1. Gingerbread Decorating Party
This is something kids of all ages can enjoy, from toddlers to teens and makes a great party idea for a homeschool group. All you need to do is have the pre-assembled gingerbread houses ready to go, and ask each family to bring a specific candy so everyone can have a nice selection. With the houses pre-assembled, all the kids have to do is decorate . . . you can use kits or make your own houses. Have plenty of icing on hand!

2. Field Trip
The holiday season is a great time to take a field trip with other homeschoolers. Don’t make this just any old field trip though, instill the essence of the season into it! Have kids gather to assemble shoeboxes or wrap gifts for underpriveleged kids, then arrange a tour (well, arrange it ahead of time) of the charity where you’re donating. Another option would be to make sandwiches and put them in a bag, along with a juice box or soda and a candy bar and then have the group head to the city streets and hand them out to the homeless. For those who live in very cold areas, hit the shelters to give out some warm wool socks and gloves.

3. Pageant
One of the things I always resented when growing up as a homeschool kid was the fact that school kids got to be in Christmas plays. Why not have your homeschool group put on a Christmas pageant? It can be just for their families, or you might want to see if a local hall or church will let you perform it there.

These are just three small ideas to get your kids hanging out with others this holiday season . . . what are you doing this year?

You really have three options here. One, you can turn the kids loose and let them wreak havoc all day, which isn’t really recommended for the obvious reason that it won’t help your recovery much. Two, you can let them off schoolwork for the day, but instruct them on running the household while you are out of commission and three, you can have them settle in and work on their own.

Now, it really is in your best interest if you can get your children to the point of being able to teach themselves, at least for one day. While many curriculums require teaching every step of the way, with others you can set up the workbooks so that the kids can do their work with minimal input from you. This is actually very beneficial even if you aren’t sick, since it lets you look after the baby, make lunch or deal with any myriad of issues that pop up on a daily basis without interrupting school.

There’s nothing wrong with taking this opportunity to make your kids a bit more self sufficient, either. Instead of schoolwork, have them do the daily chores, make their own meals and deal with other household issues throughout the day. They’ll feel they’re getting the day off and you’ll know they’re picking up valuable skills for the future.

What do you do on sick days?

There’s nothing like fighting the feeling that your brain has become soggy as you try to get started at the beginning of a new year.  If fact if it weren’t for the treasure of a new box of 64 Crayola’s I don’t think I would’ve made it some years.

You can avoid this by just taking a little time each week – not even daily to review some of the lessons from the end of the year or reading an article or two on topics to keep things fresh in the mind.  This will avoid such a shock to the mental system when the school year kicks off.  Not to mention the fact that it will begin to build that all important habit and philosophy that learning is a lifelong and lifetime activity.

Don’t just review last year – move ahead!

There’s nothing that says you can’t take a sneak peek at some of the topics coming up for next year.  In fact if you take a little bite out of the workload for the next grade, you might be able to go at an easier pace through the whole year.  This can teach your kids that attacking an upcoming task early and often can really pay off in dividends and avoid the whole experience of cramming at the last hour to get things finished.  This never worked so well for me in college and it has become a hard habit to break for projects at church and at work!  Get a handle on it before it gets ingrained in their character.

Making it Count in the Real World

Of course you don’t have to limit yourself to learning about your studies over the break.  A great thing to do over the summer is to focus on finding ways to make what they’ve learned count in the real world.  They think math is pointless?  Have them balance your check book for a week or two.  They don’t think social studies is important?  Talk to them about how the decisions their national leaders are making can affect them and how being informed can make a difference.  Or take them to a concert or a museum and show them how people have taken their artistic talents and used them to impress and inspire others.

I guess to sum it up, don’t think of the summer as a break.  In life there are no breaks, just a change of focus.  That’s the beauty of homeschooling – you aren’t boxed in, spread your wings and find unique ways to challenge and teach your children.

What do you do with your kids over the summer?  (Maybe we’ll ask you what they did over summer vacation when school starts… get a head start on that essay today!)

It’s completely normal to stress out about whether or not you are a worthy teacher, to wonder if you are doing the right thing or if you are going to destroy your child’s life and traumatize him forever.

First of all, the very fact that you are looking into homeschooling proves that you are a worthy teacher. A good teacher isn’t necessarily the one who knows the most, but the one who is passionate about children and if you are considering homeschooling, you are that already. You care about how your children are educated and that is a great place to start from.

