Doing School with Dad

Posted on by
3


For the last year or so, my husband has taken on the responsibility for homeschooling our son once a week. What a blessing that is! Since we do school in the mornings and I work in the afternoons, having that free morning is wonderful for running errands, doing chores or just playing catch-up around here.

But I’m not the only one who benefits. Josh loves doing school with his dad. They work on fun art projects while playing Tom Chapin cd’s. My husband is artistic and patient, so he’s very good at teaching Josh. They’re used to working with each other in the workshop, so they’ve already established a pattern of doing projects together. (I’m sure the fact that they’re creating things, instead of working on math or reading, only adds to Josh’s enjoyment.

Their most recent project was a nativity scene (figures and stable) that my husband found online. It’s now sitting in our dining room, awaiting the arrival of the rest of our family this weekend.

Having homeschooled my kids since the mid-1980s, I’m starting to want to do other things. My husband taking on homeschooling one day a week has made it easier for me to keep doing the other four days.  🙂

Growing Up to Be a Rock Star (Rant Warning)

Posted on by
11

Does this photo from a Christmas ad bug you the way it bugs me? I just hate that our society promotes being a rock star to little children.

I mean, think about what we’re saying to our little people when we push this stuff on them:

It’s important to be the center of attention.

It’s important to be cool.

It’s important to gain the adulation of others.

(And we wonder why kids are so spoiled and demanding these days.)

As if that wasn’t bad enough, don’t parents care that they’re encouraging their children to emulate people who dress like bums and hookers, smoke pot (and worse) until their brain cells are fried, and pickle their livers because they’re drunk so much of the time?

Seriously, do these parents look at their little darlings and think, “Maybe she’ll be the next Lady Gaga!”?

So few people seem to care about developing good character in their children anymore. It’s all about fame and fortune and having a good time. How sad.

(Rant over.)

The High School Learning Experience: How Do Homeschoolers Compare?

Posted on by
7

So, homeschooling parent, think your teens are learning as much at home as they would learn in high school?

We know from our own childhood experience that the school day is full of interruptions and inconsistencies. Whenever you put 30 kids in a room, you create an environment that’s not exactly conducive to concentration.

But something’s changed since we were young, something that makes it even harder to learn: cell phones. Where I live, the high schools banned cell phones until 2007, when they allowed students to carry them as long as they were turned off and put away during class.

Guess what? It was too hard to enforce that rule, so now kids text throughout class. Teachers are worried that students could be texting test answers to each other. Perhaps, but at the very least, I think we can assume they aren’t paying attention to the teacher if they’re busy texting:

“Cell phone use continues to grow. Texting is more common, and many students are adept at sending silent text messages from their pockets. They don’t even look at the keypad.”

One teacher said, “Every kid has one, and they’re used covertly, regularly.”

I understand that today’s kids are good at multitasking, but I doubt that they can absorb much information while they’re busy corresponding with other people via texting.

Homeschooling parents needn’t worry whether their kids are learning as much as their publicly schooled friends. I’d say they’re way ahead of them if their home life affords them regular uninterrupted periods of time for reading, writing and doing math. Seriously, if kids can text during class, public high school has become a joke.