I recently began sending out a subscription-only series of summer e-mails for homeschool encouragement with the oft-used title “The ABCs of Homeschooling.” Yesterday I learned that Dawn of the homeschool blog 5KidsandaDog has been doing a weekly blog meme with the same title for several weeks. I had no idea she had this series planned when I wrote my articles on the same topic and scheduled them with my email marketing service. It was a coincidence.

I believe that the more we share information with other homeschoolers, the better off everyone will be. In that spirit, I encourage you to check out Dawn’s blog for additional insight into the homeschooling life and to participate in her blog meme, which invites you to come up with your own “ABCs of Homeschooling.”

Let’s do something different this summer! “The Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter will be back in September. Until then I’ll be sending out brief but encouraging messages about homeschooling to every subscriber. They’re called “The ABCs of Homeschooling,” and they start this Wednesday, 6/15/11. I thought this would be a simple way to keep that homeschooling fire burning all summer, whether or not you plan on actually doing school over summer break 

If you’re a subscriber to “The Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter, you’ll automatically receive “The ABCs of Homeschooling.” Not a subscriber? Don’t miss out on a single letter of the alphabet this summer: sign up HERE.

 a heart cookie recipe to make today,

 information on raising eager learners,

the “What Our Kids are Missing Out On” department, and much more.

Check it out HERE. Get your own free subscription HERE,  or just click the word “newsletter” on the left side of this page.

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Over the years we’ve seen a transition into homeschoolers defining themselves by their method of homeschooling: traditional, unschooler, Charlotte Mason method, etc. I’ve never looked at it that way.

I see homeschoolers as falling into two camps: proactive and reactive. And I think the motivation and gifts that each brings to the table can surely help the other.

Proactive homeschoolers start when their children are young, and maybe even before they’re born. These are people who are fascinated by the idea of homeschooling. Maybe they were bored in school when they were children, or maybe they’re just the kind of people who would rather do something themselves than trust others to do it. They tend to prefer homeopathy, growing their own food, sewing their own clothes, or simply raising their own kids instead of putting them into daycare before the hospital bill for the birth arrives in the mailbox.

Reactive homeschoolers may never have thought about homeschooling until long after they became parents, and only then because their child’s needs were not being met in school, or there was a bullying situation that became impossible, or their child had trouble learning the way the teacher insisted they learn. They chose homeschooling because they were unhappy with the other options.

These two groups, proactive and reactive homeschoolers, may seem poles apart, and often they are. But when they get to know each other, they often find that they can help each other out.

For example, the proactive homeschooler has often never sent a child to school. On those days when exhaustion hits and they start thinking sending the child to school would be a lot easier, their reactive homeschooling friends can tell them a few stories about what school is really like. There’s nothing like a little reality to bring you around. People like me, who never sent a child to school until one went off to college, are often stunned by the reality of what’s going on in the schools today.

(In my newsletter, I usually include a recent news story about something outrageous happening in a school. I do this so that we naïve proactive homeschoolers are reminded about what’s going on there, because we don’t know. I call it the “What Our Kids Are Missing Out On Dept.” because we need to be aware of just what’s happening in schools. Quite frankly, these stories shock me as much as they shock some of my readers. Call it negative reinforcement if you wish, but it works.)

Proactive homeschoolers have the ability to return this favor to their reactive homeschooling friends. Often, reactive homeschoolers pulled a child out of school rather quickly, before they had a chance to learn about the many ways to educate a child at home. Proactive homeschoolers tend to have more experience with this, and can share resources and materials with their friends. They can help them navigate this new path and save them a lot of trouble “reinventing the wheel” of homeschooling.

Instead of viewing other homeschoolers as those using a different method, we can look at them as being proactive or reactive homeschoolers. We all fall into one of those two groups, and each is the perfect helper to the other. We need to have a cooperative spirit with other homeschoolers instead of feeling different from them, because the assault on homeschooling freedoms continues. As Benjamin Franklin famously said upon signing the Declaration of Independence, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Are you intimidated by the thought of homeschooling your kids all the way through high school? I was.

Do you worry that you’re not up to the challenge of homeschooling your teens? I did.

Do you wonder what it’s like, living with teenagers every day? I was pretty curious about that myself.

I never thought I’d homeschool my children all the way through high school. I wasn’t even sure I could do it. But I did, and I’m sure glad I did. But it wasn’t always easy, and there were times when I needed some encouragement.

You can have that encouragement, and get a little peek into the world of homeschooling teenagers in the process, with “Homeschooling Your Teenagers.” It’s an eBook with eleven articles* from the archives of “The Imperfect Homeschooler.” These articles are no longer available online….but you can have them for yourself now in Amazon Kindle eBook format for only 99 cents (reg. $7.95) by clicking here.

*Plus, there’s a list of links to online resources that will help you homeschool your teen for free!

and includes a few family photos 

Check it out HERE. Get your very own free subscription by clicking the word “Newsletter” on the left side of this page.

“Ron Paul’s Home School High School Curriculum,”

An article about teaching woodworking to your children,

And the link to a free eBook.

These are just a few of the things you’ll find in this month’s issue of “The Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter. Subscribers got theirs earlier this week. Want yours to arrive in your email box each month? Sign up here.

• What practical course of study can be used to teach your children about science and theology?
• Where will you find a huge database of teaching helps and lesson plans?
• Where can you get a free eBook about beating the high cost of college?

The answers to these questions plus other useful information for homeschooling parents can be found in the current issue. Do subscribe so you can receive each newsletter “hot off the press.” 

What’s another skill (besides cooking) that our kids will need for the future?

Need some ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday with your kids?

How can teens get two years of college paid in full, plus a stipend?

And as always, there’s a true story in the “What Our Kids Are Missing Out On Dept.” that will make you extra glad you keep your kids home from school….

Here’s the link; if you want your own copy to go thud in your emailbox each month, sign up here.

This month’s lead article is the first in the Back to Basics 2010 series; it’s called “Kids and Cooking.” Let me know what you think!

(PS…..Just three days left on the Buy One, Get One Free sale…..don’t miss out!)