It seems like we are stuck with the term, “home-school” and I will use it in my article just because we all know what we are talking about, but it really conveys the wrong idea. It makes us think that we are “doing school” at home. We are not.

All of life is education. Home-Education is a much more comprehensive term. We are instilling character,
teaching worldview, developing life skills and growing in knowledge, enlightening the understanding and pursuing wisdom, and this is not happening between the set hours of 9.00am -3.00pm. It is all day and
night, every day, through holidays, sickness, excursions…yes…through all of life!

How can we educate as a family without home-“schooling”?

• We need to live life as a family. Yes, it is important (I believe) to structure our days and lives, but real life mustn’t be an interruption to our “schooling.” We need to view the whole of our day as a teaching moment. It is not necessarily easy to
• view interruptions as a part of the plan, (I don’t find
  it easy), but the way in which we handle these times are just as important as teaching Maths. Having another baby in the home is not an interruption!

• As a family, we can break free from thinking in terms of school hours and school terms. As we home-school, we need to remember that we are primarily a family and we can arrange our days and holidays to suit our family needs. For many years now, I have worked for 5 weeks and then had a
  one week break. This enables me to focus on a block of time and plan out a course of work. Then, I can home-school solidly for the next five weeks. If my term was to go for ten weeks, I would find it really hard to keep up with those frustrating bits of housework that stare you in the face. I can keep going
  with my work for a solid five weeks, knowing that the overflowing cupboard will be dealt with in the next week.

• We also need to remember not to measure productivity by “book-work”. Education is not confined to books! Sometimes we may feel disappointed when we do not have a lot to show for our children’s efforts, but we must keep in mind that the nurturing and development of character will mostly come about through conversation and discussion and relationship building. The fruit of our efforts in educating our children should not be summed up in a score or a mark or a status or placement.

• We do not have to follow a school’s curriculum. We are a family. Through prayer, reading and research, we can set our own goals for our home-school and for our children’s education. After all,
  the goals that one sets for their family determines what they will be studying. If music is a priority in your
  family, a goal you have set, then you will make time, find excellent teachers, and insure practice takes place – all because it is one of your goals. If you want your children to have a solid Christian worldview perspective, then you need to think carefully about what you teach, the materials you use and how the education you are giving displays the Lordship of Christ over all- and over all education. These decisions are for your family.

• As a family, we are teachers who care about our children’s weaknesses and struggles. It sounds ridiculous, but at times, I have found myself marking work with the aim to find out what my children don’t know - and ready to point out their deficiencies without the encouragement and kindness that should accompany my marking pen. At times I thought it was cheating to give my children the tricks and tips to get the right answer. Now, I understand that that is why we are there - we are home-schooling them to be gentle with those who struggle and give them all the tools, tricks and tips to promote learning in their area of difficulty. It also means we are strict with those who are lazy and who do not give their best effort, and we need to look for ways to help the struggler and challenge and excite the child who never struggles. We do this because we care - about them and their character.

So, do we “home-school”?
Yes - we provide an education for our children.
No - we live life and teach through the moments of each day.

Written by Marianne V from http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/index.html

Are you looking for a Guide to help you uniquely design-your-own homeschool to suit your family’s goals, and develop your own individual approach that relects these goals and complements your lifestyle and needs.

Go to http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/Homeschooling-Guide.html

Are you considering homeschooling? If so, you’ve probably got lots of questions. Before you get too far into the idea, it’s a good idea to check out the laws in your own state. Some states are very progressive when it comes to the concept of homeschooling. Idaho, for instance, requires home schooled students to be schooled the same number of hours and in the same subjects as students in public schools, but does not require testing or record keeping. Other states are very regulated and may require filing detailed reports on attendance, curriculum and grades, as well as periodic assessments by someone from the local district or the state. Some states may require monitoring by a certified teacher, if the parent does not posses teaching credentials.

