offspring, select from qualified chartered public schools near your vicinity, and deal with the proper officer of authority. You have the option to select a curriculum best fitted for your child and not the school to impose their system on you.

You are the best and first hand access to the personality of your child; knowing his IQ (Intelligent Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient), what subjects are his inclinations. You won't be wasting much time to tackle a task, imposing the teaching and learning process on subjects not of his interests.

Literary, as your child's own teacher, teaching will be free of charge. With all the hands-on teaching materials consigned for your use on a given period of time, you'll be the boss of your own schedules, with lots of mom and child bonding. In here, your advantage is at par. Schedules for socializing with the other children during school events and activities will be set by the accepting school.

Reviews, exams, evaluations and results are set for pick-up, and submission at your time frame, or agreed upon with. Above all you'll be free of travel expense, and enjoy time leverage from the daily inconvenience of accompanying and fetching your child to and from school.

Considering Homeschooling: Reasons Why Not to Put Your Child in Preschool

2007-07-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

Many parents these days are putting their children in preschool in the mistaken belief that the sooner their young ones are institutionalized, the better. While some parents are forced by circumstance to put their children in the care of others during the day, many are doing so as the result of being influenced by the propaganda of the universal preschool lobby.

In targeted advertising campaigns, news reports and parenting magazines, preschool is being touted as the best place for children to spend their day. Families are being inundated with the message that if they do not separate from even their babies, their children will suffer dire consequences. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact is, there is no evidence that healthy children from healthy homes benefit from preschool at all. Furthermore, the research shows that there are no long-lasting benefits to preschool even for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Studies have shown more advanced developmental skills and greater empathy in children who stay home with mom, while increased aggression and sadness occur in those who spend the day away from their mothers.

What we are seeing is a massive push to divide families, to have most American children raised by strangers in institutions. Digging through the web pages of the universal preschool advocates soon reveals their perverted goal -- to foist mandatory, state-funded preschool on all states, for all children, from infancy. Christians need to believe the Bible and what has worked from the beginning - God's divine design of having MOTHERS nurture their own babies, toddlers, preschoolers and older children in a loving Christian home, full-time. God created the family as the vehicle for taking care of all a child's needs.

Those who intend on homeschooling need to understand that homeschooling begins at birth, so they should not put their children in preschool while they wait for the child to attain compulsory education age.

Corralling kids together in institutional preschools is no different than putting them in public school - in fact, it is even worse, as these formative years are when the child's spiritual, emotional and academic foundations are being set. Parents CAN teach preschool at home - and do a much better job than any institution! If you are a loving Christian mother who can provide a safe and wholesome home for your children - then with YOU is where your precious children need to be. Trust Jesus to give you the wisdom you need to raise your own young!

Please consider these reasons why not to place a child in a day care or preschool:

1. Preschool promotes inconsistent discipline

Children need consistent, biblical discipline. Preschool divides a child's heart between two sets of rules, two authorities -- preschool and home. Preschool workers do not have a vested, eternal interest in raising up your child. And, they miss a lot of bad behavior because God never intended one unrelated adult to oversee many kids of the same age at the same time.

For those who remain unconvinced, try "the 30 second test" -- watch children playing outside in a preschool yard. Within seconds you will see many instances of gross bullying and other dysfunctions -- and the child care workers are too overwhelmed to notice or to care. After all, it takes a lot of energy and staff time to monitor so many children per adult and to keep the wild ones in "time outs" -- energy and time they do not have.

In contrast, a husband and wife will work out one set of rules for the household and have their children adhere to those rules no matter what time of day. Discipline at home is given by the same person, with the same values, and by someone who is intent on shaping the children's behavior, not just to keep the peace for the moment.

2. Preschool undermines the child-parent bond

A child has tremendous spiritual, emotional, physical and learning needs from babyhood on -- that are best met by someone who has an eternal, loving interest in them.

Children need to try out their verbal skills one-on-one with an interested adult who knows and cherishes them, to safely ask all kinds of questions, to get sincere praise for the little accomplishments they have throughout the day, to get loving Biblical discipline, to get their basic needs met by someone who cares tremendously, and to get kisses and hugs every hour from their mommy, not a stranger.

Parents are told that children will "get over" their despair and pain at being left by mom in a preschool each day, but they won't get over it -- they will just "get over" trusting mom.

3. Preschool undermines sibling bonding

When you child is grown, they will not remember their "preschool friends" -- it is their brothers and sisters whom they will call when they need help -- if they forged a strong bond in childhood. Preschool artificially separates siblings from each other, depriving them of the quality family time they need to learn to love each other and be best friends in the deep, lasting way that God intended. God chose them to be together -- He hand picked the sibling team you have been blessed with -- do not force them apart.

4. Preschool undermines a mother's intention to homeschool

A mother gets used to "the break" and often goes back to work when her children are in preschool. Even if she intended on homeschooling when the children became five and older, coming back home is often too much of a lifestyle change for her. She never learned to handle multiple children at home all week and becomes intimidated at the thought of suddenly being home alone with her own children. Deep in her heart, she knows the bond between her and her offspring has been disrupted, and that she has not "gone through the fire" of learning to deal with her children all day, all week.

In contrast, there is a peace about homeschooling mothers who stayed the course, who did not delegate thier children to others, who cultivated a close walk with Jesus - they have gone through His refining fire as they cared for their little ones, and found He never let them fall. They look back on the preschool years with great fondness.

Another reason preschool undermines a potential homeschool is because mom has not experienced teaching her child many of the basics - the preschool has done her job. She may then lack the confidence to become her children's teacher. For example, the preschool may have potty trained her children, taught them their colors, numbers, letters, and even to read.

Children who have always been home and taught the basics by their own mother usually have no problem accepting mom as their main teacher. But preschool children are often confused at this point, some folding their arms and declaring, "But you're not my teacher -- you're my mother!" This has caused moms to feel intimidated by their own children.

5. Preschool exposes children to destructive peer influences

Proverbs 13:20 says, "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Parents of children sent to preschool have no idea what type of peers their children are being exposed to. Even in Christian preschools, there are children who come from homes that have pornography present, that allow foul TV and movie programs to be seen, where abuse occurs, etc. You just do not know. Even cruel words or unjust behavior from a peer or preschool worker can cause lifelong damage to your children's view of learning and life.

Your children are gifts from God. Children are just learning the ways of the Lord and when thrown into an unstable environment of constantly changing peers and child care workers, their Godly character formation is sabotaged. God gave children parents to be their close supervisors and the guardians of their heart - do not delegate this divine responsibility to anyone else.

6. Preschool teaches a child a perverted form of justice

Sometimes parents say, "Children need to go to preschool to learn to handle bullies". But a bullied child often becomes a bully. After all, no one stopped the bully. In preschool, children learn a worldly, Darwinian view of life -- the survival of the fittest. Children in preschool quickly find their place in the pecking order, with weak and less attractive children getting harassed. In contrast, children who stay home can learn a solidly biblical worldview -- a mother can make sure the bigger siblings learn to treat the little ones with the kindness of Jesus, doing good "to the least of these".

7. Preschools may inaccurately diagnose a child

We are witnessing an epidemic of young children being tested, labeled and drugged for ADHD and other modern conditions. Preschool these days serve as a place where teachers and educational "experts" prescreen children for various mental, social, physical problems. The parents of this generation are more vulnerable than previous generations to think normal childhood and discipline issues are clinical problems that need therapy and drugs. Testing and labeling a child whose brain and motor skills are still undeveloped is like diagnosing a newborn bird with a flying problem. It's best to keep your child home and far from the labeling fanaticism that is going on.

Why not give your children a loving, stable Christian environment, surrounded by those who love them? If you have a baby, toddler, preschooler - you ARE a homeschooler. Homeschooling starts when that newborn baby is put in your arms and is a natural continuum. Get off to a solid start in homeschooling by keeping your little ones at your side.

Considering Homeschooling: Reasons to Avoid Government Homeschooling Like the Plague

2007-07-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

Are you tempted to join government homeschooling (a charter school or public school independent study program) or do you know someone who is?

These days, Christian parents who are thinking about homeschooling are often unaware that you can homeschool in most states without public school control. And those who do know are often tempted to join government homeschooling for the supposed goodies. The bait of free materials or the perception of getting help from "real teachers" seems inviting, but having public school employees overseeing your homeschool dramatically alters the spiritual dynamic of the home.

You need to know that there is another form of homeschooling; one that is scriptural. Private biblical homeschooling strengthens God's design for the family and helps ensure the future right of our children and grandchildren to freely homeschool in a Christ-centered manner.

Homeschooling has always existed in this country -- from the native Americans to the first Europeans to form colonies in the New World. Yet it was mostly forgotten as state funded schooling, the purpose of which is to create obedient productive citizens, pervaded the land in the 19th century. But in the late 1970's and 1980's, a resurgence in homeschooling began among parents who were mostly Christians. These "pioneer" families often resisted the idea that the state was supposed to control the education of their children. They blazed a path few dared to follow - with parents at the head of their children's learning.

More than that, they discovered that biblical homeschooling changed everyone in the family, bringing them through God's refining fire and helping strengthen their relationship with Jesus, and with each other.

Those who hated God were incensed at the idea that bible-believing parents were taking back the headship of their homes. Not only that, but the behemoth of public education was taking a financial hit whenever a child was withdrawn from public school or never entered in the first place. Strategies to stop homeschooling failed, and homeschooling was proven to be legal in all fifty states. As the fruit of raising children in the love of the Lord became evident, more and more families started doing it.

But Satan is clever and whenever Christians have fruit, he delivers a strong counter-punch. He was not going to sit back and watch generations of children being brought up in the Lord Jesus. We believe his counter-punch to homeschooling was to lure Christian parents back into the public school fold via government homeschooling. When a family goes that route, not only is the public school still financially supported, but that family is put under the control of an institution that denies the lordship of Jesus Christ. Spiritual revival of the Christian family is not likely to come out of this humanist matrix.

While we do not question the walk of those believers who enroll in government homeschooling -- any more than we question the walk of the Christians who have their children enrolled in regular public school -- we urge them to consider the spiritual fruit of their decision. We urge bible-believing Christians to refrain from becoming yoked with government homeschool programs for many reasons, and to instead discover the blessings of a non-government biblical home education:

Usurping Headship

In government homeschooling, you place those who hate God over your homeschool. God is the head of the husband who is the head of the wife. The divine lines of authority established by God are disrupted when you insert the public school system into this holy order. The public school and public school mentor you are assigned in government homeschooling install themselves in the headship position -- that is where the buck stops. They become the provider, director and accountability of that homeschool instead of the husband and God.

There is no free lunch -- when you take public school money for homeschooling, you are agreeing to allow the state be the head of your children's education. Education is not a neutral endeavor, but a highly spiritual matter, and one that is not separable from discipleship. God sets up "governments" in the Bible -- individual, family, church and civil government -- and gives responsibilities to each. Imagine the government being in charge of serving you communion or giving baptisms. Ridiculous, you would say! Those are spiritual matters God clearly gave to the church. Well, no where in scripture does God give the civil government authority over the raising of children. When God speaks of training up children -- for example Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." He is speaking to parents, not bureaucrats.

In private homeschooling done biblically, the buck stops with the dad (or mom if there is no dad in that family). If the dad decides he doesn't want his kids taking a certain standardized test, does he have the ultimate authority? If he picks out the textbooks and decides they are to all be Biblical, is he able to do this? If he decides he wants a child of his to skip a certain subject this year to concentrate on another, does he have the power to make that call? Only in private biblical homeschooling does the father have this authority.

Government homeschooling puts the mother under the counsel of humanists. Even if she happens to be assigned a public school mentor who is a Christian, the curriculum, methods, and goals of public education are designed to produce a carnal man of the world. Psalm 1 says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked."

A family on the educational dole undergoes a spiritual change in authority as government homeschooling has no use for the husband. Homeschooling becomes "her thing" -- something Mom and the public school mentor implement. He is under them. Just like in the welfare system, a dad who realizes that he is not the provider and protector soon zones out. It may seem like a subtlety to women, but this undermining of a man's role is a powerful "dis". When Dad checks out, Mom is left with all the work in the homeschool. If you want your husband to be actively involved in the homeschooling, don't emasculate him by choosing government homeschooling.

In contrast, biblical homeschooling is about fathers being restored to their rightful role as heads of the homes.

Supporting a Corrupt System

We implore believers in Jesus to totally leave the public school system, which is responsible for devastating the minds and hearts of millions, which has brought untold numbers of minors to abortion clinics during school hours, which is currently the main tool of homosexual indoctrination in this country. Statistics from several ministries show that the majority of Christian kids who are sent to brick-and-mortar public schools will renounce their faith in Christ and quit going to church after high school graduation. The public school has long proven itself a producer of the most rotten fruit we see in society today -- so why would a Believer want to prop up a system that is so obviously of the kingdom of darkness?

When you enroll in government homeschooling, your child is legally considered a public school student. Even though you are doing all the work, thousands of tax dollars are diverted into the public school system on behalf of your child. A bit is kicked back to parents for secular materials. Christians are inadvertently ensuring the survival of a blatantly anti-God system.

In contrast, a family that chooses private Christian homeschooling can tell their neighbors they are a blessing to taxpayers -- and they do not have to feel guilty about contributing to the delinquency of America.

We need to stop viewing public school as neutral, and assuming we will have no consequences from aligning ourselves with a demonic system. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:18: "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit."

Promoting Humanist Curriculum

When you take public money for homeschooling, you are not supposed to use Christian curriculum or teach from a Christian worldview during school hours. This is true even if you bought the religious materials yourself! Federal and state laws prohibit the use of sectarian curriculum during school hours. You are agreeing to run a non-religious public school in your home during set hours when you take their freebies.

There are many who tell us "we'll just do what we want in our home" but once you put yourself under the government, you are a sitting duck for increasing control. For example, in 2004 a charter school in North Monterey County, California lost its license to operate. One of the reasons cited was that parents were using religious texts during school hours. Parents were told that, "any religious instruction during class time for which the school received state money is against the law regardless of the source of funds used to purchase materials." (The Monterey County Herald, March 27, 2004)

In Canada, the same thing happened -- parents thought that since they were at home, they could do what they wanted and teach during the day from the religious books they purchased themselves. That was true until someone decided to enforce the law. Read the story here.

Many Christian parents just settle for using the secular texts. But nothing is neutral -- secular texts actually present a worldview that says truth has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, or the books are blatantly pro-evolution or full of other prevarications.

Christians joining government homeschooling are promoting another unintended result. Since government homeschooling vouchers are only supposed to go for non-sectarian materials, the homeschool marketplace is experiencing pressure for more secular texts, even from Christian households that otherwise would purchase decidedly Christian materials. Many of the openly Christian materials produced during the recent upsurge in Christian homeschooling are being bypassed by parents in favor of non-Christian materials -- which can be approved for inclusion in the portfolios that government homeschoolers must turn in to get the continued approval of the state.

Everything you present to your children influences them. When you continually introduce conflicting worldviews in the main subject matter, this gets into the heart of mind of your child. This ad says it all when it comes to why Christians should not let their children be discipled by non-Christian curriculum. This Bob Jones University advertisement very clearly illustrates this point.

At the founding of this country, books were scarce. Often families only had the Bible to teach their children to read from. And a look at the writings of children in those days shows they were more educated than modern children who have bountiful fancy equipment and curriculum.

Yoking with the Unsaved

With government homeschooling, you become unequally yoked with the unsaved. Not just in the task of educating your children by being guided by a humanist system, but in the other associations you and your children make. There are meetings and activities sponsored by the government homeschooling programs. These expose your family to ungodly peers -- both for Mom, and for the children.

2 Corinthians 6: 14-17 says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?" Therefore, "come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord."

Some Christians are under the mistaken belief that since they are homeschooling and since unbelievers are homeschooling, that they are doing the same thing. But shouldn't what we are doing be radically different from what the unsaved homeschooler next door is doing? Is this about homeschooling or is homeschooling a means to an end (in our case, raising up a child in the Lord Jesus?) Educating children cannot be severed from discipleship. Everything we teach should be in light of the lordship of Jesus Christ. Studying mathematics, for example, should be done for the purpose of being a blessing to others through our ability to say, build good bridges. And in the wonder of mathematical rules, children should see the glory of God. But unbelievers are homeschooling for very different reasons -- to create what the public school is creating -- a worldly child.

When you look into the eyes of your children, what do you see? An eternal being who is fearfully and wonderfully made. What does the unsaved mom sitting next to you in the government homeschooling group see in a child's eyes? A product of evolution who lives only for this world?

When you are meeting with a public school teacher or have unsaved homeschooling friends, it makes you less likely to follow your Christian convictions. For example, you might eschew biblical discipline, knowing those in your government homeschooling program disapprove.

Some Christian families think they need government oversight for "accountability". Since most of us are grown up public school children, we cannot fathom a situation where the government does not have its hands all over our lives. But we need to think about this biblically -- no where in the Word does it say the civil government is to be responsible for keeping believers "accountable" in raising their children. Rather, the wife is to be accountable to the husband, who is to be accountable to God.

As government homeschooling becomes prominent in an area, the Christian groups often disappear. The biggest threat to the survival of the private biblical homeschooling movement, by far, is government homeschooling. Why? Christians in government homeschooling have other activities they must attend, and when they do attend private biblical homeschooling groups, there often is tension. In a homeschool support group, Mom tends to talk about her head, her goals, the activities they do and the curriculum they use. The spiritual disparity between the freedom of private biblical homeschoolers versus the bondage of the government homeschoolers becomes evident and can easily explode a good support group.

Also, Christians who join government homeschooling usually stop supporting the Christian homeschooling movement and Christian homeschooling conventions. If a public school employee picks out and pays for your curriculum, and they have their own social activities -- why associate with other Christians at conventions and support groups?

Focusing on Worldly Standards

If you enroll in government homeschooling, you are agreeing to follow the agenda of a system that does not recognize Jesus as Lord. In private biblical homeschooling, you follow God's standards. The first set of standards strives to raise up a child loyal to the state, who views all of life from an evolutionary worldview. The other seeks to raise up a child loyal to Jesus, who views all of life from a biblical worldview.

Some Christian parents claim they will act like the are following the government standards, but try to outwit them by secretly teaching God's standards and getting the government goodies at the same time. But standards are conveyed in many ways -- by the curriculum, by the teaching methods, by the teacher, and by the head of the homeschool.

Jesus made it clear that we cannot follow two masters. What kind of confusion does it foist upon a child to see the conflict of pretending to follow one system, but really attempting to follow another? Why not be openly Christian in all you do in your homeschooling? Why not just reject the world system?

Why does a Christian need government homeschooling, anyway? The pioneering generations of homeschoolers who came before you did it on a shoestring and without government oversight. Many were poor, had lots of children to homeschool, and had to make their own curriculum as most textbook companies would not sell to them back then. Private biblical homeschooling has a record of outstanding academic and spiritual results -- we urge families not to "go back to Egypt."

Burning Out and Giving Up

When you first hear about government homeschooling, it might seem like it would make homeschooling easier -- someone guides you and pays for stuff. But the pressure of humanists regulating your homeschool changes what you do during the day. And possibly running afoul of the government in your homeschooling can create great anxiety. Shadowed by required paperwork, diverted into doing lessons that she would never do if not for a secular institution looking over her shoulder… Mom starts to feel like an employee of the public school.

In government homeschooling, when Mom is feeling stressed about accomplishing her goals, it is Big Brother, not Dad or God, whom she is afraid of disappointing. When she has those inevitable days of feeling overwhelmed, whom does she go to for support? When she says she cannot do it, when she goes to her head for help, does she get prayed for and directed to Jesus? Or, does the public school mentor suggest the next logical step for a government homeschooler -- the brick and mortar public school? Government homeschoolers are a very short step away from the physical public school, and many wind up there within a short time.

There exits a vast network of Christian homeschooling support groups in many areas of this country. If you cannot find a Christian homeschool support group near you -- start one, or find one on-line. Or find a church that has private Christian homeschoolers. Pray that God will provide at least one other family to come alongside you.

Handing over Parental Rights

Currently, there is no greater threat to the biblical homeschooling movement than Christians enrolling in government homeschooling programs. The hard-fought parental rights won by the "pioneers" of the homeschool movement are at risk from Christians who are being lured into public school homeschooling programs. Satan hates independent Christian homeschoolers precisely because they are raising up a godly generation of young people who are serving Jesus with their whole hearts and minds. Since he who controls the curriculum controls the hearts and minds of the children, there is a deliberate push to get all homeschoolers under the control of the public school system.

Government homeschooling weakens our parental rights by drastically reducing the number of homeschoolers willing to put up a fight politically. When parents are on the educational dole, they become concerned with getting more plunder, not defending freedoms. Those who voluntarily put themselves under bondage do not understand the threat of greater government intrusion. Government homeschoolers often say things like, "Why shouldn't all homeschoolers be required to take all the standardized tests? I'm required to. Why shouldn't all homeschoolers be evaluated by a public school teacher? I am."

Once there is a "critical mass" of government homeschoolers, there will be no one left to hold back the onerous regulations that all homeschoolers will be subject to.

The politicians know that government homeschoolers pose no threat to their humanist agenda. Once you accept government money, you give up your rights -- dependents have no motivation to fight the system that feeds them. You have agreed to homeschooling on their terms. Anti-homeschooling liberals have made it plain they will want all homeschoolers under their authority. God never gave that authority to the civil government, only to parents. We do not have a right to delegate away the responsibility God has bestowed on parents alone.

Getting a Vision to Restore the Christian Family

We see biblical homeschooling as a Christian family restoration movement. The Christian family, and thus the nation, is in disarray, largely due to parents allowing the government to raise their children. A spiritual revival of the Christian family can only come through God and His divine order for the family, not through an anti-God system.

Earlier generations made such great sacrifices -- they were hauled into court, almost had their children taken away -- they fought for your right to be free of the public school bureaucrats. You need to look beyond the bait of government money and your fear of being an independent homeschooler. Look at the spiritual state of your family and consider the long-term consequences for future generations of Christian homeschoolers.

Commit yourself and the success of your homeschool to the Lord Jesus Christ. Allow your husband his rightful role as head of the home and homeschool. Instead of becoming a dependent on government educational handouts, become an advocate of protecting our God-given rights to give our children a biblical education, free from government control.

Families who have never experienced homeschooling in the Lord without answering to the government need to know that God will provide -- whether it is materials, hope, courage, or wisdom. Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, "but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

The good news is that we have found that most Christian parents who homeschool will NOT go into public school homeschooling IF they are educated on the biblical reasons not to before they get into it. Once parents are under the control of the public school system -- whether it be in a brick and mortar school or a government homeschooling program -- they are often fearful to leave even when they see the problems with it.

School Education

2007-07-02T05:24:00.002-07:00

This is also the case in The Children’s Act of 1989 as part of the welfare checklist to take into account “the child’s physical, emotional and educational needs”. Expectations reflect the ways in which pupils predict their own performance level, it depends on previous experience. Self-expectation is therefore learned and influenced by parents, teachers and others. To enhance self-esteem in order to aid academic achievement pupils who lack success in learning often react to failure by non-involvement strategies. They have a lack of motivation and retreat into dullness and laziness. When handing out jobs, the teacher only focused on previous achievement. Purkey outlined the following strategies in order for teachers to increase their pupils’ self-esteem: Challenge the pupil e.g., “This is hard but I think you can do it” Give some freedom. Pupils must have freedom to make real decisions Respect the pupil. The teacher should never lower a pupils self worth Academic achievement and social class are closely interlinked. Statistics indicate that social class is directly related to educational success. Occupational class is used as an indicator of standards of living, “A person’s named occupation is basically a pragmatic guide to that persons social position and his or her likely command over resources, it is an approximate indicator of family living standards or social position” (Black)

There are explanations for class affecting educational achievement. The first is Material Deprivation. There are “hidden costs” of free education such as uniform, transport, books and school meals. So being in a lower occupational class does effect a persons socio-economic status and thus has a direct affect on achievement in school. Also, the way in which a family is socialized has a large affect on school work. Douglas did a longitudinal study on the influence of parental interest on educational success. He claimed that this was the single most important influence on achievement for children. The explanation was that middle-class children receive “better” standards of care and that middle-class parents provide more stimulating home environments. Including encouragement and help with homework.

Also, there are cultural problems for the child from a lower-class background. Language styles are different from that the child is used to at home, which can cause him or her to feel divided from the rest of the class, the “odd one out”.

Educating About Discrimination

2007-07-02T05:24:00.001-07:00

This is precisely where some children get their education daily doses. Who determines whether you feel comfortable with your image, you or your surrounding social atmosphere? This is an answer I’ll give for you, it is your atmosphere.

Society has taken our point of view about ourselves and tossed it, replacing it with the belief of the masses. This being good looks is so desired by everyone, it’s worth surgery and any amount of money. The concept of inner beauty is never discovered because the time was never taken to get that deep to find it. Childhood is where we all started discovering what looks meant and what they got you.

That’s why I believe that the aesthetic discrimination starts at the parental level. Parents must curve their whole way of thinking to give their children a chance to make their own assumptions and decisions as they grow older. The child’s role models can try as they might but in the end they can only give positive and negative reinforcement to try and mold the outcome. And even in the best of situations, the child may still grow to discriminate freely among the gamut of things to choose from. Taking all this into consideration it is the parent’s responsibility to point the child in the right direction. Not only by saying do as I say, but also do as I do.