Are you doing the right thing? That is the question you need to answer. Chances are, if you are planning on homeschooling, you have a good reason for it. My suggestion? Write down your reasons. Whether it’s because you don’t want your child to study in a potentially dangerous atmosphere or dislike the school system or simply want to keep your children near you to enjoy them longer, write it down. Then put it somewhere that you can see it every day, like your sock drawer. When people tell you how terrible a parent you are, look at the reasons and remember why you want to do it.

There will be naysayers and we will address that in an upcoming post. But for now, stand firm in the reasons that you decided to consider homeschooling your kids in the first place.

The last one, will you mess your kid up, is pretty unlikely. Yes, it’s possible to turn out children who are unable to function in society, but if you are one of those parents, you wouldn’t be reading this blog. Kids are thrilled to learn when the information is presented the right way and learning at home is a great way to promote parental bonding and give your kids one on one tutoring . . . how could that be bad? As long as you know when to bring in outside help when necessary, homeschooling will be an enriching experience for the entire family.

What are your fears about homeschooling? Why are you scared to homeschool? Let us know in the comments and we will do a future post answering your fears.

The internet is a big place and thanks to it being worldwide, we are able to connect with other homeschoolers around the world. Just on this blog, for example, we have two homeschool parents from the US and myself, from Canada, but living in the beautiful country of Guatemala.

Just what are the benefits of being part of an online homeschool community? Well, let’s take a look.

• Get viewpoints and new ideas from other homeschool parents.
• Let your kids safely connect with other kids who are in similar homeschooling situations.
• Talk with people from around the world and let your children learn about other cultures by actually interacting and asking questions of those living in those cultures.
• Find tutors in areas of school that you just aren’t good at teaching.
• Problemsolve and brainstorm with other homeschooling families.
• Work together on school projects with one or more families.
• “meet” other homeschoolers even if you live in a remote area or are on the road.
• Trade schoolbooks and curriculum, saving time and money.

There are plenty of other reasons why you might want to join an online community, including special resources and ideas provided by the administrators. What are your favorite reasons for partaking in online communities?

I know a family here in Guatemala that is homeschooling their family entirely online, since they were limited in what they could bring with them from the US (they have 10 children). Having absolutely no curriculum and very few books, they are using the web to provide all the information their sons need in order to learn.

There are quite a few options online for homeschoolers. You can download free printables or even ebooks, but these will, of course, be of limited quality. Other options include paid membership sites where you can download higher quality curriculum, or simply using the internet to find the information you need, not necessarily for homeschoolers in particular.

I`m interested in how our readers use the internet for homeschooling, what are you using?

Let`s take a look at the pros and cons of each age group.

Early Readers (3-5 years)

Pros:

Kids this age are already in super learning mode and may pick up new things faster than older kids.

They will have a head start on other kids going into the school years.

Reading isn`t looked at as a chore at this age, but something fun.

Cons:

Young children rarely have the attention span to sit and study something as complicated as reading.

Very small children will still be learning normal speech and it may confuse issues to start working on reading skills.

It`s easy for parents to push too much at this stage, wanting their child to be a genius.

School Age Readers (5-6 years)

Pros:

At this age, most children are considered to be developed enough to understand the concept of reading.

Writing can also be integrated, making it easier to learn reading at the same time.

School books and readers are usually geared to this age group.

Cons:

Some children may not be ready to read at this age.

Reading might be looked at as a chore, since it is part of school, particularly if the child has a dislike of all things scholarly.

Late Readers (7+ years)

Pros:

Leaving reading until the child decides he wants to learn means he will be more dedicated to the task.

Reading will take on more meaning when the child finds that she cannot do some things without knowing how to read.

Cons:

Delayed reading can hold up other areas of education.

The child will be far behind his peers, though late readers do tend to catch up fairly quickly.

It can send the signal that reading and writing are not important skills.

In the end, it all comes down to what is best for you and your family. Look at your kids. Are they interested in reading? Can they speak clearly? Are they taking an interest in letters or trying to read on their own? Then you might need to start teaching that skill soon.

For example, my 3 1/2 year old, Dorian, has been sounding out letters on his own and asking what sounds different letters make, so we`ve started working on some very simple lessons from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Would I recommend this to all parents? No, because each child is different and you need to make the decision yourself based on their level of interest and abilities.

