Cool Homeschooling Tool: Pinterest

The picture above is my general pin board with craft projects I can't wait to do with the Geekling.

Have you tried Pinterest yet? It's a wonderful homeschooling tool for you and your kids to use to visually bookmark and display a collage of you favorite things. I love it for saving craft and science projects I'd like to do with the Geekling. It's a virtual corkboard and a fun way to make a reading list, inventory of your books the kids can scroll through, favorite websites or articles, great art you'd like to share, favorite blogs, and especially beautiful pictures of science and nature that inspire you! You can also use it as a Wishlist, Shopping List, or as a way to share that secular homeschool curriculum you've worked hard all summer to put together!

When I finally get the time, I'm planning to pin pictures (links) to the homeschool curriculum we are using so it's easy to share links with other secular homeschoolers. I'll also be using it to pin interesting curricula, science experiments, concepts to study, and field trips we'd like to take so that homeschool lesson planning becomes a bit easier.

Here is my Pinboard of favorite books.

If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest, just search for StephSchiff. I look forward to seeing all of the great boards my fellow geeks and homeschoolers create, please let me know in the comments if you're on Pinterest and what your screen name is so I can follow you! 

Homeschool Geography Through Blogging

Image via Wikipedia

Ingi at Defying Gravity mentioned us in her blog and linked to my post on Raising Creative Critical Thinkers: Teaching Homeschool Math! It's incredible that we can exchange ideas and find inspiration instantly from families all over the world. I can't imagine homeschooling without this community of bloggers to learn from; home education in the digital age gets more fun every day!

Homeschool Science: Teaching Evolution

One of the biggest challenges I've faced so far in trying to build a rich learning environment for my science loving son is finding a homeschool science curriculum that includes evolution. Evolution is complex and difficult for a layperson to teach without quite a few "official" resources, simply because the internet is riddled with myths, misconceptions, and blatant lies. A good place to start is The National Center for Science Education. Their site has a few links to help answer any questions you may have and resources for teaching your children. Also take a look at Berkley's free Evolution 101 Course, Teaching Materials, and Resources. More after the jump...

A Different Path: You let him draw... where?!?

A Different Path: You let him draw... where?!?: "Yep, that's right - on the dining room windows! Don't worry - they're window markers! I picked them up on impulse at Wal-Mart the othe..."

This is one of our favorite homeschooling tips and tricks! Windows make great white boards with dry erase markers. Our French Doors with a lot of small panes are wonderful for math problems (place values are easy when each column of windows corresponds to 1's, 10's etc.).

It also means the windows stay a little cleaner because they're getting erased all of the time. If the Geekling makes a window art I want to save, I just take a picture of it before erasing.

Are there any creative tricks you use in your daily homeschooling adventures?

Free Educational Videos for Homeschoolers

Free educational videos, e-books, and audiobooks for homeschoolers! This post is long but I wanted to include as many resources as possible in one place. Bookmark this post to make your search for educational videos easier! Link List!

Raising Creative Critical Thinkers: Teaching Homeschool Math

Dan Meyer is a public school math teacher that has started a a global revolution in how we teach math. Teachers and students from all over the world are creating, sharing, and improving videos they create and changing math class for the better with cheap, simple tools most of us have at home.

Mr. Meyer asked, "How can we design the most ideal learning experience for students?" The answer came with a few experiments he video taped and uploaded to YouTube. Soon other teachers were sending him their hands on math videos and improving upon his work. Their students were excited and engaged and learned how to formulate the steps involved in solving problems rather than memorizing an abstract formula that was handed to them. Students that had never paid much attention were suddenly active participants. So what is the difference between Mr. Meyer's approach and the educational community at large?

He realized that children are born scientists. They use all of their senses to explore the world and learn naturally through trial and error. So why are we, as a society, doing all we can to destroy every ounce of curiosity, natural learning skills, and creative problem solving in our children? The great thing about homeschooling is that we can reverse this trend and raise lifelong learners who know how to find answers themselves and think about alternative, more efficient solutions.

When you give a child a solution and then teach them how you arrived at that conclusion, they simply imitate you and don't think about more efficient or effective solutions. There is no critical thinking or creativity taking place, which means less learning is happening and the information won't be retained as well.

Thanks to Ingi for the following link who shared an article in the comments from yesterday's post, Let Your Kids Fail.

