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Staying Connected With You Child

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I admit, being homeschooling mom, I often tend to wear “teacher” hat and forget that I am also mom too. I am thinking about each life moment can be a wonderful learning opportunity. Now, there is nothing wrong with learning but sometimes we just have to let go and stop being teacher and be a parent and just simply enjoy the time with your child and connect with her.

The world has become a jungle of knowledge. Wherever you turn, you
find a new fruit that just has to be passed on to your child. In
the middle of all the knowledge flying to and fro, we sometimes
forget to talk and relax with our children. A mom who doubles as a
teacher needs to leave the teacher behind and simply become mom
for a few hours everyday.

Listen to your child. Do not just hear the words, but notice the
emotion too. Many children find it difficult to express exactly
what they want. Talk to your child about general stuff and allow
him to be ‘just a kid’. When you talk to your child, as for his
opinions. Few things please him more. It also adds kilos to his
self-confidence.

Most parents interrupt when their children talk. We, as adults,
detest it when someone cuts across our lines. Kids keep mum
because they are forced to be silent when we shut them up. But
this is unhealthy and unfair. Allow your child to finish and then
express your views in a rational manner. The child should have the
confidence to confide in you.

Gentle parenting is the key to successful homeschooling. Be a
parent first, and then a teacher.

Check out:

Best early education homeschool curriculum

Best kindergarten curriculum I love! Sing, Spell, Read and Write

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

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How to Homeschool with a disability

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Many parent start to consider homeschooling when child has a disability of some type and public school system has failed to thrive the child no matter what they tried. It is very frustrating to see your child not learning much or being bullied at school. Many parents try or think about homeschooling option, and rightly so. It can be done.

If you feel that your child suffers from a disability that seriously hampers his ability to stick to a routine, then homeschooling is your best choice. The child will be constantly under your supervision. But he will be gaining a lot of quality education, in spite of his disability. This is rather surprising, considering how children with disabilities are stigmatized in public schools.

Goal setting is an important part of homeschooling a child with disability. Set the number of working hours per week for the child. A child with a disability may have his bad days. Structure the learning hours according to the needs and interests of the child. Use the computer. This way, he will have all the necessary information right at his fingertips while staying within the confines of his home.

Field trips and other educational activities are just as important. Get help from your support group. Visit places of interest and interact with other children in the group. Take your child out for some activities, so that he can socialize. Let him set his own pace with making friends. This will help in strengthening his self-esteem.

Above all, remember that homeschooling is just the same, even when your child suffers from a disability. You will just need to look for the right opportunities and the easiest alternatives to achieve the same goals.

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The Dark Side Of Homeschooling

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This site and many other homeschooling sites has many benefits and advantages of homeschooling but it would not be complete picture until we talk about bad side or the dark side of homeschooling too. It’s not all hunky-dory and smooth sailing on the homeschooling
front. Like all things in life, there is a downside that has to be
seriously considered when you explore the homeschooling option.
Though one man’s bane may be another man’s boon, there are certain
common reasons for concern.

The responsibility of teaching your child rests solely on you. You
cannot blame anyone else if your child is seen wanting in the
skills that his peers excel in. If your child cannot do the things
that are expected from other children of his age group, it
reflects badly on you as an educator as well as a parent.

A critical part of homeschooling is the time that you have to
spend with your children. You may have to give up your friends,
shopping and other entertainment and dedicate all these to your
child. This can become frustrating at times. You have to learn to
take the aggravation with equanimity and wait for the rewards with
patience and enthusiasm.

A parent who is dedicated to tutor his or her child single
handedly does not realistically have much time left over for a
career. This means that the family is robbed of an additional
source of income. In turn, this may lead to stress over finances.
You will have to train yourself to live on a strictly controlled
budget. While this is a matter of habit, it does need some getting
used to.

You cannot take a break when you feel like it. Feelings of guilt
will assail you if you neglect studies just because you are
feeling blue. You also fear that the child will take advantage of
the situation. Even when you have given homework, you have to be
around to give a helping hand. This means that anytime your child
is around you, you are on duty! For some, this may mean working
every waking hour. The child studying at home also needs to get
out more. This comes from staying at home all the time.
Interaction with adults and other children needs to be given
special attention.

Children tutored at home cannot develop in the various directions
that are open to children attending public schools. To achieve
that kind of exposure, you either have to be a super-parent
skilled in everything, or enroll your child to various activities.
This may not only prove too costly, but also be
counter-productive.

