Category: Homeschooling Resource

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For Florida Parents,Truant Kids Means 2 Months Of Jail Time

I was just browsing news causally and I came across this shocking news. if your child has miss 15 days of school in 3 months time period, parents will be going to jail for 2 months! California state has recently strict truancy bill earlier this year (2011) and few parents already have spent time in jail. California is not the only one have such a strict rules, Alabama, Texas, North Carolina and now Florida state is implementing such strict rules.

I am afraid that more US states to follow. What does that mean for homeschooling families? Make sure you are not truant, when you file PSA or go through charter school or public school independent program.  Read this article below;

“Florida law says parents of children under 16 who let their kids miss 15 days of school within three months can be sent to jail for up to two months as punishment. The Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Palm Beach prosecutors say the two-month jail sentence will be a last resort, after government and nonprofit workers try to fix whatever problem is keeping parents from getting their kids to school.

About a dozen Baltimore parents were sent to prison for their kids’ truancy in 2011, the Baltimore Sun reported in April. (In 2010, no Baltimore parents were jailed.) After California adopted a strict anti-truancy bill earlier this year, at least five parents in Orange County were sent to jail for the crime, according to the local CBS affiliate. Judges in Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina and other states have also used truancy laws to send offending parents to jail.

Earlier this year, the NAACP sued a Pennsylvania school district for levying what it claimed were illegal fines of thousands of dollars on truant students and their parents. Lenora Hummel, above, was fined $8,000 after her son and daughter stopped going to school because they said they were bullied and harassed by other students.”

I personally think, 2 months of jail for parents is bit overboard. Perhaps, trying to find out case by case to see why parents or kids might have failed going to school. It could be health or financial reason as right now so many families seems to be struggling.

If you are homeschooling parents, that does not mean you are immune, sometimes charters school or public school independent study program also have very strict guideline as school going parents so vigilant to make sure you’re not truant. If you are going to be for health or some un forseen reason, you may want to work to find a proper solution. This is truly a irony as one can recall, Ferris Buller was shown very hip and cool for knowingly missing the school, while reality is much different. Knowing your own state laws regarding schooling can help all parents, regardless of using private, public or homeschooling methods.

 You might be interested in;

Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick-Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in 2 Weeks

The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 101 Most Important Questions Answered by Homeschooling’s Most Respected Voices

Source: Yahoo news

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschooling tips

Learning About Social Concerns of Homeschooling

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Image source: psych-your-mind.blogspot.com

There are people who are worried about social skills and social aspects of homeschooling as they tend to believe that child and parent stuck in a room learning all day and student will not have enough time to make friends and create skills. Again and again, I am asked about this and this is really myth.

As a homeschooler, child will get plenty of social interaction during park days, field trip and play group. Homeschool kids gets to take physical education classes, music lessons, cooking lesson, horse riding and so on and there is plenty of opportunity to socially interact with other kids and adults alike, just like we do it real life.

The Home-School Connection: Lessons Learned in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Community

Social skills is an area of deep concern when it comes to
homeschooling. Many critics point out that since man needs to hone
his social skills, a homeschooling environment where social
interaction is limited is detrimental to his growth and
development. But studies have proved this wrong.

Children put into the fiercely competitive school environments
lack the confidence to hold a conversation. Such children show
little genuine interest in the topic of conversation and don’t
know how to interact with people of various age groups,
especially their elders.

Children who learn at home are more aware of the implications and
the purpose of their learning. They will ask intelligent questions
and make accurate observations. Children begin their life by
imitating their parents. Homeschooled children therefore pick
up the sterling qualities they see in their parents. On the other
hand, they are protected from the detrimental influences of their
peers.

These children are thus better equipped with the tools necessary
to face the world. The positive reinforcement that takes place
in the homeschooling environment as opposed to being abandoned,
embarrassed or ignored in a normal school environment strengthens
their self-esteem. Children turn out to be better balanced and
well-rounded as they progress into adulthood.