Scientific American, The Educational Value of Creative Disobedience inspired this post and explores the idea behind letting your child figure out solutions rather than giving them the answer and asking them to work backwards or imitate your way of getting there. When you ask your child questions and discuss a concept before letting your child work through it, the amount of learning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving increases exponentially!

We need to stop teaching to the test and start inspiring a love of learning. We need to encourage kids who think a little differently to get excited about the process and share those unique ideas so everyone benefits. When children are encouraged to question, explore, and experiment they will stay far ahead of the "CORE Curriculum Standards" and the knowledge and skill sets they gain will be with them for a lifetime.

If you want to use Mr. Meyers math videos and find out more about teaching math without boredom and tears, check out his his Blog. For an interesting paradigm shift in how we teach math, take a look at this Statistical Approach which can also help kids become smarter consumers and weigh risk and reward in a more logical manner.

Short math video on the way we should be introducing math with real life application rather than abstract theories that most children think they will never use.


Finally, head over to Edutopia to see a more holistic approach to learning. Project Based Learning is something you can do at home with one child, in your homeschool co-op, or in a traditional classroom. It will inspire all sorts of homeschooling ideas that lead to real learning!

In my experience, if you are homeschooling with ADHD or Autism, these approaches will open an entire world of learning without so many fights or frustration. Let your child's interests and learning style lead the way and build some Project Based Learning around whatever it is they love. Let them create videos to explore concepts, be patient while they discover different ways of finding the answers, and learn to switch activities and use a variety of approaches to keep short attention spans interested!

Let Your Kids Fail

My name is Stephanie and I'm a control freak (picture me lighting a candle from those old 80's Alcoholics Anonymous PSA's). When we started homeschooling, I quickly realized that there's one drawback to all of that one on one attention; we can bring learning and interest to a dead stop when we're constantly correcting our kids and teaching them how to "do it the right way."

So when I saw this TED.com video from the author of 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) and read an article about Free Range Kids, I realized that if homeschooling was ever going to work for us, I had to relax and give my son more room to make mistakes and to develop the confidence that independence, freedom, and self-reliance create. 

I had always been a bit more relaxed than most of the parents I knew, but I was very quick to correct the Geekling and show him "how to do it the right way" instead of letting him stumble along and discover the world through trial and error. In a sense, I was working against my main goal, to give Geekling the desire and ability to interact with the world as a scientist; questioning, exploring, and experimenting. Yes, I childproofed the child, not home, so I was a bit Free Range, but I was stifling his natural sense of adventure and curiosity by correcting him and doing things for him due to impatience and a wide perfectionist streak.

There's a great new blog that I discovered today called Let Your Child Fail that encourages parents to let kids make mistakes, get back up, do it again, and learn from the experience. Each time we allow a child to "Fail Up" ("Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success by Tavis Smiley)), we give them the great gift of experiential learning, persistence, mastery, and the ability to recover from life's curve balls and learn valuable lessons from it.

When we protect our kids from failure we are dooming them to a life without the joy and rewards that risk taking can give us. When we take a red pen to a wonderful story they've written and consistently focus on what they did wrong instead of what they did right, we are chipping away at the will to try. We create little "perfectionists" that will shun novel experiences and don't know how to deal with a world with sharp edges. Our goal is to create life long learners that know how to find the resources they need to do something properly, so why do we insist on focusing on their errors?

I'm slowly learning to step back and let the Geekling make mistakes. Every time I have ignored his mistakes and focused on the positive, he has surprised me. He learns more, skills I didn't know he had become apparent, and he sticks with activities so much longer (not an easy feat for a kid with the attention span of a drunk squirrel). So take a step back, let your child correct himself as goes, and help him see how much better life is when we embrace mistakes!

