Category Archives: Homeschool

Sharing 20 years of homeschool experience

Summer and Homeschooling

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Do you homeschool during the summer? Some years we do, others we don’t. It depends on what’s going on with our family each year.

I enjoy both schedules, but I have to admit that summer is a great time to not think about homeschooling. Letting the whole family enjoy downtime gives everyone a break from the homeschool routine and gives me some breathing space. Besides, after being cooped up a lot during a very long winter, we’re really enjoying the beautiful weather.

This summer we won’t be doing school other than a weekly review for my son, who has developmental disabilities; there are just too many other things going on in our lives. But one thing I’ve learned in the past is that no matter how much I don’t want to think about homeschooling by the time June rolls around, come August I’ll be drooling over homeschool catalogs, hanging out at the teacher store and plotting my purchases.

So if you need the summer off, go ahead and take it. Let yourself be refreshed. You’ll have plenty of time to think about homeschooling later this summer.

Frank Family Current Events

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My Dear Graduate
My Dear Graduate

So it’s been a busy few weeks, as you may have guessed, since most of my recent posts were about one subject (college), which is often a sign that I’ve been pre-posting  😉

I think May is quite busy for most people, but this year our May is special because we have another homeschool graduate who also has a May birthday. Last week Mary, our dd17, turned 18, so that naturally involved some celebrating. She was born on Mother’s Day 1991, a very welcome gift who has continued to be a great pleasure in our lives.

Last week she also played her violin in her final concert with the Door County String Academy in beautiful new Juniper Hall at Birch Creek Music Center, where she received a plaque for being a graduating senior. Then on Sunday she played at a fundraising concert for the Academy at gorgeous Bjorklunden on the shores of Lake Michigan. (Sorry about all the adjectives, but Door County really is an incredibly scenic place!)

She still has a few projects left before she officially finishes homeschool high school. This year she also earned some credits at the technical college an hour south of here, so I’ve included those on her lovely homemade high school transcript, the last one I’ll ever make. (Sniff!) She has plans for the fall, but is keeping that news on the QT until it becomes official. We’re having a graduation party for her next month in the Chicago area, where most of our family and friends live. Congratulations, Mary!

This year is shaping up to be another big year of change in our lives. Not only are we graduating another “home grown kid,” but it looks like we’ll be moving again when our lease is up in August. My husband’s career status is probably going to change again, and mine might too, we just don’t know yet. We know God has a plan; I just have to remind myself to stay calm as I wait for it to unfold  🙂

Great Tools for Financial Literacy

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I’ve been using Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers with dd17 for the past 18 months or so, and we’re almost finished. We’ve been having a lot of fun with the projects.

Funny how using Life Prep has been a different experience with each of my children.

Our eldest was very eager to get out on her own, so we emphasized the rent, food and utilities projects over the others. Our son was completely college-minded, so we stuck to more reading and less projects. Dd17 is not in a big hurry to be out on her own, but she’s not sure about college either (she’s already racked up a few credit hours and isn’t sure if she wants to keep going), but she really gets into all of the projects.

She has run a couple of small businesses, so she understands the need to watch your expenses and make prudent choices. She seems to really get into studying how loans work, and how you can save a lot of money by prepaying them.

While working on the projects from the book, she enjoyed playing with some online financial calculators at Bankrate.com. They’re wonderful! I plan on adding mention of them to the next edition of the book when we update it again in a few years.

Beware of College: Now What?

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So colleges aren’t what they used to be. Does this mean you shouldn’t send your teen to college?

Not at all. What it does mean is that you and your teen must be extremely diligent in the choice of a college, once you determine that he or she is “college material.”

How to define “college material”:

Motivated to attend college, to study hard and to succeed.

Strong enough to handle peer pressure of all kinds.

Interested in a career that requires a college degree and will allow the degree-holder to make enough money to cover the cost of said college experience and then some.

Willing to help pay for college (important for what it says about your child as much as how it will help financially).

If you still think your teen is “college material,” it’s time for due diligence. Check out prospective colleges thoroughly. This includes Christian colleges, some of which are Christian in name only. If you’re going to leave your teen somewhere for four (or more) years, you want it to be a good, safe place, not just a well-known place, right?

Finally, in light of what we’ve considered in these college posts, consider online learning and/or community college for at least part of your child’s college experience. Starting out by studying at home can give your child time to mature further, in order to face the trials and temptations of modern college life with more maturity than he or she had at 18.

One good book for those who are attracted to the benefits of distance learning for college is Accelerated Distance Learning.

 

Next: College: The Bottom Line