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You Might Be Homeschooled If ….

This list was submitted to us by a reader Shona Joni via contact form. If you would like to share a joke, quotes or image about homeschooling or educational information send it us via our contact form with your name and website if applicable. If suitable, we will surely post it and we will share it on homeschool world site.

You might be homeschooled if…

  • You’ve rehearsed answers to the question “So why aren’t you in school?”
  • You are on a first name basis with your librarian.
  • You have the tomfool idea that the world is your classroom and you are always learning.
  • You have argued about whether Christopher Paolini is a good writer or not.
  • You have to use smaller words to communicate with “normal” kids.
  • You grin at the yellow bus as it rolls past your window carrying hostages, er, students, to prison–school, that is.
  • You are confused as to whether you have “homework” or not.
  • You maintain a blog in a more intelligent and pertinent way than most adults do

Would you like to add to this list of You Might be Homeschooled If….

While you here check out our vast articles on homeschooling tips, homeschool curriculum ideas and homeschool faqs.

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How To Unschool : A Guide To Unschooling Part 1

This is 2 Parts series document on detailed guide to how to unschool: To see second part of the series, see How to unschool Part 2.

I have written about it before on the blog How to Unschool your child and Guide to Homeschooling Methods.

By Leo Babauta:

There’s nothing I get asked about more as a parent than unschooling, and nothing I recommend more to other parents.

It’s an educational philosophy that provides for more freedom than any other learning method, and prepares kids for an uncertain and rapidly changing future better than anything else I know. My wife and I unschool four of our kids, and have been for several years.

And yet, as powerful as I believe unschooling to be, I’ve never written about it, because the truth is, I certainly don’t have all the answers. No one does.

The beauty of unschooling is in the search for the answers. If anyone had all the answers, there would be no search. And so what I’d love to teach unschooling parents and kids is that the search is the joy of it all.

But I’m getting ahead of myself: what is unschooling? Why should you do it? How do you do it? What should you read? We’ll talk about all that today.

What is Unschooling?

First, it’s a form of homeschooling. But there’s no easy answer to that except in comparison to regular schooling. There’s no one way to do unschooling, and people who do it often do it for many different reasons in many different ways.

However, this is how I describe it — in contrast to school:

  • While school has classes with subjects, unschooling doesn’t.
  • While school has goals set by teachers and the school system, the unschooler (the kid) set his or her own goals.
  • While in school, knowledge is handed down from the teacher to the student, in unschooling the student is empowered to learn for himself.
  • While school has specific books or sets of learning materials, unschoolers can learn from anything — books they find, things on the Internet, siblings or parents, the outdoors, museums, people working in interesting fields, anything.
  • While school is structured, unschooling is like jazz. It’s done on the fly, changing as the student changes.
  • While students in school learn to follow instructions, unschoolers learn to think for themselves and make their own decisions.
  • While students in school are asked to learn at pace arbitrarily set by administrators, unschoolers learn at their own pace.
  • While in school, learning happens in the classroom at certain times, in unschooling learning happens all the time, and there is no division between learning and life.

Let me emphasize that for a minute: in unschooling, life itself is learning. There is no “doing school” … you are learning all the time.

Unschoolers learn just like you or I learn as adults: based on what interests them, figuring out how to learn it on their own, changing as they change, using whatever resources and learning materials they find, driven by curiosity and practical application rather than because someone says it’s important.

This is how I learn as a self-employed writer, as an entrepreneur, as a parent. It’s how our children will learn when they’re adults. Why not have them learn like that now?

Why Unschool?

Let’s think about what school is about: preparing kids for jobs (and life) in the future … a future that’s probably a decade or more away. Now think about a decade or more of change: how many of us predicted 13 years ago what life would be like today? Did we know about the economic recession, or the changing job market, or the fact that things like smartphones and iPads and ebook readers would be so widespread? And that’s just the start.

