Ready for the Real World
One of the common criticisms about homeschooling is that the homeschooled child isn’t ready to face real world. After all, they haven’t been in a school setting dealing with peer pressure, difficult classmates, and lots of distractions. But I would argue that many homeschooled students are actually MORE prepared for life after school. Here’s why: 1. Homeschooled children receive more one-on-one instruction when they
Schooling Through the Summer
Every year, I have the best intentions of finishing up in a timely manner. Sometimes we start after Labor Day; other years we start in the middle of August. But no matter when we start the school year, we never finish by June. Unexpected life events seem to throw us off “the schedule” each time, no matter how prepared I am. So now, it’s part
Teaching Subjects You Don’t Know How to Teach
Teaching Subjects You Don’t Know How to Teach Sometimes when I meet others, and they find out we homeschool, they say, “I’m so impressed! I could never homeschool my children. “ It’s usually at that time that I confess that I often don’t feel like I’m very good at it, even after 13 years. That’s when eyebrows go up in surprise, and I know
Community Service – Visiting a Nursing Home
Looking for community service opportunities? Visit your local nursing home. The experience will benefit both the residents — and your family!
New Languages Through Song
Kids can learn words and languages with songs.
Piano Lessons
Three things to consider when determining if your child is ready for piano lessons are academic skills, emotional maturity, and natural musical abilities. Learning to read music can be daunting. Piano students not only need to know the alphabet from A to G, but they also need to know those seven letters in reverse – G, F, E, D, C, B, A. Addition and
Allowances
I have been teaching my son money management skills for many years by using his allowance as a guide. Everyone handles allowances differently, like when to start, how much to give, and whether allowance is payment for chores. Now that my son is 10 I see a great difference in how he perceives money. In our case, it may have helped we started when
School of Rock
A new School of Rock location opened near us. I instantly wished my son was musical. He’s not. And he doesn’t like performing either. But if your child blossoms on stage, it seems there is no better program for him than this. The School of Rock is a franchise company that has 90 locations nationally. The various locations train kids to fine tune whatever
Reading Music
Listening to music is one of my son’s favorite pastimes. The other day he asked me how music is made. So started a good conversation about notes. And how reading music is a lot like reading books. I know a lot of people who can read music and its always seemed like a skill that can lead to new and wonderful things in the
Teaching with Songs
In homeschooling, we must be creative teachers or facilitators to help our children achieve all they can. In our home, that has meant using music to teach content in the curriculum – essentially using music to promote my children’s learning. One of the most effective ways to engage my kids in homeschooling is with music coupled with movement. I have based my continuous use