As the child begins and progresses through school the teacher and peers surrounding that child become very important in the up bringing process. As anything else in life, if there is not a strong base for the teacher to start from, it becomes very difficult to teach the child education as well as shape their moral outlook. Teachers should be dedicating time to focus on education and not sorting out social injustices. If one was to present itself in the classroom setting, the teacher should be a reminding force to the student and not teaching new concepts. The teachers do control a very important atmosphere that must remain positive for the students. Teachers have grown so scared, with good reason, to suggest any type of behavior to a student. Parents tend to think that they are the only force or role model that their children should see and they are sadly mistaken.

You also have the parent that sends their child to school to not only get the book education, but learn how to act in a social setting as well. Teachers are very important in aiding the development of today’s children, and the word aid means helping parents, not doing it for them. We as a society need to change as a whole to better serve the youth of tomorrow. Educating children about discrimination is where these stereotypes began and education is where the will end.

How To Home School Your Child Successfully

2007-07-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

There are many benefits to homeschooling children: as costs of private schools continue to climb, homeschooling is a more affordable option; homeschooling allows more educational flexibility and can be scheduled conveniently around other family activities; and the curriculum and learning environment can be tailored to suit your child's individual needs.

When you decide to homeschool your child, you must have a clear curriculum, plan and goals. Homeschooling allows you a great deal of flexibility, in that you can teach a child something in many different ways, and teach many different things for a given subject. However, this very flexibility can also be your downfall if not handled properly, as you run the risk of providing an inconsistent and sub par education that leaves your child lagging behind his or her peers.

Setting a clear educational plan means you have a better chance for effective homeschooling. To set your plans and goals, it is a good idea to first take a look at your child's standard curriculum for his grade in a public or private school. See what the standard expectations are for a given subject level, then set your targets, timeline and curriculum for your child. Once you have decided what your child is going to learn, you can allow for some flexibility in how your child will learn best.

Homeschooling also requires discipline, as it can be difficult drawing a distinction between home and schooling at home. There are plenty of distractions in any household and when you get busy you may be tempted to try and multitask, that is, to educate your child and also do some other chores at home. Parents may even be tempted to give an assignment to their child and then leave to complete some other activities. By doing so, you are sending a negative message that his schooling is not a high priority for you, and this will seriously undermine the child's attitude towards his own education. So make sure to do household duties "after-school" hours and when "school is in," you and your child are both focusing 100 percent on learning. This will communicate to your child that education is important and top priority.

Homeschooling not only allows you to tailor education to your child's individual needs, something that is lacking in both the private and public school systems; it also allows you and your child to learn together, thus helping to create a valuable learning experience, and also to strengthen family bonds.

The Different Cons of Homeschooling

2007-04-07T05:04:00.001-07:00

Despite being a viable alternative to traditional classroom setting, there are still some people who feel that Homeschooling is not for everyone. Like many things, this new system of education has its disadvantages. Here are some of them.

1. When you decide to put your kids to homeschooling, you have to be prepared to spend all day with your children for several days. With homeschooling, you have to be their teacher. You have to be there to supervise their lessons and even check on their progress. You also have to think of activities and make worksheets. This is why most parents would leave work to go fulltime in teaching their kids.

2. Deciding on homeschooling will mean that you have to go against the norm. Be prepared to be grilled by other parents. You should also be prepared to find some difficulties when you do decide to put your kid back to mainstream. Adjustment will be hard as they will not be used to the environment that traditional education has.

3. Spending 24 hours of the day with your child and being their teacher is no joke. At the beginning, you really have to be patient with your child as he or she will not always understand the lesson as fast or as easily as you want. Do not lose your temper because this will only make matters worst. Remember that it is just normal for your kid to be behind in some subjects or to take a longer time understanding lessons.

4. Most would think that a homeschooling education is cheaper. This is not the case. Although you are not paying for any tuition fee, you have to shell out money for the materials that you will be using. Also, a parent may need to quit his or her job to become a full-time teacher. This can pose a problem in the finances especially if both incomes are needed to make both ends meet.

5. Being a teacher is not an easy task. Not only will you have to patient with your child but you also have to put an enthusiastic appearance even when you are not really in the mood to teach them their lessons. It is important that you make the lesson appear fun and interesting for them so that they will be interested to learn. When they see you bored stiff, they will also follow suit, making your task of teaching them all the more difficult.

The Downside of Homeschooling

2007-04-07T05:03:00.003-07:00

Homeschooling has become really popular these past years especially with children who are tired of the old school routine. With homeschooling, students enjoy greater freedom, flexibility and dynamism. Still, there are some that do not feel that the homeschooling program is for everyone. Some believe that not all children can benefit from the program and that specific groups of children are the only ones who can get the most out of homeschool.

Below are some of the arguments against the homeschool program. Read on and consider each before making a decision.

A question of time

Homeschool may provide greater flexibility on time for the kids but it will eat up a lot of the free time that parents have. This is because, most parents are also the teachers of homeschooling children. Ideally, one parent should remain at home and teach the child but this cannot work with moms and dads who have careers of their own.

With the worksheets and teaching that one has to do, home schooling can be really time consuming. It is best that parents first take a look at their schedules before putting their children to homeschool.

A question of money

Most would think that homeschooling is cheaper. In terms of materials and actual lessons, it is much cheaper but remember that with this educational program, one partner will often have to forgo work and go fulltime in teaching the child. This can be a huge sacrifice for the family especially if both incomes are needed to pay the bills.

A question of social interaction

One of the things that many feel puts the homeschooling program to a disadvantage is the fact that studying inside the home de-emphasizes social interaction, which children also need in order to function well in the real world. This is especially essential with children who are at the stage when they are still developing their social skills and are just beginning to communicate.

They need the presence of other children to develop their emotional maturity. Being closeted at home with only their siblings and their parents to talk to may result in a too-sheltered personality that may not be able to cope with the pressures of real life.

A question of norms

Despite being really popular, homeschooling remains to be an alternative to traditional schooling. This means that there are some institutions that still have doubts on the effectiveness of the system. This can pose a problem when parents decide to enroll their kids to mainstream schools.

Character Building 101

2007-04-07T05:03:00.001-07:00

My son was home schooled from 4th through 12th grade. As part of his education, his father and I wanted to teach him about the importance of character development.

I visited some home school curriculum fairs and there was little available about character development. What did exist was often part of a scouting type of program, including such things as camping, crafts, sports and cooking. That wasn't what necessarily our focus, so I set about creating something useful for our family. What resulted was both fun and educational for us all.

First, I wrote a list of character traits I thought were important. Next, I checked the Bible, some sources of great literature, and some biographical works about famous and great individuals in history, to see which character traits they possessed. Finally, I searched for local field trips available, games we might create or play, art projects, etc. that might have anything to do with developing character. Our program, instead of being a scouting type of study in character, became more of a Bible study and study of historical figures.

These are some of the character traits I felt were important:

Caring
Committed
Compassionate
Competent
Confident
Considerate
Dependable
Fair
Faithful
Friendly
Hard-working
Honest
Loyal
Patient
Peaceful
Prompt
Respectful
Responsible
Self-controlled
Sensitive
Sincere
Tactful
Thorough
Thoughtful
Tolerant
Truthful
Understanding

Each week, our study focused on a specific character trait. On Monday, my son would define the trait of the week. On Tuesday, he searched the Scriptures to see what he could find about that particular trait. Wednesdays focused on the teachings of Jesus, things Jesus might have said or parables he used pointing to that trait. On Thursday, great men and women in history were studied to find out which ones exhibited the trait being studied. Additionally, my son wrote a short paragraph about individuals he observed in our community who had exhibited our trait of the week. He would also wrote about how he had exhibited or practiced that trait, or he would create a plan to try to do something showing that he possessed that trait.

Our Fridays almost always consisted of just two things - tests and fun. First, we would test on progress on all of his academic subjects. Then we'd embark on some fun - creating our own games, making trips to museums and art galleries, bowling, roller skating or whatever, as we searched for ways to recognize and reinforce our character trait study.

Not surprisingly, my son was soon searching for the goodness in those around him and pointing out when those around him showed compassion, self-control, honesty and such.

It has been years since we followed this study, but my son still judges people on these important traits, rather than on their outward appearances. And he still works each day to see how he can continue to develop into a man of strength and wisdom.

Tips in Establishing a Homeschool Reading Program

2007-04-07T05:02:00.003-07:00

Reading is one of the most basic subjects that a child should take up during the early years of development. This subject is therefore important in creating a homeschooling program for your child. A good reading program for homeschool is crucial in developing your child’s mental ability and school performance.

The flexibility in schedule and flow that homeschools offer provide a lot of benefits for children. Compared to the traditional setting, a homeschool program can tailor-fit the lessons according to the abilities and knowledge of the child. For instance, with a reading program a homeschool teacher or a parent can skip lessons that the child has already mastered like the alphabet and concentrate on aspects that the child has not yet fully learned.

Another advantage that a homeschool reading program provide is the fact that students can learn at their own pace without worrying about being left behind in the class or keeping up with the pace of others. One must remember that in a lesson plan, there are sections that will be easier to learn for some children but more difficult for the others.

Another aspect of a homeschool reading program that parents should incorporate into theirs is relating the lessons with practical activities and experiences in daily life. This means that learning should not only consist of reading books and reciting phonetics but should also involve practical and situational experiences such as talking to people, selling an idea, asking questions, and even reasoning or arguing.

One can also incorporate reading of dialogues with the use of different voices and intonations. Kids will not only learn from this activity, they will also have fun.

One of the disadvantages of a homeschooling program is the fact that it deemphasizes the social component of learning. Parents and teachers of the homeschooling program can supplement this by creating activities for your kids that will expose them to other people.

For instance, one can organize a small stage play where kids can read their lines and act their part. This is a good way to build their social skills and at the same time provide them with the opportunity to practice the skills that they have developed in their reading program.

Although this is not necessarily a part of the curriculum in most schools, it is also good to encourage your child to read books or to develop a love for reading whether it be books, comics or even magazines. This is the best way for them to fully develop their reading skills as well as build their vocabulary.

A Non-Traditional Tradition

2007-04-07T05:02:00.001-07:00

More and more people are talking about home schooling and online schools. As talk about it increases, so do the questions of parents as to what exactly is home schooling and online schools. Are these two things the same and do these methods really work?

Well to begin, home schooling and online schools are not the same things although it shares a basic principle, which is that the student studies and learns at home.

These two types of schooling are considered non-traditional learning methods as opposed to the regular schoolroom type of setting. However, being non-traditional is one of the few things these two methods have in common with each other.

Home schooling entails that the child or children, are taught by a parent at home. Although done outside of the classroom setting, children that are home schooled still learn the same things that other children learn in school like basic curriculum.

Also, home schooled children will still go on field trips or other social activities that the parent-teacher will plan, as well as learn music and physical education, among other things. There are many reasons as to why a parent may decide to home school their child or children and some reasons may include the fact that traditional schools have their own philosophy and set of values that they teach to their students, so much so that certain basic lessons will be taught with certain slants toward their own preference. To avoid this, a parent may decide to home school his or her child or children.

Another reason could be that one of the parent's job entails a lot of traveling and instead of breaking up the family unit, home schooling will allow the flexible of learning anywhere home is. This same flexibility is shared by home schooling with online schools. An online school is available to its enrolled student anywhere, anytime as long as there is a computer connected to the internet.

An online school's main benefit is the flexibility in time it affords a student. This is why, online schools are preferred by a lot of adults who may want to pursue further studies but cannot do so in a traditional setting because perhaps they already hold jobs or they have other responsibilities that prevent them from learning in a traditional setting. Just like in a regular school, online schools have set curriculums and lesson requirements that an online learner needs to accomplish to earn an online degree.

Home schooling and online schools are considered non-traditional methods of learning only because it is yet to have enough people utilizing them to become the norm. Although they are non traditional, this does not mean that they are any less better than attending a regular traditional school. In fact, in some cases, these non-traditional methods are the best solution available.

Simple Homeschool Success Tips

2007-04-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

There certainly is an abundance of homeschooling information available and this is a good thing… for the most part… as long as you don’t get bogged down in overload and suffer paralysis by analysis. There are a lot of wonderful articles and tips to help you insure your homeschool success.

So, through the experiences of my own and reading about those experiences and advice of others, here are some of, not only the best, but most universal home school success tips.

First of all have fun. Make learning fun. It should be for kids. And by the way, enjoy learning new things with your kids. There is some much in this world that we cannot control, so let’s let control what we can… our attitude and how we approach each and every day. Children will absorb your attitude and mood like a sponge, so stay upbeat and enthusiastic and your successes will reflect it.

Next, limit (or eliminate) your interruptions. This was my nemesis.

In this communication age in which we live, interruptions come at you from every direction, so you’ll need to stay focused. If don’t have an answering device, get one. Turn the ringers off.

Educate your family and friends as to your homeschool schedule. And it’s not just the phones (cell included); it’s the drop by visitors as well. Keep your time you spend homeschooling your kids very sacred.

And while I’m on this subject, this means that you can’t be a distraction to your kids. By this I mean you can’t be running around doing other things while your kids are trying to study and complete their assignments and projects. Stay focused on your children’s education during this time.

I mentioned paralysis by analysis earlier and this one dovetails off of that. Keep your teaching and homeschooling simple. With so much information and programs readily available to you, it’s easy to find yourself using an educational buffet of plans, curriculums, and approaches. Ultimately your kids and you won’t like nor benefit from this.

Be flexible, be pragmatic if something isn’t working, but don’t be mercurial. And when it comes to being a homeschooling parent, you must take steps to organize and simplify your life. During your homeschooling year limit your commitments and outside activities… keep your life simple and you’ll be happier; and with happiness comes success.

Don’t beat yourself up! Have confidence. Know that you can do it. Your faith is your beacon. Reward is directly related to effort. If you are doing all that you can, your children will learn and be successful. Children learn throughout the world in all kinds of environments. Be enthusiastic with each new day, get help when you need it, stay on a path continual improvement, and your children’s educational success will follow.

If you get stuck… read. Without reading skills your children will never reach their full potential. If your day becomes shot full of holes with life’s unplanned and uncontrollable events… then take some time and read to and read with the kids. There is no better life preserver for a day that has spun out of control than to cuddle up and read with your children.

There are so many wonderful people involved in homeschooling, and with today’s technology it is so easy to get in touch with these invaluable resources, you should not go wanting for advice, answers, or just some rejuvenating conversation and reassurance.

Online there are forums and support groups. Offline there is your church or library. Get in touch and be a part. As a homeschooler, you are in a sense a professional educator. Find yourself a couple of good publications and subscribe, or opt in to a few of your favorite newsletters. The message here is that you need not tackle everything solo.

When it comes to resources there is one out there that is often shadowed by the prevalence of the internet… and that is your local library. Your library is a wonderful resource. Libraries are a tremendous resource for videos, audio tapes, learning materials for all subject matter… (And of course books!). If you could only pick one resource and one resource only… choose a library.

Take breaks. For me, taking shorter more frequent day breaks as opposed to less frequent longer breaks always worked better for my family and kids. Of course, the dynamics of every family is different, but if you’ve haven’t tried this approach you should. I think you and your kids will like it. Of course, I’m not talking about a day off every other day… but shorter more often day breaks give you a chance to re-energize and catch up.

I mentioned family dynamics; and since you will be homeschooling you will naturally be introducing a very different and time consuming aspect into your family dynamics.

There will times when there just aren’t enough hours in the day. This is why it is very important to stay focused and plan as best you can. Avoid those activities that steal your day away. Remember, you are homeschooling. Try to organize outside activities all into a day or two instead of spreading them out across your week and having constant ‘little’ interruptions on a daily basis. I would much rather have longer days of outside activities, if it meant I could keep my homeschooling days uninterrupted. I found that my kids and my family appreciated this approach.

Unless you are an incredibly organized and efficient person that operates like a well oiled machine, you’ll find that all of the above won’t come together for you over night. Don’t feel disheartened… it doesn’t for anyone that I know of! No schedule is perfect all the time and no two schedules and organizational skills are the same. Work to sand, buff, and polish what works for you and over time you will find your stride.

A Useful Home Schooling Article

2007-04-07T04:59:00.002-07:00

Interest in home schooling has been growing. In fact, More and more families want to try out this seemingly novel method of teaching and educating children. Home schooling provides many benefits for families as well as the home school students. Some may be new to the concept but it is not that totally new.

The method of trying to educate children at home has its origins at the time when schools were limited in number, with students far outnumbering the capacity of schools, if at all available in the community. It may have been hard to believe, but there were times long ago that most countries were not capable of having the younger population educated. Then it was an absolute necessity for parents to have their children home schooled.

Back then, sometime between the 18th and 19th centuries, home schooling was the primary educational force that has helped advance every child's learning until he grew up into an adult. During those times, the child's education was limited to how much their parents can teach them.

That is why during the 19th century, with all the progress going on all over the world, it has been realized that the government should have to take the responsibility of providing education for its growing population. This resulted in the government building more and more schools to accommodate more students. Then compulsory education was established in order to make more students go to the new schools to get their education. This development brought home education to slowly fade away. But all is not lost.

At present, home schooling has brought a bit of resurgence in its appeal of providing more personalized education to children. More and more parents have become fond of the idea of having more control of what their children learn. More and more parents want to be more active in their children's education. And most of all, more and more parents want to spend some more time to be close to their children and home schooling can afford them to do that.

If you are also interested in knowing more about home schooling, there many articles available for you online that would educate you more on how such a method of teaching can benefit you and your child. These articles would also be able to provide you with the different home schooling methods available that you could try out. Home schooling is one alternative that you can consider if you are looking for other alternatives in educating the young. The benefits and the system being followed by home education might just be the method tailor-made for your circumstances.

Distance Learning

2007-04-07T04:59:00.001-07:00

Students who are not physically sitting in a class room to get their education are taught using technology based instructional systems designed for remote access. This system is known as distance learning or distance education. Students and teachers communicate with each other through printed materials or electronic media or using a technology that provides real-time communications.

Distance learning uses regular mail for correspondence. Real-time or offline internet resources are also used in this system. Television or radio is used to make educational broadcasts to reach the students of distance learning. Isaac Pitman used the very first modern distance learning system in 1840 to teach shorthand through correspondence.

Since 1946, correspondence courses in the distance-learning mode were offered by the University of South Africa, which is one of the oldest distance learning universities in the world. In UK, the Open University was founded in 1969.

For-profit institutions, non-profit organizations, public and privates institutions are offering degree programs and courses in distance learning. There is varying level of accreditation for such institutions. Some of the institutions in USA have very little focus from the countries outside and some of them are mere diploma mills, which are mostly fraudulent.

The distance-learning program was greatly benefited in the twentieth century by using Internet, television and radio.

Even though the presence of a student is not compulsory in distance learning, with the advent of technology, physical presence or lack of it has become an option. In distance learning, electronic classrooms can be classified as off campus or on campus. It is known as institutions using a mode of delivery, which is flexible. Find more info at www.distance-learning4u.info

In many cases, students do sit in traditional classrooms and they are connected to a teacher in a distant classroom through videoconference. This technology increases the power of teaching and learning.

During its history, distance learning has passed through the experience of four to five different methods of teaching using the technology available at that time. The technology that was used were print, video/audio broadcasts, teleconference using video/audio technology, instruction aided by computers and computer based broadcasting. In developing nations, the radio is used for distance learning and considered to be a very powerful medium. In India the virtual university and distance learning centers use FM broadcasting which is very popular among the students.

Earlier models of distance learning used regular mail to dispatch written materials. Among the developing nations, this method is still used in distance learning.

In distance learning both full time and part time studies are possible but most of the students prefer part time studies. Even though distance learning is offered at various levels, it is the most popular option for university level studies. Distance learning is also known as correspondence courses since the teacher and the student corresponded through the regular mail. For children living in remote areas secondary and primary education programs are available.

Testing material caused trouble for distance learning right from its inception. The problem occurs when the student has to complete the assignment and undergo testing. In distance learning a student is completely removed from supervision during the evaluation period.

Home School Options for High School Students

2007-04-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

There are home schooling curriculum for high school students that are available for parents to check out in case they want to put their kids through the program. Contrary to popular opinion, home schooling is not merely limited to primary and lower grade class students. In fact, there are even home courses available for upcoming college students. Whatever age your child is, there are several home schooling resources available that will be able to fill up your needs.

Home schooling has been getting more and more parents in this system of educating their children. To put it more simply, home education is the process of learning where children are taught and educated inside the home. This method of educating children has been around for a long time. But it is only now that it has gathered more interest. The reason for its newfound resurgence may be the fact that more and more parents would want to personally look over the education of their children.

This way, parents will be able to oversee what their children learn and be able to teach subjects that really matter. Home schooling also enables a student to be educated in a very comfortable and familiar environment– their own home. No longer would children have to adapt to new surroundings, as their home is their classroom. Parent and child can also spend more time together through this unique educational system.

If you are interested in having your child home schooled through high school, there are different high school home schooling curriculums available that will be able to provide your child the type of education that he or she needs. The type of curriculum that you choose would depend on the type of education that you want to provide for your child.

There are religion-based high school home schooling curriculums that you can follow if you prefer to incorporate religious component into the lessons of your child. There are also curriculums that focus on the Sciences and the Arts that you might also consider. But also, keep in mind that there are other methods of home schooling available for your child going into high school.

Other home schooling methods available for you include student-paced learning where your child can learn and progress at an individualized speed. It is fairly accepted that every individual have different rates of comprehension, and learning curves. This method of home schooling focuses on the learning rate of your child. This will allow children to master concepts before they proceed to the next lesson instead of adapting to the teacher.

There are also home schooling programs being offered by your local community which you can take advantage of. There are also unit studies that focus on teaching different subjects following a central theme. There are also all-in-one programs that can cover your child's home schooling needs for the entire year. These programs will usually already include all the materials and resources that the home school student would need. There are other methods in home schooling specifically designed for your child in high school, that parents should also look into. It is an opportunity worth exploring.

Designing Your Homeschool Curriculum? Include Latin!

2007-04-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

When designing your homeschool curriculum or choosing homeschool electives or a foreign language course, an interesting question commonly arises. "Should we study Latin?" For many students, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

Consider the following reasons:

* Latin increases the student's English vocabulary. For example, "60% of English words are derived from Latin." (Wheelock's Latin, 6th edition, copyright 2000). If a youngster knows that "amo" means "I love," then he can deduce the meaning of amorous, amateur and amiable.

* Latin helps the student understand English grammar. In Latin, the child must thoroughly learn and understand all the parts of speech and the sentence...direct objects, objects of preposition, nouns, etc. This knowledge is carried over to English.

* Latin aids in learning the Romance and other inflected languages. (Inflected means the change of form indicating the grammatical relationship. Speech is very clear.) Laura Berquist, Director of Mother of Divine Grace Home Study Program, writes, "... it (Latin) is the key to the structure and vocabulary of the Romance languages."

* Latin trains the mind to think logically and precisely. It teaches the youngster how to think. No fuzziness here! One must analyze, observe, evaluate, judge, understand. One must be disciplined, persistent and accurate. This reasoning process is transferred to other areas, such as mathematics.

* Latin helps with standardized tests. For instance, between 1997 and 2004, Latin students scored an average of 157 points higher on the SAT's than non-Latin students. (Latin Centered Curriculum)

* The study of Latin greatly assists those with careers in certain fields. Latin underlies the technical language of law, medicine, science, academia and technology. If a youth is interested in working in any of these areas, Latin is invaluable. Additionally, "The business world has long recognized the importance of a rich vocabulary and rates it high as evidence of executive potential and success." (Wheelock)

* Latin aids the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of Western culture. This classical language flows through history, art, philosophy and particularly literature. How exciting to understand the context of that familiar expression, "carpe diem" and to read Shakespeare and catch the nuances!

Yes, when perusing all the wonderful possibilities for your homeschool curriculum, homeschool electives or foreign languages, consider the study of Latin. It will enhance the student's education in the present and continue offering rewards throughout his life.

Enrich Your Home Schooling Program with a Spanish Flare

2007-04-07T04:56:00.002-07:00

Studies show that if done properly, the non-traditional home schooling method will produce better results that surpass performance of children that receive traditional classroom style methods. This is why it is important to continuously enhance the home schooling experience to ensure the best learning environment for your child or children. Providing a well-rounded curriculum is key.

If you are a native Spanish speaking parent, it is logical to want to home school your child to make sure that he or she can incorporate learning Spanish into his or her learning program. Traditional education may not be able to focus enough attention to learning Spanish and to inculcate and enrich your child's appreciation of his or her roots, home schooling Spanish lessons should be part of your home schooling agenda.

Even if you are not Spanish, incorporating learning a foreign language into your child's home schooling program is sure to enrich your child's learning. Whatever the case, there are computer based home schooling Spanish programs to help you teach your child the Spanish language.

Home's Cool (http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/spanish.htm)

Whatever level of Spanish you would like to teach your child, the A-Z Home's Cool Home Schooling website is a veritable resource of computer based education to help your child learn the Spanish language. Choose from numerous links to sites that offer useful and interesting content for home schooling Spanish programs.