Quick Links:
The 8 Reasons We Mistakenly Don't Allow Our Kids to Fail
Free Range Kids
Article and Videos - 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do

Books:
50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do
Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success by Tavis Smiley

Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy

Telling Family You're Homeschooling

Some people are nervous about sharing their decision to homeschool with family members they fear will disapprove (Mothers In Law seem to be the scariest for many Moms). Here are a few tips for making it easier:

1. I would have my plan firmly in place first. Learn about the different curricula and approaches you're interested in and all of the wonderful online resources you'll likely be using. This will make it easier to help others understand what homeschooling really is.
2. Teach them the truth about Socialization and Homeschooling to rid your friend or family member of common myths and misconceptions. Look up some of the co-ops in your area to tell them about, read some articles, and watch some videos about being around kids and adults with many interests and backgrounds being better for him/her than being grouped with kids your own age who come from the same neighborhood. 
3. Have some exciting field trips and activities you want to do ready to talk about.
4. Look up the High School Drop Out Rate in your district as extra ammunition (this almost always works) and the National Statistics which are pretty frightening. 
5. Know what place we are in worldwide in science and math (we're behind some developing countries). 
6. And flattery works wonders! Ask them if they would be willing to lend their expertise (whether it's their job, hobbies, interests, college major to teaching your child some time!
7. Remind them that you're giving it a one year trial and that nothing is irrevocable! If Homeschooling doesn't work for your family you can always go back to a private or public school.

There are also some great resources on this blog to share with them:

• But What About Socialization?
• The First Few Months Homeschooling
• The Problem With Public Schools
• Finding Your Homeschooling Tribe
• Tracking and Planning

Here's the link to the discussion on SecularHomeschool.com

What are your suggestions for families terrified of telling a certain friend or relative about their plans? 

Apps Page

I am working on creating an Educational Apps for Homeschooling review page for Android, iPad, and PC. If there are any apps you love to use for homeschooling, apps you are searching for (fractions, time lines, spelling, handwriting, geography, math facts, etc.), or apps you feel were a waste of money, please post them in the comments below.

If you are planning to buy something I've linked to on this site, please do so by clicking through from my blog. I will use the "store credit" I earn from Amazon Affiliates to buy apps and homeschooling materials to be reviewed here!

Dictation for Grammar, Spelling, and Writing Skills

First, let me give the disclaimer that I have not yet tried dictation with my son beyond making up stories together that he writes down. This is not "true dictation" as most homeschoolers generally see it. Dictation is a method often used in Classical Homeschooling that can help kids naturally learn grammar and develop an ear for language. Here is a great article and How To Use Dictation In Homeschooling article from Heart of the Matter online. FYI, this is not a secular site.

The Classical and Charlotte Mason methods recommend using great literature. Due to Geekling's limited attention span and patience for writing, I am going to start small and use some simple poetry, quotations (Ben Franklin is a great source of quotes), and nursery rhymes to get started and build his confidence. Once he is comfortable, we'll move on to short paragraphs to improve his use of commas, quotation marks, semicolons, and other punctuation.

A notebook dedicated to dictation and other writing is a wonderful way to track your child's progress through the year.

Here are my notes so far from my massive homeschooling lesson plan file about my plans for using dictation. Keep in mind that I've adapted this because my son has Aspergers and ADHD which means a pretty short attention span:

• Start with short, silly, poems that he's very familiar with. Be sure to point out the formatting and explain it a few times before in the weeks prior so he has a clear understanding.
• Have G copy a few poems out of the book and illustrate them the week before we begin.
• Limit the first day of dictation to one simple sentence with words he knows well.
• Let Geekling look at the book to make his own corrections.
• When he's comfortable making corrections and easily writes what I dictate from memory, add a couple of words.
• Slowly work up to a paragraph length poem.
• As we learn new grammatical skills, find a simple paragraph that contains them and again, read over it together first. If he's struggling, allow him to type it to help him remember before attempting to write it.
• Allow him to choose a book to use for dictation when he gets bored with it. 
• Find projects that require dictation skills to practice like writing down the grocery list as you look around the kitchen. Have him caption photos, or make comic strips on the iPad and then dictate what should be written in some of the frames.
• Dictate story starters to be written at the top of notebook pages. 
• Dictate rules for a board or card game (see post Homeschooling for Geeks & Gamers for ideas)
• Have Geekling make his own Unit Study ideas, jotting down concepts he'd like to cover and places he'd like to go that relate to it.
• Have Geekling keep the running list of things we'd like to do, fun things to study, and places we'd like to go.

Do you have any ideas for dictation or anything else to teach handwriting, grammar, and writing? 

Please say so in the comments! I have a very reluctant writer and want him to eventually learn to enjoy it!

