Search Results for: blog fulfilling homeschool requirements through hobbies

Exploring Homeschool Methods

Finding a homeschool method that fits your family will focus your homeschool and improve the educational experience. I spent a few years exploring methods before deciding on the one that suited my family the best. Since that moment, my children and I have benefited in numerous ways. I encourage you to research the methods for yourself. A lack of vision and focus, as with any endeavor will result in failure and frustration. However, choosing a method should not be frustrating; it should be a natural fit into your family’s lifestyle. The method is simply framework for how your homeschool is … Continue reading →

What do Children’s Pageants and Homeschooling Have in Common?

You may have noticed I have not been blogging as much as usual, but I have been distracted. That distraction will end this weekend. Right now, I am at a pageant competition with my daughter who is competing in several areas including photogenic, talent, and overall queen crown. She did excellent playing piano yesterday and people have been complementing us all day on her performance. She also completed her interview this morning, and I am waiting to hear the preliminary results. So what does this have to do with homeschooling? Lots! By finding an interesting hobby or activity for our … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Talented Children: Nurturing Talents

In my last blog post, I wrote about identifying the talents of your homeschooled children. I distinguished between what I believe to be gifts and talents, and explained that while small minorities of children are considered gifted, I believe that every child has a talent. Once you identify your child’s talents, it is your responsibility as a parent to nurture the talents of your children. Nurturing your children’s’ talents takes time and money. There is a huge debate right now that children are in far too many activities and are becoming exhausted. Homeschoolers however have a unique benefit in the … Continue reading →

Aligning Subjects for Efficient Homeschooling

Valorie Delp’s recent article about Bookadventure.org spurred one more post about aligning curriculum. In addition to aligning hobbies, scouts, or art to your curriculum, you can and should align one curriculum subject to another. If you are familiar with unit studies, you know that this is a subject or project based approach to homeschooling. Language arts, science, history, and sometimes math lessons are centered around one subject like butterflies, for instance. Aligning subjects is a close departure from this concept. This approach to homeschooling, is also reminiscent of the classical style of homeschooling. A classical homeschooler would most certainly study … Continue reading →

Fulfilling Homeschool Requirements through Hobbies

Today, guest homeschool blogger Julie Gentry wrote about homeschooling and scouting. She described how scouting fulfills many academic requirements. Not only can your child fulfill homeschool requirements through scouting, but also through just about any hobby. My daughter, for instance, competes in pageants and is on a step team. (Step is the dance competitions in which African American fraternities and sororities participate.) Pageant activities eliminate any question of socialization. It also forces her to develop her musical talents. She is learning how to write and recite speeches as well. (Language Arts). While all of these are not standard core curriculum, … Continue reading →

More on Charlotte Mason: The “Science of Relations”

In my last post, I talked about the ways in which my daughters made connections, through living books and hands-on activities, that helped them to learn (and retain what they’d learned) about various historical periods, specifically, late 19th and early 20th century history. Charlotte Mason, in her Original Homeschooling Series, spoke of these connections when she called education the “science of relations.” Miss Mason believed that children have a natural thirst for knowledge and a great capacity for amassing it. She believed that their quest to understand and absorb the world around them could be channeled quite productively into learning, … Continue reading →

The Sunday Evening Review: January 21, 2007

We saw many changes in the homeschool blog this week. We said see ya’ round to Valorie, who is writing for another families.com blog, and hello to a brand new blogger, Karen. Keep an eye out for guest blogs from Valorie. We also spent some time visiting with bloggers from other categories. Our blogs meandered through different topics and issues in the homeschooling world, but for the most part, one good blog led to another. We started the week with a guest blog by Julie Gentry entitled Trusting Your Instincts: Know When to Say No in which Julie discussed how … Continue reading →