Home Schooling Information & Resources (http://homeschoolinginfoforyou.com)

This site is another rich resource on home schooling Spanish programs into your home schooling agenda. Pick from the many useful and informative links to sources of home schooling Spanish programs to be enjoyed and learned from by your child or children.

This site is also recommended for its educational articles on home schooling to ensure that even you, as the parent-teacher, continue to learn to be able to better teach your child or children.

Experience Tepoztlan (www.ExperienciaTepoztlan.com)

To be able to successfully learn and retain knowledge of a foreign language, the student must continue practicing and have the inclination and interest toward the language he or she is learning. To supplement your home schooling Spanish program and to enrich your child or children's home schooling environment, you and your child or children can immerse yourselves in the Mexican Spanish culture through the Experincia Tepztlan program.

Go on an amazing Spanish immersed adventure through this program because aside from Spanish instruction, this program offers studies in Mexican culture, archeology, Mexican crafts. anthropology and much more. This site also offers a rich resource on home schooling Spanish programs that are very interesting and informative.

Curriculum Review: Bob Jones Reading, Level 6

2007-04-07T04:56:00.001-07:00

For several years, I used the "living books approach" for reading instruction in my homeschool. Homeschoolers who use this approach use real books for reading instruction, rather than reading textbooks. The idea is to expose kids to real literature, rather than an edited selection of literature. Reading edited selections of literature are considered, by some, to be akin to eating pre-digested food. Not very tasty!

Although I was an ardent supporter of the "living books" method, one year I decided to use Bob Jones' Reading textbook, level 6. I made this decision for several reasons:

1. My girls are only 14 months apart, and have been reading on the same level for several years. Having them share a novel never worked well, because they didn't like sharing. Similiarly, if I wanted them to each have their own, this doubled my cost.

2. Trying to keep track of the books was a hassle. Since most novels are paperback and small, they are easily misplaced.

3. Finding a complete set of reading books with a teacher's guide for all of them is next to impossible, and I didn't want to read every book in order to have an intelligent conversation with my girls about what they were reading.

I chose BJU Reading Level 6 for both my girls, even though my older child was in 7th.

This program consists of a teacher's manual, a student textbook, a workbook, and an answer key for the workbook, which is simply the workbook with the answers filled in.

My 7th grade daughter said, "I like the book, but I don't like to answer all the questions!" She was referring to the colorful and engaging text, and also to the comprehension questions that really made her think. Located in the teacher's manual, there are four types: literal (recall), critical, interpretive, and appreciative. My girls often struggle with the interpretive questions, but I don't mind. Sharpening their thinking skills, these questions can be tough. Detailed answers are given.

Each lesson has vocabulary words listed in the teacher's manual for the students to define using the glossary located in the back of the text if you choose.

The workbook has relevant exercises which are tied to the stories. Many types of literary analysis are covered, including flashbacks, imagery, analogies, literary symbols, and viewpoint, among others.

Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carol, Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Marguerite Henry, James Thurber, and Charles Dickens are the most well-known names I recognize as I skim through the Table of Contents. Many other selections are of a Christian theme.

I have been unable to find any BJU materials at a discount. This means that all vendors sell the books for the same price. When purchasing BJU materials, try to find a vendor who offers cheap or free shipping.

I frequently hear glowing reports about BJU's materials, and I now know why. Far from being pre-digested, this is an extremely thorough program. Clearly, it has an aim of educating children in enjoying great literature, and in understanding it as well. Highly recommended.

Home Schooling Publications

2007-04-07T04:55:00.002-07:00

More and more parents have started to consider home schooling as a wonderful alternative to sending their children to public school. Nowadays, the public school system, leave a lot to be desired which is why the option of home schooling has gained popularity.

In a home schooling environment, students won't have to deal with bullies, violence, gangs, and other social hazards that people have come to expect from the public school system. Aside from this, home schooling provides help parents foster and instill belief systems that may not be given importance in a regular school setting. Not to mention that home schooling promotes closer ties between parent and child.

However, there is still some contention in choosing home schooling over traditional classroom instruction. For instance, some might argue that a home school child may not be able to develop social skills properly. This point revolves around the fact that a classroom setting allows children to interact with one another. However, if one really thinks about it, schools provide an environment akin to that of an office and any deep personal interaction will happen outside of the classroom and not in it.

To address social development in home schooled children though, the parent-teacher must be able to incorporate the proper social learning and interaction of his or her child through field trip activities organized with other organizations or other home schooled children. There are also a whole slew of extra curricular activities that may be included in the child's learning curriculum to enrich the learning experience and promote social development.

State laws and requirements must also be taken into consideration in the decision to choose home schooling over traditional education. As a responsible teacher-parent, one must of course learn about the legalities and requirements of non traditional home schooling to ensure the best quality of education for one's child.

To learn all about home schooling-from the basics to improving your current home schooling set up with your child or children, there are a number of publications available to help you with this.

A Natural Learning Experience (http://www.thenaturalife.com/homeschool.htm)

This site's author shares his personal experience in home schooling his children. It is a wonderful resource on home schooling and lists a roster of fantastic home schooling books that will help any parent in home schooling their children.

The How Tos of Setting Up Home Schooling Resources (http://www.home-school.com/Articles/HomeschoolResCenter.html)

This site contains an article that helps a parent-teacher to pick up practical and useful insight and tips on setting up a home schooling resource to ensure a healthy learning environment for the home schooled student. It offers a list for a starter kit on home schooling and lists a few home schooling books that are must haves for anyone serious about home schooling their children.

Developing Your Lesson Plans

2007-04-07T04:55:00.001-07:00

As a homeschooling parent you are acutely aware of how important it is to have daily plans and be organized. Everyone has their own methods and tactics. And most of these plans certainly weren’t perfect right out of the gate and have evolved over time.

As homeschoolers one of the greatest benefits is that of having great flexibility with how you educate your child. But even with this great educational flexibility you shouldn’t really be sailing without a compass.

When it comes to educating, that compass is your lesson plan.

Although homeschooling generally doesn’t require exacting lesson plans to be turned in, however, not having one at all certainly isn’t a good approach to your child’s education.

Let’s take a look at some general concepts and commonalities about lesson plans that may assist you in developing yours.

First of all, you have to start your thinking with what it is you are going to teach. From there, you’ll need what your objectives for the lesson are. In other words, you’ll want to be able to observe specific behaviors your child is going to be able to do or perform as a result of your teaching. You want the outcomes of your teaching to be measurable and quantifiable; so the more specific the better it will be.

With this in mind you’ll want to be descriptive with your objectives. This not only provides feedback on how your child is progressing, but it also gives you as the educator great feedback on your effectiveness. You should also have some sort of description or statement of how you will determine whether your lesson plan objectives have been met.

Take some time to determine what your child already knows about the subject matter and what it is they need to know (prerequisites) in order to successfully complete the lessons.

As you are making your first pass at your lesson plan, be sure to include somewhere in it any materials you will need to accomplish the objectives that you have described. Materials not only necessary for the lessons themselves; but be sure to include any materials you may need for the evaluation process.

Of course your lesson plans will include much greater detail than is given here, but just to get you started here is a quick outline or review of the thought process that goes into putting a lesson plan together.

Determine what it is you are going to teach and what the priority outcomes of your teaching will be… what your child will be able to do as a result of completing the work and the activities contained in your lesson plan.

Determine what it is your child already knows about this subject matter or will need to know. Having a grasp on this will allow for a smooth transition into your current planning and into the next or related level of the subject.

Have a plan on how you are going to facilitate the learning of this subject matter. Be sure to think about any materials that you will need, such as manipulative objects for your child.

And finally, have a method of evaluation; both for the behavior of the child and the effectiveness of your lesson plan and your teaching techniques.

Once you make the loop a few times through the lesson planning process you’ll soon develop a template that works best for you. Using a detailed lesson plan will greatly increase the efficiency of your teaching as well as the quality of the child’s learning time.

No Growing Pains For Home Schooled High Schoolers

2007-04-07T04:54:00.001-07:00

It is said that a good quality education is one of the best legacies a parent can bestow on his or her children. Now, with non- traditional methods of learning such as home schooling programs, you can assure your child or children of quality education without the debilitating costs of exorbitant sending them to good private schools.

Also, most public school educational systems does not allow for customization of teaching styles to cater to your child or children's needs as well as foster an environment for learning that is best suited for your child or children. For these reasons, non traditional home schooling education is gaining popularity and perhaps it won't be long before this non traditional method will be considered mainstream.

In the meantime though, it is in your best interest as a parent to ensure that the quality of education that you bring to your child or children through home schooling is at par or even better than traditional methods he or she can experience in a classroom setting.

For this purpose you must equip your child in proper education, taking in consideration that there are certain levels that your child must reach in terms of learning to be able to qualify for good a college or university in case your child wants to continue pursuing higher education after earning a high school degree.

To achieve this, you might want to consider incorporating a certified web based curriculum for your child or children to ensure that he or she can achieve a good result for a high school degree.

Citizen's High School is a good alternative to traditional schooling for your child or children. This web-based institution provides quality learning programs for your child to earn an actual high school diploma, not a more than a GED. Their accredited high school program will allow your child or children to earn a high school degree without losing the flexibility and freedom afforded by a home schooling system. Furthermore, they offer a cost-effective way to achieve all this.

Keystone High is more than the usual online school because Keystone has solid experience working with parents and children from a home schooling background. In fact, the backbone of Keystone is the fact that it was formed to actually supplement home schooling programs specifically aimed for better education for a parent's high schooler.

Keystone does not want to take away or take the role of the parent-teacher in the home schooling program. Instead they are there as allies to lend a professional service to ensure that your child or children get the most out of a home schooling program for high school level individuals.

School is Where the Home is

2007-04-07T04:53:00.002-07:00

Schools are learning institutions with set values and philosophies that they tend to inculcate in their method of teaching. Usually, a parent's decision as to which school to send their children to are based on precisely the values and philosophies that these institutions are known for. If however, as a parent, you feel that no school or learning institution share your values then perhaps you are better off home schooling your child or children.

Home schooling differs from regular, traditional schooling only in the sense that the child learns all the regular lessons except that he or she does not learn this inside a school room.

It is important to note however that home schooling should include taking field trips, incorporating music and physical education into the child's curriculum, and other duties involved in a regular school day like grading papers and such. It is also important that the child's social development not be taken for granted.

One of the main contentions in home schooling verus traditional learning is that the child or children may not be able to exercise and develop social skills properly since they are not around other children that they would otherwise be in contact with inside a traditional classroom.To get the most out of home schooling and to know if home schooling is for you and your child, below are links to really good home schooling resources on line.

This site is one of the largest home schooling resource you will find on the Internet because of the amount of useful content it has in it. Even better is the fact that this is a non-commercial site which means that the site will not try to sell you anything so that anything you read or learn from the site can be considered neutral as opposed to sites that offer information on home schooling as a marketing tool to sell their products.

The author of the site is a parent who actually does home schooling for his children. You'll find useful and empathetic answers to your frequently asked questions on this site.

The Home Schooling Advantage for Socializing

As mentioned above, one of the biggest concerns raised against home schooling is that home schooled children may not be able to develop social skills as well as children who are taught inside a traditional setting. In this particular site however you will find an article by someone who was actually home schooled as opposed to learning inside a classroom.

Here you will read about how learning at home as opposed to in a classroom did nothing to deter him from developing the proper social skills needed for a fully functioning adult in our society.

Look out also for other useful links found in the pages of the article to point you in the right direction on learning more about home schooling and other rich resources on line.

Learn in Freedom

Here is another great home schooling resource online that showcases what's new and current in the home schooling world. The page is straight forward and easy to navigate, and puts more meat into their content rather than their appearance. This a great site to get started or improve your home schooling.

The Great Home Schooling Debate

2007-04-07T04:53:00.001-07:00

Home schooling has been around for quite some time now. The debate about it's overall effectiveness has been going on for just as long. Recently however, home schooling has been gaining more and more advocates in support of it.

For the longest time, home schooling has been viewed with a somewhat contemptuous attitude by many. They're under the misguided notion that home schooling is for weirdoes and social misfits.

People these days are much more open minded about the idea of home schooling. Lots more parents are choosing to put their kids in some kind of home schooling program.

So what are the possible reasons for parents to home school their kids? What are the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling? Is it right for your child and what must be taken into consideration when choosing to home school your child?

Home schooling has traditionally been for those children who suffer from some kind of condition or whose current circumstances don't allow them to attend regular school. However, more and more parents are choosing to home school their children because they believe it to be a more beneficial alternative to traditional schools.

There are a lot of advantages to be taken from home schooling.

Home schooling allows a child be taught in a more individualized way. The child will not have to compete with several other students for the time and attention of the teacher. Their parent is their teacher and the one-on-one teaching that the child receives will increase the quality of learning.

The nature of home schooling allows for an incredible amount of flexibility and freedom in regards to learning. The lessons and curriculum to be undertaken can be custom made to suit the particular educational needs of the child.

The child can also learn at their own pace, seeing as there's no set schedule that must be followed. A child can take as much time as they need to learn something without being pressured, or they can go as quickly as they can, learning things that would normally take a much longer time to cover in a classroom.

In many cases home schooling will enforce an inherent love of learning and will strengthen the child abilities to learn on their own. These skill will become a valuable asset throughout their lives.

Many parents home school their kids in order to instill moral values that can't be sufficiently achieved in traditional schools. This is especially true if they feel that the child is easily influenced and the schools in the area are a particularly bad influence.

Home schooling helps to cultivate family ties. The time that the family spend together teaching and learning helps to strengthen family bonds.

Thanks to more advanced technology and in particular the internet, home schooling has become even more effective. The internet is a vast source of knowledge and you can find a plethora of home schooling resources like sample curriculums, lesson plans, and all sorts of guides.

The greatest criticism aimed at home schooling is that it might hamper the child's social growth. Home schooled kids tend to be more isolated and many feel that this is harmful.

This isn't necessarily the case though, as studies have shown that many home schooled adults have excellent social skills and are living happy, meaningful lives.

These studies also show that home schooled individuals tend to do better academically than traditionally schooled individuals.

Despite the seemingly many benefits of home schooling, it isn't for everyone. Parents should take in mind several considerations before taking the plunge.

Home schooling takes a tremendous amount of time and effort on the part of the parents.

Teaching will take up most of the teaching parent's day, so this means that the they will most likely not have the time to work. The family must be able to cope with this situation. This is especially difficult for single parents.

Also, the parent must be sure that they will be able teach their child properly and handle all the possible problems and responsibilities that come with the home schooling their child.

Home schooling, when done right can have very positive results. However, getting it wrong can result in absolute disaster. Ultimately, it's up to the parents to assess their child and decide if home schooling is the right choice for them.

The Classical Home Schooling Option

2007-04-07T04:52:00.002-07:00

Home schooling is an attractive option to consider for many parents. The program offers many advantages over learning in traditional schools. Home schooling also provides more one on one teaching time where the teacher can focus on the student as opposed to handling numerous students at the same time. This will allow children to obtain quality instruction.

Students of home schooling also benefit from having a very comfortable and familiar environment for a classroom. Home-schooled students no longer have to adapt to new surroundings, which can also sometimes affect a child's ability to learn. This system can also provide a way for parents to be closer with their children and can also help parents have a more active role in educating their children in the manner that they want.

Home schooling can effectively be used by employing a variety of methods available. There are classical home schooling methods that follow traditional education in conventional educational institutions. Classical home schooling comprises of primary, secondary and tertiary phases which is most accepted in most educational institutions today. Other educational philosophies can also be adopted through the home schooling method.

But the main difference that home schooling can provide is that it can allow a more varied approach into teaching and learning. You can choose from a variety of accepted techniques available that you can use to effectively help your child learn and absorb new knowledge. There are unit studies that make use of a central theme, implemented in context on all the subjects that are tackled.

Home schooling can also follow a student-paced learning approach which depends on a student's learning speed. This approach helps students understand fully or master a concept before proceeding to the next subject or topic. Another approach is the "unschooling" method that encourages students to depend not on direct instruction but learning through an exploration of interests. This enables a child to learn by doing. This approach aims to provide learning opportunities through games and real life circumstances and problems which will enable a child to learn without coercion.

Home schooling is a credible alternative to traditional education. It can provide parents with a choice on how to effectively educate their children. As home schooling is fast getting the approval of more and more people, it becomes a very attractive option made available for you and your children. With your children's future in mind, having different options can be a good thing. And home schooling is an option that you must consider in trying to provide the best education for your child.

Basics of Homeschooling

2007-04-07T04:52:00.001-07:00

There are instances when homeschooling is vastly more preferable than traditional schools. This is in situations when students are not fit to go to traditional classroom settings for one reason or another. Common reasons are problems with mental ability, emotional immaturity and social incapability. Still, there are a lot of things that you have to consider before putting your child to homeschool.

1. Look into the pros and cons

Before embarking on the homeschooling journey, it is important that you study all aspects of homeschooling including the advantages and disadvantages not only for the child but also for the whole family.

Remember that homeschooling does not only affect the child in question but will also create havoc on the lives of all the members of the family especially the parents, who have to stand in as the teacher. Another important consideration is if the family is ready for the responsibility of following a structured curriculum in a vastly unstructured environment.

2. Is homeschooling the best alternative for your child

Although many have attested to the effectiveness of homeschooling in providing education to youngsters, there are still some aspects in the lives of children that they have to sacrifice. One of the arguments against homeschooling is the fact that the social component is forgotten or not taken into consideration.

This is why it is not often recommended for children who are just starting to develop their communication and social skills as they will largely miss out on a lot of developmental milestones in that area. Still, if one truly feels that homeschooling is best, it is good to supplement the absence of a social component with a lot of activities that will expose the child to other people.

3. Getting the right curriculum

What good is a homeschooling program when the curriculum is not at par with the ones being used in traditional schools? It is therefore important to put emphasis on the subjects that the child will be learning at home as well as the skills that he or she will be developing.

To do this, it is good to consult with a professional in terms of creating a good program for your child. There are also resources available over the internet that will help you make a draft. There are also examples of curriculum that are provided by both government and non-government organizations that support homeschooling programs.

Why Asian Kids are Smart in Math?

2007-04-07T04:51:00.002-07:00

We all, as parents, wish our kids are smart in Math. Pretty much like the Asian kids. Today’s world has acknowledged the superiority and ingeniousity of the math skills of Asian kids. We as parents or teachers always indulge in the discussions of rote memorizing the times tables which results in dull boring way to tutor our children. Asians on the other hand have been using age old technique of Abacus education.

Abacus education fits right in this modern world. Abacus as a tool is used in many Asian schools, public and private, to teach children aged 3 through 8 the basic of mathematics. Abacus allows children to learn numbers and calculations with fun. When a child uses his/her finger to move the beads on the abacus, the collaboration between finger movements and brain creates a pictorial memory in the child’s mind. When using the abacus the child makes use of both his hands and this movement spurs both parts of the brain the left and the right part together and initiates development of the cells. Abacus nurtures the minds of children making them quicker and more accurate. Abacus mental math is that wherein the child visualizes the image of the abacus in his mind and then calculates accordingly.

The abacus is the perfect way to make your child understand number systems. The abacus can adopt itself to any base system and allows you to quickly perform calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – even with decimal places. If you want your child to realize his potential and utilize it too then you need to put them on correct path of learning to be able to facilitate this. Math can be pretty daunting but if your child is able to master it then his confidence will grow manifold.

Obviously you don’t envisage a future for your child totally dependent on the electronic calculator even for the smallest calculation. The present education scenario is fast leading to that. That is why many schools in Asia and elsewhere too have adopted the abacus formally for teaching mathematics.

Using the abacus also:

* Fosters a greater sense of numbers.
* Helps develop an intuitive understanding of numbers through their concrete representation.
* Fosters one's trust in the process of calculation by enabling one to observe it in action.
* Manifests the concept of decimal places and the progression of units by tens physically.
* Instantly accomplishes addition and subtraction when numbers are placed on the abacus.
* Improves understanding of compounded numbers (through the use of supplementary numbers for 5 and 10).
* Helps in developing the beneficial qualities of concentration, patience, and endurance.
* Fosters one's confidence in calculation.
* Uses a left to right calculation method, which makes quick estimation and rounding off possible.
* Works on the decimal rather than fractional system, an easy progression to digital systems.
* Develops mental calculation, which is the ultimate resource.
* Develops the right brain tremendously.
* Leads to greater mental capacity.
* Expresses large numbers simply and easily.
* Provides a sense of achievement as one's proficiency improves.

Performing activities based upon the abacus will not only improve the mathematical skills of your child but each successfully done task will boost the confidence of the child. The problem solving capability will be gradually built in him rather than being forced to cultivate it. You can ensure a bright future for your child as many other parents have done that already with these books and the abacus. And you can assure your child the confidence, endurance when it comes to performing math calculations.

Mastering Time Tables with Fun

2007-04-07T04:51:00.001-07:00

When has one ever enjoyed rote memorizing? If you forget just one point or a particular figure the entire thing falls apart. Interesting things never leave our mind and it is more so for children who like to learn the fun way. Pictorial memory is retained better and is definitely more interesting. The Abacus as a tool for mental calculation has been proved by studies to be an effective method of brain development. The benefits of using the abacus to calculate have a bearing not just on this particular area but also on other walks of life too.

Rote Memorization of tables is a very tedious process that the child is obviously apprehensive to it. Learning the tables with the Abacus is a fun way because the retention is better for the child with the pictorial memory. Otherwise if the child forgets just one figure in the time tables then he is sure to get confused about the whole sequence. The Chinese abaci were designed with a special suanpan technique to specially make the multiplication process easier to handle.

According to researchers visual memory is a very crucial aspect of learning. For learning tables with the abacus the children will use both their hands for moving the beads. The synchronizing movement of the hands initiates the cell development in the brain and also utilizing the right part of the brain which is very important to actually master something.

The human brain is divided into two parts the left brain and the right brain. What is used by children most of the times is only the left brain and the right brain which is the actual seat and origin of intelligence is left unutilized. This very important part of the brain integrates whatever information is received and is also responsible for thinking and creative human activities. The learning of time tables through the abacus is one of the many activities that prompts simultaneous activity of the both the parts of the brain.

The use of the abacus is not just a better method for learning time tables over rote memorizing but also the abacus being an attractive tool manages to capture the undivided attention of the child too. It eliminates the phobia attached to tables and makes the processing of numbers a relatively easy activity for them.

Numerical memory and improvement of the spatial arrangement of memory are most enhanced by the use of the Abacus. Apart from that the skill of solving general mathematical problems of the elementary school grade are seen to improve too. The facts stated here are backed by results of tests conducted among children, one group using the Abacus method and the other group without this method. The group using the Abacus method was more efficient naturally as they correlated the calculation with the Abacus image in their minds and were not confused.

So choosing the abacus method for your children will definitely give you the satisfaction of ensuring for them a better future. This will be by making their basics strong right from the beginning. Go ahead get the abacus advantage for your child and recommend it to other people as well so as to pave the way for a sound and confident future for the young generation.

Make a Difference in a Child's Life with Abacus Education

2007-04-07T04:50:00.001-07:00

Speak of Mathematics and chill runs down through your spine. And same is the story when it comes time to teach mathematics to our children. And you as a parent / tutor are not at fault. Today's schooling system teaches a very ineffective method of learning math, rote memorization of times tables. We all wish our children could perform calculations quickly. And we all know the only way quick calculations are done if performed mentally. And once again we think of rote memorizing tables. Well, that is not the case anymore. Today centuries old technique of Abacus education has been revived and the materials are available easily. I am sure by now you are thinking - Why Abacus?

One particular use for the abacus is teaching children simple mathematics and especially multiplication. The abacus is an excellent substitute for rote memorization of multiplication tables, which some young children find daunting. The abacus is also an excellent tool for teaching other base numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base.

Children naturally have vast potential of energy and brain power. But most parents do not know how to tap into the depths of these young minds in the right way and thus fail to realize and nurture these young minds to their fullest potential.

When children use both hands to move abacus beads in arithmetic calculations, it stimulates cells in both the right and left sides of the brain. This results in quick, balanced whole brain development, leading to greater mental capacity. Using the abacus, a child can do all arithmetic calculations up to 10 digits without relying on an electronic calculator.

Using the abacus also:

* Fosters a greater sense of numbers.
* Helps develop an intuitive understanding of numbers through their concrete representation.
* Fosters one's trust in the process of calculation by enabling one to observe it in action.
* Manifests the concept of decimal places and the progression of units by tens physically.
* Instantly accomplishes addition and subtraction when numbers are placed on the abacus.
* Improves understanding of compounded numbers (through the use of supplementary numbers for 5 and 10).
* Helps in developing the beneficial qualities of concentration, patience, and endurance.
* Fosters one's confidence in calculation.
* Uses a left to right calculation method, which makes quick estimation and rounding off possible.
* Works on the decimal rather than fractional system, an easy progression to digital systems.
* Develops mental calculation, which is the ultimate resource.
* Develops the right brain tremendously.
* Leads to greater mental capacity.
* Expresses large numbers simply and easily.
* Provides a sense of achievement as one's proficiency improves.

With abacus, you can help your child achieve more than just math skills. You can boost your child's confidence, provide a sense of achievement, promote intuitive thinking, enhance problem-solving capability, enhance creativity, and improve concentration and mental endurance.