If we can’t predict what our kids’ future will be like, how can we decide today what they should be learning to prepare for that future? We’re preparing them for today’s jobs, not tomorrow’s jobs. School teaches kids a set of facts and skills that they might not need in the future.

Unschooling takes a different approach: kids learn how to learn, how to teach themselves. If you know how to learn and how to teach yourself, then you are prepared for any future. If in the future the things we know are obsolete, then the person who knows how to learn anything will be ready to learn whatever is in use in the future. The person who only knows how to learn from a teacher will need a teacher to teach him.

More reasons to unschool:

  • It’s how entrepreneurs learn. Schools prepare kids to follow instructions, like good employees, while entrepreneurs take charge of what they need to know and make decisions for themselves, navigate through uncharted waters. Unschooling prepares kids to be entrepreneurs instead of robots.
  • It’s much more natural. The school system is a fairly modern invention, and isn’t how humans have learned for the majority of our history. Unschooling is the learning method used for most of human history — including by people like Leonardo Da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Mozart, Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.
  • It’s freer. The structure of school is good for people who like decisions made for them, but if you like making your own decisions, and figuring out things based on current needs, you will want more freedom.
  • We learn with the kids. While in school, many parents are removed from the learning process, and ask the teachers to take responsibility for their kids’ education, with unschooling you learn with your kids. The most important learning I’ve been doing is learning about learning. We figure out, together, how people learn, what’s the best way to learn, for each kid.
  • Learning is unlimited. In school, learning is limited to the classroom and homework time. Then kids believe they stop learning and they can go play and live life — as if learning is boring and they only do it because they’re forced to. But unschoolers learn that learning happens all day long, every day, no matter what you’re doing. If you’re not studying a textbook, does that mean you’re not learning? Can’t you learn from playing games, going for a hike, talking to strangers? How about from figuring out how to cook dinner, or fix a broken faucet, or make a fort? Learning is all around us, and it’s fun! That’s what unschooling teaches us.
  • You can find out more about unschooling  here.

Source: Zenhabits.net

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschool Parenting Tips Homeschooling tips

Homeschooling Seldom Asked Questions

by Rebecca Prewett

Recently I attended a state homeschooling convention. At least half the women there were wearing denim jumpers and had lots of children with them. If I decide to homeschool, will I need to buy a denim jumper and triple my family size?

Well, it depends. Some homeschoolers like to be nonconformists. In order to identify yourself as a nonconformist, you will need to wear the right kind of denim jumper, never cut your hair again, and have a larger than average family. All the boys will need to wear slacks and dress shirts whenever you’re out in public, and the girls will need to wear denim jumpers or pretty flowered dresses. Of course, if you don’t care about being a nonconformist, this doesn’t apply to you; you’re free to dress however you choose.

At the homeschooling convention I attended, some of the women had misplaced their handkerchiefs–which ended up on their heads. Please explain.

While some think this is a phenomena completely confined to the homeschooling community, it really isn’t. Nor is it a novel way to keep a handkerchief available at all times. And, yes, we’re even told that you can be Reformed and wear the prayer veiling at the same time (although we have not yet personally tested this theory).

I’m confused. Who is the real “father” of the homeschooling movement?

Depending on whom you ask, it’s:
a) Raymond Moore
b) John Holt
c) Bill Gothard
d) Richard Fugate
e) R.J. Rushdoony
f) any other guy who mentioned homeschooling before it was “popular”
g) there is no “father”, since it’s the mothers that usually do the homeschooling
h) Charlotte Mason
i) somebody else you’ve never heard about
j) any number of fathers who were homeschooling in the early 70’s
k) any big name you want to drop to make it sound like you know something

How can I spot “twaddle”?

Twaddle comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes one mother’s twaddle is another mother’s favorite unit study. However, twaddle can be recognized by the following unmistakable symptoms:
a) it wouldn’t pass muster with Charlotte Mason
b) it has something to do with the fireman being our friend
c) it’s found in curriculum materials catalogs designed for public schools
d) you would be embarrassed to discuss it with the Shearers
e) any reasonably conscious kindergartner already knows it

How can I get onto the cover of the Teaching Home?

