Search Results for: blog stop being a slave to your curriculum

What Curriculum Do You Use?

As a homeschooling support group leader, I get asked this question a lot from newbies. Every one wants to know what curriculum I use and why. If I use it, it must be good. . .because after all I’m the support group leader right? And if you have the right curriculum, it must be that you’ll be successful in this homeschooling endeavor; or so the reasoning goes. I always hesitate to answer. I do love my curriculum. But that’s because it’s the right fit for my family and my situation. However, I have now been asked so many times I … Continue reading →

2006 in Review: Homeschooling Blog at a Glance

As a new homeschooling blogger at Families.com, I wanted to know everything that has been discussed to date. In response to my own curiosity, and in an effort to make perusing our articles easier for you, our readers, I have compiled all of the blogs for the year 2006. Deciding to Homeschool Why homeschool Am I qualified for this? Reasons that Homeschooling Works! My Most Important Advice for Homeschoolers. The Cost of Homeschooling Instead of standing up for their own kids, why not stand up for all kids? Disclaimer: I am hardly an expert in education. Did You Know? ‘Empirical … Continue reading →

Choosing Your Curriculum

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So you’ve decided to home school. You’ve started to put together the paperwork that you need to satisfy your legal requirements (if you have legal requirements). You even manage to go to one of those home schooling conferences thinking that you’ll buy your curriculum there. You make it to the vendor hall, take a step inside. . .and are greeted by no less than 100 tables all touting products that they say you desparately need. How on earth do you begin to shift through the maze of curriculum options and make a decision? When I first started, I happened to … Continue reading →

Stop being a Slave to your Curriculum!

I have a friend who never takes field trips. She never ventures to the zoo with her kids, doesn’t frequent any museums (and I have to interject here that given that we live in New York City–there are ample museums to go see), nor does she go to co-ops or anything else on a school day. IF on the rare occasion she does allow a field trip to sneak into their school day, she spends the next day or two making the kids do double the work because she says that field trips don’t count as a regular school day. … Continue reading →

My Daughter’s First Two Years of Homeschooling

My oldest daughter is now in third grade. She is articulate and polite. She reads at about a 5th grade level and does well in pretty much anything she sets out to tackle. I wouldn’t say that she’s ahead and/or gifted, but she’s bright and does quite well. In fact, it was her (and not my son) that convinced my pediatrician that home schooling was a great idea. Her first two years, you know those essential formative years of 1st grade and kindergarten are also known as “the twin years.” Those are the years that I was pregnant with the … Continue reading →

Some More Thoughts on Homeschooling More Than One

I was asked recently on another blog about home schooling more than one child. While it has been covered in the home schooling blog before, I thought I’d share some insight on home schooling five, and some practical tips on how we manage. Although I think most who normally read this blog know this, by way of reintroduction, I have five kids. While I still maintain that preschool is optional, most of my younger children want to at least read every day. So I will say that I’m home schooling three preschoolers, one gifted first grader and one third grader. … Continue reading →

When Life Collides with Homeschooling

In this past week and a half, life has been on a direct collision course with home schooling. Nothing has gone right in the home schooling department and frankly, not too much else has gone right in the life department. It started two Fridays ago, when my husband tore a calf muscle. A torn calf muscle is not a slight injury but in his case it really is a big deal because he coaches preschoolers for a living. No working legs. . .no work. So he was on bed rest. During his bed rest, I became acutely aware of how … Continue reading →

The Newest Genre of Homeschooling Parent

I have to say that I really respect my pastors and their decision to home school. They were doing it in the 70’s and early 80’s when educating your child wasn’t considered a parental ‘right’ but rather a social and legal taboo. They both have stories about being visited by truancy officers and one of the pastors wives jokes about the days when their kids were told to hide under the bed in case someone came in. Homeschooling was akin to educational neglect back then, and they really needed to forge their way through. There were no curriculums or helpful … Continue reading →

Setting Up a Space for Homeschooling

I have a friend that swears that everyone needs to have a homeschooling classroom. She has one and her kids do all of their school work in their basement in the homeschooling classroom. We do not have a home schooling classroom so obviously I don’t think it’s a necessity. Or at least it’s not as important to me as everyone having a place to sleep! Last week I wrote an article about the Smiths. . .friends of mine who set up their house so they’d have a couple of rooms for school. Someone asked for photos and I’m sad to … Continue reading →

Top Ten Reasons to Homeschool

#10. No mad morning dash, trying to have everyone ready to head out the door while it’s still dark, no 7 a.m. lunch prep, and no racing through the house at 7:23, frantically searching for a shoe while shrieking, “The bus will be here in two minutes!” #9. Girls like to do math in their pajamas. There’s something regal about it. Especially if you add dangly earrings. Feather boas are nice, too. #8. Mix and match curriculum. No grade levels. No letter grades. Just mastery. On their timetable, not someone else’s. #7. Family togetherness. Family togetherness. Family togetherness. #6. No … Continue reading →