HEM’s Questions & Answers – January-February 2010
I haven’t found any way to teach grammar that keeps the interest of my ten-year-old son. An experiencing friend of ours says half the battle of good grammar is won because our son loves to read, and chances are he’s intuiting grammar rules while he reads. Still I want some course material. What has worked for you? -Wynette
About HEM’s Questions & Answers
(The deadline for answers which will appear in the print magazine is Nov. 25.)
Tags: grammar, homeschooling, teaching grammar
“Every parent wants the best education for their children. It doesn’t matter if it is in a public school, a private or parochial school, or even at home.
In the past few years, more and more parents have made the decision to teach their children at home. In fact, it is estimated that the number of homeschooled children in the United States has tripled over the past decade.”
From the Maryville, Missouri Daily Forum, article, Embracing the Choice, which also cautioned:
“Even though homeschooling allows parents to tailor learning environments to their children and their family, becoming a homeschooling parent can be challenging.
“Some parents worry about what curriculum they should use and how to implement it. Some may question whether or not their children have enough social contacts. Others may have concerns about their own qualifications for teaching their children.”
The article, however, addressed these concerns and showed how the local homeschoolers work together in supportive and encouraging ways.
Tags: homeschool numbers, homeschool support groups, homeschooling in the news, homeschooling news story, increasing homeschool numbers, Maryville, Missouri Daily Forum, number of homeschooled children, numbers of homeschoolers
Korea’s leading daily newspaper, the JoongAng Ilbo, reports Flu is changing spending: Home study products popular as schools avoided
“The spread of A (H1N1) flu virus is influencing consumer spending patterns, according to various industry sources.
The online marketplace Auction said yesterday that sales of homeschooling items such as reference books and educational toys increased this month on-year.
Referencing surprisingly high sales in items such as educational toys, science teaching tools, and sales of electronic books, writer Lee Eun-joo reported “…the increase in demand suggests more parents are homeschooling their children rather than sending them to private institutions where there is a relatively higher risk of being infected by the new flu.”
Tags: A (H1N1) flu virus, homeschooling and (H1N1) flu virus, homeschooling and flu virus, JoongAng Ilbo, Lee Eun-joo
“Homeschooling lifts a burden from schools and taxpayers. Whether we bond or not, the schools and the legislature should be encouraging parents to become self-reliant in the education of their children.
If elementary schools are going to experience 16% growth in the next five years, that need could be met if 16 children out of every 100 were taught at home. And since there are usually at least two children in each family, only 8 moms in every 100 would need to take up the challenge.”
Pioneering homeschool mom and author Joyce Kinmont, in an opinion letter to the editor of the Ogden, Utah Standard Examiner.
Tags: homeschooling, homeschooling and public school, homeschooling families, Joyce Kinmont, reasons to homeschool, Standard Examiner
John Holt and the History of Homeschooling “His great legacy is the homeschooling movement itself, which, without his considerable guidance and patient nurturing during its most formative years, would today be a horse of a very different color.”
More articles about this pioneering visionary:
A Tribute to John Holt, 1923-1985, by Pat Farenga
The Education of John Holt, by Mel Allen, Yankee Magazine, December, 1981
More on John Holt
Tags: history of homeschooling, homeschooling, John Caldwell Holt, John Holt, Mel Allen, Pat Farenga, Yankee Magazine
Laura Weldon has been a long-time columnist for Home Education Magazine, editing our popular Questions and Answers section in every issue.
Now Laura has drawn on her own experiences in homeschooling, plus the wisdom of over 100 families from around the world, for a book which brings the endless joys and wonders of homeschooling to light for her readers, and her book has a wonderfully descriptive title: Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything.
Free Range Learning smoothly blends the lessons of ancient knowledge into today’s cutting-edge research in childhood learning, methods of education, and other relevant disciplines, advocating for a natural approach to learning and sharing how many families have made free range learning a part of their daily lives.
“Children love to learn – and they’re good at it. That’s not a new idea, but it’s a critically important concept which has been stifled and twisted and denied for far too long. Thankfully, it’s also a frequent thread and the binding glue of Laura Weldon’s wonderfully affirming book, Free Range Learning. Through homeschooling her children and working as an effective homeschool advocate for many years, Laura Weldon developed an understanding of, and an appreciation for, an elementary wisdom which our society forgot somewhere along the way: Children can be trusted to learn. In this book, she joyfully shares that wisdom.” ~Helen Hegener, publisher, Home Education Magazine
Tags: books about homeschooling, books about unschooling, Free Range Learning, homeschooling, Laura Grace Weldon, Laura Weldon, natural approach to learning, unschooling