Ask the Shearers. They have dedicated years of their lives in an attempt to grace the cover of that well-known magazine and have even written a song detailing their exploits. Then again, maybe you shouldn’t ask them; they still haven’t made it. Your best bet would be to have lots of multi-talented and photogenic children, and to spend your lives doing marvelous things while wearing matching Sunday outfits and posing in your beautifully appointed home.

I simply don’t know what to do. Everybody I know is so positive about homeschooling! I’m overwhelmed at the amount of support, encouragement, financial aid, and resources that all my friends and relatives keep giving me.

Hhhhhmm…that really is a distressing problem. Well, maybe it’s not distressing, but it sure is unusual! Truly a seldom asked question, and one to which we have no answer other than–please send all the good stuff our way.

I’d like to homeschool but I’m worried that my children won’t be isolated enough. You see, in the school they now attend, they are safely isolated from people who aren’t their age, with the exception of their teachers. But I’m afraid if they aren’t safe at school all day, they’ll be meeting all sorts of people in the community. What can I do?

It’s true that, if you homeschool your children, they will probably meet all sorts of adults in the community, everyone from the mailman and various repair men to the people you will meet on field trips. It is also true that they will tend to meet more people who are not their age than people who are. But I have yet to meet one homeschooling family that found this to be a disadvantage. Of course, it depends on how you define disadvantage. Your child may lose touch with the latest juvenile fads and probably won’t keep up on the current lingo. In fact, he may even end up sounding…well, sort of mature.

If I homeschool, will I have to wear Birkenstocks?

Again, it depends on if you want to be a nonconformist or not. It also depends on where you live. Nonconformist homeschoolers on the West Coast all wear Birkenstocks. A style with wide straps is preferable. Brown is usually the color of choice.

If I homeschool, will I have to raise goats and chickens? Will I have to bake my own bread and sew all of our own clothes?

This depends. Some people think that goats and homeschoolers go hoof in hand. Others suggest you invest the goat money in a good computer. Still others are allergic to goats, don’t like computers, and wouldn’t be caught dead near a sewing machine. But everyone knows that real homeschoolers bake their own whole-wheat bread, even if it’s just once a year.

How can you tell if someone is an “old-timer” at homeschooling?

Experienced and knowledgeable homeschoolers are easy to spot. The real old-timers predate the “homeschooling movement” and, no matter how well they’ve retained their youth, usually don’t look like someone just starting out with their first kindergartner, even though they might still be teaching phonics to one of their brood. The ages of their children, especially if they’ve never attended school, offers another clue. Having a completely homeschooled young adult generally qualifies one as an “old-timer”. These “old-timers” tend to be relaxed, confident, own a ton of books, have an anti-twaddle radar, posses a terrific sense of humor and/or an incredible amount of perseverance and vision, own at least one homeschooling tee-shirt, remember back when it was near impossible to get Christian textbooks, and know more than a lot of homeschooling authors do. The real “old-timers” are stockpiling phonics materials as their homeschool “graduates” prepare to teach the next generation. Or, they’re prepared to teach their adult children how to teach reading with just a Bible and a slate and maybe some index cards. And, if you happen to spot an “old-timer”, consider yourself blessed and glean from her experience. And don’t bother dropping names of homeschooling “fathers” around her; she may well have been homeschooling long before that “father” ever heard of the idea.

If you liked this check out other homeschooling tips and homeschooling humor articles along with homeschooling curriculum reviews here.

Source: Go milpitas

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Homeschooling tips

Home School Humor: 14 Days Of Homeschool

We all need humor and need to laugh out in life when things get too serious or complicated. It is fun to laugh, when things are cool also. This home school humor song was sent to me by friend of mine who also homeschools her kids, Thanks Megan!  The reason, I want to share here is because, I am sure many of you who are homeschooling are asked all or some of the questions by either neighbors or some well meaning friends.