Find out more on why abacus education is increasingly popular in many countries like Malaysia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, Singapore and elsewhere. The abacus has become valuable teaching tool in schools, tuition centers and community centers, and is used by home schooling parents around the world.

This gift to your child will result in big rewards down the road. It is about time you make a decision to enhance the quality of your child's life. Make a difference in your child's life - today!

How is Home Education (home-schooling) Sustainable?

2007-04-07T04:49:00.002-07:00

“What is home education?” someone asked, “And what on earth has it got to do with sustainable living?” This voice came from a few feet behind me whilst I was browsing in the shop at the Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk). The shop stocks, amongst other things, a wide range of books on various aspects of sustainable living, from using natural building materials and organic gardening, to vegetarian cookery and home education. Not that I make a habit of eavesdropping, of course! It’s just that sometimes an unexpected question posed by someone else can make one stop short and re-examine an assumption.

Home education is where parents elect to take total responsibility for educating their own children rather than delegating a sizeable proportion of it to a school. It is a legal and equally viable alternative to conventional schooling in the UK and indeed in many other countries around the world. Estimates of the number of home educated children in the UK vary widely from about 50,000 to 150,000 depending on the source. The number of families choosing this option appears to be on the increase. (Membership of Education Otherwise - www.education-otherwise.org, a leading charity supporting home educating families has doubled in the last two years.)

So in what ways is educating children at home a sustainable activity?

1. It eliminates the school run. This reduces the number of miles traveled, although some of these miles will be made up by families traveling to events and social gatherings.

2. It provides the opportunity for children to take part in daily sustainable living practices. Recycling, composting, growing and cooking their own food, looking after animals, caring for younger children, maintaining the house and garden, learning how to reuse and repair items rather than just throw them away. (Thus learning about how things work and the materials from which they are made.)

3. It provides the opportunity to present information to children in a way that promotes a holistic perspective. Many materials used in schools are produced from the perspective that consumerism is the norm. Some are sponsored by private enterprises who have a vested interest in encouraging children to start using their products from an early age e.g. information on dental hygiene produced by a leading manufacturer of toothpaste who promote the use of fluoride. At home, parents may point out all the alternatives of which they are aware. e.g. the pros and cons of using fluoride as a means of protecting teeth.

4. It encourages children to learn to be in tune with their bodies. They gain greater self awareness through learning how they learn, how they feel about their learning, at what time of day they learn best and how their emotions and health affect them. Children are free to experiment with this and with different learning materials. Therefore, the type of learning is holistic, takes into account their spiritual and emotional wellbeing and is tailored to their individual needs.

5. There is plenty of opportunity for physical exercise e.g. playing in the garden, taking a walk, going for a swim when the swimming pool is quiet.

6. Reduced expenditure on clothing – there’s no need for separate clothes and shoes for school; no need to succumb to peer pressure to buy expensive designer labels.

7. Efficient use of resources at home. The house is well used all day, rather than just being somewhere to sleep or spend the weekend.

8. Efficient use of everyday materials for learning. Much of the equipment used in schools are expensive substitutes for the real thing in the outside world e.g. plastic imitation coins, artificial weights and measures are used in the maths curriculum. At home children learn by using real money, from weighing and measuring real items in, for example, cooking activities, they learn to read from real books. They use the internet and television in the same way as mature students, and conduct their own science experiments using items found in the garden and kitchen and their observations of and interactions with the world around them.

9. Efficient use of time. Little time is wasted traveling between lessons or preparing for them as much of the child’s learning happens spontaneously and during normal everyday activities. Even traveling to and from the occasional tutor led lesson for a home educated child is often filled with purposive conversation, or listening to music or a story tape.

10. Improved health and wellbeing. Because time is used efficiently, there is more time to engage children in alternative medicine, relaxation and spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation and prayer in a calm and unhurried way.

11. More time for hobbies. There is also plenty of time to indulge in a favourite subject area or hobby e.g. music, arts and craft, astronomy, bird watching.

If the numbers of home educating families continue to grow, how will this method of education sustain itself?

A strong possibility is by the establishment of learning communities, perhaps incorporating the facilities already present in libraries, village halls, leisure centres and other community buildings. How is a learning community different from a school? According to Ron Miller in his book “Creating Learning Communities,” schools are places where “Learning is divided into subjects and packaged into textbooks and lesson plans. Teachers are not accredited for their mentoring skills but for their training in methods of class management and curriculum delivery.” He sees the need to “reinvent social and economic arrangements that nourish the soul and reconnect the individual to culture, to community, to the organic process and cycles of the earth, and to avenues of spiritual fulfillment.” Thus in learning communities, the participants – adults or children – decide on their own learning programme, which events they will or will not participate in and with whom. They follow their own learning styles and preferences and learn alongside others with similar interests regardless of age, sex or any other differences.

Parents in many home educating families make the decision to reduce their working hours and/or work from home in order to home educate. This in itself releases adults with a wide spectrum of abilities and interests to facilitate workshops and other forms of learning groups. Life long learning is a growing necessity of the information age. It is no longer true that the majority of what we need to know can be absorbed between the ages of 4 and 18 years, spoon feeding fashion, from a minority of adults officially qualified to teach.

We as adults are already finding that we need the flexibility to retrain and diversify in order to remain employable or successful in self-employment. In my view, it is our ability to learn and continue to learn that will set us apart in the future. For our children, this is likely to be even more so as they are faced with the prospect of a longer working life peppered with many technological, social and environmental changes. Working from home or within a learning community cultivates these self-teaching habits and skills which are the keys to sustainable home learning.

Tally Ho! Abacus Education for Home Schools

2007-04-07T04:49:00.001-07:00

Enter a classroom in any abacus center in India and you will see children busy with something that looks like a toy — tiny brown beads compiled neatly in columns. On the wall is propped a similar toy, though bigger with large, shiny yellow beads.

The teacher calls out a complex calculation, almost like an open challenge. A little boy, barely seven, comes forward and recites a seemingly funny rhyme. He also moves the yellow beads up and down and gets the answer down pat. No furious adding, counting or subtracting! Amazed?

Welcome to the world of abacus education, where rigid arithmetic takes a backseat and visuals and imagination gain centre-stage. Here children learn to use the abacus, an ancient Chinese invention, to solve basic arithmetic sums with speed and accuracy. Institutes, which offer abacus education, claim that they use arithmetic as a tool to develop mind skills, memory and lateral thinking abilities.

Popular in Asian countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand, abacus education is relatively new in India. But several entrepreneurs have been quick to tap the business potential of this non-formal education tool.

Scientific theories associate the left hemisphere of the brain with numerical and academic abilities, and the right hemisphere with creativity and intelligence. Proponents of abacus education claim that while formal education focuses merely on left-brain development, the abacus brings about "whole brain development".

"If the brain is not developed at an early age, one's mental abilities can start declining by 20 years of age. That's why we must tap them young," says Dhaval Shrimankar, CEO, NurtureMinds.com.

The brain gyms — as these institutes are called — are not stand-alone entities, but, instead, operate through a network of local franchises in urban and semi-urban areas. The reach and popularity of abacus education can be gauged from the burgeoning franchisee network.

Today, the same innovative education is available in the US and Canada. The system has taken the home-school communities by the storm. Private centers just like Score or Kumon are springing up from west coast to the east coast.

As an alternative to investment for a franchise, books are directly sold to the interested customers. Many of the patrons take up on roles of tutors as well as franchise owners.

How does Abacus work?

The abacus consists of 13 vertical rods, separated into two sections by a horizontal bar. Each rod contains one bead in the upper section and four beads in the lower section.

When given a sum, the child recites a rhyme corresponding to the kind of calculation involved. This also makes learning fun and easy. Simultaneously, the child moves the required beads up and down. The position of each bead signifies a specific numerical value. At the end of the rhyme, the position of the beads touching the horizontal bar, gives the answer.

As the course advances, the abacus is taken away and the child is encouraged to picture the abacus mentally to come up with the answer. After sufficient training, the child becomes adept at moving the beads mentally and no longer needs to recite the rhyme aloud to arrive at the answer.

Five Tips on Starting to Home School

2007-04-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

Home schooling can be an interesting, stimulating, and even fun journey for both parent and student. But, sometimes, it ends up being frustrating for everyone. Below are ten tips to make homeschooling enjoyable for the whole family:

1. If you are removing your child from a traditional school situation, give him time to adjust to a whole new daily routine. Be flexible, while understanding there is a process called "deschooling" during which your child may seem unusually lazy, withdrawn, and at loose ends, even if he asked to leave school and be home schooled. No one in the family is sure at the beginning of home schooling what a typical school day and school week will look like now, and that uncertainty breeds doubt. Trust yourself and your child by not pushing too hard and by taking his opinions on methods, books, etc. into consideration. Deschooling will last different lengths of time depending on the individual child, the situation he was removed from, and how eager he is to be home schooled. The parent's first job is to make the home school a place where the child wants to be.

2. Gear your teaching methods to your child's strengths. If she's an auditory learner, consider audio tapes and musical tapes; if she's a visual learner, consider including artistic activities within many subject areas. There was a stage in my son's development where he needed to keep his hands busy in order to listen. Therefore, I let him build with legos while he was doing auditory learning. Though it seemed as though his attention might be divided, he actually remembered what he heard better when his need for movement was satisfied through keeping his hands occupied.

3. Utilize your public library. The amount of resources available for free is mind-boggling, especially in cities with multiple library branches. Also, check into the possibility of being able to use the libraries at public colleges and universities nearby. Libraries are not just places to borrow books, videos, and DVD's, but there are also many programs, such as free foreign language learner groups and book discussion groups, to participate in.

4. Find a home school support group in your area. Especially for a child who leaves behind old friends when he leaves school to learn at home, finding a support group with other home schooling families will open up a world of potential new friends and ameliorate feelings of being different because he's no longer in school. Support groups are also of great benefit to the teaching parent as she can share ideas, frustration, curriculum tips, etc. with others who've been there and understand.

5. Whatever the reason you decided to home school your child, the bottom line is that you want her to be a successful learner and a well-adjusted human being. Always keep those purposes at the forefront of your thinking and planning. Even a child who had difficulty in a traditional school can be given many opportunities to be successful in learning at home. Set up successes for your child by assessing where she is, meeting her there, and then proceeding at a pace that is comfortable for the child. Home schooling has produced great succes for many students, but it works best when the parents understand that they too are learners and that learning is a family occupation.

In the first weeks of being a homeschooling parent, I would awaken in the middle of the night and wonder if I wasn't ruining my son's life. Now, six years later, I can laugh at that idea! Home schooling is an awesome responsibility, but, by keeping your purpose in taking on that responsibility always in front of you, you and your family can follow those goals down the road to a home full of learning and a school full of life.

Homeschool Program: Education of The Future

2007-04-07T04:47:00.002-07:00

The idea of a homeschool arrangement is certainly not new. It's been around long and has been recognized as a source of some of the brightest people in the planet including celebrated names like Thomas Edison.

Home education emerged when parents considered that their local academic programs did not offer the grade and rigor that they desired for their children. Thus they'd simply pull the plug on going to a formal education, and instead be tutored by mentors, home teachers, and members of their regions.

What marks many homeschooled children is the independence in terms of selecting what they want to learn. By following a homeschooling arrangement that not only enables a well-balanced foundation in the arts and sciences, but to essentially concentrate in whatever field of interest that they are passionate about, produces genuinely intelligent students who go on to excel vis a vis students in similar formal school programs.

As innovation infrastructure expands and as the overseas workforce evolves, Homeschooling presents a more and more well-regarded option for those who want a dynamic education both in terms of theory and in practice.

Many motivations are cited for opting for Home education. They include but are not limited to religious purposes, disagreements with the local training curricula, feeling of poor class of instruction in the schools, fear that peer impact will have unfavorable affect on their child's development, and for others it's because of disabilities which require broader avenues for achieving an education.

As you can tell by now, homeschooling program options are certainly something that can be considered, even though not considered mainstream. It's important to sit down carefully with your child (as his or her choice should be factored into the decision), as well as local class counselors and anyone other families that may have been involved with home schooling programs to some extent.

Homework: Good or Bad?

2007-04-07T04:47:00.001-07:00

Homework is a very useful tool to improve children’s education, assess properly the education use and motivate further learning. Usually homework purposes include: children’s independent practice in what has been learnt at school; self-education practice when children are assigned to do find and learn some new information independently; development of reading and writing skills when children are assigned to read something new or write a thesis/term paper/summary/book review etc. All of the homework purposes listed above have one common goal which must be achieved for children’s success in future - self-development. Self-development skill includes time management, self-organization, planning and self-control. If the children are able to develop these skills they will inevitably be successful employees, businesses, officials etc. in a future. Thus, parents should bear in mind that homework is sometimes much more important than class work and, therefore they should be involved in the homework process at least once a week.

First, parents should demonstrate their interest in children’s education process. Here parents’ interest does not mean control because many parents think they are involved in children’s study by repeating the questions ‘How is your school?’ or ‘what marks have you got today?’ or ‘have you done your homework yet?’ The right questions would be ‘May I help you with your homework?’ or ‘You can ask me your maths questions because I love maths.’ Some parents find it difficult to manage homework help for their children. Here the school visit and teachers’ communication would be very helpful because teachers are always pleased to see parents’ interest and would be glad to encourage parents by giving him some advice.

If parents can clearly understand the importance of homework it becomes a very good and useful tool to develop their children and succeed at school. Parents should understand that homework teaches children how to be independent and responsible. Sometimes children think homework is boring due to some reasons: they cannot find the resources needed for homework; they want to spend out-of-school time by playing and going out; they associate homework with their class study and do not want to continue studying after school. Knowing all these reasons may help parents make children’s homework process easy and fun. Parents can help children with resources search and finding and they are able to make study process fun. If your child does not like reading start reading yourself! Show your great interest in the book you are reading and your child will definitely ask you: ‘What are you reading about? What’s so fun in it?’

Children are much more interested in activities demonstration rather than words. Parents should not be lazy in demonstrating interest in study, and homework will not be seen so bad and boring.

4 Reasons Why You Should Homeschool Your Child

2007-04-07T04:46:00.002-07:00

A recent survey indicated that nearly 30% of American parents are seriously considering homeschooling their children rather than sending them to school. Home schooling is a different way of education for many parents. It allows children to be educated at home free from the daily school assignments and pressure. It also allows more bonding time between the child and the parent fostering closer relationships.

There are 4 main reasons why you should homeschool your child. They are

1) Academic Results

One of the reasons parents are hesitant to adopt homeschooling is because they are afraid their child’s academic results will suffer. However studies have shown that children who are homeschooling have the same and if not better academic results than those going to traditional schools.

You could also say some of the world’s most famous people were homeschooled. Examples include Benjamin Franklin, Florence Nightingale, Winston Churchill and Thomas Edison. Their achievements do not compare less than those who went to school.

Home Schooling allow the parent to cater the study schedule according to the needs of the child. In school, since a teacher has to teach 40 to 50 students at a time, it is quite impossible to cater a specific teaching schedule for each child.

2) Social Reasons

Another important reason why you should homeschool your child is because traditional school do not deal with this aspect of education. Teaching your child to be comfortable with dealing with people.

By introducing your child to church programs and other volunteering programs to help others, it educates the child’s moral values which are just as important as academic results.

Homeschooling also shields the child from bad habits due to peer influence. Examples are smoking, alcoholism, gambling, sex, drugs and violence etc

3) Family Bonding

Since homeschooling allows more time between your child and parents, the family relationship is strengthened and there is more family bonding. The child self-confidence and self-esteem improves. Studies have also shown that homeschooled children values family ties and kinship more.

4) Religious Reasons

Schools have always kept away from religious issues due to its sensitive nature in our country. The schools typically has a neutral stand regarding religion and spirituality. Therefore, most schools do not have any kind of religious education

Homeschooling does not have that limitation. Parents can pass on their religious values to their children. This has a great impact on the spiritual development of the child.

Are there Home Schooling Programs Available for College Students?

2007-04-07T04:46:00.001-07:00

Contrary to most people’s opinions, home schooling is not just limited to primary school students. In fact, there are many home schooling courses available for college students as well both offline and online.

Home schooling has been gaining more popularity in recent years because parents wanted more control over their child’s education. Parents wanted to oversee what their children is learning and teach them the right way.

For higher level college education, there are several types of home schooling programs available. It depends on the type of education you prefer your child to undertake.

One type is religion college home schooling. They have home schooling curriculum that have religious studies as part of their education.

Another type focus on the science while another focus on the arts. It can also be a combination of the above since college home schooling is quite flexible. You can cater your home schooling curriculum based on the interest of your child.

One thing all these college home schooling programs have in common is that they can be taught at the pace your child is comfortable with. Since each child learns differently and at different pace, the college home schooling program can be altered to suit each child’s learning progress.

There are also college home schooling programs offered in your local area. Some are theme based while others are focused on a particular subject. It will help if you can find yourself aligned with a home schooling group in your local community, if not you can do it online via the numerous homeschooling forums

Why Reading Aloud To Your Child Is Important

2007-04-07T04:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so your child loves to watch television, play video games, surf on the Internet, and listen to music. And there's nothing wrong with those activities, as long as they're used in moderation. Most parents would also love to see their kids participate in more constructive activities -- like reading children's books -- but the trick is to get your little ones to actually sit down and crack open a book a few times per week.

One way to start is by sitting down and reading aloud to your children. By reading aloud to your kids, you're showing them how to enjoy children's books, the English language, the wonders of a good story, and hopefully, you're instilling a love of reading and learning. Many kids associate books with the drudgeries of school and homework, but you want to show them how a well written children's book can be an exciting adventure, a real pleasure, as their imagination takes them to places they've never been to visit with people and characters they've never met.

According to a recent US government study, there's a direct relationship with reading aloud to your children and childhood literacy rates. Reading children's books and other materials to your children is not only a great educational head start for pre-school, but also a wonderful social activity, and a chance to spend quallity time with your kids.

Reading to children is shown to have a positive effect on children’s literacy outcomes, the government report concludes. Through experience with books, children gain important exposure to written language. They begin making connections between the spoken word and the printed word. Policymakers contend that it is important to read to your child.

Regrettably, few children today seem to read for pleasure. In one study, only 7 out of 10 9-year-olds said that they enjoy reading as a pastime, compared with 78% five years ago, while for 11-year-olds, the proportion has declined from 77% to 65%. Children said they preferred watching television to going to the library or reading. But the biggest changes in attitudes were among boys. In Year 6, only 55% of boys said they enjoyed stories compared with 70% in 1998.

So getting your children -- especially males -- to read, and enjoy reading, is a real challenge these days. And again, one way to tackle that challenge is to read to your children aloud. One technique is to make reading a children's book a game, an interactive adventure that you can both enjoy. After all, this is another way to spend some quality time with your kids, which is what they want anyway.

Another way to use children’s books and literature to teach is through the so-called "Charlotte Mason" method. In this method of teaching, the child "tells back," in his or her own words, a short book or poem, or a chapter of a longer book. The child is forced to focus on the story, and understand its meaning. This type of verbal narration is especially effective in younger children who may not have the writing skills necessary to put their thoughts down on paper.

The goal is to get your child to open a book for fun, on their own, without prodding from you or their teachers in school. I can remember my own excitement and fascination when I discovered the Lord Of The Rings trilogy as young teenager, and how many hours of entertainment and enjoyment I culled from the pages of that classic fantasy series.

Parents Shall Study

2007-03-28T02:45:00.002-07:00

However, there are many researches which have proved that parents involvement shall not be less that teachers’. Such point of view has been proved by some studies which demonstrated the big shift in children’s scores and education level when their parents get involved in children’s education process. The great effect of parents involvement can be explained by psychological aspects and children’s attitude to their parents.

When children are not demonstrated learning environment at their homes they would hardly start learning something at home. The learning environment at school is considered by them as a contrast to rest and relaxing environment at home. If no family member are interested in learning children would have the worst example of home behavior. If there are no books at home children would hardly be interested in reading at home.

Often parents demonstrate their interest in children’s learning by asking simple questions of ‘How is your schooling?’ or ‘Have you done all the home tasks yet?’ They can often encourage children to study by promising some bonuses and gifts (sometimes they even pay children for good marks). Such questioning and money encouragement do not give children the clear idea of learning goal. One of the strongest forces that drive children’s behavior is following parents’ behavior models. Children follow instinctively their parents’ communication and attitudes models and have a will to be like their parents. Thus, children would be much more interested in learning at home if their parents will demonstrate great interest in learning by themselves. If children can see many books at home and parents reading something new during evenings they would like to read at home like their parents. Parents can also read aloud to interest children in what they are reading about. Children mirror their parents in behavior, communication and attitude standards.

Children’s attitude to their schooling directly depends on their attitude to teachers and parents. Parents can create the stuffy attitude model by active participation in children’s school life such as volunteer activities in school life, teacher-parents conferences and meetings and classes’ attendance. The more parents know about their children’s school, teachers and school activities the more their children are interested in study.

Many parents would argue they do not have enough time for school activities and teachers’ conferences. They have to work till the late evening and are so tired after work. However, watching TV in the evening can be easily replaced by communication with children, reading and doing homework together.

The Dangers of Buying a Custom Term Paper

2007-03-28T02:45:00.001-07:00

In case you are planning to cheat on a term paper, you should at least know how to do it right. Even though most teachers are not willing to admit it, many of the essays they get from students are copied, plagiarized or written by someone else. There are hundreds of companies available which offer custom term papers for lazy students who have enough money to pay for them. These websites are constantly looking for students who wish to get their papers done without any efforts. These companies will provide them with papers for a fee, promising that it will be custom term paper and will get a good grade.

Many students who have tried this will tell you that custom term papers are not as good as they might seem at first. Many colleges and universities have tracking down systems. They check if there are the same essays online and even cross-check the past students essays from your university. Thus, if you are planning on buying your economics class from a senior student, then you might consider the possibility of being caught. It is also possible that your custom paper is not as custom made as you think it is. Many professors will copy one paragraph of your paper and check it online and they might find some similar essay posted online somewhere.

Many of the websites selling custom term papers provide a few paragraphs of the essays on the website, so that students will get an idea what they are paying for. However, this is a wonderful way for any suspicious professor or teacher to find what you've done. Sometimes you might try to contract someone else to write a term paper for you via e-mail or a message board.

However, most frequently the style of the essay will vary your own writing style and the teachers might get suspicious. They will start asking questions and eventually you might get into trouble, so in my opinion it's not worth taking that risk. Many high schools will be able to forgive plagiarism but if you do that in college or university you might get suspended. Most students realize the risks of paying for custom term papers and thus they don't do it. Don't risk being expelled. If you really don't have the time to finish your paper in time, talk with the professor. Most of them will give you some time extension. Even if they don't, it is better to give them a late essay than a stolen one.

Learning Will Never End Up

2007-03-28T02:44:00.002-07:00

The great positive influence of learning on human’s health and social position can be used by parents to encourage their children to successfully study at school. Children need to be encouraged with their school study every day. Though teachers can do such job perfectly they meet children and are able to communicate with them during school classes only. After school children are isolated from study environment and their teachers who guide them. This isolation causes the children’s ignorance of home education (homework and home assignments, additional learning in libraries or with home reading etc.). It seems very hard for parents to inspire children with their home learning by simply telling them they should study all time. The best way to convince the children in learning importance is to become learning models for them. Thus, parents themselves should start home learning so that to be caught while reading, talking or even painting something new. If parents want their children to be excited with learning process they should be excited with learning themselves.

It is very important to keep educating process through the life even if parents seem to have well-established positions and know everything they need in life to be happy. Parents may interest their children in study by learning some interesting, exciting and funny things. Here quick puzzles would be very effective. Parents may make up such puzzles themselves by giving funny questions to children and some hints of how to find answers. Answers may be hidden somewhere at home in the form of things or sheets of papers with written answers. Children should associate their home with something new to discover every day, they should know that there are always something new and exciting in the world that they cannot miss. Learning is not boring, homework should not be seemed as boredom, but something that would entertain and bring benefit. Brain power demands hard work, but this work cannot be boring. ‘Knowledge is power’, and power cannot be boring. Power is something you can use to change your destiny, people lives and even the world globally.

Read them, read together with them, learn with them, help with their study and show your vital interest in the children’s success. Make your children think globally and show them the whole world as exciting source for great discoveries and unique benefits.

Homeschooling or Private School?

2007-03-28T02:44:00.001-07:00

First, parents prove public schools cannot give the best education because teachers are not able to give so much attention to each pupil. Thus, a child cannot be developed relevantly and this would hardly help teachers discover his abilities. Social life at public schools are seen by parents as the worst model of their child’s future environment where individual tends to adopt himself to other individuals even if he does not want to. Parents who advocate homeschooling often accuse public schools in developing social models of behavior and thus, they restrict children’s freedom in choice and willingness to develop. They believe ‘white crows’ are cruelly punished by society and feel their children are those ‘white crows’ who would be hurt by other pupils and teachers as well.

Public school accusers say home environment can prove each child’s uniqueness and show there are not limits in development and freedom of choice. Public school teachers can hardly notice each child’s unique abilities and features because they have to provide education curriculum in full amount and do not care of (or just have enough time for) developing study individual techniques and approaches. Both reasons, social life models and loss of individuality, are so serious accusations to not be researched deeper and more careful.