Homeschooling for Geeks and Gamers

We are Science Fiction and Video Game geeks, and I've found that we do a lot more learning if I incorporate it into our lessons. Here are a few tips and tricks for using a love of gaming in your homeschooling experience:

Favorite Homeschooling Tip: Experience Points instead of Grades

First, if you've ever played an MMORPG like World of Warcraft, Everquest, etc. then you know that you earn "XP" or experience points to level up. Now what if you applied XP to learning? 10 Points for practicing math facts through games on the iPad, 20 points for doing a craft project and using what you make as math manipulatives. 15 points for learning to do a new chore or make a new recipe and 5 points each time they do it after that. After all, as homeschoolers, we are using life experience to create lifelong learners and getting our kids excited about "leveling up" (moving to a new grade level in a subject, mastering skills, becoming more independent). This is a wonderful way to keep your kid learning (and helping out around the house) and a great alternative to grades. It's proven psychology that advertisers and game companies use to keep you coming back for more and that's what we want our kids to do!

PlayStation 3 and Little Big Planet 2
When my husband asked for a BluRay player a couple of years ago, I was very reluctant to spend a lot for a single use device. Then I found the PS3! I knew that even if I never used it as a gaming system it would be worth it for the easy access to Netflix Streaming, downloading movies, watching our favorite educational videos from the internet and replacing our DVD player (it of course plays Blu Ray, DVD, and downloaded content). It's also great for using the internet on your TV to share things with your kids. One of my favorite features is the parental controls that allow me to choose what content Geekling can see or play without having to ask me to put in a password.

The PlayStation 3 game "Little Big Planet 2" has been amazing for geometry, math, art, science, and story telling. It's actually the easiest way to get my son interested in subjects that he probably wouldn't like if I put a textbook or worksheet in front of him. It's especially great for days when I have nothing planned. Geekling retains more knowledge and gets a very thorough understanding of what we're learning when I introduce concepts this way and he sticks with it a lot longer. It's the perfect solution for kids with ADHD and gifted kids that are bored with the status quo.

So how do I use it? Well in LBP2  you build levels for you character (and are able to upload and share them with others). You choose different materials, can change the "gravity" to see how different objects and materials behave with high or low gravity, see whether or not objects float (depending on material) when you fill the level with water, and even learn some basic programming concepts (no prior knowledge needed).

It's wonderful for sequencing skills, following direction, paying attention to detail, spatial relation, cause and effect and so much more. To incorporate geometry we make different shapes and see which kind of triangle is good for a slide (obtuse) and which is better for a ramp (acute). We build shapes and then take chunks out of them to see how it changes and it's easy to turn and manipulate the different shapes to get a better feel for them.

It's also wonderful for story telling. When you and your child are building a level, you can help them understand the parts of a story, keeping your audience interested, and creating a satisfying conclusion. It also brings up some wonderful discussions about perspective, complimentary and contrasting colors, optical illusion, and choosing the right angles and velocity to make your character bounce in the direction you want and end up where you want him to (you add little bounce pads and then adjust it's properties). Once you've played with it a bit you'll have a million ideas for using Little Big Planet 2 for learning.

Creating Your Own Games - Have your kids make their own board games! You can either do this with a printer and some paper or you can buy blank board game kits. They can find their own trivia, make dice with paper cutting and folding (great for measurement, geometry, and following directions), come up with logical rules, and do some wonderful art projects. You can incorporate writing by having them write a story as an introduction to the game and creating the rules and instruction manual.

This is especially fun if they love Star Wars, Doctor Who, comic books, etc. Why not make Super Hero Monopoly? Or some formal rules for "Who would win Superman or Spiderman" situations. They can search for fun ways to drop their character into different historical situations (wouldn't Batman have been handy in the Lewis & Clark expedition?).

You can also buy pre-made blank game boards for the kids to decorate if you think that would be a bigger motivator. Or use an old game that has missing pieces and just glue cardstock, index cards, pictures you've printed from the computer, etc. to it. A checker or chess board can be repurposed by making new pieces (and even new rules for the way those piecces can move) with modeling clay, Shrinky Dinks, beads, or pictures cut out of magazines that can be glued to a cut up index card. 

If you or a friend have ever played a game like Dungeons & Dragons, it would be even easier to create your own games with a lot of story telling potential. A stack of index cards can become your own version of Pokemon, Magic, or Bakugan with plenty of potential for months of art projects, math skills, and writing practice. Not to mention the computer skills older kids could learn creating their own graphics, making a .PDF instruction book, and so much more. You're only limited by your imagination.