Here to share with you all. I am not a original author of this poem which is sung in tune of 12 days of Christmas. Enjoy.

Home school Humor: 14 Days Of Homeschool

To the tune of “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Can you homeschool legally?”

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”

On the eighth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”

On the ninth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “They’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?”

On the tenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “What about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the eleventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “I could never do that, what about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they’ll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?”

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: “They Can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don’t like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we’ll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, “How can I get started, why didn’t you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE’RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we’ll join a sports team, and we’ll homeschool legally.”

Check out more Christmas music and homeschooling tips here.

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Yes, You Can Homeschool Your Kids

Often times, I meet a mom who is frustrated at her kids and schooling systems but does not know what to do. Many parent  do not think they can home school their kids, some may think you need a special education degree or child development degree to start homeschooling. That is not true. Did you know many private schools have some teachers who do not have teacher’s degree also, but they are great teachers. So you can be too.

If you are new to homeschooling check out;

New to Homeschooling

Homeschooling Resources

Homeschooling curriculum Reviews

There are many myths and confusion about homeschooling out there, and I was one of them until I started to homeschool by 2 year old at home a few years ago. Now, I have learned a lot and this website is created for many parents such as you to show you yes, you can homeschool too. Please see our homeschooling tips and homeschooling faq articles;

If you still need further proof that you can homeschool your children, see these two videos created by HSLDA which stands for Home School Legal Defence Advocate. They are leading legal avenue for many US and International Homeschoolers to make sure you can legally and comfortably homeschool your child for your local state or country. After seeing these two videos, I can assure you you will see the way, many homeschooling parents will do. Good luck and if you have questions, ask away in comment section.

You Can Homeschool : Part 1

You can Homeschool : Part 2

Did that help? Any questions, ask in comment. Believe in yourself, You can home school, really!

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Why Parents Choose To Homeschool

There are many people who are homeschooling their kids at home via independent studies, charter school or other legal ways to homeschool a child at home. Often time, many parent of public going kids also supplement education via private piano, art and language classes in weekend, that is also sort of like part time homeschooling.

If you are already homeschooling parent then you know the benefits such as pros and cons of homeschooling and why you chose to do homeschooling. For those who are thinking about homeschooling or have little knowledge about homeschooling wonder why anyone would want to home school their child at home. If you are wondering this article is for you. There are many reasons parent may choose to home school a child, here are main popular reasons parents choose to homeschool a child or children at home.

Why Parents Choose Homeschooling?

Everyone’s reasons might vary a little but here are a few main reasons most parents choose to homeschool kids at home via many homeschooling methods.

1. Inadequate public school systems

In America, kids can only go to local assigned public school based on their parent’s address of home or rental places. That often means, prices of home or rental apartment are generally higher in good school district. So, if you want your child to go to very good public school, parents either has to buy a expensive house in the area or rent a place there to legally use local public school.

There are many time intra country transfer can be possible but it is surely complicated process for many. If you want your child to get a good education, you would have to either buy a expensive house in great school district or send them to equally expensive private school. If parent have more than one child, cost can add up and not every one can afford expense of private school or great public school house location.

In top of that many good to better public school systems leave much to desire for many parents, some may have budget cuts, out of date books and curriculum and other funding issues to really make it worthwhile for a few parents. So, they choose alternative education method and one of them could be homeschooling, charter school or independent studies through public school means educating at home.

2. Parent have special need child

While many public and private school have special need child related programs, but getting approved for it or custom fitting to a child may be an issue for some school district. Other problem some parents may feel is if their child is special need, they might be harassed or bullied at public school by some kids. There have been many cased of kids, not only special need but also different races, fat child, small thin child have been targeted by bullies at school. In some cases, kid’s self esteem is damaged or a few unlucky ones have killed themselves.

