Click here for Rosemary Laberee's encouraging article on the importance of parents playing a prominent role in their children's journey in "Learning Math".

By Irene Taschek

Ever wonder where your young homeschool children are headed?  Read about what some of our local highschool students have recently accomplished.  All were homeschooled from the start…Home Education – it works!

Institute for Cultural Communications – Local Homeschool Student Wins Big!

Local homeschool teen and Living Water member, Aaron Pomerantz, wins big at the Institute for Cultural Communications Speech and Debate Conference!

Greetings from a newbie homeschooler!

If you had told me 10 years ago that today we would have 4 children and be homeschooling, I would have had a good laugh thinking you were telling me a joke.  But, here I am, and my life is quite different from how I’d pictured it would be at this point.  We are now into our 7th month of homeschooling.  I wish I could tell you that I have had so much fun, but that would not be completely truthful.  In fact, the first several weeks of start-up were very stressful for me and to a lesser degree, for my husband.  I have thought about homeschooling for several years and felt God putting it back onto my plate one year ago.  I remember calling Robin Young about something unrelated to homeschooling, and then the conversation turned to just that.  And well, let us just say, the rest is history.

By Deborah Wuehler

Last year, my 6-year-old fell through the cracks of my homeschool. I had it all planned out in my mind so that wouldn't happen again this school year. I started school early at the end of July, and by September I was still not working with my now 7-year-old. He didn't seem to care as he played his days away with an occasional math page or phonics lesson thrown in. I kept telling myself that he wasn't ready to learn to read yet and I was so busy with the other five scholars in the family (one of them being his younger sister, who begged daily for schoolwork). And he was so good at keeping the 2-year-old occupied!

By Rosemary Laberee

I love the planning that I do in July and August.   Every few days there are fresh new books arriving in the mail and optimistic lesson plans flow from my pen.   Of course after 10 years, I know that some of this planning is a fiction, but I am undeterred by this hard truth.   My husband cheerfully refers to this as “the triumph of optimism over experience.”   I call it my playtime. 

Just like kids imitate adults through play and thus acquire valuable life management tools, so do I imitate successful planners.  If I pretend I know exactly how to do this each year (getting all of my ducks lined up for those eager, cooperative kids) I will actually get some of it right.

How do you homeschool in high school?   The greatest encouragement someone gave me when I was contemplating what high school home schooling  looked like, was – “It’s no different; you just keep going.”

When our children were entering the “high school” years, I had an idea that homeschooling was going to change completely.  However, our routine stayed the same, and most subjects stayed the same.  The difference was our learning methods and our focus.

By Cindy Short and Sue Welch
The Teaching Home

PART 1

Is your school year finished?

If so, these End-of-School-Year Activities will provide a good finish to this year and preparation for the next. Set aside a day or more to do the necessary task of gathering, filing, and recording the year's schoolwork.  The rewards are:

 •  You can find your records easily.
 •  Your children have meaningful memorabilia.
 •  You get more space for more books and materials.
 •  You might even be able to sell books you don't need anymore for cash to (you guessed it) buy more books!

By Tina James

I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard another mom say, “Oh, I could never homeschool my kids. That would never work for us.” I’ve heard a myriad of excuses:  “My child doesn’t listen to me”; “My kid and I just can’t get along”; “I don’t think I could stand to be with my kids all day.” I know every excuse, because I used to give them myself. Whenever someone asks my children where they go to school and my children say that they are homeschooled, the response is usually, “Oh. . .” And then the attention turns to me. The looks I get from people speak very loudly—they say, “You must be crazy!” And then come the comments.

You may have noticed while home schooling that what works for one child may not for another. Each child has difference capabilities, and may or may not understand things being taught. There may be children who do not understand without some pictures or images, while some would grasp things better just by listening to what you say. Keeping in mind the features and traits of each type you can decide on home schooling activities accordingly so that your child finds it easier and enjoyable to learn.

Experts mostly identify the three basic learning styles as auditory learners, visual learners and Kinesthetic learners.

“MOM!!! I finished the entire book!!!” exclaimed our 8-year-old son as he bounded down the stairs at 9:30pm…a full hour after it should have been “lights out”.  He was waving his chapter book in his hand as evidence.  At first I wasn’t sure if I should reprimand him for not being asleep or congratulate him on the completion of his first chapter book.  Quickly, my common sense took over and I hugged the excited boy and congratulated him on his accomplishment.

This may not seem like a big deal to most people but our son is a struggling reader, as is his older half-brother and father.  I, on the other hand, learned to love to read at an early age and had a voracious appetite for reading throughout both childhood and adulthood.  To learn that the reason our son was a struggling reader was a result of being dyslexic just broke my heart.  I had awful visions of him preferring to hang by his fingernails rather than read a book, just as my husband and step-son do today, because it was such an unpleasant activity.  To deprive himself of all the wonderful journeys that books could take him on was incomprehensible to me.  And so began my own personal journey into how to make sure that our son didn’t become part of the “I hate to read” group and instead foster the “I love to read” attitude in him that I had grown up with.

In the past year, that journey has taken many diverse paths to help our son become a better reader, from vision correction to occupational therapy and everything in-between, and it is far from over.  But I would like to share one tool that has really helped our son improve his reading, and more importantly, foster the love of reading that all children should have.

