Speaking LIFE Into Our Children

By Sandra

I ran into a friend at a restaurant yesterday, who wanted to get our kids together for a fun day before her son’s school begins next week. She shared with me that she would love to homeschool, if her situation allowed. God touched my heart when she shared that. She had been shopping for school supplies and said that she hated this time of year.  I sensed that she loved the extra time with her son that summer allows.

As many children, teachers, and parents are filled with anxiety or dread as the new school year begins, homeschool parents can relax. Not because it’s so much easier for us. We know it is difficult to teach our own children on some days. We can be filled with joy and peace, though, because we have such a privilege in imparting knowledge and wisdom to our own family, and because we know that God is our help. We have positioned ourselves to keep our children on the narrow path, teaching them all the life skills for survival and all the spiritual truths they need to prosper.

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Vocabulary Shmabulary

By Sandra

I recently finished teaching an SAT Prep Class at our local community college. I drilled and lectured 20 high school students who signed up for the course, in effort to help them raise their test scores, to know more about what to expect on the test, and to reduce their test anxiety.

What I discovered was that much of the mastery of the test is linked to learning essential root words, stems, prefixes, and suffixes, which aid in reading comprehension and vocabulary in context. The lists of these word parts, which often have their origins in Latin, were not well known by the students in my class.

In light of this, I plan to continue to use a resource called Vocabulary from Classical Roots (Educators Publishing Service), with my own children this year. I’ve used this vocabulary book with my middle school child for a few years. This year I’ve introduced the book to my fourth grade student as well.

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Enjoying The Simple Things - A New Routine

By Sandra

Our family started back to homeschool this week. We have a “gradual entry” schedule in our home, which entails half-days of learning blocks for the first week, or sometimes two.  After all, we wouldn’t want the children –or the parents- to go into shock. It is still the season of summer vacations, after all! So far, so good. The children actually enjoyed moving back into a structured routine of learning. They got acquainted with several of their new books today, and seemed rather delighted to pen their names to the inside covers. It seemed to me they were taking pride in the prospective learning ground for the new year. Writing their names in the books and being introduced to the coming units of study, actually helps them stake their territory on the year. They begin to anticipate the coming subjects, characters, discussions and activities.

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Some Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

By MAD21

Family Education recently had a pretty good article regarding some of "The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling" written by Isabel Shaw.

Ms. Shaw states: "Homeschooling is becoming more popular every day, with a growth rate of 7 to 15 percent per year. There are about two million children currently learning at home. Homeschooled kids do well on standardized tests, are welcome at college and universities, and as adults, have a reputation for being self-directed learners and reliable employees...Almost ten years ago, when I was making the decision to homeschool, I wrote up a list of pros and cons. The pros won me over, but since then, I've discovered there were many more pros and cons that I couldn't possibly have anticipated! To help other parents who are considering homeschooling, here is a new list of pros and cons. This list is based on both my experience and the experiences of dozens of families who've shared with me the ups and downs of their day-to-day homeschooling."

Go check out what Ms Shaw has to say. She makes some good points.

Homeschool Art: Simplicity Works

By Sandra

I‘ve been contemplating what kind of art to teach with my kids in the next school year. I’ve seen so many curricula that can easily be applied at home. But the first semester of our art lessons, I’ve concluded, will be comprised of pencil drawings. Believe it or not, we’ve never delved into drawing basics at our homeschool.

As someone inexperienced with drawing, I wanted to find something that looks easy and fun, not overwhelming for a beginner. I’m hoping my kids will enjoy the practice, and the process of learning and improving, and not feel the pressure to compete for a ribbon at some homeschool fair!

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