First, social environment is inevitable thing children will have to meet in adult life. While the worst social environment model can be simply determined by alcohol drinks, drugs, cigarettes etc. the best social environment model for each child is hardly seen by even most intelligent parents. In this case parents follow the same error they accuse public schools for: they impose definite social standards for their children by knowing well what is best for children.

Both models cannot be accepted because children are not allowed to think themselves by either public school teachers or their parents. The question of freedom remains open. Next, many parents have not really experienced in anything what is relevant to education and teaching. They can easily fail while trying to present and explain their children the new topic or phenomena. They can prevent their children from ‘bad’ social environment at public school but they cannot be sure their children would not tend to find ‘bad’ friends out of home because homeschooling does not isolate children during their free time. Homeschooling develop individualistic behavior which leads to what parents fear of - the ‘white crow’ effect.

Both public school education and homeschooling have its advantages and damages, and parents should think twice before giving preference to any of education methods. They should remember that the happiest person is a person who is able to find his/her native environment which can help him/her develop his/her individuality and feel happy among others.

Homeschooling Socialization: The Greatest Conflict of Homeschooling

2007-03-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling socialization is by far the most major conflict in relation to homeschooling. The problem is that, by removing your children from the public school environment, you are depriving them of the social development offered by public schools. After all, it would be difficult for a child to develop social skills when they are not given the opportunity to interact with other children. As such, this remains as a huge homeschooling disadvantage.

Is This Best For My Child?

As a parent, a great concern should be placed on your child's social development. Whether they are in the job market or the super market, being socially adjusted will help anybody excel in life. While research shows that there is a homeschooling advantage (in many different ways), losing the ability to learn how to be social is always a disadvantage to any homeschooling curriculum.

This problem, unfortunately, goes beyond losing the opportunity to develop social skills, as children will also lose the opportunity to develop close, interpersonal relationships with other children. However, as strong as these problems are, they can be avoided by extending your homeschooling program to allow for your child to interact with other children. You simply need to expose them to a social environment, such as a public park or a sports league. After all, with all of the advantages homeschooling offers, taking the time to ensure social behavior of your child is a small price to pay in making sure your child develops as a well-rounded individual.

How Can I Start?

If you are interested in homeschooling your child, find a homeschooling resource to create your own homeschooling program. If you want religious teachings to be a part of your child's daily education, find a Christian homeschooling guide, as many are available on the Web if you take the time to do a little research. Additionally, you can choose to use homeschooling software to educate your child by finding a program that offers homeschooling online.

For parents that feel as though they need to speak with someone directly to answer all of their questions, seek out homeschool counseling, as these counselors will give you the resources you need to establish your own homeschool. Finally, be patient, as creating a curriculum is not an easy task.

Remember, while homeschools do not offer the same social environment offered by public schools, the advantages are clear. Because of the amount of time you will have to spend with your child, you will bond with him or her in a way that most parents do not get to bond with their children: education. Additionally, because you set the curriculum, you get to decide what information your child should learn and what information they should not learn.

Finally, you will have the benefit of knowing exactly what your child is being taught, meaning that a public school instructor will not have the opportunity to teach things to your child that you do not agree with. Homeschooling is not right for everyone, but if you feel it is right for your child, then it would definitely be worth your time to look into homeschooling as an option.

Why To Use Dry Erase Boards For Instructive Purposes

2007-03-28T02:42:00.001-07:00

As you know the dry erase boards are very useful in the classroom as well as in the boardroom also. These dry erase boards are allowed to post information in a very animated fashion. Teachers or a presenter can speak their views or information not only through verbally but also they can write down on the board, sketch pictures, and note important points. Even they can also color code information on the board also. You can find dry erase boards in many school rooms because they are more versatile to present more options by a teacher or a presenter.

The advantages of a Dry erase boards are flexibility. The teacher or the presenter can use this Dry erase boards to use many different colors for color coding. Even with the help of marker wipes off they can also change what he or she has written quite easily. In fact these markers also do not smudge like chalk may be this will is a advantage. Some people struggle in a classroom environment to read a blackboard from a distance but this Dry erase boards brings with a solution that you can also read from a distance easily.

For a professional presentation the dry erase boards are used for instructive purposes maximally. It can be perfectly spaced even it will look great if you will use this dry erase board. You can also find this dry erase boards in a board room for employee training or in school classrooms. You can give very professional touch to these accessories as they are very versatile. You can wipe it away when you are done. Dry erase boards became fabulous choice to use for all instructive purposes as you can found in different color choices, ease of use, and its versatility.

Finding dry erase boards

No doubt this dry erase boards are becoming popular in schools, colleges and even office seminar rooms today. There are a lot of suppliers who provide these types of boards which makes them increasing rise in demand for dry erase boards. In fact you will not counter to the problem of finding a dry erase board for your classroom, seminar or lecture room.

The raw material of these dry erase boards are like of solid wood which are usually rounded by durable metal frames. Since25 years, most of the companies are supplying these dry erase boards to the consumers for their ultimate needs. In fact you can also be sure of getting high quality boards with guaranteed products from the most of the supplier are fully experienced.

The main advantages of the dry erase boards are like you can enjoy them while using these products. They also promote an interactive atmosphere despite of the setting in which they are used. Even the dry erase boards can be bought at very affordable prices. Then it is up to you to choose for which requirement you are buying it may be for the classroom or the office. However you can get these dry erase boards at affordable and economical prices. Any how you have to sure about a dry erase board which is to always go for non-toxic and ultra low odor boards and this note you should remember while you are purchasing this. You can also get these dry erase boards on the Internet from the good dealers also.

Home Schooling Cons

2007-03-28T02:41:00.001-07:00

The concept of individual teaching as a means for greater and faster effectiveness of education has been established for recent decades. In many cases this concept was successfully proved by children who were educated at homes and could present brilliant knowledge and skills comparing with their peers who were taught at public schools. The statistics said home schooling children presented high scores 15 percent more than public school children did. However, the knowledge in general subjects was lower because home schooling education was focused mostly on specific subjects teaching. This is because general knowledge is required by public education curriculum for children’s social and individual development while parents who choose home schooling want their children to obtain specific knowledge required by successful careers and high job positions. Thus, home schooling education does not really care of children’s general development and social education. Home schooling children are not able to feel comfortably among other children and very often they separate themselves being individuals who cannot accept a definite social environment.

Adequate behavior and social adoption are the main techniques to feel happy and live in harmony in society. Home schooling children are not practiced in these techniques and, moreover they are not even taught them. Home schooling can develop these techniques independently from society but it cannot teach children how to survive in this society. Thus, home schooling children start feeling anger and estrangement regarding people out of their homes. These children feel like aliens among other children and would hardly be able to adapt to definite changes in society. While their parents focus on their individual abilities development and education quality their social perception declines to zero. For them the society cannot have any advantages and joys; living in a society is inevitable fighting for future.

Social development is very important because life will not only give parents and tutors forever. Some time later it will give other people who can be ugly or perfect, positive or angry, calm or furious, friendly or negative; and nobody will not be able to say ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ till he is separated from society and can judge independently.

Parents who prefer home school education should remember their children are not with their homes and families forever. Sometimes in a future they will be eager to find out what happens outside and they will meet thousands of other people, a society which can be enjoyable and perfect if you are ready to meet it with love.

BEST Websites for Kids

2007-03-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

When I set out to find the best websites for kids I wanted to make sure that the sites had real educational value and were easy to use. I did not want any sites included that asked for any information, not even an email address. Websites that had too much advertising were avoided. And, finally, I wanted the sites to be free or very low cost.

I always advise parents to look at any sites before sharing them with your kids so that you know exactly what is on each site.

So with that in mind, here are my choices:

Starfall

Starfall is a website that helps children learn to read. It has everything from learning your ABCs to reading books. The graphics are colorful, attractive and simple to click on. The audio is clear and easy to understand. Best of all it is a jump and go site. No login and nothing to click through to get started. They also offer free printable worksheets to practice writing. And it is all FREE. Starfall can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. The site is listed for Kindergarten through second grade, but preschool kids enjoy learning their letters and struggling readers may enjoy it also.

PBS Kids

PBS Kids is a wonderful site that has lots of familiar characters that children love: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Arthur, Maya and Miguel, and Sesame Street, just to name a few. The pictures are bright and attractive and the audio is great. For older children, ZOOM is a favorite. They have games to play and free printable worksheets. PBS Kids is a jump and go website as well. No login and nothing to click through to get started.

One of the great things about PBS Kids is that some of the areas of the site are companions to the television shows seen on PBS. Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow, Maya and Miguel are all represented in the website. Once again, this site is FREE. PBS Kids is recommended for children preschool through elementary.

If this were not enough, they have great parenting pages!

The Literacy Center

This website is much smaller than the others; however, I like it because it is simple to navigate for preschoolers and kindergarteners. The have cute online games in English/Spanish/German/French for children learning colors, letters, numbers and shapes. This is a great place for ESL (English as a Second Language) to begin saying the words in English. Some children may enjoy learning the Spanish, German or French words for fun. The audio is very clear. This is also a jump and go site. And it is FREE.

Guys Read

Jon Scieczka, a famous children’s author, created the Guys Read website in order to promote literacy for boys. It is an established fact that boys don’t always take to reading willingly. I have seen this in my own classroom and there have been studies done on this very subject. So how can we encourage boys to read more? One of the ways is to provide boys with books and other reading materials that they enjoy. The Guys Read website was created to give guys (little guys and big guys) a place where they can find books that are interesting. There is also a forum called Readerville where they can talk with other guys about the books they are reading.

Scholastic, Inc.

You may be familiar with the name Scholastic. They are a publishing company that has been serving the educational community for years. They have Book fairs at schools, Book clubs and offer online lessons for a fee. But, lucky for us there are many free activities your child will enjoy. Scholastic is the home of the Magic School Bus and the famous Miss Frizzle! You will also find Clifford the Big Red Dog and other favorites. The younger children will need some help to navigate the website at first. There are plenty of activities to do and they have parent pages as well.

Clifford’s Interactive Storybooks This area of the Scholastic website is located within the teacher pages. Children can listen to the stories and practice reading. It’s lots of fun!

National Zoo

The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The website is excellent. If you have a child that likes animals, you must visit this site. The site is jump and go, meaning you can start exploring immediately. Younger children will need help searching. The live animal cams are very popular! The photo gallery has excellent pictures as well. So much information is available you really need some time to explore and even then you will always find something new to discover on subsequent visits.

The San Diego Zoo also has a great website.

Enchanted Learning

This website is HUGE and covers everything from the Alphabet to Zoology. The information on this website (over 20,000 pages) is available to everyone for FREE. You can just view or view and printout the pages. This website does not offer interactive games; however, if I had to choose just one website to have available to my students it would be this one. I said students, rather than children for a reason. The information on this site is so extensive that even college students could use it for basic research. (I have.) I am not kidding. You have got to see this for yourself.

As I said, all of the information is free, but they do offer a membership. Members can print out all of the pages with no ads showing.

I cannot believe that so many people have never heard of Enchanted Learning. I would expect that a membership to this site would cost at least $50/year if not more, but no – and it’s not $40 or $30 either. For just $20/year your entire family can benefit from this BEST Educational Website Ever! (and remember – if you don’t want to become a member, you can still enjoy all of the benefits for free)

BookPALS Story Online

BookPALS is presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Celebrities read children’s books aloud. The site also features activities for kids. The audio is excellent and it has lots of great pictures. It is a jump and go site, but a speedy computer is needed, otherwise it can take a long time to load and the buffer won’t take it without pauses.

abcteach

abcteach is the greatest! This is the favorite website of teachers. There are so many things you can print and use from coloring pages to reading comprehension practice. They also have a fabulous math section. The website has now introduced an area for middle school students. In order to be fully functional the membership fee is $35/year; however, over 5000 pages are available for free. In addition to the great reading activities at abcteach you can find flashcards, puzzles, mazes, clip art, report covers and so much more. This is a great place to find excellent printables. Parents will have to choose and print the activities for younger children.

Go surf for fun!

The Vast Majority of Homeschooled Students are NOT Unsocialized

2007-03-28T02:39:00.000-07:00

Today's homeschooled student is not a child living somewhere in a remote place with no social interaction. Though that still seems to be the common perception among the majority of people not intimately familiar with homeschooled students, it is an erroneous assumption. As a homeschooling parent for the last six years, I've met dozens and dozens of other homeschooling families while living in two different states, and the vast majority of the children of all these families had social skills equal to or surpassing their public school peers. Some of the most articulate and courteous teenagers I've met have been raised in homeschooling families.

When you really stop and think about it, most parents who are willing to put in the effort to homeschool their own children care greatly about the future of those children. Those parents generally take a lot of time and thought in making the decision to homeschool and therefore research both academic and social opportunities for their children. In the 1970's and 1980's when homeschooling was beginning to grow but was far less common, it was often difficult for homeschooling families to find support and extracurriculars for their children. However, homeschooling is now far more common, and most geographical areas in the U.S. have several support groups and extra-curricular programs for homeschoolers, some secular and some religious-based. In addition, many school districts allow homeschoolers to participate in after-school and other programs. In my family's experience, there are far more activities and groups to choose from than we would actually have time to participate in and still give adequate attention to the academic side of homeschooling.

Additionally, even for children who attend public and private school, most socialization comes from family and not from peers and teachers. It would be frightening to think of a child growing up socialized only by his school experiences with no steadying influence from his family. The family represents the child's first social circle and, by the time he leaves the family circle to attend school at age 5 or 6, his basic way of relating to others has already been established. Yes, if from that point on the child is isolated from the world, he would not have the skills necessary to interact with others as an adult. But, again, the vast majority of homeschooling parents want to provide a strong academic and moral education so that their homeschooled child grows up to a force for good and positive things in a world where so often, even in schools, so much is negative. A child who is well treated by the society he grows up in, be it the society of family or the society of community or the society of a school, will be a well-socialized child who treats others well. The real issue for all children is to make our families, our communities, and our schools well-socialized places.

Effective Math Tutoring

2007-03-28T02:38:00.002-07:00

People may think that the key to effective math tutoring, or tutoring in any area for that matter, is contingent upon the knowledge that the tutor brings to the table. While knowledge of one’s field is certainly important if a tutor is going to be effective, more important is the tutor’s ability to relate to your child and give him or her the necessary confidence to succeed in the math subject at hand. During my many years of math tutoring, students would come to know that I knew my field well, but more importantly they came to know that I could relate to them on a deeply personal level. Once this aspect of the tutor-student relationship is established, tutoring becomes markedly more effective.

Whether you are working with the slow learner, fast learner, or in-between learner, you as a math tutor must be able to get inside that student’s head and find out what makes him or her tick. You also need to assess whether your particular student is an auditory learner, visual learner, tactile learner, or some mixture of these. It certainly does not hurt to find out the interests of your student and gear your remediation of the troubled subject toward this particular interest. Thus if sports is dear to Johnny, the struggling algebra student, then you should try to center your lessons around sports and interject some sports related problems to the sessions. For example, in remedying Johnny’s problems with decimal equations, you might relate decimals to batting averages and percentages such as a pitcher’s earned run average (era). In dealing with projectile motion problems, certainly use Johnny’s favorite quarterback as the one who throws the football, which is governed by the equation to be solved, in the air.

Techniques such as those mentioned above will not only stimulate interest in the subject but also show the student how such seemingly irrelevant courses in school can actually relate back to the student’s world and realms of interest. Remember, you can thoroughly understand both integral and differential calculus, but if you cannot teach your students to navigate in these waters, your knowledge is essentially self-serving. Identify with your tutoring students and watch both them and you grow to become better learners and better teachers. See more on my tutoring here Private Math Tutoring.

Homeschooling: How to Get Started

2007-03-28T02:38:00.001-07:00

Homeschooling is becoming a common alternative to traditional classroom teaching. Today, more parents and guardians are opting to teaching their children at home, with an estimated 750,000 to 1,000,000 students learning in a home environment. Many parents believe that homeschooling provides their children with a custom or more complete education than public or private schools. It is easy to get started – you just have to do your homework.

Legality -- Can I Teach my Child from Home?

It is legal to homeschool your child in the U.S. and many other countries. Each state has different laws regarding homeschooling, which can range from simple guidelines to more formal legal requirements. Look for a local, state or regional home education organization to provide basic information on the laws that pertain to your state.

Finding the Support You Need

Some home education departments will also provide a list of support groups in your area. These support groups are usually run by volunteers who also homeschool their children. You can find a support group in your area to get the encouragement and information you need from experienced homeschooling families.

In addition to state and local support groups, private groups can be particularly helpful. Their services range from providing books, materials and other resources to consultation, testing and distance education programs. These groups are designed to serve homeschooling families and not only sell the supplies and services you need, but provide helpful information and referrals.

Additional Resources

There are many resources available to the new homeschooler. Get the information you need to get started on the right foot. Read books on homeschooling. Browse web pages and links and read different articles that are available to you.

Algebra: How To Start and Why You Really Need to Practice a Lot

2007-03-28T02:37:00.001-07:00

The most importand factor about algebra and mathematics is that you really need to practise in order to understand the concepts. There are a lot of algebra books, tutorials, interactive lessons, online tutors and courses that can help you a lot, but without some homework and practise you are bound to fail.

You cannot remember the thousands of algebra concepts and equations without truly understand what each equation really means. What is the reason behind every algebra concept.

A key factor is to take small steps. For example learn one algebra equation, practise it for a couple of days, then move on to the next. Move on only if you feel comfortable with what you've learned. Every time you move on to the next algebra concept increase the difficulty of the equations or the exercises you're trying to solve.

Follow this procedure and soon you'll notice that your brain will be able to absorb mathematics and algebra quicker and easier. You will start to like it.

Another thing is that algebra requires you to apply specific rules. You will find these basic rules in a lot of equations and algebra concepts. The more you practise the basic algebra rules the better you'll become at learning different and more difficult algebra concepts.

A lot of people learning algebra miss out on the basic rules. In the end they mess up everything. Remember, rules are everywhere. Our society is based on specific rules. Same goes for algebra. Treat algebra rules like a game and you'll like it.

You may end up wondering.. Why should I learn math and algebra? That's a good question. You must ask yourself this question before you go on. Algebra will help you solve problems, make decisions, apply strategies and a lot more. If you want your skills to worth gold then you have to learn math and especially algebra. If you want your mental powers to reach top level then you have to learn algebra.

If you like mathematics then you know that in order to move to advanced mathematics you have to know the basics of algebra. Algebra is everywhere in your everyday life. This is a great advantage when trying to learn algebra. Why? Because you can take the a real situation and turn it into an algebra concept or equation.

Always ask yourself.. why? Here is a simplified example. You walk on the street and you see a girl carrying a birdcage. Inside the birdcage there are 4 little birds. Suddenly the cage's door opens and one of the birds escapes. You can turn this incidence into a simple algebra equation:

3 - 1 = 2

See what I mean? Now that's the first step! After that it will be easy to turn live complicated situations into algebra concepts. Your brain will soon become familiar with the idea. And soon you will be able to turn your entire life into algebra!

3 Tips To Help You Reduce The Cost Of Homeschooling

2007-03-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling can be an expensive choice for parents. There are many expenditures that need to be taken into account and the financial burden can be heavy particularly if only one parent is working.

However, many families have chosen homeschooling and found the homeschooling experience to be rewarding and fruitful.

Though homeschooling is expensive, there are some tips that will help you to reduce the cost of homeschooling and help ease your financial problems.

1. Learning materials

You can obtain your child’s textbooks and other learning materials easily without necessarily buying them. You can always borrow them from the library. Your local schools may be able to lend them or sell them to you at a cheap price and you can go online and download the educational materials and print it out yourself.

Visit the homeschooling forums online and just ask where you can ask free or cheap learning materials. You’ll be sure to find some tips.

2. Educational Field Trips

Educational trips can mean visits to the local zoo or science center. You can teach your child about animals and plants in your local garden or the local garden community.

You could teach history by visiting historical sites. You could teach culture by visiting other cultural sites or watching plays etc. All these are usually free or for a cheap price.

3. Be part of a community

There should be many local homeschooling communities in your local neighbourhood. By joining these homeschooling communities, you can pool their resources and shared it among the members.

For example, a homeschooling community can approach the local school and ask for donations for used textbooks, writing materials and other items such as whiteboards, desks and chairs etc.

Or the homeschooling community can pool their financial resources together and negotiate with a publisher for cheaper prices. Since you have more bargaining power as a community rather than an individual, you stand a greater chance of successfully negotiating a deal with the publisher.

If you do not have a homeschooling community in your local area, try online homeschooling communities and forums. They offer support and guidance and often free homeschooling resources are available

I hope I have given you some ideas on how to save money when homeschooling. As long as you are creative, you can find more ways to reduce the cost of homeschooling.

Getting Started With Home Based Schooling

2007-03-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

Home based schooling has been around for many years as more and more families choose this method in spite of public schooling.

A home based school is the place where children are taught at home by one or both parents without any influence from public school systems. This method is legal in all 50 US states even though each state has its own rules and guidelines about the process.

To get started right away, you first need to do a little research so you can be aware of all the laws that apply to you and find out what you need to do to get the curriculum as fast as possible.

If you are new to this process, looking for a support group would be a great idea, as you are not alone out there. This group will allow you to meet with other homeschooling parents who already have some experience and can help you get started on the right track. Each member can give you his or her view on teaching techniques, curriculums and learning hours.

Another very important aspect that you need to consider is organizing everything you need in home based schooling. Your child needs to be as comfortable as possible, and that is why you need to have the different learning materials organized in a proper place where he can have an easy access to them. Children will respond very positive to an organized learning environment as this will point out that his education is top priority.

Even though you are saving a lot of money by not sending your child to a private or public school, you should set a budget for this process as there are many books and materials you can buy to make the learning experience much easier for both of you.

Home based schooling is all about providing your child with the best possible learning experience and you should strive to make this as easy for him as possible.

Homeschool Alternative

2007-03-28T02:28:00.000-07:00

First, homeschool applies study techniques and methods which are not usually possible at public schools. Next, these study methods are often not applied at all as parents are not interested in study methods and do not learn them at all. They are sure teaching process does not need such techniques and methods because they can see how these methods daily fail at public schools. Being sure study techniques accepted by public school are not successful parents just ignore them. Of course their love and devotion to their children are the best techniques to keep children interested in study. However, the decision about homeschool education should be made by both parents and their children.

It is important to know children’s opinion regarding homeschool education. This opinion can be created on comparison only. Thus, children should try going to public school first and their parents should ask children about their feelings, behavior, relationships and attitudes to school. Here poor scores and difficulties with class and homework should not be the core criteria. Parents of poor studying children should find the reasons first at home and then at school. Very often poor study is affected by home atmosphere which does not stimulate children to study. Most families where parents are not interested in self-development and study have difficulties with their children’s homework and class work results.

Children who see from time to time their parents reading, learning and discussing something new at homes will definitely have greater results at school.

If the reason of poor schooling is not at home, then parents can take a decision to teach a child at home. After such decision has been taken both parents should understand they are now completely responsible for their children’s success. Thus, it would be useful for them to spend some time learning some useful and necessary study techniques and tips. Here some psychology knowledge and children’s testing on perception and memory would be in need as well.

Children’s preparation for homeschooling is strongly recommended. Usually parents choose homeschooling education because their children are not happy and successful at public schools. If parents tell children about public schools, their teachers, attitudes and values as a big disadvantage and a real ‘disaster’ for children’s future success, children will mistakenly perceive the society by applying these advantages to any environment which is out of their homes. Parents should be careful with introducing homeschooling alternative to their children, they should keep in mind one day their children will go out of home and want to live happily in society.

Deciding To Home School or Not? Consider These Advantages

2007-03-23T03:27:00.001-07:00

It is evident that the dampening down of our nations public school system has turned homeschooling into a growing trend. The consensus amongst many parents is that if you value quality education, flexibility, learning in the real world and most importantly family time, then homeschooling is for you. However, many parents are still trying to determine if homeschooling is right for their child. In order to make this decision it is important that the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling be taken into consideration, along with some other important issues.

First and foremost, parents must realize that homeschooling requires a complete adjust in lifestyle and is not just putting a classroom into your home. Homeschooling has its definite disadvantages and it is important that these advantages are thoroughly examined before taking the first step. One of the strongest arguments against homeschooling is the lack of exposure to social situations. Lately, with the advent of homeschooling organizations, it seems this has become less of an issue. Homeschooling organizations organize multiple activities for homeschoolers throughout the school year and social interaction is abundant in most cases. The main disadvantage of homeschooling is that it requires an extremely large commitment on the part of the parent. Also, most parents tend to feel pretty overwhelmed at first, because they are unsure how exactly homeschooling is supposed to be done and may lack the creativity needed to make school interesting for their children. Again, this can be overcome by joining a homeschooling organization.

The advantages of homeschooling far outweigh the disadvantages. The beauty of homeschooling is that parents learn more than their children in the process. Being able to give your child the best instruction as per their needs is one of the primary advantages of homeschooling. Because of this many parents consider homeschooling to be both rewarding and enjoyable. Another great advantage of homeschooling is its adaptability to the student's interests and abilities. Homeschooling also allows the parents to ensure that their children are taught the morals and values they want them to know. For example, Christian families are free to start each day off with a prayer without worrying about the unfortunate public outcry. Homeschooling allows Christian parents who may not be able to afford a private Christian school to teach their children with a biblical foundation. To many, this is the main reason they look to home school as an alternative to our nation’s secular public schools.

