Homeschool Info
Articles, Meanderings, and Thoughts from the Homeschool Community
Nurturing Spirituality Brings Out The Best When Homeschooling
by Sally Keys A well rounded education is essential to growing a well rounded learner. With around 21 primary subjects to choose from - increasing to many more in high school - what is your best choice for including a spiritual understanding when homeschooling? Does...
My Homeschooling Story
by Jennifer Eager My eldest daughter was four years old, and she was reading. Not memorizing a story and parroting back, not sight reading three letter words and laboriously sounding out others. Reading. She could pick up any children's book and read it, cover to...
Going Beyond the Classroom: Life Skills for Students
Individual needs are well met in a homeschool environment BY SALLY KEYS When it comes to providing the best education for your child, you want to make sure that they have the best resources possible. That is one of the reasons why more and more families opt for...
Making Youth Fitness Fun
I walked by a soccer practice the other day and witnessed a coach yelling at his players. The children seemed to be about 10-12 years old, certainly not yet teenagers. He was pretty demanding, I’d hate to say foaming at the mouth, but it definitely seemed that way. As the coach shouted at his players, he prompted them to do various calisthenics and exercises. I was only walking by so I wasn’t able to take in too much, but in my observation I heard commands such as:
Why Homeschool?
Families have been homeschooling since the dawn of time. The reasons we do so now are varied yet we are all under the same umbrella of home educating our children. Over the years the trends change and homeschool group notice an influx at certain times of the year or during education regulation or curriculum changes, such as the Common Core issues in New York that are still playing out as of January 2014.
Common Core and Homeschooling
Common Core is nothing new. It’s just the latest round of “fixing” public education by proposing new standards, tests, etc. The modern standardization movement goes back to the Nation At Risk report 30 years ago, and its biggest push was in the form of No Child Left Unstandardized a dozen years ago. Yet homeschooling regulation hasn’t gotten stricter over that time. There was concern in the wake of No Child Left Unstandardized that “they’re going to come for the private schools next, and then they’re going to come for us”.
Can My Home Schooled Child Play a Band Instrument without Going to Public School?
Your child hears a really great saxophone solo on the radio, or hears a beautiful classical flute piece on YouTube. You want to provide a good musical education for your child, but you realize that there are few to no resources for instrumental music, unless your child plays piano, guitar or violin. Lessons on any of these instruments are great because it provides a solid harmonic background and rich musical experiences, but what if your child wants to play the flute? Where can you go to find information or services for this?
How American Homeschoolers Measure Up
Once upon a time all children were homeschooled. Around 150 years ago, states started making public schooling mandatory and homeschooling eventually withered out or became illegal in certain states. It wasn’t until the late 90s that all states made it legal again. Today, with more than 2 million homeschoolers, it’s the fastest growing form of education in the country.
Socializing the Homeschooler
Homeschooling in New York City may seem like a rarity but it has become quite the movement. Even I, a native New Yorker, originally thought of homeschooling as something done in more rural areas. Instead, many New York families have chosen to pull their children from public school and use the vast wonders of the city as their classroom. There are museums, science labs, historical sites, various cultures and cuisines. So much, that years worth of curriculum could be covered without traveling beyond a few subway stops.
School and Sleeping In
Dark, damp and chilly mornings remind me of nudging my daughter awake, telling her not to dawdle but to get ready for school. On those mornings, she’d stumble, bleary-eyed out of bed, hair a knotted mess, shoulders slumped, breathing still slow as if she could fall back to sleep right there on the way to breakfast.
Demystifying the Regulations
New York’s home education regulation (section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education) consists of several pages (at least four if you still want it to be legible) and lots of text. With all that material, it is easy to lose track of what actually needs to be submitted to the school district. The following is a listing of the documents which must be submitted with a brief description of each. It is always a good idea to send correspondence to the school district certified mail, return receipt requested so that you have proof that it was received.
When Socialization isn’t the Issue
It inevitably happens at some gathering where friends and relatives are part of one big family; the issue of home education arises. Generally the subject of regulations and government homeschool oversight comes up after they know my son for some time and see how social he is. It’s usually after comments about what a nice kid he is… how polite, good manners, great at negotiating the problems that arise when the kids are playing and an argument breaks out and other qualities of character.