Testing the games the kids have created are wonderful opportunities for socialization and cooperative learning!


iPad and Android Tablets
Finally, there's the iPad or Android tablet. The number of educational apps available is stunning and my son is a lot more willing to work on his creative writing skills if he's able to take a picture with the iPad and then caption it (pictures of Lego creations he's built, action figures, nature, etc.). There are great tools for telling stories with music and animation that a child can figure out without any help from an adult (they'll be teaching you in no time). They can even "write reports" by clipping pictures from the internet to illustrate their point and then writing a description of what's happening below. It's an incredible tool for reluctant writers. They can also create their own comic strips! Who said writing had to be a chore?

My son is a lot more excited about reading, writing, practicing cursive (yes, there's an app for that), learning to type, and practice his spelling and math facts when he's able to do it on the iPad 2. We can even create our own digital flash cards.

With a tablet you don't have to choose Kindle or Nook, there are apps for both! Note: Some children's books for Nooks will not work on the App, that's why most of our library is through Amazon. The books will also work on your smartphone and laptop so you can have more than one child reading the same e-book at once. There is so much available for free with e-books! Poetry collections, classic books, short stories, and more. You can even borrow e-books and audiobooks from the library to read or listen to on your iPad!

It takes a lot less planning when books are available digitally and no trip to the library or store are required! It's wonderful for car learning too. You can create your own PDF files and load them onto your tablet for the kids to use while travelling or running errands.

This is one of my favorite topics so I'll be writing more later and uploading links to some of our favorite apps!

Burn Out!

I'm facing burnout and we've barely begun! I've lived, eaten, and breathed homeschooling since we made the decision to give it a try. I think I overdid it just a tiny bit! Time to step back and truly embrace unschooling for a few weeks so I can stop obsessing about curricula, handwriting, creative writing, and math! While I'm pretty relaxed about some areas, I've gotten hyper-sensitive in the areas that standardized tests focus on. I'm hoping it's just a midsummer blahs thing!

I have to remind myself that I don't have to be super creative and interesting with my son all of the time. And remember that everything doesn't have to be educational! I'm sure he'll learn despite my overly enthusiastic attempts at dragging him to new interests that I find fascinating!

Community Supported Agriculture: What It Is and Why You Should Join

This is a great project for homeschooling families or homeschool co-ops. Growing your own food in a cooperative can safe money, facilitate group learning, build community, help the planet, and even make your family money depending on the type of community or cooperative farming you want to do.

Community Supported Agriculture: What It Is and Why You Should Join

Ask some homeschooling friends if they have yard space they would be willing to share if you don't have space yourself. You can also experiment with things like vertical gardening, square foot gardening, different irrigation systems (cheap, green, simple DIY, not expensive sprinklers). Even if you don't have a green thumb, someone in your co-op would probably be willing to teach your family how to garden.

What are your experiences with community and cooperative gardens?

Scientific Homeschoolers!

I came across a wonderful blog today with great ideas for science learning. These are things anyone can do with their kids. If you "aren't good at science' (something I hear often), it's even better. Learning with your kids usually ends up teaching your kids more than if you knew what you were doing. Seeing you find information and participating in the search, get kids invested in learning. When they feel they can teach you something their interest and learning potential spikes.

So take a look at The Scientific Homeschool blog for some inspiration and pick up a few science books for kids, they are one of my favorite tools for learning a new field.

One of the most accessible fields for most parents to begin with if they aren't comfortable with science is Biology. Start with a local Field Guide and take a walk in nature! Identify some plants and animals using the book and show your kids what information the scientists that wrote it found important (range, habitat, diet). This can start a talk about different species or an art project pressing flowers. If you like nature education, try having your kids keep a nature journal like Darwin did, sketching plants, labeling the parts, taking notes as they are out in nature. When they get home they can look up more information and write some facts and information on the opposite page, science is a great way to get reluctant creative writers to practice their skills!

Don't like to draw? Take pictures with your smart phone and do the same thing digitally or print the pictures out. Or you can build a family nature blog! As you can see, there are many ways to "do science" in a way that's comfortable. You don't have to be an expert. With resources like Netflix, PBS and PBSKids.com, the local library, museums, and the internet, you and your kids can discover the world of science together!