While many school authority and concern parents have worked hard to prevent such harassment, but still happens. Some parents therefore, want to avoid frustration of their special need child by doing one on one schooling or homeschooling which may work better for kids and themselves.

3. Having more control over Learning

If you are homeschooling, in many states in US parents still have to follow local state’s guideline on what to teach for each grade. However, many parents feel that by homeschooling their children they have more control over their learning and less focus on current trend and fashions. Many Christian and other religious parents may want to teach religion at home as many public and private school do not teach religion or moral values in a class.

In addition to some parents value art, music and other form of learning such as cooking, clay making or singing in their teaching can do via homeschooling or take extra classes when in public school as many public school do not offer many artistic education to satisfy some parents.

Reasons Parents Homeschool :

So – WHY Do You Homeschool?

Homeschooling: The Early Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 3- to 8- Year-Old Child

Ten Great Reasons to Homeschool

The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool

What is your reason for choosing to home school?

 

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Homeschooling tips

How To Answer Well Meaning People About Homeschooling

One of the dreaded thing do once you convince yourself, your spouse and children about homeschooling is answering to your well meaning family or friends about your decision. Homeschooling gets bad rap sometimes in news and other media that no wonder people are confused. While there are bad parents who may misuse homeschooling to hide their neglect and abuse, there are lot of good parents who homeschool their children for actually educating their children. It is same way there are lot of bad and good public school parents too. How you educate your child has personal choice, as long as they are learning, and have a well growing and social skills to grow in well adjusted adults.

How to Tell Friends and Family about Your Homeschooling Choice?

So, how do you answer questions from family and friends about your decision to homeschool without being judged and without argument and feeling guilt in either sides. Follow this 3 tips to share your decision about homeschooling that makes you and them feel good;

1. Tell them homeschooling is legal

Homeschooling is legal in America, Canada and many other countries. For more details see our homeschooling resources for individual state or country of your choice. Making sure what you doing is legal, will comfort your well meaning friends and family in your choice of homeschooling. If they need more convincing you can show them HSLDA website for official information for re-assurance.

Just make sure you follow the right process to register your private school, go through public school or private school independent study program or whatever specific process for your local state is. File those paper work in times, gather vaccinations or proper forms from your pediatrician and all requirements, attendance and proper records and grade for your child just to be in legal side.

2.  Tell Them Many historical and famous people were and are homeschooled

There has been many famous past presidents, novelists, scientists have been homeschooled. There are also current celebrities and famous intellectuals are homeschooling their kids in today’s world. Current president hopeful Rick Santorum believes and homeschools his kids, will smith’s kids are being homeschooled.

Read or send them our famous homeschoolers article to see how many famous, successful and smart people have done homeschooling and it worked for them and it will work for you and your children too.

3. College actually want Homeschoolers

One of the big problem many well wisher friends and family with homeschooling is that the child may not be able to go to prestigious college, or become a doctor or an engineer. Assure them that many ivy league and other colleges actually want and look for homeschooling graduates in thier colleges. Your child can become a doctor, president, engineer or whoever he/she wants to be even when he/she is homeschooled.

I have seen it personally many homeschooler really sought after in colleges, and some actually starting a college at earlier age such as 14 due to being already ahead in education. But you do not have to take my word for it, you can see article here for homeschooler really wanted by colleges or do search on yahoo yourself to share it with friends and families.

Answering Homeschooling Questions Help Sources:

But What About Socialization? Answering the Perpetual Home Schooling Question: A Review of the Literature

Homeschooling the Child with Autism: Answers to the Top Questions Parents and Professionals Ask

So – WHY Do You Homeschool?

Asking Questions, Finding Answers: A Parent’s Journey Through Homeschooling

Conclusion:

Many well meaning friends and family question and concern may seem annoying but if you truly look it, they have child’s welfare at heart to make sure he or she is succeds in education and finds a good job or career to support himself or herself when adult. Once thier concerns are answered properly, they will see it homeschooling as choice in education just as you do. And having right support from friends and families is always better than not having any.