Hopefully this discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling has given you the insight you need to make an informed decision. As discussed above, the decision to home school is one of the most significant decisions you will make during your child’s life and if you do decide that homeschooling is for you make sure you have thoroughly researched the topic and examined all of the possible issues.

Teach Your Kids Arithmetic - Subtraction Shortcuts

2007-03-23T03:26:00.002-07:00

As students, we become comfortable with what we learn first. Of the four arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, we learn to add first and for this reason are most comfortable with addition. If we apply the principle of thinking in terms of what we are most comfortable with, then subtraction need not be a difficult operation to master. Consequently, by applying addition principles to subtraction, we find our shortcut to mastery of this operation.

Addition is the first pillar of arithmetic magic. Once this operation is mastered, all others can be conquered. The reason for this is inherent in the nature and interrelationship of the four arithmetic operations. You see addition and subtraction are inverse operations of one another. This interrelationship imputes a connection between these two procedures. What this means is that we can master one through the mastery of the other. Moreover, multiplication can be mastered through addition, since multiplication is repeated addition; similarly, division via multiplication or subtraction, since division is repeated subtraction as well as the inverse operation of multiplication. Thus why fret with mastering four distinct arithmetic operations when we can think of mastering one and then using shortcuts and derivative principles to master the others?

Such is the case with subtraction. If you have read my book Arithmetic Magic (Arithmetic Magic ) then you learned how to master subtraction through addition. In this work, I show you how to handle subtraction problems like 106 - 53. Rather than do a subtraction, you can think of “adding up” from 53 to 106. Another way of thinking about 106 - 53 is what is missing from 53 to make 106? This is the same principle that is taught to cashiers to make change, before, of course, the newer cash registers came out that do this for them. What cashiers would do is count up from the 53 to the 106. Thus we count from 53 to 60 to get 7. Then we count from 60 to 100 to get 40 more. So far we have counted 7 + 40 or 47 total. The final step is to count from 100 to 106 which is 6 more. As a result, we have 47 + 6 or 53 as our total. Thus 106 - 53 is 53. Let us take one more example to show how nicely this shortcut works. Take 96 - 49. Rather than fumble with this, it’s simple if we add up from 49 to 96 as thus: 49 to 50 makes 1; 50 to 96 makes 46; and 1 + 46 is equal to 47. So 96 - 49 is 47.

If you apply this subtraction shortcut regularly, you will never have a problem with this operation again. This method works with more complicated examples as well as you can easily verify. Try to teach this method to your kids and have them practice with a few examples. In addition to the good mental workout they will get, their arithmetic skills will soar to new heights. And there’s nothing better than seeing those A’s on their report cards.

See more at my cool math site Cool Math Tricks

Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Under the penname, JC Page, Joe authored Arithmetic Magic, the little classic on the ABC’s of arithmetic. Joe is also author of the charming self-help ebook, Making a Good Impression Every Time: The Secret to Instant Popularity; the original collection of poetry, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the short but highly effective fraction troubleshooter Fractions for the Faint of Heart. The diverse genre of his writings (novel, short story, essay, script, and poetry)—particularly in regard to its educational flavor— continues to captivate readers and to earn him recognition.

Homeschooling Vs Public Schooling

2007-03-23T03:26:00.001-07:00

The time has come for your child to begin his education, and you are faced with the ever present question: What should I choose? Homeschooling or Public Schooling? Both offer advantages and disadvantages and we will discuss some of them in this article as it is best to know all the facts before making the decision.

Advantages of Homeschooling

Probably the main advantage that home based schooling has over public schooling is the flexibility. You can set the learning periods after your schedule and the lessons can be fitted to suit your child's learning style. Also the homeschooling system allows a lot of changes to the curriculum thus making it easier for you and your child.

The learning activities are more practical as home based schooling is an unstructured educational program and parents can develop the lessons in a fun way that will make the child more eager to learn.

The other big advantage of homeschooling is of course lower expenses as nowadays public or private schools can be very costly. You can save the money for involving your child in different social activities that will develop his or her social skills.

Advantages of Public Schooling

The biggest advantage of Public Schooling is the social development of a child. While you can definitely involve him in other social activities none will be as effective as being part of the same group for several years.

Public schooling also gives you more time for yourself, your job and for the many household chores you need to do. Homeschooling can prove to be very time consuming for the parents as they have to be with their child all through out the lessons and also correct the worksheets.

You should make the decision by taking into consideration all these facts, by thinking about the time you can invest and the effects that homeschooling or public schooling will have over you child.

The Legal Requirements For Home Schooling

2007-03-23T03:25:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling has become a popular type of education in the past few years. Parents can educate their child in their own homes, free to set their own study schedule and education curriculum.

If you are planning to home school your child, it is important you know the legal requirements for homeschooling in your state before proceeding.

Currently in the united states, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. However each state has their own requirements and guidelines. The best way to determine the legal requirements would be to contact your local school official for more information.

Most states requires parents who wish to adopt homeschooling to file a letter of intent to their local community school. Some states also requires parents to attend a series of lessons organize by the school before they can begin homeschooling. There are also some states that require the lesson plans to be submitted for approval by the school before you can commence homeschooling.

Some states also require children who are homeschooling to take test or evaluations conducted by qualified teachers. Some require the tests to be conducted on an annual basis. However, the tests are not compulsory but is encouraged.

These are safeguards in place to ensure the standard of education for homeschoolers is maintained.

For example in California, there are 3 different options for homeschooling. Homeschoolers can be part of an independent public homeschooling programs. The 2nd option is to get a certified homeschooling tutor and the last option is to enroll into a private school.

If you have a large homeschooling community in your area, the community can also form a private school for homeschoolers.

The graduate guidelines are also different with each state. Some states have no graduation requirements. Other states require the homeschooler to take tests before they are graduated.

Since the homeschooling requirement for each state is different, it is best to consult with your local school for more information before proceeding.

Make Learning Multiplication Tables More Fun

2007-03-23T03:24:00.001-07:00

One of the challenges of elementary school math, usually around third grade, is learning multiplication tables. For numbers 5 and smaller, it's relatively easy for most children to just add to the last result as they learn their multiplication tables. The adding trick in reciting multiplication tables gets a bit more challenging when the child reaches the multiplication tables for 6, 7, 8 and 9. Then, even when he or she can recite the multiplication tables in order, can the child really answer the question, "what's seven times eight?" quickly. Success in being able to multiply quickly becomes critical in the later grades when the child is multiplying three and four digit numbers, and then learning division and using the same knowledge and processes in reverse. So what you can you do speed up your child's multiplication skills and reinforce their knowledge of the multiplication tables?

One idea I used with my own child was to find a set of twelve-side dice (or make your own with four regular dice, by just adding extra dots to two of them and rolling one 12-dot set at a time). We would play competitively, rolling one twelve-side die, and then the other, and giving the product of the two numbers rolled as quickly as possible. His goal was to become quick enough to beat me to the answer. Other times, he played a solo version with a timer in that he had to be able to do a certain number of throws and answer them all within a minute while I kept track of his answers.

For parents who don't have the time, there are several software programs for children which effectively incorporate the same types of multiplication games to speed up a child's computation skills. If you want to ensure that your child has the math skills and speed to do well later on in algebra and more advanced math, add games which reinforce math skills in a fun way to your curriculum. This is especially important for children who are not big fans of math textbooks. Make at least one day of math learning per week a day to let your child experience math as fun and not as tedious problems that need to be solved.

Homeschooling: The Art Of Real-Life Education

2007-03-23T03:23:00.001-07:00

Homeschooling is the education of through the non-traditional system of education found in mainstream public and private school. In homeschooling, a child is being taught the same subject matters as those students going to traditional, mainstream, public or private schools. Although homeschooling does not have the strict structure found in mainstream education, when done properly, homeschooling a child can, nonetheless, develop him or her into a well-rounded person based on the more natural and nurturing atmosphere that the home is.

Parents who are not very familiar with homeschooling are often concerned about the kind of learning experience in homeschooling their children. They worry that they will not be able to give their children the adequate academic education needed for college. On the contrary, homeschooled children fare better when they reach college. Universities welcome the diversity of experiences offered by their homeschooled students who are academically-sound as well as actively enthusiastic in in-campus extra-curricular activities. When it comes to the academic course requirements of homeschooled children, homeschooling parents need not worry. The homeschooling kits from K to 12th grade are available in local bookstores, and even online. Furthermore, there are many free online curriculum for homeschooled children.

Social development is also one concern of parents who are contemplating on homeschooling their children. They fear that homeschooled children do not get enough interaction from their peers and from the outside community. What these parents don’t know is that homeschooled children and homeschooling parents can join a homeschooling support group. Here, relevant learning experiences such as going to theme parks, a trip to the zoo, a tour in the museum or library can be done together with other homeschooled children, thus, providing a more natural environment or scenario for children to both learn and interact with their peers and form social bonds in a highly-educational context. Community services with other homeschooled children in the area will also expose and immerse the child in the real-life situation of the community, allowing them a better and healthy view of what they can do as individuals and as a group, to help society.

Homeschooling is not for the faint-hearted parent as it requires much dedication. Homeschooling requires much time, patience and creativity from the parent. For working parents, homeschooling might be harder than one thinks. However, if you hear about the violence in public schools, gangs, the ratio of teacher to students and the inability of your children to absorb as much as they can due to distractions, homeschooling is definitely the only other option for parents who want nothing but the best for their kids.

Homeschooling Series: Preschoolers – Course of Study in Mathematics

2007-03-23T03:22:00.002-07:00

The younger the child, the more crucial the teaching-learning process. Preschool years are lay the foundation for a well-rounded and wholistic education. Hence, it is important for homeschooling parents to get a better survey or report of subject matters to tackle in homeschooling their preschoolers in Mathematics, most importantly with Math being a skill subject. The stronger the foundation on the basics of Elementary Mathematics, the higher the chances of your preschooler developing a natural love for math, numbers and the ordered thinking of concepts and ideas.

Simple Counting Teach simple counting from one to five, one to ten, one to fifteen, one to twenty.. For a more relevant learning, use objects which are significant to the child such as toys, fruits, lights, etc.

One-To-One Relationship Teach pairing relationship.

More Than and Less Than Concept Compare sets of objects to teach the concept of more than and less than.

Writing Numbers Teach the proper writing and ordering of numbers.

Addition Teach the basic meaning of addition. For more relevant learning, again, use objects which are familiar or significant to the kid’s everyday activity.

Subtraction Subtraction is to be taught after the child has understood addition. The child’s understanding or comprehension of the concept of addition may be gauged by the child’s addition of simple one-digit number. Consequently, subtraction may be taught using one-digit numbers and using objects familiar and significant to the child’s everyday activities.

Basic Shapes Teach basic shapes using everyday objects like plates for circles, windows for rectangles, letter blocks for squares, etc.

For more retention, subject matter reinforcement may be done by integrating math subject matters with other subjects such as art for shapes, science for addition and subtraction, physical education for simple counting.

Homeschooling a preschool may take much patience and creativity for the parent. It is up to the parent’s discretion, through observation, on when to go on to the next lesson.

San Diego Homeschoolers - Field Trip Idea - Classical Music Concerts

2007-03-23T03:22:00.001-07:00

Attention San Diego Area Homeschoolers

Are you interested in adding music appreciation to your curriculum? If so, then consider attending a classical music concert, sponsored by the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra. These concerts are held two or three times per year in the north county area. Often at the Brubeck Theater of Palomar College, these concerts showcase a variety of youth orchestras.

The San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra has a “stair-step” approach to music instruction. There are five orchestras, ranging from the Primary level, all of the way up to the Symphony level. Ages range from about 6 or 7 years old, up through senior in high school. As students progress up through the levels, the music gets more and more difficult. The Symphony level plays pieces that are often considered at the college or professional level.

Concerts for Winter 2006

The San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra’s Symphony Orchestra (5th and highest level) will perform two winter/Christmas concerts. Dates are Saturday, December 2 at 8pm, and Sunday, December 3, at 2pm at the Howard Brubeck Theater of Palomar College. Admission is $12 General; $10 seniors; $8 students. Arrive early for good seating.

Additionally, four levels of San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra will perform at the Carlsbad High School on Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 1 p.m. Admission is $5.00 per person. Levels performing are Primary Orchestra through Symphonic Orchestra (1st level through 4th level).

All levels of the youth orchestras have been rehearsing all semester for these concerts!

Additional Concerts

This December presents a unique opportunity to watch a live ballet being danced to live music! San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra’s Symphony, together with the San Elijo Dance & Music Academy, will entertain you by performing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet from December 21 – December 23, 2006, at the beautiful California Center of the Arts, Escondido. Admission is $17.50 - $39.00.

These are all wonderful opportunities to watch talented young people perform beautiful music. Who knows – one of your own children may be inspired, and want to join the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra.

Jennifer Thieme’s daughter has been a performer in the Civic Youth Orchestra since 1999, when she started at the tender age of eight years old in the Primary Orchestra. After seven years, she worked her way through each level, and is now in both the Symphonic Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra.

Guide To Homeschooling: How To Start With Homeschooling

2007-03-23T03:20:00.002-07:00

To homeschool or not to homeschool is a tough choice a parent has to decide on. And once the decision of homeschooling your child has been made, the next step is to start homeschooling and to start it right.

Let us say for example that given the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling, after having considered the amount of work, creativity and patience it requires from the parent, you decide that homeschooling is, indeed, what your child needs, you ask the next question: What are the things you need to do and to find out once you have decided to homeschool your child?

First and foremost, prepare the home environment. Make the necessary physical re-arrangements and organization of areas where your child can study in. Set up a schedule for your lessons by day or by week. It is also important to start developing a record system for your child’s progress within the year, and for possible state requirements on homeschooling.

Next, find out these homeschooling requirements. Usually, different states have different homeschooling requirements. It is helpful to get in touch and join a homeschooling support group in your area to help you along with the necessary information on the state requirements for homeschooling. Homeschooling support groups is also advisable for when you need to expose your child to educational trips and tours to museums, libraries, zoos, as usually, parents from your homeschooling support group will plan these outings together for their children.

Choose a curriculum and homeschooling method for your child. At the beginning, a parent usually dabbles between different homeschooling methods for the child. But as the year progresses on, the parent may narrow the child’s homeschooling methods based on the child’s learning style and learning ability, and based on the child’s positive response to a method.

Know what resources you need for the year. As parents, the responsibility of knowing beforehand the books, materials and homeschooling supplies you might need for the entire year rests solely on your hands. But as mentioned, things become a lot easier with a homeschooling support group, with a sensible parental head between your shoulders, with a nurturing heart, and with time.

Online Schools: The Changing Face of K12 Student Learning

2007-03-23T03:20:00.001-07:00

With each decade the face of education has changed to reflect the current trends in education. The policy initiatives of each president, governor, community leader and parent have been aimed at transforming children's learning environments into the ideal situation. While these initiatives may never succeed to meet every child's needs the combined result of their work has created an environment where education can now be tailored to meet the needs of every child through online schools.

Much like the advent of the search engine and booking our own airline travel, the Internet has introduced the nation to online education. To many, the commercial products available from higher education degree granting giants like the University of Phoenix define online learning. However, to a growing population of Americans, online schools have come to define the middle ground between home schooling and personalized public education.

While charter schools continue to spring up across the country, there are a select few that have been created in the charter school mold simply because the education establishment can not keep pace with today's innovations. In Ohio for example, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) was created in 2000 not to revolutionize charter schools, but to bring to Ohio's children and families leading education content in a format designed to enable every child to succeed. ECOT provides every child with an education option that delivers to each student exactly what they need while providing the comprehensive state standards based education that is the hallmark of successful public and private schools.

Other online schools and content companies such as the Florida Virtual Academy and K12 Education are part of a growing trend that brings together the real-life education community and the technology community. In many instances this partnership is a thorn in the side of traditional education and educators who see only standard classrooms as the answer to the ills of the American k-12 system

Online schools have revolutionized the workplace for skilled teachers and administrators. The result of this union is the ability to create a tailored classroom for gifted, struggling and needs-based students that, until the advent of online learning, were often segregated to specialty teaching groups to meet their potential.

The education landscape has changed and for many brick and mortar school districts this is a hard fact to face. The local school boards and education departments in America have begun to realize that business as usual isn't he solution to a rapidly advancing world and have begun to embrace the assets of online education.

Unlike the as-we-know-it classroom the online environment can be adjusted to meet the needs of every child and instill the state standards required of students since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act without stagnating the classroom experience. From thousands of courses to graduation test practice sessions and immediate intervention opportunities, online schools offers to the students and families of 2006 what the computer breakthroughs of the past several decades offered to the business community. Simply put, online schools have the ability to provide every individual with the right information in the right format at the right time for optimal success.

Online schools were once considered the wave of the future. That future is now and the online revolution continues to shape the world of real life education without the boundaries of classroom walls.

Home Schooling - Benefits And Drawbacks

2007-03-23T03:19:00.000-07:00

There are several reasons why more and more parents choose home schooling instead of the traditional schools; the benefit of home schooling is when your child is able to succeed in life and you know you had a little bit to do with those achievements.

Home schooling is legal in the United States, even if there have been and still are many controversies on the issue of whether or not the child is benefiting from this procedure; this issue if still being debated and even a banning of this practice may be applied if enough evidence is found that children do not actually benefit from it.

8 Benefits of Home Schooling

Some of the most common reasons why parents are taking up home schooling:

1. Provide overall safety of the child at all times

2. Mentally or physically challenged children who cannot attend normal school anyway and parents for whatever reason refuse to send them to special designed schools, will normally benefit from home schooling.

3. The benefit of parents having direct supervision on what the child is studying first hand.

4. Home schooling means teaching and leaning experience for both parent and their child every day

5. For single parents who works at home it might be beneficial and convenient to take up the child's education as well.

6. An issue which many parents value, is the results for which the parent or parents are directly to praise or blame.

7. Keeping up the bonding between parent and child that some parents lose when the child goes away to school

8. The greatest benefit of home schooling, which almost every parent will agree with, is the achievements of one's child. When you see that your efforts and teaching have finally paid off and your child can receive its home schooling curriculum.

3 Disadvantages Of Home Schooling

While the benefit of home schooling may seem too good to be true and worth the trouble there are also a few disadvantages to take in consideration:

1. Parents may overdo the teacher's role by either being too strict or by being too lenient

2. The child missing on interacting with kids his or her own age. This is probably one of the main disadvantages of home schooling

3. Parents may lack sufficient skills like academic knowledge or teaching ability

Some parents are convinced of the benefits and chosen home schooling for their children and family. They will have to do the best they can and trust that they will reap the benefit of home schooling in the end. Parents and other interested people that are not so convinced yet, but are still debating about it, must make sure to take all angles in consideration before making the choice. The benefit of home schooling that you are hoping for may turn out to be something else than what you thought in the end. There is a chance that this might be something negative both for you and your child. So gather all information you can on the topic and don't make up your mind before you are sure this is something for your children and family.

Home Schooling - The Disadvantages

2007-03-23T03:18:00.002-07:00

While there are many benefits to home schooling there is also a downside, so you have to give it some serious consideration before you go down the home education route.

One thing to consider is the time that you have to devote to the schooling of your children. You may have to sacrifice part of your social life, as well as the disruption to your shopping routine, coffee mornings, and other daily business.

You must realize that the onus is on you to ensure your child gets an education which is good as or better than he/she would have got at a regular school. If your child’s education is seen to be lacking in any way, it will reflect badly on you as a teacher and as a parent.

If you are truly dedicated to tutoring your child by yourself you will probably have to put any career plans of your own on the back burner. This could mean financial hardship and all the added stress and worry that this brings.

You will lose some of your freedom of course, as one big advantage of regular schools is the fact that they give you a break from the kids, and a bit of free time to get on with other things. Even when you have assigned homework, you have to be on duty to give help if required. All obvious stuff, I know, but worth thinking about.

Something else to think about is that with your child staying at home all the time, when are they going to get out and interact with their peers and adults? You will have to make a special effort, as no doubt you are aware, this is a very important part of growing up.

To achieve a well rounded education, you should enroll your child in various outside activities, although you could say that this defeats the object of home schooling, at least to some degree.

It has been noted that the child who is home schooled does not seem to do as well in SAT tests as their regular school peers.

2007 Home Schooling Discussions For Parents and Educators

2007-03-23T03:18:00.001-07:00

Today even with the size of our public school system in the United States many parents feel that the schools are inadequate in that they do not challenge our children. Others indicate that they are unsafe due to kids bringing guns and knives to schools, along with the gangs and drug issues. Further many faith-based families are upset that sex education, handing out condoms and abortions without parental notification are an unfavorable situation for their kids.

Additionally, the size of the classrooms bothers both educators and parents; some even liken them to giant babysitting facilities. Taxpayers often complain of the top-heavy administration budgets and less money in the classroom; teacher’s unions also agree.

One of the biggest complaints is that kids in the past had actually gotten all the way thru school and graduated High School without being able to read; to handle these problems the Federal Government has instituted the “No Child Left Behind Act” which teacher generally decry, parents are concerned about and employers demand. After all what good is an employee who cannot even read the company’s employee or operations manuals?

These are not all the issues, but some of the main points and this has lead to many families choosing Home Schooling, while other families endorsing Private Schools or looking into Charter Schools. The Home Schooling choice has been growing over the years and this concerns public school teachers unions, yet many believe that competition in education is the answer to getting the public schools to rise to the occasion of performance, thus in comes the voucher debate.

Why should parents pay for the school district if their kids do not attend? Of course other point out that if the school system does not have the money it needs; then we will all pay later with more police, court costs, rehabilitation centers and prisons.

As the debate rages on so too does the problem and it is noted by all that we will need a more educated workforce in the future as technologies increase and our nation progresses. I thank you for reading this article and hope you will enjoy the intellectual debate over the choice of Home Schooling. Perhaps this article is of interest to propel thought in 2007?

Guide To Homeschooling: How To Teach Unfamiliar Subjects

2007-03-23T03:17:00.001-07:00

It is inevitable that as your child advances to a higher homeschooling level, you encounter subjects that you are unfamiliar with. Here are some tips for you, as a parent, in order to help yourself – and help your child.

1. Study the material together with your child, separately. By studying along with your child and using your child’s materials, you will be able to assist your child more as you tackle one subject skill or concept at a time. Should there be anything that your child does not easily understand, you will be able to translate and explain the concept easily to your child in a more mentally-digestive language as the concept and the subject is still fresh in your mind.

2. Use multi-media such as video courses, ebooks, online course to study along with your child. Explore as much sources as you possibly can. In multi-media, a child’s interest is further increased as it involves not only one sensory perception such as visual, but it includes aural or auditory as well. Computer courses or online course are also more interactive to the child and thus, learning becomes significant and more information is retained.

3. Try doing some research in the internet. There may be online courses for one subject. Learning the subject along with your child and using other references will allow you a broader view of the subject.

4. Ask the assistance from your homeschooling support group. You may know a homeschooling parent who has more knowledge on the subject. Exchange of ideas will be helpful. A mother can help you with the subject you are unfamiliar with and you can help her with a subject she is unfamiliar with. Also, you may use peer tutoring along with other older kids. An older homeschooled kid may have learned and may excel on the subject. Peer tutoring is also one way of tapping into your child’s group learning behavior.

5. Hire the assistance of a college student from your area who is majoring on the subject. Not only will you be able to help your child, you will be able to help another’s child as well. Extra hours of tutoring jobs after school a few hours a week will go a long way for your child and for the college kid’s budget needs.

Guide To Homeschooling: How To Start And End Your Homeschooling Day

2007-03-06T22:02:00.001-08:00

Many parents new to homeschooling are baffled as to how to start and end a homeschooling day. Should they start out as early as public and private schools? How should the homeschooling day be structured? What should be the time allotment for each subject?

A homeschooling day need not start out as early as public or private school. And albeit quantity can be a factor, one of the advantages of homeschooling is that homeschool give more importance and weight on quality rather than quantity. Structure is also one of the major differences between homeschool and mainstream schools. This is based on the principle and philosophy that in homeschooling, the child sets the pace, rather than the school year setting the pace. Therefore, a parent may opt to extend a few minutes should the child have a weakness on the lesson especially if the lesson is yet being introduced. Time allotment for each subject depends on the child but there should be a clear defining timeline between one subject and the next, allowing a clear psychological transition of one subject to the next for the child. Consequently, a certain level of structure will still have to be implemented, although not as rigid as in public or private schools.

Here are more tips on how to start and end a homeschooling day:

1. Set a time to start and end your day. Depending on the subjects for the day, a homeschooling parent sets the time when class should begin and when it should end. Formalize the start and end of your homeschooling day with a regular routine such as a prayer (for Christian homeschoolers), an exercise or a particular routine to set the mood of learning for the child and to focus the child’s attention into what is about to happen.

2. Schedule one break in the morning, one break in the afternoon and lunch in between. Allow the child to digest what has been discussed. Allow the child space to recollect some insights on the activities done.

