October 8, 2007

Free Homeschooling Resources

Tip! There is a significant distinction between ?Homeschooling? and ?School-at-Home?. One of the concepts of homeschooling is that it carries out standard lessons and schoolwork at home, and ?home? definitely becomes a part of the schooling itself.

Every homeschooling family knows they can go to their local public library to access free books, free videos and CD’s, free audiotapes, and perhaps even free software to use in their homeschool. Here are some other ideas you may not have thought of for finding free educational materials for your family:

While it is common to bemoan the poor quality of most television programming, a homeschooling parent can easily build a year’s worth of social studies’ curriculum around the quality offerings of The History Channel, Discovery Channel, and A&E Network. While some discretion needs to be used because not all the shows on these channels are appropriate and of solid educational value, many are, especially those that are part of the A&E Classroom, A&E Biography, and Assignment: Discovery series. If you check the websites for these networks and/or series, most of them offer free teacher’s guides with schedules of their upcoming educational offerings for the next three or six months. By combining library books on the same historical periods and topics with watching these shows, I was able to complete the curriculum for my son’s sixth and seventh grade history courses at a cost of zero dollars.

Tip! Less Distractions - Homeschooling programs enable students to solely focus on the task at hand. They can pay 100% attention to their studies, without any worries, social distractions or pressures of a regular school setting.

The Internet is another source of many free educational sites. Again, a parent needs to check out the sites and use discretion in making choices. However, by running Google searches on various topics in science, math, history, and literature, I was able to find many valuable sites which my son and I used together. He especially enjoyed certain math review sites which were interactive in terms of problem-solving and drilling math concepts. We mainly used these sites as supplements to a math textbook and also for variety so that he didn’t have to work with the textbook every single day. Since most students love to have time on the computer, working with websites in science and history was often a reward for days of hard work writing or doing hands-on work in those subjects earlier in the week.

Tip! Know what your state’s law says. Read the applicable statutes for yourself, talk to other homeschoolers, and join a state homeschooling organization that monitors the regulations affecting homeschoolers.

Finally, many websites which sell educational and curriculum products offer free samples of worksheets, workbook pages, puzzles, etc. at their sites which can be downloaded and tried out by your children before you do decide to spend your limited curriculum funds on the product. This can give you an idea of how your child will like working with the material and the format it is in before you make an investment in it. Given the fact that most homeschooling families are living on only one income and that children have different learning styles and personalities, it also always makes sense, that when you do have to buy curriculum, to buy it from a company which offers a money-back guarantee. There are many different ways to teach and to learn the same material or concepts, so always give yourself and your children the freedom to try another way if the first method you choose doesn’t work as you’d hoped. Enjoy the freedom and diversity of learning homeschooling allows!

Tip! child. Most homeschooling parents only object to state requirements for documentation and testing because they interfere with the learning experience for their child.

Linda Popolano is a homeschooling parent and an Independent Consultant for BRIGHT MINDS/The Critical Thinking Company at Home. You can download free workbook sample pages and free software samples of their products at her website: http://www.inspirethinking.com or you can e-mail her at inspirethinking.com with questions, comments, or more information on BRIGHT MINDS products. All BRIGHT MINDS products come with a money-back guarantee.

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Home Education Disadvantages

Regardless of the face that homeschooling has gained popularity in the last 10 years, there are still very many of backers for community school ready and willing to provide their arguments and reasons to their neighborhood mom that has established to homeschool. As with any basis, there are two sides. I’m not here to charm you in one direction or another, in any case I would like to educate you with some of the arguments and let you choose for yourself.
It’s not so hard to sort out some of the apprehension that could come with homeschooling.
Here are some of the top reasons against homeschooling:
1. Lack of Social Interaction: This is the largest disagreement when talking to the public about home schooling. We live in a social world and social skills are hugely eminent in being able to successfully go through living. Kids who are isolated all week in their homes with little social contact risk not understanding how to deal with surplus communities that have different views than them or even be acquainted with a agreeable conversation.
2. Lack of Records: All the same most of us wouldn’t got back to grade junior high school if someone paid us, anyhow, it […]

Full Article At: KnowHow-Now.com Articles

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States And Home Learning

There are of all sorts’ things for moms to think and talk about when the strategy of Home Schooling your children pops into your brain. One and only one of the precursory is, how do I do this? Possibly you get going thinking about finances and if you can Homeschool on one pay and allowances. There is furthermore the dilemma of what general education to choose for your child, where you purchase it, and how much you can concede to purchase it. Likewise, you speculate how you can turn your home into a junior high school. What about itineraries and however so many hours a week perks call for to be intellectual acquirement?
Overwhelmed yet? Yes, it is most certain that you are not alone in your worries. But not to worry, there are ever so many of supplies that are easy to spot that can help you. One inquiry some moms forget to be judicious is the mandates and regulations surrounding learning your son or daughter in your home sweet home. This is extremely critical and should be on of the earliest things on your list to figure out when you are starting to contemplate into Home sweet home learning […]

Full Article At: KnowHow-Now.com Articles

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