Pros and Cons of Educating Children at Home - Honest Commentary

By Lynn Schott
Homeschsooling is growing by leaps and bounds as more and more families are choosing to educate their children at home.

Our family chose to homeschool for fourteen years, and we graduated all three of our students from high school homeschool.

The choice to educate your children at home is not an easy one. It is definitely a lifestyle choice as much as an educational choice. Homeschooling families are quick to recount the positive aspects of schooling at home, but as with any major life decision, there are some challenges to consider as well.

The Cons of educating children at home include:

The pressure is on

Homeschooling is still foreign to the older generation. Family members, especially grandparents, may not understand or agree with your choice to educate their grandchildren at home. This difference in opinion often spills over into the larger family dynamic.

Family members who are unfamiliar with home education may envision your child sitting in the house alone for days on end. They will express their concern by arguing that your child will not be properly "socialized".

Parents who decide to home educate commonly feel extreme pressure for their child to over achieve just to prove their decision to the family critics.

Time Management

Because homeschooling is a lifestyle change, parents often struggle to adjust to the new routine. Moms especially seem to struggle with time management, and the feeling that they never get enough done in a day. Even though they may be doing a great job being a teacher, they realize that they have less time for housework, errands and time alone to pursue their own hobbies.

My Teacher is My Mom

Students and homeschooling parents both can struggle with the boundary lines of these life roles. Parents often forget to put on the compassionate parent hat when their kids need extra encouragement. Instead, mom or dad really want to enforce completion of the lesson plans, so it seems easier to be strict "teacher" instead.

The Pros of home education include:

Family Bonding

Because we are home with our kids each day, we have a rare opportunity to bond with them in a way that is not possible for parents of children who attend a traditional school. We are there to help them read, discover historical events, and create great art. We are there to solve the squabbles and to help them discover what God wants them to do with their lives.

Educate According to their Needs and Interests

The biggest advantage of home education is the ability to encourage your child's strengths and help them in their weak areas. It is not possible to address each child's individual needs in a classroom setting. Homeschooling parents can spend all the time they need to help a child who is struggling to read. Parents can also allow a child to immerse himself in a subject or activity without interruption.

Don't Miss the Milestones

Traditional school setting require our kids to be away from us for many hours each day. This means that we will miss a lot of milestones. Educating our kids at home means that we will experience all the "firsts" with them. We will be the ones to teach them to read, to accomplish math, or to write that first chapter story. We have the opportunity to introduce them to museums and great art exhibits and science exhibitions. Parents have the opportunity lead and guide children through the stages of adolescence and the newness of the boy-girl dynamic.

Whatever your reasons are for exploring home education, it is important to make an informed decision. There are challenges that every homeschool family must face. Our family definitely believes that the pros outweigh the cons.

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The Scientific Method: Home Schooling Parents Can Teach It Correctly

By Tony Lacertosa
Traditionally the scientific method is taught as a sequence of steps to be completed in order to answer a question. Not only is this an incomplete description but, when taught this way, students do not experience the excitement of science and lose an opportunity to develop critical thinking skills. Home schooling parents are in an ideal position to teach their children how scientists really think and how they put the scientific method to use.

Students learning the steps of the scientific method are told to make observations, ask a question, gather background information, form a hypothesis, conduct experiments to test the hypothesis, analyze the data collected and draw a conclusion. Having them memorize this list, however, does not help students learn how to think scientifically.

One example of where many science curricula fall short in teaching this topic is in telling students to observe and ask questions without helping them learn how to do those things. Many teens are caught up in their own worlds and don't really observe what is going on outside of their immediate interest zone. Though this is normal behavior for their age, without teaching them how to observe and think about their observations, students will lose an opportunity to develop this very useful skill.

As a home school parent, you have the opportunity to give your children practice in observing what is going on around them and having them ask questions about it. For example, on a trip to the supermarket or department store, have your child notice where different merchandise is displayed (on a high shelf, or a low shelf, for example, or near the cash register, or not) and then have him or her come up with a few questions about why things might be placed where they are. Though this is not science, it is the same process of observation and questioning that scientists perform. Besides, relating material learned in science class to non science situations may help your child understand the importance of the discipline even if he or she has no intention of pursuing science any further.

Another example of how the scientific method should be taught can be found when telling students to formulate a hypothesis after gathering background data. What if there are no relevant background data? What if there is no obvious way to expect one outcome over another? Since hypotheses are not wild guesses, but are based on background information, does that mean that the student cannot proceed with an investigation because he or she cannot form a hypothesis? When antibiotics were first discovered, no one knew how much was needed to kill bacteria. That did not stop scientists from doing investigations to learn how concentrated penicillin needed to be in order to kill most bacteria. They proceeded without a hypothesis, and that was perfectly acceptable. A hypothesis is not always needed in a scientific investigation. This is a point that should be made clear to students.