3. Schedule a nap time for younger homeschooling children. And while they are napping, schedule the most difficult and demanding subject with the older child.

4. Assign children into their own study spaces and work areas where you can assign them with their own individual studying. Assisted independent learning should be highly encouraged.

5. For older siblings, you may schedule theory and practice or application of a skill and concept separately, especially in science subjects.

6. Allow a time for creative independence. With this time, the child should be free to create, read and explore his interests with the parents supervision.

How To Start Homeschooling?

2007-03-06T22:01:00.001-08:00

Choosing to homeschool your child is not an easy decision. There are many considerations to keep mind when deciding to go the homeschool route.

So how do you get started after you have made the decision to go homeschooling?

Here are the list of things you might want to find out and prepare before even starting your first homeschooling session.

1) Homeschooling Requirements

Each state in the US have their own homeschooling requirements. So be sure to check you are qualified to conduct homeschooling in your local area. Most homeschooling requirements are pretty simple so it should not be a problem.

2) Homeschooling Support Groups

It is not a requirement to join a homeschooling support group but it definitely will be very helpful to get in touch with parents who are also homeschooling in your local neighbourhood. A support group can provide support and advise especially when you are just starting out.

Some homeschooling support groups also have regular educational trips and activities such as to the zoo, museums and libraries etc.

3) Prepare The Home Environment

You will probably need to make some physical rearrangement of your home to cater an area for homeschooling. You also need to purchase the study materials such as stationary, whiteboard etc.

4) A Homeschooling Schedule

You will need to come up with a study schedule for each day’s lessons, games etc. It is also good to come up with a book keeping system to keep track of the tasks that have been completed. In some states, this is also a requirement.

5) Homeschooling Curriculum

You need to select the method of homeschooling for your child. This is based on the child’s learning aptitude and his/her learning ability. Popular methods are Montessori, classic and charlotte mason homeschooling.

As you can see, there is quite a lot of work and planning involved before starting homeschooling. That is why joining a homeschooling support group can help you so much if you do not know some of the points above.

Benefits of Home Schooling To Both Parents And Children

2007-03-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

Parents choose home schooling for many different reasons. Some families want to build up their family ties. Home schooling offers the parents freedom to create and pattern individualized and specific curriculum, safety reasons, peer pressure and discontentment with the school system.

Here are the major benefits of home schooling your child:

Family Bonding

Home schooling moms and dads devote a lot of time guiding and working with their kids, usually having the feeling that modern fast paced living is ruing the closeness of the family.

More Quality Time

Family undertakings and activities like shared chores, group projects and games are consistent elements of the home school plan, wherein these families benefit from the quality time they devote to each other. Parents believe that home schooling reinforces the family and permits the children to formulate their own personal decisions and choices without the influence of peer pressure.

College Degree Not Needed

One doesn't have to have or acquire a remarkable educational attainment or background or have plenty of money in order to be successful at home schooling. Studies show that parents who merely finish high school or even less can do a good job in educating and teaching in home school as those parents with education degrees.

Flexible Home School Curriculum and Time

The structure that you want for your child's educational knowledge and involvement will be determined whether you settle to teach from a home school curriculum package or an unstructured home schooling approach, offering individualized and flexible time, allowing you to teach subjects in accordance to the child's development and interest; the quantity of unit or hours of learning per subject would be entirely to your own judgment.

Home schooling permits the parents to adapt and customize the curriculum according to the child's learning capabilities. Children needing extra time to spend developing their math skills will be provided with that time, by cutting the period of time spent on subjects that the child is progressing well on so that he/she can have ample time to spend in his weak area.

In addition, parents can also construct the home school curriculum to meet the child's personal learning style; some kids' learn best through hearing, others through reading, and others are hands-on learners. It is only in home schooling that children can go into and investigate subject matters in such a manner that they "learn best".

Benefits of home schooling are only as restricted as to the parents' own imagination and creativity. As the child's parent, nobody is more familiar with what informative interests your child holds and only in a home school and as a teaching parent can you can find out and establish the time required to be used on any subject for your kids to complete and accomplish with the understanding and support that they truly deserve.

Make Learning Multiplication Tables More Fun

2007-03-05T02:18:00.002-08:00

Homeschooling: The Art Of Real-Life Education

2007-03-05T02:18:00.001-08:00

Homeschooling Series: Preschoolers – Course of Study in Mathematics

2007-03-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

Resources for Homeschooling Help

2007-03-02T00:22:00.003-08:00

Whether you are new to homeschooling or a seasoned pro, chances are you’ll always need and be on the lookout for updated information and material. The good news is there are literally thousands of resources available on the Internet, alone.

At the time of this writing, a Google search using the keyword phrase ‘homeschooling resources’ resulted in over 3 MILLION hits. You will quickly discover that there are websites on every topic imaginable, for every age group.

Regardless of your needs, you will have no problem locating the teaching aids that best meet your requirements. There are sites that offer low cost or no cost worksheets and lesson planning materials. There are both vendors and online schools that offer top-notch curriculum packages and programs that cater to every budget.

Visit your local library or bookstore. There are many very informative books which have been written on the subject of homeschooling. Together with all available materials on subjects you are planning to teach, putting together your own curriculum package is probably easier than you think. If you choose the library option, consider books that feature worksheets, blank maps and other teaching materials that can easily be duplicated, for just the cost of making the copies.

Join a homeschool discussion group or forum. There is a wealth of great groups out there. You will become acquainted with families who are new to homeschooling and families who have been learning at home, for years. Browse popular online auction sites or sites that strictly sell used curriculum. You will discover almost every teaching aid youíll ever need, most at a fraction of the original cost.

Another resource that you might not be aware of is your local school district. By law, districts must allow homeschooled children to participate in extra-curricular activities such as band, sports and drama. The majority of time, you will be required to provide transportation, but that is a small price for the benefits your child will receive.

Lesson Planning for the Unorganized Mom

2007-03-02T00:22:00.001-08:00

You may think that because you are unorganized you’ll be facing a next to impossible task, when it comes to planning your child’s homeschool curriculum. You’ll be happy to learn that, with the help of the Internet, even the most disorganized Mom can achieve lesson-planning success.

Probably the simplest way to ensure your lesson plans will be organized is to purchase a complete curriculum package. There are many online vendors that offer this option. These packages are readily available for all grade levels, and are very comprehensive.

Unfortunately, these packages are a bit on the pricey side. This re-enforces the fact that convenience does not come cheap. But, if your budget allows, many parents can tell you this is the way to go.

If you find that you can’t afford to purchase a curriculum program that covers the entire school year, consider purchasing packages that cover just one or two subjects. If you choose this option, you may want to choose packages that cover subjects you aren’t particularly fond of and would find less enjoyable to create yourself.

Many times these packages are made available on popular auction sites, like eBay, at a fraction of the original cost and in like-new condition.

There are many homeschool-related sites on the Internet that provide printables which work wonders when trying to stay organized. Everything from lesson planning forms, to calendars, to grade sheets, to blackline maps, to book report forms, to award certificates, to so much more. Why buy a fancy day planner when you can download this type of printable for just the cost of paper and ink?

Visit your local bookstore or library. There have been a great many books written on the art of organization. The great thing about these principles is that once learned they can be applied to all aspects of your life, not just lesson planning. Your family will be more relaxed in an organized environment and your house so clean.

Buy a file cabinet. It will quickly become your new best friend. Start a separate folder for each subject you will be teaching. Start folders for such things as field trip ideas, completed projects, potential projects, etc.

Try to file away the papers you won’t be using for that day, instead of letting them pile up on your desk. Remember you can close a file drawer but you can’t close a desktop - unless of course you are lucky enough to have a roll-top desk.

How Does Homeschooling Affect College Acceptance

2007-03-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

Opponents of homeschooling argue the fact that children who are homeschooled have a much more difficult time with college admittance, than do children who have attended a traditional classroom setting.

Fortunately the vast majority of colleges are eagerly accepting students who were schooled at home. The number continues to rise, with each new year.

The largest hurdle homeschooled students face when it comes to applying to the college of their choice is the lack of traditional transcripts and diploma. Since these things don't physically exist, some colleges will ask the student to obtain a GED. Most colleges require the student to take other standardized tests, such as the ACT and/or SAT.

In addition to these tests, students can also put together a portfolio, of sorts. Include a detailed account of all completed course, the results of any other advanced placement tests, proof of attending community education or pre-college courses and volunteer work.

They might, also, consider the inclusion of character references from family, friends and employers. Maybe even an essay, which explains their interest and goals for the future.

The lack of records problem can be resolved by enrolling your child in an online homeschool educational program. These schools do offer hard copies of transcripts and report cards. These documents are usually sufficient, in the eyes of the Admissions Dept.

Do a search for accredited online school programs, using your favorite search engine. You will probably be surprised at the number of accredited online school programs available to you. They, of course, cost more than if you create your child's curriculum, yourself. But, it's worth it if you are new to homeschooling or don't have a great deal of extra time to allocate to course preparation.

Like traditionally schooled students, homeschooled students need to take the time to find the college which will best meet their educational needs. It should be a well thought out decision that entails contacting several schools.

Make the final choice after determining which schools are the most willing to assist homeschool graduates with the admission process. You will find that many colleges are very receptive to the needs and wants of students schooled in a home environment.

How Does Homeschooling Affect College Acceptance

2007-02-27T01:26:00.001-08:00

Fortunately the vast majority of colleges are eagerly accepting students who were schooled at home. The number continues to rise, with each new year.

They might, also, consider the inclusion of character references from family, friends and employers. Maybe even an essay, which explains their interest and goals for the future.

Lesson Planning for the Unorganized Mom

2007-02-27T01:25:00.004-08:00

Many times these packages are made available on popular auction sites, like eBay, at a fraction of the original cost and in like-new condition.

Resources for Homeschooling Help

2007-02-27T01:25:00.003-08:00

There are several print magazines that are geared toward homeschooling. They feature write-ups on almost every aspect of teaching your children, at home. Many of these articles are written by parents, well versed in regard to homeschooling methods and more than eager to share their knowledge.

Social Opportunities for Homeschooling Moms

2007-02-27T01:25:00.001-08:00

As a rule, when you homeschool your children, you aren’t presented with the same social opportunities that you would be if your children attended a traditional classroom. That is to say, roles such as ‘lunch monitor’ or ‘PTA Mom’ are usually not the norm in a homeschool setting.

For the homeschooling mom, there are still a variety of social situations out there waiting for you. Many of them are family oriented and can be incorporated into your lesson plans. Better yet, several are low cost or free of charge.

Join a homeschool group, either online or in your area. These groups are becoming more popular each year and are located in almost every medium to large city. If there is not a group near you, take the plunge and organize one yourself. You’ll make great connections with other parents who homeschool.

Don’t overlook joining an online group. It is possible to build friendships and ëbe sociable’ in Cyberspace. One of the neatest aspects of these groups is that you’ll come in contact with moms from all over the United States and beyond. This can be a big help if you find yourself struggling to come up with not so boring geography lessons.

Have you acquired a skill or taken up an interesting hobby? Teach a class to other homeschool moms. It can be a purely recreational class or something educational, which can converted into lesson plans.

Take the class idea one step further and teach it at the community education level. Most school districts offer enrichment classes on a wealth of different subjects. Not only will this option afford you the chance to interact with your peers, it will also give you the opportunity to earn extra money.

Volunteer with your children. There are many not for profit organizations which allow families to volunteer together. Depending on your duties, it will give you the chance to interact with your neighbors and assist a great cause, at the same time. Animal shelters, nature preserves and soup kitchens are examples of ëfamily friendly’ organizations that are always on the lookout for volunteers.

Unschooling - What Is It

2007-02-27T01:24:00.000-08:00

Unschooling is a method of learning that is not set in stone. In fact, it tends to mean different things to different people. It is the preferred teaching method of a great number of homeschooling families.

Unschooling is natural learning, which is based for the most part on day-to-day life experiences. It is not based on the traditional curriculum choices and teaching methods utilized by the public school system. Little emphasis is placed on things such as textbooks, quizzes, and scheduled subjects or class times.

When you think back to your school days, what do you remember? Were you stimulated by what you were learning? Were you bored with what was being taught? Was learning fun?

It stands to reason that most children (and adults, for that matter) learn at a faster pace and retain more information, when subjects are presented in an enjoyable manner. Simply stated, learning should be fun!

Unschooling is not an exact science, which makes it very appealing to many parents who decide to teach their children at home. It is also appealing to children who are given the opportunity to learn about things that aren’t offered in the local classroom.

Suppose you have an eight year old who has expressed an interest in learning Japanese or astronomy or genealogy. Chances are slim that these interests would be addressed in a conventional school setting.

Even though unschooling has few rules and many definitions, there have been several wonderful books written on this method of home teaching. If you are new to the concept of unschooling, take the time to do some reading. You’ll no doubt be surprised at the wealth of information that is available.

Join a local homeschool group and online discussion forums. You will come in contact with many homeschooling families who successfully utilize unschooling methods. These folks will answer your questions and steer you in the right direction, if you are just starting out. They can recommend things like books, online resources and teaching materials.

What Are Really the Best Toys for Your Children to Play With

2007-02-27T01:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning

Eyes wide and beaming with ear-to-ear smiles, a two year old boy and his five year old sister ripped open their Christmas presents one by one. A battery-powered doll that ”sings”, a new bike complete with flashers, siren and lights, a battery-powered set of race cars that pits two vehicles against each other around a closed track. Battery-powered lights flash, wheels whirl and engines “roar” while an overhead banner counts laps with colored lights and finally, declares a winner. It was a scene of utter joy on the part of the children and parents alike. But wait. I was becoming a bit leery of the scene unfolding before me.

“Does everything use batteries”, I asked.

Apparently getting my point, the father nodded sheepishly in the affirmative before laughing out loud. How much value are such toys in the education of children and in helping to mold young, eager minds?

The two year old began to illustrate my point. He didn’t want to simply watch the red and black cars race around the tiered track. He wanted to play with the cars. Snatching the red one up, he rolled it back and forth on the floor in front of him ignoring the flashing lights and sound effects behind him.

“R-r-r-r-r-r”, “R-r-r-r-r-r-r”, “R-r-r-r-r-r-r”, he trilled, imitating a car engine.

“No, no son”, father responded, showing the boy how to turn on the battery-powered car sounds. The child watched and listened, fascinated for a few moments. Then, he’d have none of it.

“R-r-r-r-r-r”, “R-r-r-r-r-r-r”, “R-r-r-r-r-r-r”, he sounded again, the car back in his hand whirring across the cool tile floor.

What is a Toy?

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “toy” as “an article to play with; especially a plaything for children.” The key point I want to make is that children play with or use the toy. They are not passive observers. Toys should NOT be the kind that a child just sits and watches. They MUST be “interactive” tools for children to have any true development.

What Toys Do

Toys can provide numerous aspects and functions. Some of the more important of these include:

• Stimulate role play and modeling of cultural behaviors

• Help to develop critical perceptive skills

• Help to develop and fine tune motor skills

• Directly stimulate right brain development of visual-spatial aspects and color

• Aid in development of critical thinking

• Provide a channel for development of emotional intelligence

• Educate children in a variety of ways (which can be positive or negative)

• Entertain young, developing minds

In considering what toys to provide for their children, parents should allow for a variety of toy types and kinds. Modern toys as well as traditional toys need to be available to permit a full range of emotional and intellectual growth. Which toys are really “best”? This actually depends on several factors such as the culture, practicalities and the child himself or herself.

Traditional vs. Modern Toys

Traditional toys are still available in quantity because they not only provide vital outlets for child development, but have survived the test of time itself. Tops, Yo-yos, rag dolls, carved case and trucks, bicycles, skates, rubber and other balls of every size and material, and the classic, age-old wagon are examples of traditional toys. “homemade” noise-makers are also included as traditional toys. “Have you ever watched – and listened to a tot bang on pots, pans, bottles, furniture and even the floor for, gasp!, hours on end?” These need no batteries, sound effects or automatically-provided motions to be highly effective, absorbing to the maximum a child’s full attention span. They work on some of the best power imaginable – the child’s own mind. In Mexico, wooden traditional toys have been all the rage for decades. Better-made, less expensive and longer-lasting than most “electronic-based” and battery-operated toys, they will likely continue to be so.

This is not to say that modern toys have no place. They do, and can be highly effective as well – if judiciously selected based on the needs, temperament, personality, mental development and desires of the child. Games, dolls (with “active” elements) and scenarios like train or race car sets can be welcomed and effective developmental toys for children when combined with other types which stimulate play, imagination and aid in aspects of the child’s mental development. What are the best toys for your children to play with? Know the personality, character and developmental needs of your child and you’ll be much better prepared to make successful choices.

What To Look For In A Pre-School

2007-02-25T22:05:00.003-08:00

Education is the cornerstone of success and it begins in early childhood with the first portal of learning – The Pre-School. If statistics are any index, then ninety percent of the human brain is developed by the age of three years and near complete development has occurred by the age of five years – which makes preschool the most impressionable of all the learning institutes that the growing child would attend in the years to come!

THE CONVENTIONAL MODE

In the not-so-recent past, it was simple and effective to put a child in preschool – all it entailed was consulting the directory and calling the school closest to home and the child was admitted!

The perceived needs of the parents were limited to:

A safe, secure and warm classroom environment for the budding child

The focus expected being primarily academics

Logistically, the school needed to be close to the home and convenient to attend

The changing times have witnessed exponential increases in both the number of preschools and the expectations of the parents per se.

THE ENHANCED LEARNING CURVE

Present day parents are more discerning and aware considering that preschools play such an important role in development – the expectations are high and the perceived needs of the parents are more spatial than ever before. The new age expectations from a preschool are more than a safe and mere academic institution. The expectations from the modern day preschool need to encompass some or more of the following:

An institution which could inculcate spatial personality development

Preschools with a reputation and a prestigious name

Aligned to the perceived needs of the parents – be it religious or values driven

Availability in synchronicity with the work schedules of the parent(s)

The Curriculum – well-structured or play-based method depending on the preferences of parents

Feedback – present day decisions are strongly driven by feedback – even more so for preschools considering it is important to assimilate and analyze the real time experiences of parents and children

THE OPTIONS

The present day Preschools could well be demarcated:

The traditional half –day school program being in alignment with those not wanting to overburden the child very early in life

A school with a full-day program - as in a state-sponsored program which would predictably be the option of choice if both parents or single parents work all day

The religious school environs could well be need of offering a non-secular environment

Discerning parents then would address this critical decision conscientiously, considering that it entails enormous planning and judicious decision-making which invariably begins with identification of preschools, followed by an in–depth researching of facilities and track record of the institutions – moderated by the feedback of others and finally conclude based on the personal real time visit perceptions before making the decision.

Parents Can Teach

2007-02-25T22:05:00.001-08:00

One of the greatest obstacles facing parents who wish to take their children out of the public school system for home schooling is fear – especially fear about their abilities to teach. No parent wants to be responsible for their child missing out on any important educational elements but, in most states, parents don’t have to be certified teachers in order to instruct their children at home.

When it comes to home schooling, parents have to be prepared for the fact that they’re going to be doing some learning of their own. You can’t automatically be an expert in every topic that you’ll need to help your child with, and each parent will find their own strengths and weaknesses. The key is to avoid passing those weaknesses onto your child. Angela MacArthur, editor of homeschoolingplus.com, reminds parents that “The trick is to be ready to be flexible and creative. The fact is, parents can teach – and they might actually prove to be the best teachers for their children!”

Really, the great thing about home schooling is the flexibility – you decide what’s going to be taught and how. This means, if there’s something that you don’t feel comfortable with you can always find alternate ways to teach it to your child. This is where you really get the chance to give your child an education they’ll never find in a traditional school. Many home schoolers take advantage of video and internet sources (as do many teachers and professors in campus school settings). Some also decide to learn with the student so that a sense of exploration and discovery shape the lesson. Instead of providing straight answers and direct guidance, parents join the child in solving problems and researching the topic.

There are a number of different resources and paths to take when you’re teaching your child. Why take the ‘traditional’ route when you’ve already decided that it’s not right for your child? When it comes to subjects you’re unfamiliar with you could:

• sign your child up for an individual class (either in school, online or at a community center)

• arrange for your child to sit in on college lectures

• attend a speech or other community event

• attend a tour guided by an expert

• consult an author or other type of expert for tips, or even invite them to your home to speak with your child

• canvas other home schoolers and see if there are lessons that you could ‘pool’: you teach several children in your area of expertise and your children attend ‘classes’ at another home schoolers place for any topic that you need help with

If none of these options appeal to you, then it’s your responsibility to educate yourself in the subject area so that you can pass that knowledge on to your child. Make sure you do your homework and be prepared for questions!

Don’t let fear or uncertainties stop you from home schooling your children. Remember, teachers don’t know everything! Most public school teachers specialize their learning throughout their post secondary education and have to refresh their memories – or even learn something new – when they’re preparing to step into the classroom. Things will be no different for a home school teacher.

Homeschooling Statistics: Numbers Do Not Lie

2007-02-25T22:04:00.001-08:00

Homeschooling statistics show the obvious advantages of homeschooling. In fact, any form of home schooling, whether it is Christian homeschooling or even homeschooling online with homeschooling software, research shows that all homeschooling programs will benefit children greatly. Read further and see just how much homeschooling will help a child.

The Homeschooling Advantage

Statistics show that a student who is partaking in homeschool will outperform any public school student on standardized tests. The reason is because a homeschooling curriculum places a heavier emphasis on ensuring that a child is actually learning that which is being taught to them. The reasons for this phenomenon are as follows:

* Parents design the curriculum, ensuring that children are taught relevant, interesting information.

* Children are given more attention because of the smaller class size, allowing for more one on one time.

* Children have less distractions resulting from social pressure from other students.

* Children have greater respect for their parents than any one else, meaning that children will cooperate more with parents than public school instructors.

* Parents will be allowed more time to bond with their children in a very positive way.

The Homeschooling Disadvantage

The disadvantage to homeschooling a child is that they are being removed from the social context placed upon them in public schools. Because of this, they will not have the same opportunity that other children have to develop social skills and relationships. However, as strong as these disadvantages are, homeschooled children have a greater potential for learning crucial information, as taught directly by their parents.

Homeschooling Resource

Many resources are available for parents who are interested in homeschooling their children. These resources come in two forms, guides and homeschool counseling. Guides can be found all over the internet and, with a little research, you will surely be able to find a guide that will aid you in creating the homeschooling curriculum that you feel is right for your child.

Homeschool counseling is a service by which parents get advice on how to operate a homeschool. These counselors will give parents all the information they need to ensure that the curriculum they create is on par with standards set by school boards and state legislatures. Either route is beneficial, meaning that you simply need to decide which is right for you.

Before deciding to take the plunge into the world of homeschooling, you must keep in mind that homeschooling is not right for everyone. Make sure that you can afford to take the time your child will need to get the most out of this education practice.

You will also want to make sure your child is open to this idea, as not all children will be as optimistic about the importance of education as parents will be. If you decide that homeschooling is right for your family, do not fret about whether or not your child will be falling behind other children, as statistics are available to show the obvious benefits of this type of education.

How Do I Find the Best Homeschool Curriculum?

2007-02-25T22:03:00.002-08:00

Being a parent is a huge and very important job! You provide your children loving care for their physical needs as well as their emotional and spiritual needs. You are the one they look to for love, help, care and concern. You fix boo-boo's, read stories and chase away scary closet monsters at night. You play games, tell stories, and if you are like a lot of parents, you prepare and then send your children to school.

But wait! You have made the awesome, wonderful, and sometimes scary decision to homeschool.. So that means YOU'RE THE TEACHER! But what do you teach? Many homeschool parents are always in the market for the best homeschool curriculum. What is home school curriculum? It is organized "classes" or subjects prepared for you by an outside company. They are generally teacher's manuals, workbooks, quizzes, tests, and study material for you and your child. You CAN homeschool without using curriculum, but due to the extreme amount of work, time and effort, and preparations that it would take; most homeschool parents choose to use curriculum.

Now, whether you are new to home schooling or have been doing it for years, parents are always looking for the best home school curriculum. During your journey, you will find curriculum you love, curriculum you hate, and curriculum that is just ok. The idea is to know what you are looking for in a curriculum. This way you can better judge if it is right for you and your family. I will outline 5 important steps to finding the best homeschool curriculum.

1.) Know what you like and what you don't (and what your kids like and don't)

This step is the most important step to finding the best home school curriculum. You need to know what motivates you, what motivates your kids and what doesn't. For example, my son HATES boring black and white worksheets. He loves math, but hates black and white worksheets. Once I figured this out, I could look for the best home school curriculum for him for math. We found it! It is a math curriculum that has lots of colors and even some pictures. It is essentially the same work and the same problems, but once I knew what motivates him and what doesn't; I could find the best curriculum for him.

2.) What subjects do you want to teach?

This sounds easy.. But wait until you get your first home school curriculum catalog! If you are anything like I was/am, you will get lost in all the wonderful things you can buy to help you teach your children. There's French, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, math, science, reading, handwriting, calligraphy, printing, phonics, history, history of the bible, ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, civil war, pilgrims, history of the wars, dictionary skills, public speaking, spelling, vocabulary, and the list goes on and on and on!!!!! And who wouldn't want to teach their kids all of those things? I know I would! So narrow it down and figure out what subjects you want to teach. This will help you find the best home school curriculum.