A good place to begin researching the laws in your particular state is with the summaries at http://www.hslda.org/laws. These are summaries and subject to change, so you also might want to check out http://www.hslda.org/legislation/state/default.asp for some information on current legislative activity in your state. Actually, http://hslda.org is a resource to bookmark.

At some point, you’ll probably need to contact your state department of education. Here’s a list of links to DoE websites: http://www.doe.state.in.us/htmls/states.html.

Does this sound like a lot of work? Depending on where you live, it can be. Is it too much work? Depending on your motivation to home school in the first place, it can be. Homeschooling is not for everyone. However, if you are still thinking about it, you can use this information to move a few steps closer to a decision. Good luck.

LaJoyce Kerns has a blog about home schooling at http://howtohomeschool.wordpress.com.

The quality of education in this country continues to be the focus of a society committed to leveling the playing field for children. While some areas provide adequate – and even superlative – public schooling, other areas come up significantly short when it comes to providing high quality education. Private schooling can often be an alternative but many are also cost-prohibitive. When faced with this quandary, or when addressing the special educational needs of particular students, some parents turn to a home school program as an educational alternative.

The reasons that many parents choose to home school are wide-ranging. There is often more to the decision then just low-quality education. In some situations, overcrowding is an issue in a traditional school environment and a parent may feel as though their child is being lost in the shuffle. In other situations, there are social and emotional issues that are preventing a student from achieving the educational excellence of which they may be capable. There are also some instances where particular learning or physical disabilities hinder the learning experience. If approached responsibly, a home school environment can be extraordinarily effective in addressing many of these issues and cutting a clear path to successful learning.

Parents who are interested in setting up a home school environment have a variety of tools to assist them in doing so. Today’s home school community is strong in numbers and provides an enormous amount of support and information that is easily available online. There are links that help you identify the home school guidelines in your state, as well as information on how to find home school curriculum that is in line with the educational standards in your particular area. In many cases, the only requirement to home school is a desire to do so and a commitment to adhering to the certain educational benchmarks as set forth by your school district.

Home school is certainly not for everyone. But in particular situations it may be incredibly successful. Choosing whether to home school depends solely on the student’s needs and your capacity for providing a high-quality education. And, while unconventional, a home school environment has the ability to foster confidence, knowledge, and a lifelong love of learning.

For easy to understand, in depth information about home school visit our ezGuide 2 Home School.

For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction. If you blow up a balloon and let it go (without tying the end), the air in the balloon goes in one direction and the balloon itself goes the opposite way. Rockets use this same principle. The thrust going out the back end pushes the rocket forward.

The rockets we’re about to build rely on generating enough pressure and releasing that pressure very quickly. You will generate pressure by pumping in air or through chemical reactions (which generate gaseous products).

Let’s get started!

Seltzer Rockets: Place an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a white Fuji film canister (black Kodak canisters won’t work) and fill one-third with water. Working quickly, cap it and invert it on the sidewalk. Stand back… POP! You’ll find there’s an optimal water level for maximum height. If you work fast, you can get about four launches from one tablet. What happens if you try two tablets at once?

Paper Blow-Gun Rockets: Make a very long straw by joining two straws with tape. Roll an 8½x11” sheet of paper into a long tube and tape shut (younger kids can roll the paper around a dowel to help). Cut triangle fins out of index cards and hot glue onto one end of the rocket. To make the nosecone, cut a circle out of paper. You can trace the inner diameter of masking tape roll to get a good circle. To make a flat circle into a 3D cone, begin to cut the circle in half, but stop cutting when you get to the center. Slide one flap over the other to form a (nose)cone and tape shut. Pile a lot of glue inside the cone and add the long straw and wait to dry. Slip the straw inside the tube and seal the nosecone to the rocket body. When dry, blow into your straw to check for leaks. It should be impossible to blow through. If you have a leak, go back and fix it now. Otherwise, slip over the metal tube and blow hard. If you have one, apply a nozzle from an air tank or compressor to blast these rockets hundred of feet in the air! If your straws come loose, simply cut the rocket body just below the nosecone and rebuild the straw-cone assembly, fastening in place when ready.

