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What do you really need in order to be a “great” homeschool? What will happen if you don’t get to Socratic dialog? What if you mess up teaching state history, like I did? Can you really provide quality college preparation without a public school guidance counselor? Your homeschool CAN be a great homeschool – even without any of those things! Focus on the LOVE of learning, you you will be successful.
Hi Lee,
You’re newsletter introductory paragraph reminds me of my relative’s recent experience. She’s a public school teacher in California; due to a recent move she’s been working as a long-term substitute. When the regular teacher returned from maternity leave, my sister stayed on for a few days to help with the transition. She was dismayed to watch the teacher make mistakes about which hands are which on an analog clock and which side is which of the “greater than/less than sign.”
Homeschooling parents should remember that classroom teachers are people too and make plenty of mistakes. The Progressive movement in education has sold our society the lie that if someone has a government certificate, they have somehow “progressed” beyond the rest of us. It just isn’t so.
Very cordially,
~ A homeschool dad
Of course homeschoolers aren’t perfect. We all make mistakes sometimes. But don’t feel too bad – ALL teachers mess up sometimes, even in a public school. Take a deep breath, dust yourself off, and keep trying. “Classroom teachers are people too” – and that means they are no more perfect than we are!
Today is my birthday, and I’m turning 49 – for the FIRST time!
I’m sure that it will become easier and easier each time I turn 49. In four years, I’ll probably be thinking, “49? What a breeze! Such a great age!” And at some point I’ll long for the “good old days” of being 49 again. I’ll remember how young and spry I felt, LOL!
Homeschooling high school is the same. You may be homeschooling high school – for the FIRST time. But each year it will get easier. By the time you’ve finished your first four years of high school it will feel like old hat. You’ll remember how fun freshman year was. You’ll remember the freedom. You may even remember how sweet and compliant your children were! Ha! You probably won’t remember too many of the struggles. Four years from now is a long time away, and those memories do fade, you know.
You’re homeschooling high school for the first time. I’m turning 49 for the first time. Years from now we’ll both be old pros!
Every single day I am amazed at the things that come out of my 20yo son’s mouth! Two years ago, when he was 18, I wasn’t sure how well I had raised my son, but now…… every day I’m constantly amazed! Sunday he called to ask about doing freezer cooking. He asked about how to freeze meals, and we looked over some recipe books together. Can you believe that? I can’t believe I heard the words “freezer cooking” come out of my sons mouth! Today he called me to ask how to cook spaghetti because he’s making dinner for all his friends.
All that moaning and whining I did when he was 18, it’s all completely turned around! It’s like all those things I nagged him about years ago have finally all taken root. Suddenly he uses words and phrases that I used for YEARS thinking he wasn’t listening. Each time, he almost acts as if he had thought of it himself.
I’m beginning to realize that adult development is like vocabulary development. With vocabulary, it can take a year or two of studying a word before a child will use it spontaneously in a sentence. I guess with adult tasks, it can take years (decades?) of watching and listening to parents, and then suddenly it comes out of their very own mouth.
Obviously, the lesson here is to make sure you nag your teenagers!
Well… maybe not. Let’s see….
Obviously, the lesson here is to HANG ON! Some day all the seeds you are planting will sprout and grow!
I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a happy new year and give you a brief report on 2009 and a quick look ahead to 2010.
2009 has been amazing for us. Not only did it bring the announcement of my eldest son’s engagement (Yea!!!) but we have also seen tremendous growth in the reach of our business. Here are a few stunning tidbits:
Newsletter membership up 120%
Blog subscriptions up 163%
Web traffic up 296%
Blog traffic up 43%
Number of nations reached up 43%
2010 promises to be a very exciting one for us as well. Both boys will be graduating from Seattle Pacific University in June and we are excited to see them off on their next stage of life. Our normal summer convention season will be shortcut a bit due to graduation and wedding plans!! We do hope to meet a number of you in Cincinnati in April. Please stop by my booth or come to my talk and introduce yourself. This is our first time to this convention and we are very happy!
In 2010 we are planning a number of “big events.” First will be the release of my first “published” book, “Setting the Records Straight — How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts and Course Descriptions for College Admission and Scholarships.” We are hoping to have this ready in February.
Second, we will be the launch of our companion Course Description information product. Along with the book, this information product has consumed us for a number of months. We are very happy to be making strong progress on it.
These are the major projects we have in work right now. Of course, a lot depends on wedding plans so I am grateful for your patience!
That is all for now, I am in the midst of baking LOTS of cookies for my son’s engagement party tomorrow. 19 people in our tiny living room!! Yikes!!
Our January newsletter comes out tomorrow. I will be addressing a very important topic to homeschoolers – Teenage Motivation! It has been a hot topic on Facebook for the last few days and yesterday we had a huge jump in newsletter subscriptions. Something tells me this is a BIG deal! You can sign up for our free monthly newsletter here.
I was so excited! I was looking out my mom’s window, and I saw a sea lion swimming by! I have seen harbor seals before, both alive and “not so alive” but this was my first sea lion in her back yard! It was thrilling!
I was a little surprised at the difference between harbor seals and sea lions. In fact, we had quite a discussion about it. When you see them swimming in the distance, they look VERY similar. It wasn’t until using the binoculars that I could really tell the difference. It’s mostly about weight. Harbor seals are perhaps 200 pounds, and sea lions are about 800 pounds. From a distance, the sea lion looked like a large black dog swimming along – a dog with REALLY good breath control underwater!
Homeschools are like looking at a backyard Pinniped. You really can’t tell much unless you look at it from different perspectives. The parents that call me sometimes feel like they aren’t doing enough. They may mention a few subjects that work well, but then moan about things that aren’t going so good. They often forget some big pieces of the puzzle – things they can’t see to really notice from their perspective.