First of all, I´d like to put your mind at ease about choosing the perfect curriculum. If you have a lousy year of it, it´s OK. Your kids will learn anyway and you can pick something different next year or even switch halfway through the year, and there is nothing wrong with that. When I was homeschooled, my mom switched companies on a yearly basis with me . . . I was the experiment, she´d try a new curriculum with me and then if it worked, she´d use it with my sisters. By the time I hit sixth grade, I had done books from about 10 different companies and yet still scored higher than school kids on equivelency tests, so it obviously didn´t hurt anything!

Also, not all homeschool curriculums are good at all subjects. You might want to use one company for Math, while doing something else for Science, for example. If the company you like doesn´t have an art program, add one in from somewhere else. That´s the beauty of homeschooling . . . you can custom fit the education to your kids . . . they can even be using different books each, if you want!

So, that being said, how do you actually go about picking which curriculum to use? Here are some pointers.

• Ask around. If you have friends who homeschool, ask what they recommend. If not, go online, join a community and ask them. But don´t just ask if they like the program, ask WHAT they like about it, what the downsides are, so you can get a clear picture.
• Do some research. Check for reviews online. This isn´t always the most accurate way to determine which curriculum is good, since you will probably find a mix of good and bad, but if something is getting overwhelmingly positive reviews, chances are it´s good.
• Get your hands on a copy. Ask your friends if you can take a look at their books. This is a great way to decide whether or not you really want to invest in a curriculum.
• Go for second hand. If you still aren´t that sure, look into getting the books second hand and keep the cost down. If it doesn´t work out, then you won´t be out that much money.

Those of you homeschoolers who have experience in this area, what was important to you when choosing a curriculum? Which one(s) did you decide on?

1. How to research. It might be tempting to just tell your children what you know or look it up yourself and then recount it, but the ability to find out what you need to know is something that is invaluable at any age. Make sure your kids know how to use a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia, as well as the internet.
2. How to speak in public. Just about everyone is called on to do a little public speaking from time to time, even if it is just in front of a small group. Unfortunately, this is an area that many homeschoolers miss out on. You can work on this skill by having your homeschool group do small public speaking events or look for other opportunities, such as through 4-H groups.
3. How to manage time. If you go to school, you learn to schedule things like homework so it all gets done on time, but this might not happen in homeschooling. You can build this skill by having your children work on the school schedule with you and by giving them tasks that they need to complete by a certain time or date and then let them figure out how to get it done in time.
4. How to get around. When you are studying at home and driving places with a parent, it`s easy to just never learn how to ride a bus or use other forms of transit. Yet nearly all of us are going to need to do this at some point in our lives. Kids should know how to read a bus schedule, take the subway, etc.
5. How to play sports. You might argue that this isn`t a required skill, but trust me, when you`re 14 and going to hang out with a youth group and discover that you have NO idea how to play basketball, it matters. While sports don`t need to be a major part of studies, it`s a good idea to learn the rules for the most common sports. This ensures that your kids won`t end up at a staff picnic 10 years from now, confused about how to play volleyball!

Do you have other essential skills that homeschoolers might miss out on but need to know? Let us know in the comments!

When this separation of ideas occurs, you can run into some serious problems if you aren`t careful. Since simply demanding your spouse do what you want isn`t really a good option, you may need to take more tactical steps.

Find Homeschool Examples
Look for examples of homeschool success to share with your spouse. You might want to start with the post I wrote last week on this very topic.

Write Down the Pros and Cons
You can talk til you`re blue in the face about the benefits of homeschooling, your spouse will likely come up with a list of their own on the benefits of going to school. A better solution is to sit down and take the time to work on a list of pros and cons together for both cases.

Meet Some Homeschoolers
Your spouse might be worried that your children will end up weird and socially stunted if you homeschool them, so find some other homeschooled families in your area and make a point of getting to know them. Your spouse might be pleasantly surprised and change his or her mind.

Suggest a Trial Period
Committing to 12 years of homeschooling can be frightening for anyone. By suggesting that you try homeschooling for one year and see how it works out, your spouse will be more likely to agree. If your children are still young, doing a year of kindergarten can be an excellent test to prove that homeschooling works.

Talk About Fears
Why is your spouse so against homeschooling? The best way to find out is to ask what their reasoning is behind the decision not to homeschool. Once you know why, you can do some research to find solutions to the issue or to dispel it completely.

Homeschooling works best when both parents are involved and on board with the decision. It`s not always easy, but it`s well worth the effort to show your spouse why you are so passionate about homeschooling.