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Does Homeschooling Magnify The Family Issues?

Homeschooling Magnifies Family Problems (and That’s a Good Thing)

BY Jennifer Fulwiler

“Okay, guys, it’s time for today’s lessons!” I say in my most positive voice. “We’re going to start with math. Let’s look at—”

“Maaa-aaath? I hate math!” comes a voice from the peanut gallery.

“I’m bored. I don’t want to do homeschool today,” says another one.

Thus began our first day of homeschooling for the season, and it only went downhill from there. The subsequent days have been somewhat better, but I still have to fight at least one battle of wills at the homeschool table every day. I don’t expect perfect behavior, but do ask that I see a slightly better attitude than you might expect from, say, prisoners working on a chain gang. We don’t always get there. And it tests the limits of my patience every time.

After a particularly frustrating session I called a friend who is also a homeschooler, and wondered aloud if we should send the kids back to school. We had tried a public charter school for a semester last year. It wasn’t a good fit for our family for a lot of reasons—reasons that I still agreed with—but I was tempted to go back there just because I was so frustrated with the behavior problems I was seeing.

Thank goodness for wise counsel, because my friend’s response was exactly what I needed to hear. “Homeschooling isn’t causing these problems,” she pointed out. “It’s just magnifying problems that were already there.”

She was right. Before we homeschooled, I was still impatient. My kids are generally quite sweet, but we still had occasional issues with them talking back and not wanting to listen. Sending them to school didn’t solve any of those problems, it just made them easier to forget about since I didn’t have to confront them as often. Having my children’s education taken care of by someone else also led me to be relaxed—probably too relaxed—about what happened in the house on a daily basis. There was no specific goal we were trying to accomplish on a typical day, so if my requests were being ignored here and there, it didn’t feel like a big deal. But when my children’s education became my responsibility, that changed. Suddenly, there was more at stake than whether or not I had help picking up the living room floor in the afternoon—if they continued not to do what I asked them to do, it could impact their entire education.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone (as Simcha pointed out in her recent post about the benefits of sending her kids to school). There are a lot of reasons a family might choose a different model of education, but I’ve come to think that a bad dynamic between parents and kids shouldn’t be one of them. I used to think that those daily battles of wills were a bug in the homeschooling system; now I see them as a feature. Homeschooling acts as a magnifying glass, enlarging your view of any cracks that run through the foundation of your family, thus allowing you to address them before they grow larger and deeper.

Source: http://www.ncregister.com/ National Catholic Register

Related:

Help! I’m Married to a Homeschooling Mom: Showing Dads How to Meet the Needs of Their Homeschooling Wives

Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother

 

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How To Unschool your child

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The term “unschooling” was coined in the 1970s and used by educator John Holt who wrote popular book How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development), widely regarded as the “father” of unschooling. While often considered to be a subset of homeschooling, unschoolers may be as philosophically estranged from homeschoolers as they are from advocates of conventional schooling. While homeschooling has been subject to widespread public debate, little media attention has been given to unschooling in particular. Popular critics of unschooling tend to view it as an extreme educational philosophy, with concerns that unschooled children will lack the social skills, structure, and motivation of their peers, especially in the job market, while proponents of unschooling say exactly the opposite is true: self-directed education in a natural environment makes a child more equipped to handle the “real world

Check out resources:

The Unschooling Unmanual

The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom

Unschooling is the most fluid style of homeschooling. There is no
curriculum and no set boundaries. Many parents feel a bit
apprehensive about such freedom. But, even unschooling has certain
guidelines that make it a great method of homeschooling.

Firstly, allow your child to express interests. Let her select the
topic. If she wants to learn about flowers, tell her about the
various flowers, their functions, parts of the flower, rare flowers
etc. But don’t go overboard. Allow her the freedom to stop when
she has had enough. This process of learning may take a month or a
day. It is up to the child to decide how much she wants to learn.