It is sometimes observed that homeschooled children do not do as
well in SAT tests as their school-going counterparts. Without a
diploma or a GED, some students find it difficult to get into the
military.

Lastly, if you envision enrolling your child to a public school,
there may be a certain period of emotional as well as social
adjustment. A child who is used to being at home for the whole day
and enjoying so much of uncontained freedom may have to undergo
some distressing emotional upheavals before he or she gets used to
the rigors of a regular school life.

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10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

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How To Homeschooling the teenager

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Teenage years are sure trying, specially when you are homeschooling. It might help actually when you are homeschooling your teen, as he or she will not have huge peer pressure compared to those teens who are in regular public school with image to keep up with. However, trying teen years can take toll on you and your teen so take some precaution to help your teen and yourself during teen years when you are homeschooling. One of the top thing to do is keep encouragement of motivational reading.

As children start maturing into adults, parents feel insecure
about homeschooling. Many parents then discontinue the
homeschooling process and happily hand over the reign to outside
authorities. But is this really necessary? Is the strictly
compartmentalized education provided in schools a better option?

If social concerns are worrying you, look for interest-oriented
associations, clubs and societies. These offer a lot of support
for leaders, opportunity for shared experience, and foster a sense
of belonging. Make up your own group or share this responsibility
with someone else. Home education support groups provide fantastic
opportunities to meet your child’s needs. This is the best way to
develop intelligent, self-motivated, healthy and able young
people.

If the growing burden of some of the higher level Math or Science
seems to be beyond you, enlist the help of someone who knows more.
You can even barter your own services and thus save some money.
With homeschooling becoming more and more popular, support groups
will have innumerable resources that help you find the right
teacher for your child.

The underlying principle that guides homeschooling is this: any
child has the innate capacity to grow, develop and achieve its
full potential. All it needs is the right environment and all the
right answers. Be there to provide these and think twice before
you turn over this responsibility to a third party.

Check out: How to Homeschool Teens resources:

Educational Toys for Creativity

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Online Homeschooling

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There are so many ways to learn and educate your child in school or at home. One of the growing trend is to teach and learn through online classes. There are online streaming videos that teach kids and teens about various subjects, you can do math online, you can do memory, puzzles, write an essay and learn music online as well. There are quite many vendors and classes available for those who are interested. Some can be free to fee based. You can learn from DVD learning, language learning through online education and teach your children various topics from the world.

If Johnny is fascinated by the blinking cursor and struggles to
master the movements of the mouse, you may want to look into some
of the recent developments in homeschooling techniques. Gone are
the days when parents had to buy material from vendors and then
pass it on to their children with explanations. Today, you get the
full course details, material and test papers online.

Children love to sit with the computer. In addition to making them
feel like an adult, the computer also makes use of the visual and
sound medium to make learning fun and easy. Streaming video and
audio show various scientific processes in great detail. The
colorful pictures and the various techniques used help to
effectively bind the data to the child’s memory.

Many online resources have a fun testing center that aims to
measure the knowledge and skill level of your child. Complicated
math and science problems are dealt with deftly and elegantly.
A visit to an e-library can also be fun, especially when there
is an audio clip that reads out the passage to you.

E-learning has just begun to revolutionize the world of studies.
If harnessed properly, a child can assimilate an astonishing
amount of information from that great resource sitting right there
at your table – your P.C.

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Learning through Computer games

Video Education

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Types Of Homeschooling Methods

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For many people, homeschooling may call to mind the picture of two
or three children sitting at a table and writing feverishly in
their workbooks, while mom or dad stands nearby. This is the not
entirely true. Given below are some of the most influential
and popular homeschooling methods.

The Charlotte Mason method:
Charlotte Mason is known as the founder of the homeschooling
movement. A homeschooler herself, she was passionate in her zeal
to lay out the foundations for an effective a complete
homeschooling program that is fun and educational at the same
time. This method focuses on all the core subjects with emphasis
placed on classical literature, poetry, fine arts, classical music
and craft. Mason used a variety of books from classical
literature, which she called ‘Living Books’. Since this method
encourages a passionate awareness of literature, the child is read
to daily from the ‘Living Books’. After this, the child is asked
to narrate what she has heard. This process begins at the age of
six, and by ten the child is expected to write her narrations in
her book. Mason also advocated the use of ‘Nature Diaries’. After
each short and interesting lesson, the child is asked to go to
Nature and draw observations from Nature. Thus the child also
gains a sense of respect for her environment. Mason believed that
development of good character and behavior was essential to the
complete development of the child’s personality.