Slingshot Rockets Punch a small hole in the bottom of a black Kodak film canister. Chain 5 rubber bands together and push one end of the rubber band chain through the hole from the outside, catching it with a paper clip inside so it can’t slip back through the opening (like a cotter pin). Hot glue the canister into one end of a 6” piece of ¾” foam pipe insulation and tape the circumference with a few wraps of duct tape. The rubber bands should be hanging out of the foam pipe. Attach triangular foam fins with hot glue to the opposite end. To launch, hook the rubber band over your thumb, pull back, and release!

Puff Rockets: Grab a clean, empty shampoo or lotion bottle. Make sure the bottle you choose gives you a good puff of air out the top cap when you squeeze it. You’ll also need two straws, one slightly smaller than the other. And a small piece of foam. Insert the smaller straw into the hole in the cap. If you have trouble, ream out the hole or just take off the cap and seal the connection with a lump of clay or a lot of hot glue. Insert a small bit of foam into one end of the larger straw. Slide the larger straw (your rocket) onto the smaller straw (your launcher). Squeeze the bottle hard! POOF! Which bottles work best? Does straw length matter? (We had one rocket that cleared 25 feet.)

Micro Paper Rockets: Spiral-wrap a thin strip of paper around and along the length of a wood pencil and tape to secure (You can alternately use a naked straw instead of making your own rocket body from paper, but then you’ll need a slightly smaller launch tube straw.) Hot glue triangular fins made from an index card to one end. Fold the opposite end over twice and secure with a ring of tape to make a nose. Insert straw into the rocket body and blow hard!

Since 1996, Aurora Lipper has been helping families learn science. As a pilot, astronomer, engineer, rocket scientist, and former university instructor, Aurora can transform toilet paper tubes into real working radios and make robots from junk in the back desk drawer. You can download the free science experiment workbook at http://www.SuperchargedScience.com

The word “LASER” stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser is an optical light source that emits a concentrated beam of photons. Lasers are usually monochromatic – the light that shoots out is usually one wavelength and color, and is in a narrow beam.

By contrast, light from a regular incandescent light bulb covers the entire spectrum as well as scatters all over the room. (Which is good, because could you light up a room with a narrow beam of light?)

There are about a hundred different types of atoms in the entire universe, and they are always vibrating, moving, and rotating. Think of kids on sugar. When you add energy to these atoms (even more sugar to the kids), they really get excited and bounce all over the place.

When the atoms relax back down tot heir “normal” state, they emit a photon (a light particle). Think of the kids as coming down from their sugar high, and they all collapse on the couch.

A laser controls the way energized atoms release photons. Imagine giving half the kids sugar, and picture how they would bounce all over the place (like light from a bulb)when it took effect. They would be very high-energy among the other half who were contently sitting down.

Now imagine those sugar kids jumping in unison (a focused laser beam). The sugar-kids are infectious, and pretty soon, the kids around them are joining in and sharing in their excited energy. This is how a laser charges the atoms inside the gas medium.

Now imagine a cat-flap that lets out a limited number of kids out at a time, while the rest are bouncing around inside, charging up everyone. That cat-flap exit is the laser beam exiting the laser. The atoms remaining inside the laser bounce off mirrors as they charge each other up.

Before we start, you’ll need eye protection – tinted UV ski goggles are great to use, as are large-framed sunglasses, but understand that these methods of eye protection will not protect your eyes from a direct beam. They are intended as a general safety precaution against laser beam scatter and spinning mirrors. (Yes, you will be wearing sunglasses in the dark!)

A very neat addition to the experiments below is a fog machine. (Rent one from your local party supply store.) Turn it on, be sure you have good ventilation, darken the lights, and turn on the lasers for an outstanding laser experience!

A quick note about lasers: keychain lasers from the dollar store work just fine with these projects. Do not use the green lasers sold in astronomy stores – they are too dangerous for the eyes.