One last example of how many students don't get the real picture of the Scientific Method in practice is when they are left with the impression that the work is completed once a conclusion is reached. In reality, scientists are just getting started with their investigations once the results of their experiments point to a conclusion. In many cases, follow-up questions are the most exciting part of the process. A true scientific mind will see results and think of many new questions that he or she would not have thought of without having seen the results of the original experiment

Going back to the penicillin example, once it was learned that penicillin and other antibiotics can kill bacteria, scientists couldn't stop coming up with new questions. See how the following would make good questions to ask after discovering that something in bread mold killed bacteria in a Petri dish.

* Will this green material kill other things besides bacteria?
* Does it kill all bacteria, or only certain kinds?
* Are there substances, other than this bread mold, that will do the same job?
* Will this newly discovered material kill bacteria only under certain temperature and/ or moisture conditions?
* Can we apply this stuff to humans and have it kill just the bacteria and not harm the human?

You can have your child practice this technique by having him or her think of 2 or 3 new questions that can be asked for every "discovery" he or she hears about in the media.

To scientists, the Scientific Method is not just a list of steps: It is an entire thought process that drives everything they do in their professional lives. Students who just memorize the steps of the method without learning how to actually apply them risk never being able to understand the excitement of science. Even worse, they miss an opportunity to learn to think in a way that is necessary for success in any field the students decide to pursue.

Home schooling provides the flexibility to overcome the limitations of how the Scientific Method is traditionally taught. Your home schooled child can learn how to think like a scientist!

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Teaching Poetry to Children - 3 Easy and Effective Ways to Teach Poetry to Child of Any Age

By Dana Susan Beasley
You can easily and effectively teach your children poetry reading and writing. You will know the secrets I know as a poet and student of poetry!

But as homeschooling parents you may be saying, "I don't have time" or "there's too many other important subjects like, Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic" or "I don't know anything about poetry, let alone teaching my child to write it."

Why is poetry important anyway? In these days of fast-paced TV shows and unlimited online games, why does this subject even matter? First of all, what captures your children's attention? Is it the latest essay written in a textbook or is it the coolest lyrics from their favorite Christian or secular rock group?

What is one of the most popular TV shows of all time? American Idol!

Poetry is as vitally important today as when it was in Shakespeare's time during the Elizabethan age! Poetry (in today's forms of lyrics) influences culture, which influences your children. Will it be for good or for bad?

Another reason why it's important to teach poetry is because it will teach your children how to communicate effectively and concisely. In this information age, I can't emphasize enough how important this is! It's the websites with excellent content that their audiences want that are making the most money. And face it, the Internet is here to stay! Mastering this skill of clearly communicating is vitally important in our changing economy!

I have heard it said that tomorrow's leaders will be the ones who possess creativity in great measure. Isn't that why we homeschool--so our kids will stand out as salt and light in a dark world?

Now that we're on the same page about why poetry is so important, I would like to share with you three easy and effective ways to teach poetry to any age child.

1) Find great examples. Teach the classic poets, definitely. Classic poets teach us about the power and beauty of words, timeless messages that touch people in profound ways, and the basic structure and flow of language.

A great place to start is Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. With this poem, you can teach about rhyming, rhythm, stanzas, and more. And as Christmas approaches, this poem is a perfect one to help you and your family get in that merry mood for the season!

Another great poet is Walt Whitman. He is one of the first free verse poets and you can tie your lesson in with American history! Of course, you can't lose by teaching Shakespeare. Combine learning his sonnets with going on a field trip to attend a Shakespeare play. Unbeatable!

2) Make it fun! I can't stress this enough. If you make poetry a drag, you will not be able to teach your children at all about it. As once was told to me, you can approach learning with a "Doberman Pincher" or a "Puppy Dog" attitude. Children learn better under the latter scenario.

How can you make it fun? Well, since it's almost Christmas, how about the famous poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas? Or Dr. Seuss is always fun, and yes, it is a type of poetry. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is full of wonderful learning possibilities.

Shel Silverstein is always a delight for young readers. Reading his poetry gives children much reading pleasure and is great fodder for inspiration. Then there are the words. Putting together words can be lots of fun.

