Category Archives: Homeschool

Sharing 20 years of homeschool experience

Picture Books vs. Chapter Books

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10

An article in the New York Times suggests that sales of picture books for children are slumping because today’s overeager parents push their children to read chapter books instead.

Perhaps. But I’m in agreement with many of the article’s commenters, who say that picture books have simply gotten too expensive, especially given the current state of the economy. Many say they prefer to buy picture books at garage sales or check them out at the public library.

A commenter who’s a librarian notes that she checked the circulation stats of her library’s  picture books and discovered a 10% increase in check-out rates over the past year. That would seem to indicate that the commenters are on the right track and perhaps the writer of the article was blowing the issue out of proportion.

That said, you can go in any bookstore and see all sorts of books that are quite beautiful, but whose plot lines are lame, if they have plots at all. My kids’ favorite books usually had strong plots, ones that they anticipated every time we read aloud together.

What do you think? Are parents pushing their kids into chapter books, or is it just that picture books cost too much?

For the Distractible Writer

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My Neo is a little word processor that I love. Both my daughter and I use it when we want to write without the distraction of the Internet, or anything else for that matter.

The Neo is a small, sturdy little keyboard that can go anywhere. It runs for ages on three AA batteries. It was built for the classroom, so it’s tough.

The only thing it does is let you write. No formatting, no bolding, no italicizing, no change of font: nothing to distract you from the task at hand. If you turn it off (or let it shut off after a few minutes of non-use), it saves whatever you’ve written. When you’re ready to edit, post or print, you just send the file to your computer with a cable, or a point-and-shoot infrared device you can add on for a small fee.

Even if you’re not a writer (not even a blogger), you’ll find this useful for your kids. They can learn to type on it and write their school assignments on it, freeing up the family computer for surfing and other purposes.

I paid around $225 for this gadget several years ago and thought it was worth it. Now it’s come down to $169. Such a deal!

Destruction of a Homeschooling Family

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1

A homeschooling couple I know just broke up. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard of this happening, but this particular couple is a special one and I feel really bad about it.

Surely Christian families are under attack. What else possesses a man to leave his wife and several beautiful children whom he supposedly loves to “do his own thing” except sin?

He knows his decision will force his wife back to work and his kids back to school (where they originally struggled before being homeschooled) and little ones to daycare. But sin convinces him to put himself and his desires first.

The mom in this family is a strong person, with a loving, loyal family who will have her back. But that won’t erase her pain, nor the lifelong damage done to trusting young children who are about to learn firsthand about betrayal.

Did you ever want to go up to someone and smack them upside the head and knock some sense into them? I do, right now, but that’s not what Jesus would do, so I’m just going to pray for this family instead. I hope you will, too.

No More Homeschool Mom?

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4

I just finished submitting the online form required of homeschooling parents here in Wisconsin…..for the last time.

Our youngest child turns 18 next spring. According to Wisconsin law, we can legally stop educating him after that semester, whether or not he graduates.

Of course, he’s not done learning (is anyone, really?) and we’ll continue to work with him as we always have. But it’s a strange feeling to think that we’ll no longer be officially homeschooling after this school year.

I’ve been teaching my kids for well over 20 years; 27 years this month, to be precise, if homeschooling begins at birth. It’s really hard to think of myself as anything but a homeschooling mom. I guess I’ll have to start adjusting that view.