Expand your child’s areas of interests using videos, books, magazines,
puzzles and games. Go to a museum or take her to a library.
Simultaneously, broaden your own interests. The more you know, the
more the child gets to learn.

Notice all opportunities for learning. When in the kitchen, point out
the vitamins in fruits and vegetables. What makes tomatoes red, and
why are leafy vegetables good? If you don’t know the answers, don’t
worry. Look it up. Lastly, don’t worry if the going seems slow. This
is just the way kids learn. Give them time and lots of encouragement.

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschooling tips

How To Structure the School year

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Image source: Homeschool.com

Okay, you have decided to homeschool and you, kids and family have bought text books, join the homeschool group, set out the room for teaching, Now what? Basic structure of homeschooling can help get you going.

Now that you have begun your homeschooling schedule, there are
various questions that trouble you. Should you study continuously,
take a number of short breaks or a long vacation? What about
public holidays? When should you take a break?

The answer to these questions and many more like these are
actually quite simple: Do whatever suits you best. This is one of
the appealing benefits of homeschooling. You do not have a set
pattern to follow. You do not HAVE to take that autumn break, or
close shop for a prolonged summer vacation. Flexibility is the key
here. For some practiced unschoolers, even a definite curriculum
is not necessary because lessons are a part of their day- to-day
life. But this may not be the case with beginners. Beginners may
need to chart out their activities to fall into a pattern.

Before you plan the structure of your classes, consider some of
the most important issues. What method of homeschooling will you
be following, what is your teaching style and your child’s
learning style, what are the work and play schedules, what are
your vacation plans. Some families plan small 1-week vacations at
different times of the year. Other families prefer to go away for
a month or more. Consult with the members of your family, and
chart out a holiday schedule that most suits you.

There are some positive benefits in following the traditional
summer vacation schedule. Firstly, your children can benefit from
the various summer activities, camps and classes. Your child’s
schedule will coincide with that of his school-going friends. A
summer job may be possible. A longish summer break also means that
both parents as well as children get a break from their daily
lessons. This could also be a major drawback, as it is sometimes
difficult to get back on track once the classes resume.

On the other hand, there are some advantages to taking numerous
small breaks in the course of a year. Firstly, children do not get
bored since they get time to explore other interests. You can
cover more topics in the extra time that you save. You can also
take family trips and vacations during the less popular periods of
travel. This means lesser crowd and better prices. But beware if
your child becomes restless when other children are enjoying their
long summer vacations.

As far as homeschooling is concerned, you and your family are the
people in charge. Taking care of the individual needs of the child
is the primary focus of this system. So, tailor the school year to
suit your child’s needs. Periodic evaluation is a must. Set some
realistic goals and see if you are able to achieve these goals.
Most importantly, avoid burnout – both in yourself and your
children.

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How to Maintain Discipline in Homeschooling

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Is there such thing as Discipline in Homeschooling? How do you manage it all?

When the child stays at home all day, and mommy is the teacher,
there are certain issues of discipline at stake. It is easy for he
child to misconstrue the freedom he has at home and feel that
homeschooling is just a long summer holiday. This is a potential
landmine and children need to be disciplined right at the start.

Homeschooling gives you and your child a truly immense amount of
flexibility. You and your child decide where to learn, how much to
learn and when to learn. But,these should be decisions made at
the beginning stages. If your child is too little to take an
active part in the decision, chart out a few hours of the day for
the various activities, and stick to it. When there is no outside
agency to supervise and no exams to answer, it is easy to get
sidetracked. If your child is old enough, consult him and find out
when he wants to learn. Apply your parental discretion and come up
with a timetable.

Homework is also a part of homeschooling. What this means is that
once lessons have been taught, the child should be asked to do
some part of the course work by himself without your guidance. You
will need to make sure that your child sits willingly and finishes
his work.