By Barbara Curtis

"I didn't grow up with the arts," my friend Shelley confided over coffee recently. "Now I wish I had. I'd like to give my kids some exposure – want them to be able to enjoy art and music and to understand them more than I do. But I'm not really sure where to start."

Shelley was asking me for advice, not because of my music or art degree (I have neither), but just because I'm a megamom (11 kids, ages 4-30) with a track record. Maybe she'd noticed my kids da-da-da-da-ing along with Beethoven's Fifth. Or rehearsing lines from Shakespeare. Or studying a book of French Impressionism. Maybe she was impressed that they seemed comfortable and unembarrassed – as though Mozart was as valid a teen choice today as Back Street Boys.

The Annual Convention is on May 29th-30th.  When I attend the convention, I feel like I’m at a banquet!  I have a total of 15 hours to feast on what others have prepared for me!  After the first year or two of attending the convention, I realized that I probably didn’t need to indulge my appetite for the entire 15 hours. 

It also became apparent that the convention did not run itself.  The following year, when registering for the convention, I noticed the question about whether I’d be willing to volunteer for about 3 hours.  It was time for me to give something back to the event that served me so well!

Taken from Todd Wilson's Family Man Ministries at www.familymanweb.com.

This is a review of Sue Patrick's "Workbox System" originally posted on the HeartoftheMatterOnline.com website.  This article is reprinted with permission from it's author/reviewer, Heather Woodie.

How We Use Sue Patrick’s Workbox System to Structure Our Homeschool

If you visit even just a few homeschool blogs out there in the blogosphere, then it’s likely you’ve come across the “Workbox System”. So, what’s all the fuss about? Why are homeschooling moms clamoring to get this system in place in their homes?

Sue Patrick developed this system to help her autistic son have a more structured day from the time he was still a toddler on up into his school days. However, this little gem of a system can all help all moms make sure the school day is consistent and rich for each child.

Taken from Todd Wilson's Family Man Ministries at www.familymanweb.com.

I love how God has taken so many individuals who are so different from one another and called them all to homeschool!  I have lots of friends who live for the experience of the Exhibit Hall.  For them, the expanse of books, curriculum and educational toys is like an oasis to a thirsty man.  It is pure refreshment to them!  I also know homeschoolers that are overwhelmed by the Exhibit Hall.  The array of choices intimidates them.  They view new choices as an unwelcome judgment on the status quo with which they have grown comfortable.

Many homeschoolers live a lifestyle of learning all through the year and never consider what month it is. They are free to work at their own pace and not be bound by the calendar year.

But other homeschool moms may have very good reasons to be concerned about finishing their school work by June.

Some families have children at home and children in school. They may want all their children to begin and end their summer vacations at the same time.

The constant knocking at the door from the neighborhood child can be frustrating to both you and your son who is supposed to be doing his math.  It may be easier to just take a break when Johnny next door is taking his break.

Taken from Todd Wilson's Family Man Ministries at www.familymanweb.com.

I’ve been homeschooling for 10 years now (16 if you count everything I’ve taught my son since  birth!).  In looking back I can remember different seasons during these years.  There were seasons when our school looked more like play – we spent hours playing board games or constructing things, always with the hidden agenda of learning something.  There were seasons when most of our homeschooling was NOT at home – the field trips and co-op opportunities were too good to resist.  There were long dry seasons of training and discipline with an eye toward the future – doing what we could to equip Jack for his adult years.  In all these seasons, there were many, many things we did to help us stay the course and keep our eyes on the goal.

My recommendation to any homeschooling family is to always do as many things as possible that will support you in your call to homeschool.  However, if a family could only manage to do one thing to help them stay on track, I would, without hesitation, advise them to attend the Education Network of Christian Homeschooler’s (ENOCH) annual convention every year.  There is no better place to get so much support, information and inspiration in so little time!  Setting aside two days (May 29-30) to help you get regenerated for an entire year of homeschooling, doesn’t seem like such a big investment of time and energy.

But of course, I’m probably preaching to the choir.  Some of you have probably attended the convention in the past.  The people that need to hear this advice are probably not on ENOCH’s mailing list.  They may not even have heard of ENOCH!  Unfortunately, this advice is for them and may be just the thing they need at the end of this school year.  Maybe they just don’t realize what they’re missing.

Please partner with ENOCH in helping spread the word to the homeschooling families that are less connected than you might be.  This year, first-timers to our convention will receive a $20 rebate if they pre-register.  How much more inviting can we get?  If you know of homeschoolers who have never been to the convention, please invite them to attend.  Direct them to ENOCH’s website (www.enochnj.org) or better yet, print out a brochure for them to keep. There may just be a workshop description or two that will entice them!

ENOCH’s whole reason for existence is to reach as many NJ homeschoolers as possible in order to walk alongside them and make their homeschool experience richer.  If each of the 5,000 families who received a convention brochure in the mail would target one other homeschool family, the NJ community of homeschoolers would be strengthened tremendously.  Please pray about who you can invite!

Sue August
Living Water Member
ENOCH Legislative Liaison
ENOCH Convention Coordinator
mark.august@verizon.net

Taken from Todd Wilson's Family Man Ministries at www.familymanweb.com.