Virtual Homeschool Co-op

I've created a Secular Homeschool Virtual Co-op at BigTent.com so we can share resources, files, unit studies, links, reviews, etc. If you want to ask questions, learn more about homeschooling, help others, create our own unit studies or subject resource pages, and project ideas, and in general just help each other and build a community, come on by and sign up!

No membership fees, no requirements, you can participate as much or as little as you like. We welcome all secular homeschoolers no matter their approach (eclectic, relaxed, classical, unschooling, project based learning, unit studies, Waldorf, Montessori, summer homeschoolers, and any other approach you can think of).

If you would like to join go to https://www.bigtent.com/groups/shsc

Squishy Circuits Science

Did you know PlayDough conducts electricity? The homemade kind conducts it even better, which leads to some very cool and easy science for young children.  You can easily light up LED lights or run a motor with very cheap materials from Radio Shack. You don't need to know much at all about circuits to give your kids a good understanding and chance to experiment! And don't worry, you aren't plugging anything into a wall, just using a battery pack so it's safe to work with.

Look here for recipes, videos, instructions, and more information to make your own Circuits unit for kids!

Here's a video that shows how easy this is even for young children and parents who are a little intimidated by circuits and electronics.

TLE Facebook Page

Here is the link to the Facebook page for this blog. If you want a quick way of seeing new videos, links, and resources I post please "Like" the page! I am also using it to get our virtual homeschool co-op started. It looks like Google Groups is getting rid of file sharing so I am looking for another service. Any suggestions?

The Problem With Public Schools

Here are some great videos that explain what is happening in education today that is increasing dropout rates, an apparent epidemic of ADHD, the death of Liberal Arts education, teaching to the test, lack of critical thinking skills, and a total lack of preparation for real life. We are not creating lifelong learners.

These talks inspired me to start thinking about homeschooling and still inspire me daily to change the way I think about educating my child. You can download any of these videos for free at TED.com!

Bring on the Learning Revolution!

How Schools Kill Creativity

Geekling’s 7th Birthday

Geekling’s 7th birthday was wonderful! He had a week with my best friend’s son in North Carolina and then a great time with Mom and Dad at laser tag, Chuckie Cheese, and a late dinner at his request at a local restaurant. I can’t believe my little man is a 2nd grader and I am loving every moment of getting to see this incredible, bright, funny boy grow and learn! His big gift this year was real tools! See my post about 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do. Yes, I bought my son power tools!

Not Weird, Gifted!

My new favorite Aussie blogger has a great post on her blog about raising gifted children and how you know they are gifted. I laughed out loud a few times because her children sound just like Geekling. There is never a dull moment when raising a smart child (especially when it's accompanied by a stubborn streak a mile wide). My son was debunking physics errors in science fiction at 5, reading road signs at 2 or 3, and the Supreme Court couldn't write an argument that was Geekling proof, he could find a loophole without much thought.

Check out Defying Gravity, the blog of an Aussie homeschooling Mom of two gifted kids, Wombat Girl and Video Boy. If you're reading this kids, Hello from Virginia Beach, VA!

Free Handwriting Practice Creator

This is a free Handwriting Practice Worksheet Creator that allows you to add your own words, sentences, and paragraphs in print, D'Nealian, and cursive. It does not require any payment or sign in to use it. We are starting cursive this summer, and at the moment I'm just printing out tracing worksheets with my son's first, last, and middle names. I think it's easiest to start with words you know well.

We also use iPad apps that allows him to trace cursive letters.

Finding Your Homeschooling Tribe

Homeschooling allows you to meet incredible people, in real life, and digitally. The community tends to be quite generous and will share their experiences, resources, suggestions, etc. to help those just getting started. We come from many different backgrounds, belief systems, socioeconomic strata, political views and such, but we all march to the beat of a different drummer. To even consider homeschooling you have to be an "out of the box" thinker and it takes quite a bit of courage to take your child's entire education into your own hands.