Courtesy, manners and punctuality are some of the various facets
of discipline that a child has to imbibe in the early years of his
life. The school where he interacts with his peers, his seniors
and juniors and his teachers mould these values quite
automatically. At homeschool, the child should be taught the
importance of speaking and behaving in a proper manner and
appropriate corrections need to be meted out if behavior is
unsatisfactory.

It is advisable to keep aside a particular room or a part of the
room for your homeschool. The child should be expected to reach
his desk at the appointed time, in proper attire with all the
necessary material. It is easy to allow the school to become an
extension of play if these ground rules are not laid out and
followed. As the teacher, supervisor, principal and janitor rolled
into one, you should also approach the study area with a cool
professionalism.

Homeschooling is doomed to fail without patience. In spite of all
the precautions and steps one takes, it is easy for a child to get
familiar’ at homeschool. At such times, it may be difficult to
discipline the child and get him to listen to you attentively.
When this happens, switch to something new. Allow the child to
take a breather and enjoy a break yourself.

Homeschooling is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work and
patience. The very informality of the whole procedure sometimes
works against it by making it too easy. If you take steps to
establish rules at the very beginning and adhere to these rules,
your homeschooling experience will be a huge success.

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschool-Family Homeschooling tips

Montessori Method Of Homeschooling

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development. Although a range of practices exists under the name “Montessori”, the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and the American Montessori Society (AMS) cite these elements as essential

  • mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children aged 2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the most common
  • student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options
  • uninterrupted blocks of work time
  • a constructivist or “discovery” model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction
  • specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators

In addition, many Montessori schools design their programs with reference to Montessori’s model of human development from her published works, and use pedagogy, lessons, and materials introduced in teacher training derived from courses presented by Montessori during her lifetime.
Developed from the work of Dr. Maria Montessori, this style of
teaching aims at duplicating natural laws that a child faces in
life. Thus the aim of the teacher is to control the environment
and not the child. It was observed that children who are left free
to interact with their environment developed an innate
self-discipline, love for order and natural curiosity.

The Montessori method of teaching is especially suitable to the
preschooler who wants to do everything by himself. Finding ways in
which your child can participate in the cleaning, washing,
cooking, gardening and other ‘adult’ activities sets the perfect
backdrop for the learning experience. By providing such
opportunities for independence, the child’s self-esteem also gets
a huge boost.

Artistic, cultural and scientific activities abound in the
Montessori 3-6 class. There is no TV, junk food, or computer.
Material is selected carefully. The child is never forced to work.
Instead he is encouraged to do things that interest him, and the
teacher picks up the teaching from cues given by the child.  The
Montessori method focuses on the child’s inborn ability to learn
from his surroundings. Thus the teacher aims to encourage the
natural curiosity of the child. He is never forced to learn or
explore. When the child understands why he needs to learn
something, he will love the learning process.

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschool-Family Homeschooling tips

Is Homeschooling Your Child Legal?

The answer is YES!

Without a doubt, homeschooling is legal in all the 50 States of
the U.s. But, that is just about where the similarity ends. Laws
and regulations regarding homeschooling vary from state to state.
Interpretations of these laws can vary from scholl district to
school district. Additionally, these laws may change every year.

The National Home Education network is a wonderful resource when
it comes to the legalities of homeschooling. It has a listing of
the actual state laws for each state in the U.S. Reading the laws
that pertain to your state is perhaps the best way to get accurate
information about these laws. But, most people need to get the
laws interpreted by a qualified attorney. You can get valuable
information from the support group at your locality. Additionally,
many state education departments have online resources that will
help you in interpreting the state requirements for homeschooling.
The internet is also a good source of information.

It is a good idea to check out your state laws regarding
homeschooling before you start educating your child at home. This
will prevent any nasty surprises on the way. If you have to move,
you will need to be aware of any tests or exams that your child
may need to take.

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When to Homeschool Your Child?