3.) Do you want curriculum for a Christian perspective or a worldly perspective?

Just about every subject that you can teach your child can be taught from either a Christian or a worldly perspective. There are some great Christ centered companies! It is important to decide what you are looking for before hand. If you want only Christian curriculum, you can narrow your search and skip all the companies who do not present their curriculum in this manner. And if you want more of a worldly view you can do the same. This is a very important step to finding the best home school curriculum.

4.) Look for a good return policy!

As a rule, I do not buy it unless I can return it. Keep in mind that most of the time you do not have these books in your hand when you choose them. You are essentially reading a "sales pitch" for each and every piece of curriculum being offered in that catalogue. They all sound great! But I can tell you from personal experience, they are not all great! So look for a company that will let you return items if they are not what you had in mind. Curriculum is not cheap! It is REALLY not cheap if you buy something you don't like, and you can not return it. There are companies that will let you return materials within a certain period of time. I would highly recommend them over any others!

Home Schooling: How Parents Need To Manage Their Time

2007-02-25T22:03:00.001-08:00

Making reports, filing papers, fielding phone calls and placating your boss at the office takes only eight hours. Do you rest when you return home? The answer is no as you have to prepare dinner, share stories with your husband, spend time doing homework with the kids.

This is a situation typically encountered by working mothers, who for 24 hours and 7 days balance the innumerable demands of career and home. The children are however always at the receiving end and this is the problem. The reason for this needs to be asked.

The cause being the tendency of parents, particularly mothers to submit their children to schools with the faith that the children would be provided the best education by the institution.

Some parents however, in today’s changing world have realized that in order to provide the best education to their children sending them to school is no longer the best option. This is the reason for their choice of home schooling to provide their children the kind of education they desire for them.

Most parents devote their time and attempt to give their children the best education at home in home schooling. This does not imply however that more time should be devoted to home schooling than to household chores. Home schooling uses the ‘one to one’ teaching method as its fundamental tenet. The reason being children can understand the concept quicker and easier due to a more individualistic method.

To plan the right amount of time needed in home schooling given here below are some guidelines:

1. Learning style of the children.

Examples can be found that the time requirements in home schooling may be dependent on the children’s learning style. An example would be that you would have to dedicate much less time if your child can learn things at a much quicker pace. You would however have to dedicate more time explaining certain concepts of the subject matter being taught, if your child requires more time to understand the things which are taught to him.

2. The kind of method used.

Teaching methods relating to home schooling are many in number. However they differ regarding the time required by the parent to be dedicated to each program, as each has its individual teaching method.

3. The number of children within the family.

Having many children in the family would mean long hours of teaching similar to a typical classroom setting where usually the number of children are many. The reason being that you would have to inculcate in students the substance of the subject matter, and would have to explain all over again if one of them fails to understand the idea.

Home Schooling: Determining The Length Of Your Child's School Year

2007-02-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

A practical alternative or replacement to schooling institutions is home schooling. In conformity with your state laws concerning this kind of education, parents teach their children to study and learn themselves.

Parents have different explanations as well as justifications as to why they want their children to be educated through home schooling. Parents are concerned regarding the safety of their wards, as well as the quality of education that provided in public schools. The costs of private schooling and the struggle that the child undergoes to keep up with the entire class is one of the major factors in favor of such alternatives.

Most parents feel defenseless when their kids are labeled as ‘slow learners’ by their peers, or other such emotional baggage.

In a large class, usually teachers have limited options and remedies to act on such children who might be “slow learners” compared to others. This leads to the need for tutoring, where they are provided the attention they seek, and can learn at “their own pace”, without having to compete with others children even while maximum attention is being paid by the teacher.

Again, a student who is very enthusiastic about learning and who generally does well in class is a good candidate for home schooling, since he can successfully juggle the absence of interacting with his friends and encouragement for excellent work that are components of a regular classroom.

A home schooling teacher must be have suitably eligibility, which suggests that he or she has at least had a “high school education” to educate lower elementary students.

The parent or teacher must be inspired and encouraged enough to educate the students, since home schooling entails hard work as well as rewards; it is, nevertheless, a satisfying job, when the results are for you to see.

The History Of Home Schooling

2007-02-23T20:51:00.003-08:00

Home schooling is also known as home education, and is a method of teaching children in the family home, rather than at an institution, such as a public school. Originally, all schooling was done in the family home, or informally within small communities. Very few children ever went to school, or had private tutelage. Children who did have this type of education were considered to be privileged, and were mainly from wealthy families.

Informal education, mainly conducted in the home, was the only way for children to gain an education. In the US, there were books dedicated to home education, such as "Helps To Education in the Homes of Our Country" authored by Warren Burton. Parents were the main teachers of their children, although, where possible, local teachers would assist parents, and take classes. It is said that before schooling was institutionalized, the US was at its height of literacy skills.

The 19th century saw many significant changes to the way education, and schooling was conducted with the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws. It is now considered a human right that children are given an education provided by the government.

Over the years, there has been much controversy over the effectiveness of institutionalized schooling, and some people have even gone as far as saying that the compulsory schooling system is damaging to younger children, especially boys who are slower to mature.

In the early 1970s, Ray and Dorothy Moore, who later become well known home schooling advocates, researched the bearing that early childhood education had on the mental, and, physical development of children between the ages of 8 to 12 years of age. Through these studies, the Moores produced evidence that formal schooling was damaging to children, and a cause for some behavioral problems commonly found in school aged children.

According to these tests, illiterate tribal mothers in Africa had children that were more socially, and emotionally advanced than children in the western world. The Moores believed that this was largely due to the bond between parents, and their children being broken when children were institutionalized in schooling systems.

In some English speaking countries, it is still an option for parents to home school their children rather than to send them to an institutionalized school. There are a wide variety of home schooling methods available to families who choose to home school their children, rather than send them to schools, including methods such as classical education, Waldorf education, and the Montessori method.

Home schooling can also refer to schooling done in a home environment, with supervision by teachers through correspondence schools. While children are schooled at home, they must still complete compulsory educational subjects, and take tests.

One of the main reasons that parents choose to home school their children is that they feel the schools are unable to offer their children the same quality of education, or social environment that can be taught at home.

Singapore Private Tutor-Avoid These And You Will Become A Good Tutor

2007-02-23T20:51:00.001-08:00

The most compelling reason to hire a Singapore private tutor is to let a student understand and better grasp concepts taught in schools, and one of the biggest benefits of hiring a private tutor is the individual attention a student will receive. As a result, finding a quality tutor is important for the betterment of the student.

If you are a Singapore private tutor, there may be some areas that you may overlook when giving tuition to a student. Avoid these and you will become a good tutor:

1) Continue teaching without checking whether the student understand the topic or not While it is good to be passionate about teaching, tuition becomes futile if you get overly enthusiastic and keep rambling on a particular topic or subject, then failing to check if the student actually understands. This becomes a waste of time for both tutor and tutee as nothing is being absorbed. Take some time to understand the psychology of the child at hand, and play around with different techniques that best suit the character of the child so as to aid efficient and effective learning.

2) Taking up tuition assignments for the main purpose of earning fast cash If you are assigned to a particular student that has requested tutor services, it most probably means that the student is not performing to par and requires assistance in her school work.

If you care more about the money gained rather than the student, s/he will suffer invariably. Concentrate on improving the student's understanding (and grades) and don't let tuition be 'just another job'. Let their continual improvement be a source of pride for yourself.

3) Show unhappiness over a student's progress It is perfectly normal for tutors to have high expectations of the students. And as with all good tutors, you will wish for your students to excel academically. If a particular student does not meet up to your expectation, do not overreact and exert unnecessary pressure on them. This will affect them emotionally and add on additional stress to perform. Be a constant source of motivation and encouragement, and bear in mind that everyone learns at a different pace, and concrete results or improvement may take awhile to see.

These are some areas that you can avoid, and parents will be more satisfied with the Singapore private tutor if they do not make the mistakes that have been mentioned above. Whether academically or non-academically, focus more on the student and you will become a good quality private tutor.

Home Schooling Education

2007-02-23T20:50:00.004-08:00

A home schooling education is a prized asset to anyone's background. It demonstrates independent work completed in a timely manner, often reflecting an education well above the average education level of that from a public or private school.

A home schooling education most often involves well thought out planning and instruction from a loving parent or guardian who's gently guided the child through many series of targeted lessons. The lessons have covered in-depth information on not only main topics of focus as required by the local laws by often much more advanced training with onsite visits at local industry establishments and interviews with their company workers as part of the lessons.

The more customized and in-depth lessons learned by those with home schooling education provide a much more well-rounded real-life education for after high school years. While their peers from public and private schools battle learning good independent life skills, work and study habits, their home schooling peers already excel in those areas, for example.

The child's home schooling education has included plenty of socialization within peers groups of other home schooled children and children who attend their local churches, on average. Plus home schooling education means an average of 3 children or more per household, so others to play with, plus neighborhood children, library groups, etc.

Grades, maturity levels and college work / study habits of those who have had a home schooling education are on the whole at more advanced levels than those of their peers in public and private schools. Those educated at home with a more Christian approach, especially, tend to not have dealt with the negative issues like early sexual activity and pregnancy, substance abuse, neglect, abuse, etc. as witnessed in their public and private school peers. And those with a home schooling education are accepted more often in universities and colleges, often having had scholarships offered, too.

While public and private schools have time-tables for sessions, breaks, months to complete lessons, etc., home schooling education offers a much more flexible training program. It can go with families when they travel, take breaks, are transferred for work / military or other reasons. And home schooling education offers much more flexibility with materials; books, online learning, non-violent materials, Christian materials with incorporated religious training and daily activities, etc.

In summary, a home schooling education can offer a very valuable asset. Anyone interested in giving their child or children a head start in life, a solid foundation for learning and growing should delve further into the subject.

A Beka Home Schooling

2007-02-23T20:50:00.003-08:00

The A Beka curriculum is a very popular choice for many homeschooling families. It is also used in quite a few Christian schools across the country.

The A Beka Books were developed at Pensacola Christian College. They are based on experience and information gathered over a period of fifty years in the classrooms of Pensacola Christian Academy by many writers. They are unique in that they do not use any currently published works for their curriculum, but instead research and develop their own. Dr. and Mrs. Arlin Horton are the founders of A Beka Book, and the series is named after Mrs. Horton, whose first name is Rebeka.

The A Beka home school curriculum is fundamentally Christian based. The main goal of this program is to ground children in the Christian faith. Every aspect and subject points toward the Christian worldview. It is a workbook based curriculum and is very detailed. It goes step by step through each concept and is very comprehensive. This is a good curriculum for those home school families who are very organized or need a highly structured program.

There are three choices when working with the A Beka Book home school program. There is the A Beka Academy DVD option, which provides two options. The first is the Fully Accredited College Preparatory Program in which A Beka keeps all of the records. The second is the Non-Accredited program in which the parent keeps all the records. Each covers the exact same material. The only difference is the price. Basically, in addition to the workbooks, the DVDs feature teachers who help to explain the subjects in greater detail.

The second option is the A Beka Academy Traditional Parent-Directed option. This is a fully accredited college prep program. A Beka provides you with teacher manuals that explain exactly how to follow and teach the curriculum. You teach the material and A Beka keeps your records for you. It is very much like a traditional school without the school building. You send in all of the work and tests and they grade them and issue a report card. There is an academic calendar along with progress reports. This is much the same as the DVD option minus the DVDs.

The third option is the Textbooks/Materials for Home Schooling. This is simply the curriculum. There is no other involvement from A Beka besides the materials. You will keep all the records and set your own pace. You can order the entire program or just the items that you feel are appropriate for your child. Many parents who choose this option will use parts of another curriculum along with the A Beka materials.

A Beka Book is a good choice for home school families. It is very Biblically based and structured. It sets a strong foundation during the early years in core subjects such as reading and math, and continues to challenge students all the way through high school. The A Beka Book home school curriculum is a great tool with which to teach your child and offers many options.

Montessori Home Schooling

2007-02-23T20:50:00.001-08:00

The Montessori home schooling method was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s to educate children from poor families in San Lorenzo Rome. Dr. Montessori developed a method of teaching children as children, rather than smaller adults. Instead of pigeonholing children into the common institutionalized methods such as grading and testing, the Montessori home schooling method allows children develop their talents, takes note of weaknesses, and encourages children to develop both their weaknesses, and natural talents in their own time.

The Montessori home schooling method is taught to children from as early as birth, and can go as high as year 12 education. Rather than grading, feedback and analysis is usually provided in the form of a list or narration of the child's talents, and weaknesses. An emphasis on and an approach to improving the child's weaknesses are then taken, as education progresses.

The wonderful thing that the Montessori home schooling method offers a child is a focus on what the child needs as an individual, rather than pre-set needs for the class as a whole. Learning is done at the child's own pace, and teachers take the role of a guide rather than a lecturer. One of the main goals that this method uses is to encourage children to keep their natural joy of learning, without pressuring them to compete with each other and learn when they are not yet ready, or mature enough.

Through this method of teaching, children are encouraged to be independent, and are given freedom with some set limits and responsibilities that come with having freedom.

The entire approach used in Montessori home schooling method is that children learn in an entirely different way than adults. Lessons are specially structured to children's needs, and the natural way that they learn to give children the best advantage in both an academic, and social learning environment.

Montessori Method Lessons

The Montessori method ensures that a child is never given an activity without being shown how it is of use to them. After the activity has been demonstrated, the child is then given the freedom to use this newly acquired knowledge with no limits, other than their own imagination, or when the materials or child has a risk of being a danger to themselves or those around them.

Each activity is carefully selected, and will pave the way for later activities, and concepts. Children are encouraged to repeat an activity as many times as they want to, until they become bored with it. At this stage, it is a sign that the child is ready to start the next activity.

Pre School Learning With Mom

2007-02-23T05:05:00.001-08:00

The Mother Is Crucial In Preschool Teaching

Preschool teaching is as important as a classroom. Any one who teaches is a teacher and anyone who learns is a learner. It is a fact that we learn throughout our life and so it is not just the classroom where we get knowledge. We learn something at office, from special situations in life such as a birth or a death, and even from a tribe’s way of life in an exotic locale. And what we learn has a deep impact on us, and goes a long way to shape our thoughts and our personality. How we react to situations also depends on what we learn in our life.

Mother Is The Most Important Teacher And A Role Model For A Child

The Mother interacts with the child the most and can have an impact on the child’s character from the birth itself. Initially, the child sees the world through his or her mother’s eyes, and perceives dangers and pleasures the way the mother sees them. The bond that the mother establishes right from the first time the baby is breastfed is later translated into a teacher-pupil relationship where the child copies everything the mother does and learns through the process.

The mother can influence the child to question, experience, investigate and to learn. The mother of a Nobel laureate said that she asked her son… “What good question have you asked in school today”, instead of just inquiring what he learned, and this obviously kindled curiosity. This thirst for knowledge will come from the preschool teaching the child experiences at home, and at his or her school. It is not essential that the kid has to go through formal pen-and-paper activities. Just doing day-to-day chores can impart equal knowledge and become an effective preschool teaching activity.

This preschool teaching need not be formalized into lessons and pen-and-paper things. The child can learn a wealth of knowledge just by participating in the day-to-day chores.

Preschool teaching can include many things such as fixing small things, putting toys in the right place, filling water in a glass properly, folding a tissue and others. That is the real life things. All children – each love to “help” their mother around the house. But you will see that mothers are discouraging this because they feel that they have to do it all over again. On the other hand, if mothers are encouraging the children, then this can become an effective preschool teaching. Yes “helping” around the house should be encouraged as much as possible.

Good parents encourage their children to become curious and ask questions to get answers to their queries. They never get irritated even when the kids ask too many. Children learn and conclude quickly and so when their natural curiosity is limited or disciplined, they use this limit in their studies as well. And so they limit their knowledge to class only.

Standing Up for Home Schooling

2007-02-23T05:04:00.001-08:00

Parents have every right to educate their children at home, based upon knowledge gathered throughout their lives. They should and can do so, with a fair dose of responsibility. I admire who is capable of achieving such a deed, because the amount of stress involved in the task is only comprehended by those who actually do it. However, the results are unmatched by the ones obtained by the public school system. We have the example of the Villena Family, in Brazil. This case serves to show how a country’s educational system takes a long time to be updated in comparison to the advances achieved in the world as to child education and about the citizens´ right to seek the very best way to educate their children.

In 2004, I was asked to give some theoretical support to the Villena Family, defending the choice that they made to teach their 6 kids at home. In the occasion they had just entered with a judicial order, (in Portuguese, “Mandato de Seguranca” (MS 7407/DF) seeking the Superior Justice Tribunal of Brazil to evaluate the demands that the educational system had required from them. In fact, what the government was asking for went against the family’s goals, since they wanted to keep home schooling their kids. The educational system intended to obligate them to enroll their children in the Brazilian formal educational system. At the time, the Minister Dr. Franciulli Netto, asked for evidence in the legal procedure, and I sent (under their family name and at their request) a theoretical justification on the importance of educating children at home. My intent was to aid in the Minister’s decision, thus helping the resolution of the case.

Is Home Schooling Necessary to Protect Your Children from Violence in School?

2007-02-23T05:03:00.004-08:00

About four years ago, I read an interesting article in a Home Schooling online newsletter. It seems a parent who choose to Home School her kids in Denver CO, area was discussing that one of the reasons was the violence in the schools. She took her kids out of school long before the Columbine Massacre there not more than 25 miles from her home.

One gentleman online stated; “The Liberals have neutered our Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice systems.”

Obviously this statement comes from the perspective of a Christian Home Schooler parent and of course he is speaking to the issues of the concept of nothing being wrong or right, simply perspective based.

Many would agree with him and the lady from the Denver area also, as this could be said to be at least partly true, political correctness, takes away personal responsibilities. It is not Johnny's fault that he brought a knife to school, because he grew up with a rough childhood. Indeed that is a consideration.

I spoke recently at a High School in TX to a noon-time FBLA Club and they had metal detectors in the school as I went in. Interesting I thought. The kids seemed fine, I did not feel threatened but that reminder of the metal detector made me think about the changes over the past 20 plus years.

I think as a parent I would be concerned indeed. I asked about it and they said that nothing had happened this year only one incident after a football game in the parking lot, but hey its Texas right and you know their football. Apparently a couple of years back there were a string of incidents, gang related there. The teacher-advisor of the club did not go into details, but said the faculty was afraid too, it got that bad.

Yes, you are saying so what, one HS right? Well if you read the local newspapers as you travel the nation, these are not uncommon occurrences anymore; happens all the time. Perhaps one of the very good reasons for home schooling; allowing your child to get on a bus should not have to be a risk.

One bus driver from Little Rock, Arkansas told me that the new seatbelts self-retract, but as they are to protect in an accident and keep kids in their seats, they also are being used as a weapon and used like a sling to hit other kids crossing in the isle.

Violence in Schools; Number One Reason for Home Schooling

2007-02-23T05:03:00.003-08:00

Not long ago in preparation for a book I am writing I participated in an online forum about Home Schooling. The number one reason that parents said they choose Home Schooling over public schools was the violence issue in our schools.

Interesting they should mention this stuff. I went to a very large middle school and a kid brought a knife and we got into a fight. Long story short I got a large cut on my hand, funny thing was the kid did not need a knife; he was twice my size. The High School I went too was large 4000 students or so and there were large Mexican Gangs; it was a rough school.

Indeed safety for your children might be a very good reason for home schooling. I truly believe that the education as these parents said is another important reason. Many believed the public schools teach severely under the children’s abilities and that they are NOT Challenged enough. This fact sickens me, the wasted time is a tremendous loss of years in educating a youngster.

Teachers complain about the misbehaved kids and the school districts keep putting more kids packing them in like sardines into the classrooms. Flu Season comes and good luck then because parents do not take time off work and kids are sent sick to school. Yet more issues to consider.

Proponents of public school say the home schooled kids do not receive the proper socialization. They also make a good point about the social skills and yet in school these kids are not taught in a positive way about getting along with others. More like the teachers use the students against each other to enforce behavior.

For instance you are all staying after class if anyone says another word, type stuff, somewhat uncalled for and leads to problems. But aside from that sort of thing, the socialization in classroom is one of disrespect like the sitcoms of the 90’s or even that Donald Trump “Apprentice” type show; Not very favorable. There are so many reasons for home schooling.

I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

Some Thoughts on Home Schooling

2007-02-23T05:03:00.001-08:00

What do home schooling groups need to do to keep their parents up on the latest and insure that their kids get a quality home education. There are many things to consider and with groups of parents working together they can learn a lot from each other. Here are some thoughts below;

Of course I am a huge proponent of mentorship from parents and others with specialties, although I was not home-schooled I know the mentorships I received helped me for sure.
If the parents feed their kids sugar and crap before school they act out more and if there is little or no discipline at home, how could there be in the classroom and it only takes a few disruptive kids to destroy the classroom setting of course. Parents of home schooled kids have this advantage and can control their pre-study diets and have no disruptions from other kids
Kids in Public Schools are more extra-introverted than those kids from home schooling. Socialization strategies must be considered if the kids are home schooled.
Home Schooled kids may not be more intelligent, granted but they are probably forced to study harder if their parents are there watching them. and perhaps less afraid to ask questions and thus this aids greatly in learning too. Children afraid to ask questions in a public school might be at a disadvantage.
Homeschooling Parents must teach their kids to tackle unknown, even thrive on it, seek it out and learn. That is important, that can happen thru sports, new activities and such.
It is very important, if home schooling parents can teach children to become Rennaissance Style learners. I think this can be done with home schooling and perhaps groups of homeschoolers working together in teams, where the expertise of one parent is taught to the entire network of many other local homeschooling families, and as we search these things online it appears that is starting to happen.
Special programs, videos libraries and such all geared to the homeschooling parents, even educational retail stores, some good is happening due to demand and free market mechanisms too.
Home schooling parents do a good job teaching the kids right and wrong and when they get out in the real world, it's a total shock.

SAT For The Homeschooled

2007-02-23T01:23:00.006-08:00

Are you a homeschooled student, really have not taken standardized tests, and are a little leery of how well you can do? You should know the information below because it can help you with a little sanity to the process.

First, take a deep breath. Homeschooled students tend to do better than public schooled students (as well they should; fewer students should achieve better results) on the SAT. This is big. There are a number of reasons why this is true and much is related to the typically larger amount of reading that homeschoolers do, but also to the entire process. Public schools rarely have money for field trips. All good homeschooling families know and take advantage of the library, museums, and much more. This interacting with the learning world around them is really powerful.

Second, consider taking the PSAT in what would be your junior year of high school. This can really help you focus on those areas where you might need extra help. In some states you are allowed to take it at your local public high school, but you will want to check with them and with the College Board to make sure of the rules for your unique situation.

Third, consider using one of the many study guides out there. However, here is the caveat: Only if this is a way that you learn. Some people know and appreciate study guides, and some have no interest whatsoever. Know which kind you are can be helpful for more than just the SATs.

Fourth, there are always, in most big cities, programs by Kaplan and others, that teach you how to do better on the test. While I am not necessarily a big fan of shelling out large amounts of money for test preparation, these programs do what they purport to do and that is to raise your test score. It is no mistake that the typical teacher for one of these courses did very well when they took it.

And finally, fifth, while it is anethema to homeschoolers, there are some states that allow you to sit for the state proficiency tests. Clearly, this is your choice, but it's not necessarily a bad thing to have sat through one standardized test in twelve years of education. The insider knowledge you gain can be invaluable. Now, is that insider information any different than if you you took one of the practice tests in the back of a test prep book? My instincts say yes because it is done in a true testing environment. However, choose whatever fits into your homeschooling philosophy.

The biggest point is that you already have many of the skills precisely because you have been homeschooled and have been taught in a certain way. Now you may just need the application part of the equation.

Do Home Schooled Kids have Social Deficiencies?

2007-02-23T01:23:00.005-08:00

Not long ago our Online Think Tank tackled some of the criticism coming from teachers and College Professors about Home Schooled kids. One College Professor stated that academically they were a mixed bag. Some were extremely well schooled and others had problems in some subjects. However as one 17 year veteran college professor put it; they ALL had social deficiencies.

Of course the college professor did admit that she had not taught for about 20 years. Other more recent teachers although they did not approve of home-schooling did not give home schooling kids such a low report card on social skills. All these are indeed, interesting insights. Because it seems that Home Schoolers are more organized today than ever before.

The reason I say this is as I travel around the country and talk to folks it seems they are sharing and have huge groups online too to assist and there are some pretty large home schooling networks now online.

Some of the Charter Schools are getting better too as I see. I think education in America might just be the edge we need to stay on top as a nation. Personally, I enjoyed public school, class president, varsity sports, clubs on campus, but I also felt that it was under whelming in many regards; not good enough academically, more babysitting if you will.

So I ask what would you do to make things better? Should home schooled kids perhaps have a pre-re-entry course prior to coming into College? Why do I mention this, well because I do a lot of public speaking at colleges and one business college; University of Phoenix that I commonly speak at for MBA students and such, has a course that everyone takes to re-train them in how to best excel in the college, how to study and get the most out of it.

This might be the answer to the problem stated by college professor observers about the social issues of home schooled kids? I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.