Plastic Bottle Beam: Fill up a plastic water or clean soda bottle with water and add a sprinkle of cornstarch. Turn down the lights and turn up the laser, aiming the beam through the bottle. Do you see the original beam in the bottle? Can you find the reflection beam and the pass-through beam?

Light Bulb Laser: In the dark, aim your laser at a frosted incandescent light bulb. The bulb will glow and have several internal reflections! What other types of light bulbs work well?

CDs: Shine your beam over the surface of an old CD or DVD. Does it work better with a scratched or smoother surface? You should see between 5-13 reflections off the surface of the CD, depending on where you shine it and how good your “seeing” conditions are.

Glass and Crystal: Pass the laser beam through several cut-crystal objects such as wine glasses or clear glass vases. Is there a difference between clear plastic or glass, smooth or multi-faceted? Try an ice cube, both frosted and wet.

Lenses: If you have an old pair of eyeglasses, pop out the lenses and try one or both in the beam to see the various effects. Try one lens, and then try two in line with each other to see if you can change the beam. If you have polarizer filters, use two. You can substitute two sunglass lenses – no need to pop out the lenses – you can just use two pairs of sunglasses. Just make sure they are polarized lenses (most UV sunglasses are). Place both lenses in the beam and rotate one 90 degrees. The lenses should block the light completely in one configuration and allow it to pass-through the other way.

Since 1996, Aurora Lipper has been helping families learn science. As a pilot, astronomer, engineer, rocket scientist, and former university instructor, Aurora can transform toilet paper tubes into real working radios and make robots from junk in the back desk drawer. You can download the free science experiment workbook at http://www.SuperchargedScience.com

Have you ever wondered what will happen when your homeschooled child applies for college? Even though everyone assures you that things have changed and that homeschooled kids have no trouble, you still wonder. Will they get accepted? Will our home education be enough?

Even though my oldest child was only 7 when I decided to homeschool, those questions haunted me. Was I going to hurt her chances to get into college by not providing her with transcripts and a diploma?
There may be an answer that will give you peace of mind.

Did you know that they can earn a high school diploma from an online high school without restrictions of age or location. It will be complete with official transcripts and education verification letters.

If your student is over the age of sixteen, meets any state requirements, and passes an equivalency test, they can earn a diploma from an accredited high school based on the things you have taught and from life experiences. Homeschool students are welcomed.

The sad fact is that most employers and many colleges still do prefer a high school diploma to a GED or home school records. Though this may not always be the case, there is also an unfortunate stigma attached to a GED that has led students to greatly prefer a high school diploma.

Even if your child isn’t headed for college, a high school diploma will allow them to qualify for many entry-level positions. Were you aware that some employers will not even consider applicants without a diploma regardless of their ability to do the job?

Even though there will always be people who think it is a scam to allow homeschool kids or adults to earn a diploma without spending countless hours in a public classroom, these high schools are different. Belford High School is a perfect example of a good choice in an online high school. If you search online, there are several options. Just make sure the one you choose knows the value of life and work experiences regardless of the total number of hours logged in a traditional classroom setting.

So keep training your children in the way you see fit, encourage him or her to do well on the college entrance exams, and have them take the simple equivalency test to see if they qualify to get a diploma. It will give you peace of mind and will give them another step toward a bright future.

Lynn Howland is a reviewer of parenting and educational products like Belford High School. For more information about their program, visit http://www.BelfordHighSchoolReview.com

When parents make the decision to homeschool their children, their primary concern is usually the lack of opportunity for their children to mix with other children on a regular basis. This is also one of the main criticisms used against homeschooling by it’s opponents. However, parents, too, can be affected by the lack of socialising opportunities.