The Eclectic Homeschooling:
This is a mixture of various homeschooling techniques. Here, the
innovative parents trust their own judgment and pick out the
topics that make the best curriculum for their child. Such parents
continuously look out for the best products that will meet the
needs of their homeschoolers. Most Eclectic homeschooling
curriculums are improvised. This means that the basic curriculum
is ready-made. The parents then make changes in the curriculum to
accommodate the individual needs and interests of their children.
The child’s gifts, temperament, learning style and interests
dictate the curriculum. Eclectic programs include visits to the
museum, libraries and factories.

Unschooling:
A Boston public educator name John Holt laid the beginnings of the
unschooling method. He believed that children learned best when
they are free to learn at their own pace and when they are guided
by their own interests. His message was to ‘unschool’ the child.
This method is a hands-on approach to learning, where the parent
takes definite cues from the children. There is no definite
curriculum, schedules or materials. This method is the most
unstructured of the various homeschooling techniques.

The Montessori Method:
This method began in Italy, when it was observed that children
have acute sensitive periods, during which they undergo periods of
intense concentration. During such phases, a child will repeat an
activity till he gains a measure of self-satisfaction. The
Montessori method depends on a prepared environment to facilitate
learning. All the materials used in this method are designed to
satisfy the inner desire for spiritual development of the child.
The materials used progress from simple to complex, and are rather
expensive.

These are just a few of the methods of homeschooling. Whatever the
method, the underlying factor is flexibility and a keen interest
in the desires of the child. The secret is to use the child’s
desire for knowledge to further his education.

Check out:

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

Best early education homeschool curriculum

Best kindergarten curriculum I love! Sing, Spell, Read and Write

Homeschooling poster: Cheap, fun and educational

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

Tags homeschool parent, homeschooling faq, homeschooling methods, homeschooling tips, k12 homeschool

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Managing Homeschooling hours

Post author By Homeschooling Mom
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How many, how often and when? These are some oft-repeated
questions when it comes to homeschooling hours. Flexibility is of
course one of the key underlying principles behind homeschooling.
This flexibility applies not only to the curriculum but also to
the number of hours. It is only natural that parents, especially
if they have just started out on homeschooling should feel that
their children should be at their books all the time when regular
school-goers are at school. This is not only fallacious but can
also be damaging and counter-productive.

One of the most ignored but glaring drawbacks of the public
schooling system is the sheer waste of time and energy that it
causes. Many periods are simply wasted away and the child
effectively derives only 1-3 hours of study everyday. Then, there
are days when the studies become too intensive and other days when
it’s only games and no work at all. There is a lot of ‘invisible
wastage’ involved here.

Early on in your homeschooling practice, work out a schedule. It
is advisable to stick to the same hours everyday. A routine makes
it easier to learn and gives structure to the learning experience.
It also tells the students that parents are strict about their
learning. A routine also allows your child to free his mind from
other activities and concentrate on studies. He knows that a
particular time is strictly set aside for learning.

The actual number of hours that you need depends on the curriculum
you have chosen and the learning style that suits your child. If
you are dealing with a subject that seems to be more complex, you
may need to sit with the child for a longer period. Using various
techniques, it may be necessary to demonstrate what you are trying
to teach. For instance, a lesson in Algebra may take more time
than a lesson in English.

Homeschooling does not refer to the practice of sitting in front
of the books and learning the printed matter. Field trips,
watching documentaries, visiting factories and libraries also make
up an important slice of the homeschooling process. It makes sense
to intersperse these activities so that learning becomes fun.
You may want to finish off the few hours of textbook learning
in the morning and dedicate the afternoons to these kinds
of activities.

Given the fact that too many public school hours are wasted in
meaningless activities ranging from talking to extra-curricular
activities, do not allow public school hours to dictate the time
you should spend teaching your child at home. Remember that at
home, he is getting a high-quality one-to-one time that is highly
productive. About 1-3 hours of study is enough in the primary
level. It is of course true that the more number of hours you put
in, the more learning takes place. This is also the reason why
homeschooling children are much smarter and more balanced than
regular school going children.

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