Is there a right age when it is good to start educating them? How about when is the best time to start homeschooling? Let’s look at an Insight on When to Home School Your Children in details.

Nowadays, many parents are enticed to homeschool their children. In fact, recent reports show that more than 1.2 million students in the United States are already obtaining their education through homeschool programs. This goes to show that more and more people are seeing the full benefits of homeschooling their children.

However, for those who are struggling on whether to homeschool their children or not are still on the brink of so many questions. One of the questions is about finding the right time to homeschool their children.

Many parents are wondering if there is a specific age or time to homeschool their children. They want to be sure that by the time they have decided to homeschool their children, they have made the right decision and that it will definitely be for their children’s own good.

However, most experts contend that deciding on whether to homeschool your children or not is not actually a matter of the right time to opt for homeschooling but more on the comfort and personal choice of every parent.

Simply put, there are no appropriate times to start homeschooling. The key point here is that as long as you need to homeschool your children and as long as you feel that your family is already prepared for the matter, then you can start homeschooling your children.

What matters most is that when you have decided to homeschool your children, be sure that you have all the necessary requirements ready and that you are determined to pursue the process no matter what happens.

The problem with most people is that they thought that once their children have started their primary education in a public school, they can no longer opt to homeschool.

The good news is that you can still homeschool your children even if they were already introduced to the typical schooling method. Just be sure that you have prepared everything that is needed for the transition.

Therefore, the question on when to homeschool your children now lies on the reasons why you want to homeschool your children first.

For instance, if you think that you can no longer tolerate the environment that the typical schools have, then now is the right time to opt for homeschooling. In fact, 31% of the parents of homeschoolers have this reason.

Therefore, there are no specific periods to opt for homeschooling. Analyze your reasons and basis for homeschooling, and from there you will know that it’s about time to choose a better alternative to the typical schooling — homeschooling.

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Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

What are the Advantages And Disadvantages of homeschooling? Looking at the both side some type helps to see a balanced picture and here it is a balance view of pros and cons of homeschooling.

People new to the idea and concept of homeschooling often have a thousand of questions to raise.  Here is some helpful information to guide you in weighing things out:

Some homeschooling advantages:

1.    Allow quality time, providing individualized attention and instruction.  Homeschooling parents can better understand their children; observe how kids progress, what areas they find difficult and help them out.

2.    Children learn in their own pace.  At homeschool, children can advance at any time, not waiting on others or if the kid is a slow learner or having difficulties in a certain subject area, she/he can remain to focus on that area without pressure that others are already moving on.

3.    Parents pattern their teaching style and curriculum in accordance with the child’s learning style, allowing him/her to successfully understand the subject matter, thus better results are achieved.

4.    No peer pressure.  At a homeschool, age classification is not a factor, therefore children not only associate with children their same age level, but with children of different ages and adults as well, so they can decide on their own without the influence of peers.

5.    “Hands on learning”.  Activities which are outside the context of books are very much essential to the child’s learning process.  Trips to the park, the museum, the zoo, going fishing with mom and dad can be a great time to spend an afternoon educating your child.

Some homeschooling disadvantages:

1.    For the homeschool parent, much time and effort is required for preparation of teaching materials, lessons and managing the child’s opportunities in order to cultivate friendships and expand on the child’s interests.

2.    Parents who homeschool do not have enough time to spend for themselves when kids are constantly at home.  This frequent time of being together can be at times suffocating and, therefore, can not work in certain families.

3.    Homeschooled children do not have a lot of opportunities to bond and develop friendships with peers.  For many families, this really is not a problem and is supplemented by taking the kids out to play in the park, attend lessons in ballet, jazz, etc.  However it takes a lot of effort on the part of parents to insure that their kids have these opportunities.

Whether to homeschool or not, it all depends on you, as a parent, on how much are you willing to give your child.  On top of all the learning materials, the field trips, home schooling entails a lot of love, patience and encouragement.