So many updates, so little time
Please be patient, as I know everyone, especially my fellow HELP leaders are looking for my newsletter entries about the following:
- April HELP Assessment, Notifications & Testing meeting
- Testing options beyond FLO
- HELP Music COOP’s debut at the nursing home
- Earth Day celebration and community service projects
- HELP Homeschool Student Expo (Year-end science fair, art display & talent show) updates
- and so much more.
Needless to say, April was a very eventful and extremely successful month. I share all the news as soon as I have a moment to type everything up!
BTW, if you have excerpts and notes to share now, just post below in the comments section…
Thanks a million!
Home schoolers Spelling Bee Finalist…again.
Here’s a great inspirational article a friend posted in the HELP yahoo group today:
Young spellers duel in 4½-hour contest, by Billings Gazette.
Spelling has never been my cup of tee [I mean "tea"]. Ha ha .
No doubt, this kind of competition is truly encouraging with various word definitions, origins, pronunciations, etc. It’s much more than just studying “spelling lists”!
Home schooling–It just doesn’t matter
Home schooling–It just doesn’t matter
I just ran across this article today, and I had to post it–in hopes that my two dear friends will find “peace” with their “almost-readiness-to-commit-to-homeschool” decision…especially when it comes to curriculum. Here’s a long-timer, homeschooling her 3 kids since 1996…and look at the title!
Oh and please…my dears, laugh! It’s meant to be funny, it is funny…and if you don’t laugh, at least find strength, that she speaks the Truth!
Homeschooling? It Just Doesn’t Matter
“You know, it just doesn’t matter.”
This thought bounced into my head during one of my endless internet research expeditions, trying to find the “right” curriculum. After home schooling since 1996, I now realize what others have been saying all along: it just doesn’t matter.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Education matters a great deal, but all the fuss about this or that program, this or that method, this or that curriculum package, is just that: fuss, and not substance.
My kids never once finished a spelling book, and guess what? They spell just fine. They probably won’t win a national spelling bee, but they do all right. How did that happen? I don’t know. I do know that it wasn’t due to my expert teaching skills.
I’m not even sure how my son learned to read, but as he sat next to me this morning reading to me I thought, “How did this happen?” Because I honestly don’t remember teaching him to read as well as he does.
I guess it’s just a matter of providing the environment and a little motivation. Kids learn what they need to learn, when they need to learn it. It’s rather miraculous, when I think about it, when I look back and see that it just seemed to happen.
Oh, yea, I put in my share of sweat about the whole thing, but now I see what author Marva Collins means: “Anything works if the teacher works.” I always thought she was right, and now I know it.
So am I excited about homeschooling? Yes and no. Like the rest of life, it will be whatever it is: wonderful, boring, bla bla bla. But somehow my kids will get what they need, and that’s very satisfying to know.
Jennifer Thieme began homeschooling her three children in 1996. She is the administrator of a small, private ISP she established for her own family and several of her friends. She has been published in Practical Homeschooling and the Intuit ProConnection Newsletter. She operates a bookkeeping and tax service from her home. You may visit her business website at http://www.jenniferthieme.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Thieme
TheHomeSchoolMom.com
TheHomeSchoolMom.com -what a sweet find!
- Weekly recipes in a rush,
- Free curriculum websites already nicely listed,
- Software downloads,
- Activity sheets, and
- Much more!
- Hey, there’s a recommendation for a WriteShop! geared to 7th-11th graders, but as low as 4th-graders are using it…hmm…I’m developing my girls writing Right now–5.5 year and less. Any thoughts anyone?
- A whole “getting/staying organized” section. I can think of 1 ultra-Type-A homeschool-girlfriend of mine, who’d love this section! .
- Many, many freebies I can’t possibly get through them in one-sitting. No doubt I “bookmarked” TheHomeSchoolMom!
Click over now, then click back and help share what other ‘cool finds’ she has to offer!
Networking for Homeschool curriculum
When it all comes down to things, we each develop or use the curriculum that satisfies our family’s lifestyles, teaching styles, learning styles, etc. But, to succeed we need to NETWORK…and surround ourselves with like-minded people. More importantly, Successful like-minded people.
Support is one-thing, but support from advisers, who are experienced, wise, and successful not for just “doing it” but “have done it in the past” is much more important. Why re-invent the cycle? Use best practices.
We have enough issues, hassles, problems in daily life, why create more by going into things “by yourself”. Get out! Get involved! Home schooling is *not* meant to be done alone!