One mom failed to include on her transcript the time her son spent swimming – two hours of swimming each day. She was very concerned about the geography that wasn’t working, but didn’t recognize that her son was doing quite well in World History and that the two subjects were both in the category of social studies – a duplicate!
Think about how a seal can look like a sea lion, and then take a look at your homeschool with a fresh eye. Are you thinking you have a 200 pound high school, when really it’s 800 pounds? It can happen!
The launch of the Total Transcript Solution is in 3 DAYS!! Please read all the details here, including those amazing early responder bonuses!! Also, register for our Free webinar on Credits, Grades and Transcripts!
A quote from my eldest son: “If it’s OK with you, I would love to do the Thanksgiving dishes after we eat.”
What a blessing! First of all, as much as I love cooking the Thanksgiving feast, I just *hate* washing the dishes. And there were a LOT of dishes with 10 people for 6 hours, from appetizers to dessert. But most of all….
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??
He offered! Then he actually DID the dishes, and without complaining!
Homeschool Lessons from Nature: Teen feelings are like mole hills, they pop up when you least expect it.
This has been the most frustrating summer for my front yard! One day there was a mole hill. A few days later there were 7. When we arrived at the magic number of 40 mole hills, we stopped counting. We have tried everything. It’s not that I don’t like the moles… it’s just that the mole hills are so inconvenient! I leave the mole hills undisturbed when they are in my flower beds, and the brown mound blends in with the brown bark. But boy, oh boy! When those brown hills infect my should-be golf-course green grass, I start seeing red!
Do you know what I have noticed? These dumb moles don’t respect fences, shrubbery, or landscaping. They don’t care where property lines are drawn. They pop up anywhere without warning – and sometimes they are HUGE.
Teenage emotions are very similar. The poor teens are only doing what is natural. They are cauldrons of hormone-laced emotions, and sometimes it spills out. It may be a terse word, an unpleasant tone or look. It could be a feeling or frustration, or just an experience the teenager needs to talk about.
While normal, these emotions can be as difficult to deal with as molehills in the yard. You don’t know when they will pop up, and you don’t know which direction they will go. All you really know is that the emotions are there, and you have to deal with them.
One of the best thing about homeschooling is that you are physically in the proximity of your children. When they have a feeling, concern, or worry that spills out, a parent is there. Instead of their feelings spilling out into space, they are spilled out onto us. I’m the first to admit that spilled emotions are messy, but have you considered the alternative? I mean, because we are with our children, we can talk about their feelings and issues. We can know what’s going on and respond to things.
I’m thankful that teen feelings are like mole hills. I’m thankful that their emotions could pop up when I was around to help them, and learn with them. I remember it could be pretty inconvenient that the feelings popped up suddenly and without much warning, though.
I’m thankful I was there for my children when they were growing up. But I still wish I didn’t have moles in my front yard!
That free month on the Gold Care Club that you get with the purchase of mye-book on transcriptscan be your time to get some great homeschool high school parent training! You even get 20 minutes of free phone consultation each week! We can even talk about your teenagers emotions!If you want theGold Care Clubwithout the e-book you can get it here!
Hummingbirds are like teenage girls. Have you ever watched a hummingbird? They are so petite, and feminine-looking. Beautiful colors, and so soft they seem to even FLY softly. I was watching hummingbirds from a restaurant window once, and the waiter let me in on a little secret. Sure the birds LOOK sweet, but they are warriors at heart.
The waiter expained how much they fight, using their sharp beak as a weapon. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve wondered ever since. I love watching birds, and I’ve seen a lot of fights with birds, but I really have noticed more fighting from hummingbirds. They look soft and sweet, but sometimes they don’t treat each other very nicely. One day I saw the birds fighting and then saw an advertisement for the movie “Mean Girls” on the TV, and have thought about girls and hummingbirds the same way ever since.
When you are homeschooling, it can be tempting to look at the groups of teenage girls at school and imagine they are “good friends’ just waiting to invite your daughter into the fold. I think it’s a good idea to remember that sometimes birds are sweet, but sometimes they are warriors at heart. Looks can be deceiving, so don’t put too much faith into those wishful-thinking friendships.
People are social creatures, and women sometimes more so. Instead of imaging that a group of girls you don’t know might be good friends for your daughter, spend some time with friends who truly ARE good friends. Family, church functions, volunteer work, and activities can provide plenty of opportunities to meet people. True socialization is part of real life; living and doing and serving.
Blue jays are like teenage boys. I was watching some gorgeous Blue Jays in my backyard. They are remarkably blue, and fairly large birds about the size of crows. Three of them were making a lot of noise together, when suddenly one of the birds started acting funny. Flapping his wings widely, he looked like he was hurt. He started making loud noises, and opening is mouth wide, like he was gagging. Poor bird!
The other identical-looking Blue Jay walked over and calmly deposited some food in the first bird’s mouth. Then I figured out his problem. These birds only LOOKED like adult birds. In reality, they were two teenagers with their mother. The look like adults, make noise like adults, and even act like adults. But sometimes when mom is close (or when they are really, really hungry!) they act like they are still chicks in the nest, struggling to retrieve the food from mother’s mouth.
Sometimes adult-looking young men will act immature. When I was in nursing school doing my pediatric rotation, I learned that children regress when they are stressed. In other words, when they get upset, they act younger than their age.
Now would be a great time for me to provide some wisdom about how to solve the problem. Sorry. I’m just here to point out the problem! Kids will act immature sometimes, even when they look like adults. On the bright side, that happens everywhere – even in nature. On the other bright side, eventually they will stop doing that, and become adults with their own children. In the meantime…. hang in there.
Sorry, no solutions
Are you ready to get serious about homeschooling high school? Send me anemailand let’s talk!
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