As homeschooling is not a one time shot activity but rather a long term process. It is frequent that parents get homeschool burnout and blocked, not knowing what new activities to include in the educational program or in the extra-curricular time. If you are a parent and caught in this rut, then you will appreciate a helpful, simple idea or two that can get you on track again. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully help:

1. Vision Boards: take a big blank sheet of paper or cardboard, stick it on a wall and invite your child to create his imagination by using drawings or images which he should put together in a collage on the dream board. If you want, you can actually have two boards: one for the reality and the second one for dreams. You can use this exercise to make the child conscious of the moments when dreams become reality, thus helping him understand what pursuing goals actually means. Make sure to offer the child a lot of material from which he can choose his images such as travel brochures, old magazines and newspapers or advertising leaflets.

2. Drama Days: organize such days in which your kids and their friends will have to produce a drama or play by themselves in front of an audience formed by their friends and families. They could recite poems, sing, dance, direct and play a puppet show or a real play with roles and costumes, or they could compete in a short movie festival for which they produce movies on selected themes. Almost all cheap point-and-shoot photo cameras can record up to 15 minutes of video with sound, so this idea won’t cost you too much. For bigger children, you can allow them to use a computer video editor for finishing their movies.

3. Creative Kitchen: have the kids help you cook. Make or buy them some colored dough which they can use to make puppets, plants or animals, then let them bake their creations. You can also allow them cook for real, by using a recipe book. You’ll have the opportunity to see how well they can read and how much do they understand from the text. However, always supervise them closely and don’t let them use kitchen appliances when you are not present.

For more ideas of creative home education, you could buy some books that will help you. A good example is “The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12″, which is available also online.

The credit crunch has affected all industries, and
private education is not an exception. In the UK, almost 20 private
schools have either already been closed or announced that they will be
closing in the next few months. Parents are forced to look for
alternatives in these circumstances, leading to the increasing
popularity of home schooling by full-time private tutors. Affluent
families switching from a closing private school to home schooling by a
full time private tutor are realising that the change is more than a
solution; it’s an improvement. With more positive mainstream media
coverage than ever before, attitudes towards home schooling are
changing and the credit crunch seems to be creating a renaissance in
home schooling.

Home schooling marks a return to traditional teaching methods

Educating
a child in a school setting is a relatively recent phenomenon;
compulsory education was introduced as late as the 1880’s. It took a
significant period of time for schooling to become recognisable as the
formal schooling provided by the state as seen in the twenty-first
century.

For the affluent, the history of education has run a
different course; wealthy families have traditionally engaged the
services of a full-time private tutor - often a governess - to educate
their children. Private schools were few and far between, often
offering a predominantly religious education, or preparation for life
as a naval officer or other specialised profession. Private schools as
we would recognise them today didn’t establish themselves until as late
as the nineteenth century, and now that some are closing due to the
credit crunch, parents are going back to the traditional method of
educating their child with a full-time private tutor.

A private school closure forces parents to re-evaluate how their child is educated

The
closure of school is incredibly stressful for all involved, especially
as in some cases, the announcement can be sudden and with little
notice. A private school is run as a business, therefore closure can
take place just as suddenly as it can for a failing company. If there
are no other suitable schools in the area, the family may have to
consider moving house in order to find a place to educate their child.

When
faced with the prospect of having to sell the family home, leaving
behind friends and neighbours, school based education has suddenly
turned into an inconvenience. This is when a family seriously considers
home education.

Private tuition that is tailored to the child

Private
schools are often excellent at providing extra help where needed, or
additional activities for the gifted child. However, nothing compares
to the simple fact that professional home schooling carried out by a
full-time tutors results in education that is tailor made to suit the
child’s learning style. The tutor receives immediate feedback and can
alter explanations accordingly, so the home schooled child is never
left behind when they find a new topic difficult, nor bored when the
subject is something they find easy.

Home schooling a teenager in the critical exam years

If
there is someone in the family who has the time to school a child at
home every day, home schooling for a younger child may be possible for
a parent. However, if the child is on the brink of critical exams,
parents need to recruit a private tutor to deal with the more advanced
curriculum. A dedicated full-time private tutor is an ideal solution,
as the best tutors are able to educate at that level in all subjects.
This removes the need to juggle several tutors for short slots, and
ensures that the child receives the best education possible, along with
tailored exam practice. The child can still be entered into public
examinations, so the switch to home schooling with a full-time private
tutor is actually beneficial.

