Control Over Our Time

Helen on October 20th, 2009

“Homeschooling gives us control over our time, one of our most precious and limited resources. We have more time to work with because we don’t have to ride school buses, collect endless forms, etc. We can get enough rest, which makes life much easier. We can plan our time in ways that work well for us, whether this be a regular schedule or a more flexible approach. Learning can occur at meal times, on weekends and holidays, at times when parents who work outside the home are with us. We can spend time on what is most important to us, whether that is family life, interactions with other people, academics, religion, service to others, health, nature, art and aesthetics, etc.”

From Why Independence Is Essential To Homeschooling, by Larry and Susan Kaseman, Home Education Magazine, Sept/Oct, 2002.

Tags: Home Education Magazine, homeschooling, homeschooling families, homeschooling freedoms, Larry and Susan Kaseman, reasons to homeschool, unschooling

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Andrew O’Hehir, Part II

Helen on October 19th, 2009

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series at Salon.com. To read the first installment, Confessions of a Homeschooler, click here.

Home schooling: How we do it
By Andrew O’Hehir

It all started with the hero of “Cars,” Lightning McQueen.

As I wrote in the first installment of this series last month, home schooling sneaked up on us, or at least on me. It’s true that [my wife] Leslie knew about the rapidly expanding world of urban, mostly secular home schooling through online parents’ groups, and was already drawn to alternative educational approaches. But right up until the moment she quit her lefty-nonprofit job early in 2007, when our twins were 2½, we were a pretty typical big-city, middle-class family, with two kids, two incomes and a full-time nanny.

One of the numerous screwy things about raising children these days, especially in a hotbed of social-Darwinist parenting like New York, is that by taking time off to hang out with a couple of toddlers, Leslie became a home-schooler by default. Neither of us completely understood this until it happened.

Read Andrews’s entire article at the link above.

Tags: Andrew O'Hehir, articles about homeschooling, home education, homeschool resources, homeschooling, homeschooling dads, homeschooling families, Leslie Kauffman, reasons to homeschool, socialization

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Homeschool Football

Helen on October 18th, 2009

In a commentary piece for the Temple Daily Telegram in Temple, Texas, Tim Waits explains how local homeschoolers have put together their own sports team: Local homeschool team making most of its opportunity:

Football can be complicated as anyone involved would like to make it or as simple as drawing pass routes in the dirt on a playground.

What it should always be is fun for those who desire to play it.

John Ash is attempting to incorporate some of all of those things as the
coach of the Centex Homeschool Chargers, a six-man team that is four years in the making. The Chargers play a full junior varsity schedule and were 4-1 going into the weekend.

Not bad for a team that came together primarily at the behest of a persistent 13-year-old, Stephen Ash, John’s son, who is now the Chargers’ sophomore quarterback. A few phone calls were made and the makings of a middle school six-man team came together. Local public and private schools donated equipment and, amazingly, they were able to put together a nine-game schedule that year.

Along with assistant Shannon Cloe, the team culled together interested homeschoolers from throughout the region to join the club.

“This was unexpected,” John Ash said. “We never thought this could happen.”

Of the seven independent homeschool six-man teams in the state, the Chargers are ranked at the top by sixmanfootball.com. Last week’s ranking had the Chargers at No. 156 among 240 teams among all public and private schools. Every game is on the road because they don’t have their own field…

Continue reading the article at this link. (Thanks to Susan Fredericks in Texas for the article link!)

Tags: Centex Homeschool Chargers, homeschool sports, homeschooling, John Ash, Shannon Cloe, socialization, Stephen Ash, Susan Fredericks, Temple Daily Telegram, Texas homeschoolers, Tim Wait

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Photography for Kids & Teens

Helen on October 17th, 2009

cameraBetterPhoto.com is a safe and fun place to discuss photography, and BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens is dedicated to kids and teenagers interested in the art of taking pictures. Whether your kids have been snapping pictures for a while or they’re just picking up a camera for the first time, this site will help them learn more about taking pictures!

The good news is that it’s easy! With the excellent cameras available today, your kids can get good pictures right from the start. There are a few tricks to making better photos, but with the helpful tips they’ll find at BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens, they’ll make those “good” pictures “great,” and take more and more great pictures every day!

BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens can help your kids develop a lifelong love of photography!

Tags: BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens, BetterPhoto.com, curricula, curriculum, home education, homeschool resources, homeschooled teens, homeschooling, homeschooling resources, photography for kids, photography for teens, unschooling

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The Role of Education

Tracy on October 16th, 2009

Interesting new video up on You Tube featuring Noam Chomsky regarding The Role of the Educational System.

Noam Chomsky, an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discusses the goals of education and the purposes of the education system in this video.

I also noted a few thought provoking articles regarding Chomsky have popped up in recent news. They can be found here , here , here , and one more here .

Tags: goal of education, Noam Chompsky, public school, purposes of education, reasons to homeschool, role of the educational system

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New Homeschooling Video

Helen on October 16th, 2009

A series of conversations about homeschooling from the Homeschool Association of California conference highlights various aspects of homeschooling, providing helpful information and friendly encouragement for anyone considering homeschooling, and perspective and insight for those already doing it. You can watch the entire 50 minute video, or select individual segments on various topics.

The videos attempt to answer many common questions, including:

* What is homeschooling?
* What is a typical homeschooling day like?
* What about college?
* Do homeschoolers socialize?
* What are the benefits to homeschooling?

Watch the segments, or the entire video, at the link above.

Tags: benefits to homeschooling, Homeschool Association of California, homeschool conference, homeschool resources, homeschool support groups, homeschooled teens, homeschooling, homeschooling dads, homeschooling families, homeschooling resources, homeschooling video, reasons to homeschool, socialization, unschooling

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