Many lifetime friendships between mothers have been formed at the school gates. Waiting for the children to emerge gives mothers a great opportunity to chat and discuss school, bringing up children and all lifes little and not so little problems. Becoming involved with PTA committees and functions, as well as volunteering to help in the classroom and with school trips, means that over the thirteen to fourteen years a child may be in school, you can get to know a lot of other parents and teachers. When you homeschool your children, you aren’t presented with these same social opportunities, but you need not miss out and become a social hermit. For the homeschooling mom, there are still a variety of social situations out there waiting for you. Many of them are family oriented and can be included in your lesson plans. Better yet, several are low cost or free. Consider the following;

Join a homeschool group in your area.
These groups are very popular and located nationwide in many countries. As well as providing a support network to homeschooling families, they sponsor all types of social gatherings and educational field trips. If there is not a group near you, why not organize one yourself. You will make great connections with other parents who homeschool.

Join an online group.
You can build friendships and “be sociable” in Cyberspace. An added bonus of online groups is that you will come in contact with moms from not only all over the United States but internationally as well - great for planning those geography and language lessons.

Teach a class to other homeschool moms
If you have a useful skill or interesting hobby, teach it to other homeschooling parents. It could be a purely recreational class or something educational, which parents can convert into lesson plans.

Teach in the community.
Take the class idea one step further and teach it at the community education level. Most school districts offer enrichment classes on a abundance of different subjects. Not only will this option afford you the chance to interact with your peers, it will also give you the opportunity to earn extra money.

Volunteer with your children.
There are many not for profit organizations which allow families to volunteer together. Animal shelters, nature reserves and soup kitchens are examples of”family friendly” organizations that are always on the lookout for volunteers. In addition to helping a good cause, you will be meeting and socialising with others.

There are plenty of social opportunities for the homeschooling mom. Whatever you choose to get involved in, make time for your own social life and you will be a happier, well adjusted homeschool mom with lots to offer your family.

For more tips on socialising for homeschoolers, visit Tricia’s website Homeschooling Pages an information and resource site for homeschooling at homeschoolingpages.com

When it comes to educational toys or activities for your toddler, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you are like most parents, you likely automatically think of the coolest toys on the market. A large number of these toys are educational, but many are also electronic. These toys may encourage your child to learn, but being electronic can sometimes make them difficult to afford. If you are looking for a cheaper educational toy or item, you are encouraged to examine flash cards.

When thinking of flash cards, there are many who think back to their days in high school. Many high school students use flash cards to prepare for upcoming exams. Flash cards are often used by high school students, but they are not only limited to them. You will find that a large number of flash cards are designed for toddlers; toddlers like yours. Like the flash cards that are used by many high school students, preschool cards can also be educational.

When I picked up the first package of flash cards for my daughter, I literally had no idea that she would enjoy them so much. I also had no idea that she could learn so much from using them. She received her first set of flash cards before the age of two and she still loves them just as much as she first did. There are many instances where she would rather play with her set of flash cards than any of her other toys.

Perhaps, the nicest thing about flash cards is that they are very inexpensive. Flash cards can be purchased from a wide variety of different retailers. I have purchased a number of flash card sets from my local Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar General. I never pay more than one dollar for a set of cards and they can sometimes even be found for cheaper. You may be assuming that these flash cards, due to their price, are cheap or poor in quality, but they are not. My daughter’s favorite set of flash cards only cost one dollar and I found them at a dollar store, but they are made by Fisher Price.

Fisher Price is great, but they are not the only company that makes educational flash cards for children, namely preschoolers. When searching for flash cards, you will come across a wide variety of different styles, from a number of different companies. I have found flash card sets that focus on first words, numbers, colors, shapes, the alphabet, and animals. The best flash cards are the ones that come with large pictures and small descriptions, preferably in large, easy to read print.

As with just about any toy, your child may be get bored with the set of flash cards that you have purchased for them. That is why it is nice that you are often presented with a large product selection to choose from. I regularly replace my daughter’s flash cards every few months. I find that this prevents her from losing interest in this fun, but cheap learning activity.

