homeschool kids

What do you do when people ask you about the socialization of their children?  Do you blow them off with a flip answer, or have you had any good conversations where people ‘see the light?' I asked a few of my friends what kinds of experiences they’ve had with this question, and they shared some of their stories below. “My husband is military and last summer brought a move; our first move since we started home...

"How important is the transcript compared to SAT or ACT scores when it comes to college admissions or scholarships? I know it is good to have both but without those great scores it seems like all is lost." ~ Anne on Facebook Hi Anne! The transcript is extremely important. It's the one page overview of your student so the college can give them a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" quickly. It's a good idea to have...

Guess what?  One day they grow up and graduate from homeschooling!  I'm not kidding - it's true!  Here is Michelle's story. Hi Lee, Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and everything you do to support homeschoolers and promote homeschooling through high school. I will briefly share my experience in case you want to blog about it - hopefully it will encourage others. We started our homeschooling journey when our boys were 5 & 7. David was...

Do you know what makes successful homeschool graduates?  Delight directed learning!  Listen to Elena's story of her son. Hi Lee, My homeschooled Senior is Sam. During high school he has taken piano lessons for 4 years, organ for 2, sung in the church choir and gone to competition with them twice, been active in the youth group and played on the homeschool soccer league. He taught himself guitar before starting classical guitar with private lessons. He...

Kids love amazing things.  Unreal, incredible things.  Especially in movies, they LOVE superheros.  Spiderman.  The Incredibles. Batman.  And now Thor. The big news:  Kids love these things. The bad news: Hollywood. The good news:  It can encourage reading. If your child is old enough to see Thor, or if they aren't allowed but are interested, I have a suggestion.  Read books about mythology! My children enjoyed reading about mythology.  Of course, it's important to compare mythology...

Death, divorce, and deployment can happen. Even to homeschool parents.  It may happen suddenly, and unexpectedly.  Even a long-anticipated deployment can seem sudden when they day actually arrives, and while temporary, it can still be difficult.  When you are faced with single parenting, know that you are NOT alone! I wrote an article with resources for single homeschool parents.  Read about Mary Jo Tate of SingleParentsAtHome.com and Alice Birchfield, a homeschooling single parent in Virginia. Get...

It's hard to mix oil and water.  Sure they are both liquids, but they really are two completely different substances.   When I hear "What she really wants is the peer interaction she'd get at a school," I think about oil and water. Mixing peer interaction and school academics is similar to mixing oil and water.   They may seem similar.  They both involve teenagers who like to talk, right?  But they are two completely different things.  In...

How do you know when enough is enough? Particularly with Writing and History, how can you make sure you are not asking too much and frustrating yourself and your children?.  Sometimes it can be so hard to tell.  It can be VERY difficult to make sure you aren't expecting too much! Here are some ideas to consider if you think you may be overworking your children.  If you use a curriculum for writing and history, do...

Many parents hold firmly to Proverbs 22:6 as they raise their children. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." That's a wonderful promise.  It's great motivation to work hard as we train up our children to know right from wrong, and to make good choices. But it says "When he is old..."  What happens before he gets old?  What happens when the...