There are twelve years of archived articles from Home Education Magazine right here at the HEM website, free for the reading and right at your fingertips! From the Jan/Feb, 1997 issue – we’d already been publishing for 13 years by then – through the current Nov/Dec 2008 issue, the HEM archives offer a wonderful assortment of writing from the oldest homeschooling magazine still being continuously published.
The feature article writers and regularly scheduled columnists who’ve written for HEM over the years provide a very broad perspective on homeschooling issues, and they’ve tackled some tough subjects for our readers, such as the openly questioning article by Ruthe Matilsky titled “On Unschooling and Life,” from our March/April, 2001 issue:
How unsettling it is sometimes when I think that we have scoffed at the script and now we have to take responsibility for how it all turns out. If we’d done what was expected of us, nothing would ever be our fault. Right? Of course my husband and I don’t believe that, but I can’t help worrying. The standard good-parent line is, “All I want is for my child to be happy.” That’s easy to say when the kids are little, but what about a twenty-one-year-old daughter who is not on the college track?
Then there was “Dropping the Bombshell,” by LauraJean Downs in 1998:
Those of us who homeschool are the experts in in-law relationships, right? We simply get on the phone and say something like,”Hi Mom! I just wanted to let you know that we are going to homeschool all of the kids next year. Have a great day!” The relationship just continues as smoothly as it always did, right? Wrong!
Another complicated subject was tackled by M.S. Beltran in “Homeschooled Teens Can Rest Easier,” from March/April, 2004:
My daughter’s late rising has brought about a great deal of eye rolling and gaping disbelief from those who cannot imagine life outside the pre-set hours of institutionalized education, even though they are aware our child is not a part of that institution. Is it stubborn adherence to tradition that keeps people holding the early bird in such high regard, while the night owl is chastised for being lazy?
A favorite article was “Reflections of a Homeschooled Homeschooler,” by Rebecca Bangs Amos, Nov/Dec, 1999:
When my parents shared their plans of moving to a 500-acre farm in Northern Vermont where they would educate their children themselves, their friends responded with, “Are you crazy?” My friends wondered how I could even consider having my mother and father for teachers.
Issue after issue, year after year, Home Education Magazine’s feature article writers captured the essence and the excitement of homeschooling, the concerns and the questions of homeschooling families. Visit the HEM archives and do some reading – it’s all free – and learn why HEM is “More than just a magazine…”
Tags: Hegener, HEM, Home Education Magazine, homeschool, homeschooling