Playing with a poetry magnet set can provide plenty of laughs while at the same time providing ample writing instruction. Another great game for learning poetry is ad libs. Why not create an ad lib for a poem? This could provide hours of fun and education.

3) Publish it! When your students have finished writing their poetry, be sure to publish it! Have them draw illustrations and then use a service like Blurb to show it to the world!

Or, have your students make a book the old-fashioned way--write out the poetry in their best handwriting (behold, a copywork lesson), have them draw some illustrations (art lesson), three-whole punch the paper, put a nice cover on it and tie the book together with a fancy ribbon. Then as an economic lesson, have your students sell the books as a business venture! To make it even more special, laminate the pages and have your children give the book as Christmas presents to their grandparents!

That's it! Three very simple, fun, and effective ways that will help you reach new heights in your homeschooling!

And now that you've been given the knowledge to make your poetry lessons easy and effective, how would you like a way to make it even easier?

Introducing my book Poetry Decoded. More than 40 suggested activities are given, including a detailed list of study questions, writing helps, vocabulary, unit study ideas, and notebooking pages. Also includes three advanced lessons on classical poets as well as detailed essay outline and poetry analysis forms that can be filled in with your computer.

With this lesson plan book, you can take the mystery out of poetry and teach it effectively.

There's a limited amount I will be selling at the current regular price, so grab yours soon!

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A Morning Routine For Homeschooling Families That Works

By Donna Pravel
One of the biggest challenges facing homeschooling families is trying to get everything done. Time management and home organization are probably the two biggest concerns for homeschooling mothers outside of actually teaching in a home school. If a homeschooling family does not stay on top of the housework, laundry, meals, and other day-to-day tasks, it can become a chaotic, disastrous situation very quickly. Here is a suggested schedule and tips for a morning routine that has been time-tested and proven to work.

1. Be the first one up in the morning, and rise early. If the school day begins at 8:30 A.M., plan to roll out of bed at 5:30 A.M. This may mean less time on the computer at night, but it is important to put the family's needs ahead of virtual social time. This early morning time is the perfect time to pray, read scripture, meditate, and plan out the day's activity before the rest of the family gets up. If there is a nursing baby in the house, this is a wonderful time to have a quiet feeding together.

2. Work out. Even with only 30 minutes a day, a homeschooling mother can stay in shape. Women need to fit exercising into their schedules in order to stay healthy and have enough energy for the long haul. Exercise not only provides physical health benefits, it stimulates endorphins, the "happy" hormones. If the children wake up, they can be directed to watch a DVD or they may join in on the fun. Babies can be placed in a swing or playpen right next to the mother as she works out.

3. Get dressed for the day at about 6:30 A.M. The older children can help dress the younger ones. A quick shower only takes about five minutes, and if the laundry is under control, everyone should have clothes available to choose from without much drama. Simple hairstyles are easy to fix. There are plenty of makeup videos available on You Tube that show makeup routines that only take five or ten minutes to apply.

4. Put the baby down for a nap if she needs it, then start breakfast at 7:00 A.M. Older children can certainly help with breakfast preparations. They can also help watch their younger siblings. If some young children need more sleep, then this might be the time to wake them up and get them dressed for the day.

5. Serve breakfast at 7:30 A.M. If the father of the family likes to have breakfast with the family before he leaves for work, then the family can adjust to his schedule by getting up earlier and going to bed earlier. Good communication is required at all times so that the family routines can run smoothly.

6. Do a morning devotional at the breakfast table while everyone is still seated. This does not have to be long or all that "spiritual." Just reading a few scripture verses or possibly some Proverbs is enough.

7.Get the morning chores done about 8 A.M.. Everyone who can walk can help in some way. Morning chores are individual for each family. This isn't the time to get the house ready for a magazine shoot. This is just time to get the house presentable. Toys get picked up, the kitchen is cleaned up, the toothpaste is wiped out of the bathroom sink, the beds are made, the towels are hung up, the animals are fed, and the laundry is started.

8. Gather school books and come to the table to begin school at 8:30 A.M.. The baby can be awakened, and fed and diapered at the table while the children get started on their assignments. With plenty of toys and activities for the preschoolers to do, the school should run fairly smoothly for a couple of concentrated hours. A mid-morning snack helps control blood sugar levels and offers an interesting break, then the family can settle back down for another couple of hours of study before lunch.

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Homeschooling - The Foot Equalizer

By Camille Rodriquez
Have you ever stuck your foot out from under the blanket at night, just to cool off a bit? Sometimes, we like to be cozy under the blankets, but we also need to level off the heat a bit by sticking out our foot and exposing it to the cooler air. Everyone's done this before, but how does it relate to homeschooling? Like your body temperature, using the "foot equalizer" in your homeschooling program is a vital part of preparing your kids for their future.