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Homeschool Curriculum Homeschool News Homeschooling tips K12 Homeschooling

Online Charter Homeschool is Growing

There are more and more people are homeschooling through charter school and now online education charter school to teach their kids at home. Online schooling has many benefits and some issues. Not everyone agrees, if that is a good thing or not. As debate for online charter school increases among parents, only you can tell if it works for your and your family. We like many family, use some online class, some in classroom classes and some subjects are taught at home with right homeschooling curriculum.

 Source: NY Times

Half a million American children take classes online, with a significant group, like the Weldies, getting all their schooling from virtual public schools. The rapid growth of these schools has provoked debates in courtrooms and legislatures over money, as the schools compete with local districts for millions in public dollars, and over issues like whether online learning is appropriate for young children.

One of the sharpest debates has concerned the Weldies’ school in Wisconsin, where last week the backers of online education persuaded state lawmakers to keep it and 11 other virtual schools open despite a court ruling against them and the opposition of the teachers union. John Watson, a consultant in Colorado who does an annual survey of education that is based on the Internet, said events in Wisconsin followed the pattern in other states where online schools have proliferated fast.

“Somebody says, ‘What’s going on, does this make sense?’ ” Mr. Watson said. “And after some inquiry most states have said, ‘Yes, we like online learning, but these are such new ways of teaching children that we’ll need to change some regulations and get some more oversight.’ ”

Two models of online schooling predominate. In Florida, Illinois and half a dozen other states, growth has been driven by a state-led, state-financed virtual school that does not give a diploma but offers courses that supplement regular work at a traditional school. Generally, these schools enroll only middle and high school students.

At the Florida Virtual School, the largest Internet public school in the country, more than 50,000 students are taking courses this year. School authorities in Traverse City, Mich., hope to use online courses provided by the Michigan Virtual School next fall to educate several hundred students in their homes, alleviating a classroom shortage.

The other model is a full-time online charter school like the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. About 90,000 children get their education from one of 185 such schools nationwide. They are publicly financed, mostly elementary and middle schools.

Many parents attracted to online charters have previously home-schooled their children, including Mrs. Weldie. Her children — Isabel, Harry and Eleanor, all in elementary school — download assignments and communicate intermittently with their certified teachers over the Internet, but they also read story books, write in workbooks and do arithmetic at a table in their basement. Legally, they are considered public school students, not home-schoolers, because their online schools are taxpayer-financed and subject to federal testing requirements.

Despite enthusiastic support from parents, the schools have met with opposition from some educators, who say elementary students may be too young for Internet learning, and from teachers, unions and school boards, partly because they divert state payments from the online student’s home district.

Other opposition has arisen because many online charters contract with for-profit companies to provide their courses. The Wisconsin academy, for example, is run by the tiny Northern Ozaukee School District, north of Milwaukee, in close partnership with K12 Inc., which works with similar schools in 17 states.

The district receives annual state payments of $6,050 for each of its 800 students, which it uses to pay teachers and buy its online curriculum from K12.

Saying he suspected “corporate profiteering” in online schooling, State Senator John Lehman, a Democrat who is chairman of the education committee, last month proposed cutting the payments to virtual schools to $3,000 per student. But during legislative negotiations that proposal was dropped.

See source and full article here: NY Times

Online curriculum has its benefits and issues. Many homeschooler and public school teacher use combination of online curriculum to use 100% online schooling or supplement their educational process. If you choose online curriculum, make sure it is from reputable company with options to change curriculum choices just in case it does not work with your child’s learning style.

Check out:

Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning

Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction

How do you educate your child at home?