The more you meet people, the easier things are, the more you’re exposed to “hidden” resources, access to free/low-cost resources, learn tricks of the trade, etc.
Network, network, network!
Click here to remember what one-single networking meeting resulting in our Show & Tell.
You do *not* have to do this yourself!
Homeschooling is such a “dream life” for my girls and I. We do the coolest, neatest, funnest things we can jump into. We’re energized by our homeschool friends and playmates, and love any and all free to low-cost tips we can get from them too!
eCOT (Electronic Classroom Of Tomorrow)
eCOT (Electronic Classroom Of Tomorrow)
Unfortunately, I am very biased against this program.
(1) I personally know 2 families who used it for one year–basically it was a failure, both families weaned back into private school. They always had technical problems, personality conflicts with some teachers, never had a happy moment that I ever saw. Whenever I spoke to one, each other’s families were at one another’s home, “figuring out things together”. As friends, they tried to support one another, and that did not help. As friends of mine at the time…it was just a dreadful experience!
(2) I know another family with 3 kids who used eCOT for 4 years, who all weaned back into public school and college. All 3 kids said they were “ahead” of their classmates, which was a positive thing for being “home schooled”. Mother included.
None of them didn’t really like “that way” of teaching. That was their only exposure to “homeschooling”, and it did not leave a good lasting impression on any of them. Unfortunately, they didn’t know me at the time (hee hee )…they didn’t even know there was 1 homeschool organization in Toledo…and, I know of at least 5! [I know there are many more].
I’m ready to hear positive experiences. If you had/have some, please leave your comments below.
OHVA – Ohio Virtual Academy Pros & Cons
OHVA – Ohio Virtual Academy Pros & Cons
Depending upon which side you’re on, there’s Pros & Cons to everything.
Pros:
- K-12 curriculum used nationwide made available
- online charter school conducted at home
- assessments for arts, science and math to adjust curriculum to individualized strenghts
- texts, some teaching aides, such as computer provided
- some flexibility in logging hours, extra curricular activities (such as gym)
- approximately 110 enrollees in Lucas County alone (there’s approximately 850 homeschool families in Lucas County)
- “good” support staff available
- school year calendar
Cons:
- still a “standardized” curriculum
- assessments, testing & lesson schedule
- you are not legally a “homeschool” student, you are enrolled in online charter school, so no “notification” and “assessments” equivalent to a homeschool student
- school year calendar
- hours, subjects, lessons must be logged in regularly, (not necessarily daily, but weekly)
A very dear friend is considering OHVA, and I think it may be just right for their situation…actually, I was the one who recommended the program to you! I know it’s not for our family.
Please share your experiences, opinions, and thoughts in the comments section. I’d like to have this blog as a resource for all home schoolers, regardless “how” you teach your children.
By the way, I recently read that K-12 the curriculum OHVA uses is one of the fastest curriculum that public schools are reviewing now for implementation too…sorry, I lost the link. [FYI, for me and my girls...this would *not* be a "pro" on our list.]
MusliMama’s rambling thoughts today…
I apply my unique networking skills to gain the most well-rounded education that I can offer my girls.
A joke was recently made that the educational resources I utilize to “teach” (home school) my girls, is equivalent to the most sophisticated, high-class, world-renowned resources children of royalty pay their private tutors…and, we have not spent one-fraction of their costs.
Some may argue, that the Girls have unique parents, because of our successful educational and professional backgrounds, with graduate degrees, with numerous achievements in government, industry, and most recently as entrepreneurs and business owners.
Yet, I highly disagree. I believe that our education and experience are secondary to a firm belief that every parent has their own highly-successful & unique qualifications to raise, teach, and ultimately make the necessary decisions to offer their children the best possible life (and education) they can offer.
We honestly don’t know any parents who would disagree with the above statement. Yet, many parents doubt their ability to “home school” their children…as if, they, themselves, have to “teach” them everything themselves for 12 years (in Ohio, you don’t have to notify a child’s kindergarten year–more on this subject later).
In this blog, we (my girls & I) will make every attempt to share as many of our home school “secrets” to help you succeed, our trials and tribulations, and the many tips and tools shared by our vast network of home school families here in the state of Ohio, specifically the Greater Toledo area.
Please visit often, and share your tips, tools, resources & opinions in the “comments” section below.
To our children’s education! Feel free to disagree or support this post, by sharing your comments below.