Homeschoolers are typically pretty protective of the things that they do and don't do with their children. They are known for exhibiting more stringent standards of behavior and for examining their hobbies closely. This is sometimes true, and sometimes not, but one thing can be said to be characteristic of all homeschoolers. They spend more time with their children than most parents, just by virtue of their educational choice, and this leads to more opportunities to shape and train their children.

That being said, homeschool parents usually place more emphasis on family values and character training. These are fantastic things, but in some cases, homeschoolers forget to prepare for when the children leave the home. Some homeschool parents can fail to train their children for interactions with the world outside, and that leaves homeschool children a little uneasy or cautious about how to engage in the non-homeschooling arena.

By "sticking out your foot" from time to time, and looking for ways in which your children can be active participants with non-homeschoolers, you are actually helping them prepare for their adult life. This is vitally important if we want our homeschool children to grow up to be leaders and men and women of positive influence on their communities. They will have to know how to be in the world, but not overcome by situations and values that are different than their own.

When we stick our foot out from under the covers at night, the majority of our bodies are still covered and protected. Only a smaller portion of our body, our foot, is moved out to the colder air. Likewise, for homeschoolers, the "covering" of the home and family support system should still be a major emphasis of all of the daily interactions. But a smaller portion of time can, and should be spent on learning to interact with those who are in less familiar environments. This teaches homeschool students valuable people skills, leadership, and self-management. This prepares them more fully for future relationships, and it does so while they are in a safe environment from which to branch out.

So, stay warm, stay cozy, but help your homeschool children stick out their feet from time to time.

You can read more about Camille Rodriquez, author of "When I Die" and creator of "The VEEP Channel," by visiting her websites,

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How to Make Learning Fun When Home Schooling Your Children

By Lynn Schott
Over our family's fourteen years of homeschooling, we were, at times, sorely in need of some fun in our routine. At first I resisted having fun. Seriously. I believed that having too much fun got in the way of real learning. Wow! I can't believe that I really held onto that opinion. The good news for my kids is that I finally ditched that thought and we began to have some fun!

Here are three of our favorite fun learning activities:

1) Silly Story Starters

Story starter cards and games are for sale in teaching supply stores almost everywhere. However, if you don't want to spend extra money, just open your favorite book (the Bible even works well!) and put your finger down in the middle of the page. Read the first word, phrase or sentence your finger touches. Your students need to take the word, phrase or sentence and turn it into a sentence, a paragraph or a story. The length of the response is determined by the ability of the child. The response can be verbal or written.

We usually had each child take a turn making a funny sentence or story without writing anything down. It made them more likely to participate, and to think creatively. Don't require too much in the way of seriousness, though. The funnier the story, the better for all involved! Eventually, we worked up to writing these silly stories down, but right at first it's important just to get them thinking quickly and coming up with new vocabulary.

2) Spell It Out Loud

We had two struggling spellers in our homeschool. We tried it all, but nothing worked until we found Institute For Excellence in Writing's spelling program. The student listens to the daily lesson on CD, then verbally repeats the word and the spelling. Then the child takes a spelling test. If he/she misses even one, the lesson is repeated the next day until he/she passes the quiz with 100% mastery. There are no workbooks involved; there are just the CD's, your child and a daily oral review and written quiz. This method works because it is oral, and not workbook driven. Workbooks don't work for many kids. Verbal spelling forces the brain to pattern the words and store them. It is a highly effective method, and my kids' spelling improved almost immediately. For extra practice, make them spell everything they ask you for. Make them spell for their supper!

3) Many Mighty Manipulatives

My children LOVED to play with blocks, pattern tiles, LEGOs, DIME blocks, unifix cubes, etc. They love anything that they could touch and arrange. My oldest son is still a Lego freak at age 23. He credits his advanced ability to do math and think abstractly to the many, many hours he has spent building LEGOs. My younger two children struggled to read early on, and are auditory learners, so it worked beautifully for them to sit and play with manipulatives or draw and color while I read story books or schoolbooks to them. They could always tell me details about what I was reading, so I know that their little brains were processing!

In addition to these tactics, the most important thing you can do to bring fun to the learning is to R-E-L-A-X. When we are uptight and fretting about them "getting behind", or "not learning enough", or not "keeping up with the public school" we start putting pressure on our kids. As soon as we put pressure onto them, learning is no longer fun. When it is no longer fun, they begin to balk at their work, which makes us even more stressed out and upset with them, which makes them less likely to do their work. Think about it. Could you learn under those circumstances? Neither can they.