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Fun Learning K12 Homeschooling

Tips For Raising Tadpoles

tadpole

Image source: Our Class Web

Once you have tadpoles from either friend’s pond or from a pet store, you have to know more about general care of taking care of tadpoles. As you have seen it in how to raise tadpoles, here are more tips about general care taking instructions. Without taking proper care tadpoles can die.


Image source:Tadpole Habitat

You can use any good size container for your tadpoles such as;

Other thing to consider are that make sure keep container in

  • Either outside if weather is good but make sure the container has 3/4 shades
  • Can keep them inside with proper lighting
  • Keep them in shallow water
  • Place rocks and smooth gravels can be added at bottom
  • As tadpole matures, it will need a space to get out of the water, so add large stone or submerged wood so it can come out. Remember frogs are amphibian, that means they will need to leave close to water but need to comes out on land as well.
  • Provide shade, aquatic plants and smooths stones for tadpoles to hide and feel secure inside the container. Feeling safe and secure is also important part of raising the tadpoles.
  • Many tadpoles do better with leafy underwater plants according to many tadpole expert sources so use those.

Type of Water to Use:

Always use fresh, spring water without any chlorine. Tap water that most house have has chlorine and it is deadly for tadpoles.

  • Use de-chlorine bottle in tap water. You can let the water sit overnight before using it.
  • Many pet stores, online stores sell it and are inexpensive.
  • Or you can let tap water sit under Sun for 4-5 days to get rid of chlorine before using it inside the container.
  • Water may need changing every week or so, depending on the size of the container.
  • Always take out about 1/3 of original water and keep 2/3 of the old water when replacing with new fresh spring water. As changing 100% water does not go well with most tadpoles.
  • There are also ready made kit available for raising tadpoles kit at home which may be easier for your child and you.

What to feed the tadpoles:

Tadpoles diet depends on type of species they might be. It is often hard to tell what type of frog the tadpoles are until they matures, sometimes you will know the type of species. Regardless of the type of species knowledge, it is generally assumed that majority of tadpoles are herbivores or vegetarians.

  • Frozen leafy lettuce such as romaine or spinach are best option. Just freeze them and crumble and feed them.
  • Some experts suggest boiling the lettuce or spinach to feed them, that will work as well, but boiling will reduce some of its nutrients, so some people suggest just using frozen leaves, as it will be mushy enough for them to chew and eat.
  • You can buy tadpole food, or fish food or crushed algae tablet to feed the tadpoles as well.
  • Feed small amount daily.
  • If your tadpoles seemed to be always on top layers usually means they do not have enough food so give them more.
  • If water becomes muddy or dirty fast, either they are getting too much food or you have not changed the water in a while. See above to see how to change the water tips. (change 1/3 at the time only)
  • Tadpole can stay without water for sometimes but do not keep them too much away from water or hold it your hand.
  • Always clean your hand before handling feeding, changing the water for them

Tadpoles to Frog Process:

Changing from tadpole to frog process, the metamorphosis is simply amazing to see. Depending on type of species, tadpoles can turn in to frog in a few weeks (6 to 8 weeks), while some species have known to take up to 2 years for the metamorphosis from tadpole to frog. Knowing what species you are raising will make process much easier. If you do not know, have patience, eventually it will happen for sure.

How the change happens:

Usually toward the end of tadpole life cycle, you will see tadpole getting back legs. It will start with back legs and they will form front legs in next step.

There will be more changes such as body shapes, loss of gill, lung getting developed and digestive changes will occur this time too. What it means for most tadpoles to frog change is their diet will change form herbivore to carnivore diet.  They will also lose a tail around this time. Many tadpoles will eat very little when they are going through this metamorphosis so there is nothing to worry about if you see they have lost their appetite.

Once the tadpoles starts getting legs and losing tails, it is a great idea to make water more shallow and give them stone of wood perch for them to land on. As without their gills they may simply drown if they do not have place to land on solid surface, so place some large smooth stone, wood etc for them. Some species may need to be removed from water completely once tail is gone, so if you get it from store, friend try to find out about type of species as much as you can so you can care for them better.