Jennifer Foote is a freelance writer, who is also a stay at home mom. She balances her time to not only make a living from home, but prepare her daughter for preschool from home as well. She runs the following blog:

http://preparingyourchildforpreschool.blogspot.com/

When you first decide to homeschool your child, it can be overwhelming. All sorts of questions abound: what should we study; how; am I qualified? After you’ve gotten yourself into a routine, though, many of those uncertainties seem to fade away as you and your child discover the world together. However, after you’ve been at it for a few years, you’re bound to notice that your child is reaching the age where people start asking about college.

That opens up a whole new can of worms for a homeschooler, and a whole new set of questions pop up. Will my homeschooler get into a good college? Will admissions officers look negatively on the homeschooling experience? Will my child fit in with the other students who are coming from a traditional school environment? The list is practically endless!

However, as most homeschooling parents are pleasantly surprised to discover, homeschooling doesn’t work against your child when it comes time for college. In fact, many of the nation’s top schools seek out homeschooled students because of their diverse learning experiences and broad knowledge base! The admissions process may be a little different for homeschoolers, who may or may not have completed many of the standardized tests that are offered in traditional school settings.

Many of the top schools take the time to interview every student they are considering for acceptance. An interview is the best place for the homeschooler to shine. It’s a chance to show all the knowledge and skills that are gained from homeschooling and it’s also the best place to show the independent thinking and maturity that often results from staying out of the traditional school setting. Since homeschoolers tend to be surrounded by adults more than children, they often demonstrate an ability to relate to the college environment more easily than a traditional student who has been indoctrinated in deference to authority and obedience to random rules designed to handle the herd.

The fact is, the college life is a lot different from a high school atmosphere. Most courses a student will take throughout their postsecondary education require few prerequisites that don’t come directly from the college experience. A high school course in history is quite different from one in university: high school courses are designed to teach facts and basic skills, while a college course is designed to teach theories and independent thought.

The one aspect of the college admissions process that your homeschool student may miss out on is some of the scholarship opportunities. Many of the sports or club scholarships require participation in a high school environment. However, there are many scholarships available that aren’t tied to these activities, or will accept participation in community teams or clubs as equivalent. Make sure that you put the same effort into researching your college applications that you do into creating your homeschool experience.

Kim Yonkers has been home schooling her three children for several years. She also works as a freelance writer for http://www.homeschoolingplus.com - a site that provides information on home schooling curriculum, home schooling methods and more.

Many parents, faced with inadequate schooling for their children or a child’s particular educational needs that a district can not effectively handle, choose instead to home school their child. Home schooling – when done appropriately and responsibly – can be enormously effective in educating children in particular situations. However, qualified home school teaching is paramount to achieving results.

Parents choose the option of home schooling for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the quality of education is lacking in their area school district, classrooms are overcrowded, or particular educational needs can not be met by existing programs. While private schooling may sometimes be an option, in many cases it is cost-prohibitive. In other cases, learning or physical disabilities hinder students regardless of what traditional school environment they attend. In all of these cases, home schooling can provide an efficient and successful alternative to traditional learning environments.

Those providing home school teaching – most often the parent of the child being home schooled – must make a commitment to keeping the student on par with the curriculum being offered through the public school system. Each particular state offers their own guidelines regarding home school teaching requirements. Those interested in home school teaching should possess a strong desire to have a positive impact on their student’s education; the rest will come with experience. Home school curriculum in line with state guidelines can be found online and will lead instructors step-by-step through the process.

Parents who choose home schooling are often intimidated by the teaching process. What they will soon discover is that home school teaching is ultimately the communication of information in a way that works for each particular student. For example, if your child learns best through sound, you may find that you do well with the use of DVD instruction in your home school teaching. Other students need a more hands-on approach. If you listen and observe the needs of your child you will often find a way to customize your home school teaching.

Home school teaching can bring learning into focus for a variety of students. Released from the social, emotional, and educational obstacles sometimes found in traditional school environments, students are left with a clear path to learning. Approached responsibly, the home school process can instill confidence and a lifelong love of learning.

For easy to understand, in depth information about home school teaching visit our ezGuide 2 Home School.