So lighten up and get out a mini camcorder and record those silly stories! Your kids are growing up fast. Have fun with them while there is still time.

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5 Tips for Enriching Your Child's Education

By Amber L Bishop
You have to feed your kids good stuff. Not just good food, but good life experiences too. I love homeschooling but realize it is not possible for every family. Lately I have been getting emails of admiration from non homeschooling Moms who want a little help on how to supplement their child's education. I love it! I thought I would write down some of the things we have done over the years as a jumping off point.

* First I would recommend taking stock of were your child is, physically, mentally, relationally, emotionally, spiritually and academically. Make a list if you have to. Maybe we get things turned around when we hyper focus on academics and leave other very important formational stuff out? Let the Lord lead you, on things that you see that your child needs.
* Do they need a good dose of habit training, how to do chores or how to take care of their hygiene? These skills are as important as academics.
* Do they need to read some deep literature, other then fast food type stuff that is typically marketed to early elementary readers? If you have never read a classic to your child or if they have never read one to themselves, then I would say that is something you need to work on.

You get the idea. Only you will now that for each of your children and if you don't know, maybe you are just too busy or too over committed and you need to slow down a bit so you can take stock or where you and your littles are at. I would recommend you intentionally add a few things into your family rhythm to help give you some well balanced nutrition for you growing brood, weather home educated or not.

* Reading with your child is a major buzzword right not, but what your read is rarely talked about. Pick a family read aloud. Stretch and pick a classic or even some Shakespeare. Charles and Mary Lamb make a great version just for kids. Living literature will take you and your child into deeper things like geography and history and science. These books are simply outstanding and every family would do well to read through them together. We have gone through seasons of this on and off in our family and are right now back in this season. Read a chapter after dinner, or pick one night a week to read out loud to each other, everyone taking turns at reading out loud.
* Make your children earn video game or TV time by reading 3 for 1. For every 3 minutes they read, they can earn one minute of TV or video game time. It works for us, umm when I stick with it. Instead of filling your house with the sound of a TV on, play some music quietly in the background.

Think through some practical things you can do with your kids.

* Take them to the post office and have them do the whole deal, buy the stamp, address, and mail the letter, use the automated kiosk etc.
* Go to the hardware story and but the supplies for a family project and involved them in actually checking out and paying for the items.
* Involve them in your whole life. Even the simple things can be a learning moment. You don't have to be teacher or a school to schedule a field trip. You can make a few phone calls in your local area and set up some family things for you all to do together.

Okay, I know that is technically eight but I was on a roll. Life is short, and there are so many things you can do and accomplish when your kids are big and have flown the coop. So fight the urge to have it all and do it all right now. Take a little time, in whatever way you can, to add a little richness to your child's education today.

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Home Schooling and the Socialization Deficit Myth

By Lance Winslow
We've often been told that one of the negative impacts of homeschooling is the problem with socialization of the children, and their integration into society. Things like having friends, playing, and dealing in social situations of their age group. I would submit to you that this socialization deficit is a myth for several reasons. Let me explain.

You see, children can also be traumatized in school, due to the bad behavior of other young children. And they carry that with them for many years, but if they don't have to experience some of those problems, they may find that they don't carry with them those emotional baggage scars. That's a good thing, and that is actually a positive and plus for homeschooling not a negative, and this is something that many people don't consider.

Realize if you will that not every parent teaches their kid responsibility at an early age, and many of these kids act off and fight and can actually cause physical harm to your child, why would you want that, and why would you subject your children to such. If the school systems are out of control, and there is no behavioral discipline in the classroom, because quite frankly the teachers are afraid they might get sued, from the very parents who neglect to teach their kids proper manners - then you are subjecting your children to severe risk by sending them to public schools.

Plus how on Earth are they really supposed to learn anything in such a setting? Are you beginning to see the reality, and why such myths, need to be debunked now? You should, so I am glad you are listening so far.

Now then, let me introduce a second point of contention and that is the fact that there are many homeschooling programs which that allow your children to interact with other children who are probably more behaved, because their parents also have taken a special interest in their children, and they are also being homeschooled. This means that you can have your children playing soccer, and going to museums with other children who were also in homeschooling programs that are similar to yours, perhaps an overall group.

This completely alleviates the socialization factor, and by homeschooling you will provide a much safer learning environment for your children. This may give them the edge they need to succeed in life, because you are giving them the ultimate head start. Indeed, hope you'll please consider this.

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