What to feed the frogs? Feed the newly developed froglets small crickets, fruit flies, bloodworms, and other small insect and invertebrate foods.

Can you release frogs in to fresh water pond or lake?

If you tadpole/frog species is non native (find out from frog book or internet), it is recommended that you do not release them in to native area as it might create an issue with native species. So, you should create a area in large aquarium or back yard pond to keep and raise them.

If you have native tadpoles and frog species, it can be released in pond or lake. If you decide to release them, do it as soon as possible after metamorphosis such that they will have a best chance to adapt in to the wild in lake or pond area.

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Categories
Fun Learning K12 Homeschooling

How To Raise Tadpoles

Image: Tadpoles

Raising tadpoles can be fun and educational for kids, as they will get to see life cycle from tadpoles to frog. Before you start, here are a few things to know so you can successfully raise tadpoles at home. This article shows how to raise tadpole, if you want to know more details about tadpole raising, how to feed and what type of container and feeding needed please check out our other article, Detailed Caring tips for Raising Tadpoles.

Things to know before you raise tadpoles:

  1. In order to raise tadpoles, you’ll need a suitable container, like an aquarium, fishbowl, or garden pond. You can start in glass jar at home too.
  2. Tadpoles likes shade and avoid direct Sun. Be sure it has good shade – about 3/4 shade is ideal for them.
  3. Tadpoles absolutely depend on having fresh, clean water. Chlorine is deadly to tadpoles!If you take the water from a local stream, creek or pond, be sure it isn’t polluted. Ideally, you can get it upstream from any suspected sources like factories, sewers, etc.
  4. If using tap water, let it stand exposed to full sunlight for 5 to 7 days. This will allow the Chlorine to be removed by evaporation.
  5. If you don’t have that much time, you can buy de-chlorinating drops at your local fish-carrying pet store.
  6. You can get also ready made tadpole raising kit available which has everything you will need to get started.

What do I feed tadpoles?

Frog and toad tadpoles are vegetarians, (unlike the tadpoles of newts and salamanders), and are very easy to feed.

They seemed to love lettuce! You can boil the lettuce for 10 to 15 minutes, drain it, and keep it in a baggie in the freezer. Give the tadpoles a pinch every few days. you can also give them water reptiles food sometimes, but not instead of lettuce! You can feed them tadpole or fish food as well.

Other thing to know is that tadpoles of some toads and frogs can morph from placid plant eaters to fierce cannibals if their pools threaten to run dry or if food is scarce. By becoming meat eaters that snack on other tadpoles, the cannibals speed up their development, hoping to transform into toads before the water or food run out. so be sure to feed them enough! But don’t forget, too much food will get the water all dirty.

If your water gets dirty really fast, slow down on the feeding, and be sure to replace the dirty water with some fresh spare water.

How long will it take from Tadpole to become Frog?

The length of time a tadpole takes to develop really depends on what kind of frog it came from and on the environmental conditions. some tadpoles can remain in their tadpole stage as long as 8 months, while others only take 6 to 9 weeks! So be patience. Some species of frog have known to slow down process during colder climate. You can read kids A Tadpole Grows Up (Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers: Animal Life Cycles) for easy to show the transformation and life cycle as it happens.

When the tadpoles start getting close to developing legs, they will need some sort of perch so they can get out of the water. You can create ledges using stones or even tilting slopes of plastic in tanks.

At the point where they aren’t big enough to eat crickets but are too large to eat lettuce, you can try starting them off with small insects. A good substitute is blood worms which are usually found in pet stores that carry fish.

The tilt of the ledge may be important depending on what type of frog you have. Young tree frogs can climb smooth vertical surfaces such as the plastic pond liners and glass, but the ground dwelling frogs will need a rough slope when the time comes to climb out of the water.

Related Articles:

Learning About Tadpoles

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Tips for Raising Tadpoles