I don't know how people homeschooled before the advent of the internet, social networks like Facebook, online forums (message boards), homeschool co-ops, and e-books, but I am grateful that they led the way. The blogs, books, free lesson plans, web sites, and link lists that other homeschooling parents have posted make it so much easier to homeschool on just about any budget. Park days, group physical education classes, and field trips organized by homeschooling groups or individual families mean that your child doesn't miss out on some of the best experiences that traditional schools offer. If there is a subject you aren't confident teaching, it's very likely that you can find a parent or teacher willing to exchange teaching time (you teach art to their children and they teach science to yours). With Skype (online video chat) you can have mentors from all over the country work with your kids in the comfort of your own home. Also ask friends and family members to include your kids in their hobbies. You would be amazed at the amount of math, science, writing, vocabulary and science kids can pick up (or develop an interest in) from fishing, model trains, going to a construction site, star gazing, etc. Think of friends and family that have cool occupations and interests, ask people what they majored in in college or have an affinity for, put a post on your FB wall asking that people post their hobbies, and you will find so many resources! People are willing to help if you ask.

I've found so many great friends lately through homeschooling and it's allowed me to learn so much in a short time. They've shared their experiences and allowed me to learn from their mistakes, borrow curricula to try out before we buy, and shared what worked for them if their kids have a similar learning style.

So join some Yahoo Groups (search for your city or state and homeschooling), check out "The Well Trained Mind" message boards even if you're an unschooler, go to SecularHomeschool.com and read questions others have asked or post your own, find other homeschoolers by joining the Facebook groups of homeschooling sites like Virginia Homeschoolers, check out blogs by people in your area, etc. 90% of the time your favorite resources will have a Facebook group where you can meet like minded people for support. You can even create a separate "homeschool identity" if you want to keep it separate from your personal FB page (try using a middle initial, leave out your maiden name, or use your first name and a description so you are only sharing what you choose to with people you don't know.

Don't be shy about sending a nice messasge introducing yourself along with a Friend Request (let them know where you saw their comments, i.e. "I saw you on the Virginia Homeschoolers board and it sounds like we have a lot in common..."). This will make your homeschooling experience so much easier and enjoyable.

Homeschooling Pioneer

Wonderful article about a woman who pioneered homeschooling in Virginia. I can't wait to get to her store Moore Expressions (Indian River Rd in Virginia Beach - map) to get some advice on books, curricula, co-ops, and learning style and buy some history and science curricula. Having the opportunity to physically handle the books and materials before buying will be so much better than scouring reviews and hoping for the best!


Just a warning, the comments below the article may make your head explode. The ignorance is stunning. 

How Do You Know They're Learning?

It's easy to track your child's progress in reading without enduring a  lot of standardized tests. We use an iPad, Smarthphone, or tape recorder to record Geekling reading a challenging book (a chapter is plenty). I make a separate recording where we discuss the book a bit so I can see how much the Geekling's reading comprehension, vocabulary, and/or subject knowledge have grown. This allowed me to realize that developmentally, he still needs to hear books read aloud for full comprehension. He learns so much more when we take turns reading than when I just hand him a book to read.

Digital recordings are great as I can easily access them and quickly compare multiple time periods without a lot of searching through tapes. It also makes it easy to copy them to a DVD to submit with your child's portfolio if your state requires a lot of evidence of progress. I usually use the Evernote app on my Android Smartphone or iPad to make digital recordings. Evernote is what I use to store the rest of Geekling's work and homeschool records, so it makes it easy to track our homeschool progress.

Writing may be the easiest thing to track of all! Between digital organizers (and how his ability to use them changes over time) and saving examples of his writing, it will be easy to see the progress your child is making. Just use a binder to save your child's work in chronological order. This is also a great way to see which topics he or she writes the most about and seems to enjoy so that you can stick with writing about those subjects when introducing new or more difficult writing assignments. You can also keep "story starters" or copies of a brainstorming session or two in the back of the book for inspiration on days you don't have anything formal planned. You can even pull together a collection of favorite stories or writing examples at the end of the year and have it made into a book. Most photo sites offer very reasonably priced books. You can even include pictures of their art work!

When it comes to math, we play quite a few games on the iPad and outside to help with math facts and we use hands-on, real life, logical applications when introducing new concepts. I use a 2nd grade core curriculum checklist to make sure I am introducing everything he needs to know. I pay attention to which problems (and types of problems) he has trouble with a search for creative ways of reinforcing concepts. For tracking I use the free Khan Academy website. Khan Academy really allows me to drill down into the data to see what we need to work on.

Science is easy to track as well. He keeps a science journal with a hypothesis at the top of each page and he takes notes on what we are learning. If there are vocabulary words or concepts he doesn't understand we write a lost on the right margin of things to look up later. I use my smartphone to take pictures of our activities and write a few paragraphs in my homeschool journal (in Evernote) of what we have covered that week. I also make a list of more experiments and concepts to try that would logically follow the units we've done the week before.

History - We are still figuring out how we are going to do History. We're starting with U.S. History and I know I want to make a timeline, but I'm not thrilled with the options I've seen so far, so I'm still searching for a creative way to make a timeline of the History we are learning. I know I want to start each unit with a study of inventors of the period to incorporate our science curriculum and understand how technology changes culture. We'll follow this with a study of Explorers and track their routes on the map for a natural way of learning geography. Between inventors, explorers, and great books that talk about each time period, I think he'll get a very rich understanding and love of history. I've purchased "The Story of US" by Joy Hakim, an 11 volume set that teaches history in a more approachable format for young children. I really enjoy the books and will be taking the appropriate volume along on field trips as we explore Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina this year. Tracking will be a simple checklist in my journal with some pictures and examples of his work.

How do you teach history? Do you have any fun ways of creating timelines or other interesting ways of visually depicting what you're learning? Please share in the comments!

50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do

For the Geekling's 7th birthday we bought child-sized real tools. A drill, hammer, screwdrivers, clamps, jigsaw, safety goggles, tape measure, hand saw, etc. A few friends believed I had completely and totally lost my mind, I mean, who gives power tools to a 7 yr old?!?! I thought the risks were well worth the payoff. What better way to teach math, measurement, estimation, physics, and general competence than to allow him the freedom to explore, get dirty, and create?

We're adding in a pile of wood, plastic, metal scraps, and old appliances and electronics to take apart to understand how things work.

I can't wait to get started! I know next to nothing about building and engines, but we will be learning together.  This week we'll simply be playing as we learn to use the tools, then on to bird houses and dog houses. Of course the Geekling will be allowed to experiment with just hammering, drilling, and sawing to create whatever he likes to improve his skills. We are working on Pythagorean Theorem so it fits in perfectly with building! 

Art projects will be incredible when they are comprised of different types of wood, wire, pvc pipes, and sheets of metal! Just think of all of the incredible possibilities. This is what childhood should be!

Tracking and Planning

Tracking your activities and planning what to do next is very helpful even if you are an unschooler (as we kind of are). I am still experimenting with lesson plans and tracking, and lesson plan probably means something very different to me than it would to someone sticking to a curriculum. Right now I am just keeping a daily journal of what we do and experimenting with different ways of tracking and planning. Here is free software that I am considering using in the fall after we've experimented a bit more with our learning styles. I do think it would be helpful for creating a lesson plan or planning what activities to include on a field trip, while reading a book, or doing Project Based Learning. I do keep .pdf files of the core curricula of states and cities that are known for strong schools so I remember to include skills that may be important when it comes to testing later, but it's an afterthought, not our reason for being as it seems in public schools.

I've changed a lot since we decided to homeschool. I initially thought that homeschooling was doing everything a public school does at home. I frantically researched approaches and at the time, decided we would use a "Classical" approach. I bought The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition) (which is a great resource no matter what you end up doing) and began creating elaborate lesson plans that probably would have taken us 9 hours a day! I was very intimidated and wasn't sure that I had the self-discipline to tackle everything they recommended.

Luckily, I started reading homeschooling blogs and found myself strangely fascinated with unschooling and relaxed homeschooler blogs. I thought they were nuts and that there was no way my kid would choose to do math and grammar. The Geekling surprised me though, and showed me that kids love to learn when they aren't being forced to and are provided with fun activities and logical approaches to learning rather than busy work.

I didn't think I had the self-discipline to teach everything my son needed to know without a curriculum, but Stephanie from Virginia Homeschoolers was nice enough to tell me about their unschooling experience and she made me realize that I had taught my son to read, write, and do basic math as a toddler without a curriculum and that it was even easier when they were older and had developed interests of their own. Teaching math by using the skills while building, cooking, shopping, etc. makes it more fully understood and easy to acquire. A stack of flashcards (on it's own) will simply lead to rote memorization, not understanding and ability to fully utilize it.