Home schooling and socialisation

Once
parents have realised that, educationally speaking, home schooling is
usually going to be better quality than that received at school, the
next concern is socialisation with peers. The image of a child at home,
constantly studying and not talking to anyone else their own age is
wildly inaccurate. The best full-time private tutors are highly skilled
at finding local clubs and activities designed to provide the
opportunities to socialise and also experience a wide range of pursuits.

Many
teachers and university tutors comment upon how self-assured,
independent and proactive home schooled children are, and when one
considers the nature of school based socialisation, it may not be as
important as first thought. There are likely to be other children with
whom social time is detrimental, and the social conditions experienced
at school are quite artificial. There are very few professions in which
it’s advantageous to be able to sit still in a room with other people
at exactly the same age but differing interests, abilities and
aspirations. Socialisation oriented around a common interest is
rewarding and much closer to adult life, and is also likely to provide
more experience in how to deal with a wider age range that school will
provide.

Home schooling fits around a lifestyle, rather than life fitting around school

For
the families who have employed a full-time tutor after switching from
school education, the benefits of being independent of the school
calendar are apparent. Holidays can be enjoyed as a family at any time
of year. Travel plans can be more ambitious and integrated with the
child’s education, as the tutor can travel with the family and tailor
lessons to incorporate local history, language, culture and places of
interest. There are no longer any reasons to delay trips, as they will
no longer interfere with the child’s education, on the contrary; it
will often enhance their education greatly.

These are just some
of the reasons why we are seeing a renaissance in home schooling by
private tutors. Education for the affluent seems to be coming full
circle; the benefits provided by a dedicated tutor making home
schooling a preferred choice, rather than a last resort when the local
private school closes.

Education is one of the most important needs of any child, allowing them to nurture their curiosity and explore their thoughts. Parents who realize this may however decide not to send their child to a mainstream school for this education, but instead educate their child at school. Choosing the right home schooling curriculum to use is quite an overwhelming decision for parents thinking about it for the first time.

Homeschooling is an alternative means of educating children where the children are educated at home, often by their parents. A curriculum to follow may be obtained through a homeschooling program offered by an institution.

There are many advantages to homeschooling for both parents and children which is why there are so many parents which are now opting for it.

As choosing homeschooling may be quite daunting, here are some tips which may help you to make your decision.

• Making the decision.

Many parents who are thinking about homeschooling their child may be struggling to decide whether they should actually homeschool their child or not, as it is a very important decision to make. One of the most important things to think about is whether or not as parents you are equipped to satisfy the requirements of any homeschooling program.

• Remember that homeschooling is an ongoing process.

Parents should remember that homeschooling is an ongoing process and so it is important to think about one thing at a time. This means that if your child is young you should focus only on what a pre-schooler needs to learn and not try to go too far too fast.

• Be aware of state laws on homeschooling.

Every state in the U.S. has different laws relating to homeschooling so it is crucial to know what they are in your state. This will make sure that you stay within the law while offering your child a good education.

• Find a support group.

If you find a local support group then you will be able to gain additional support from others undergoing homeschooling and also find others for your child to socialize with. Members of support groups can also swap tips to allow you to get even more from your homeschooling.

• Research your choices

Doing your homework on the options available to you is one of the single most important things to think about when you are choosing whether to homeschool your child. If you know everything that you have to do to homeschool your child then you will be able to get the best from the process.

• Think about your child’s learning style.

Assessing your child’s learning style will help you to choose the best way of homeschooling your child. Picking a homeschooling program which will suit your child’s learning style will make it more effective in the long-term.

• Get yourself organized.

Homeschooling will require you to have a set of different materials and also a set place in which the learning may take place. You need to organize an area where there are suitable conditions for learning.

• Organize a budget.

There are a number of costs involved in homeschooling, especially for materials. This means that you need to carefully allocate money for the essentials and then think about optional extras which may be of use.

You can look around on the Internet for many books, as this will often lower your costs. Homeschooling is really a change of lifestyle and something which you need to research carefully to make sure it is for you before making this important decision.

One of the common concerns of many parents when they are considering homeschooling their child is that their child may not get to socialize with other children. It is however a fact that most children who are receiving homeschooling are not being isolated from society but it is just that they are receiving their education in a slightly different manner to most others their age. Many children that have homeschooling still participate in other activities outside of education, for example they may play for a sports team, go to dance classes or music classes. Many parents may also take their children on field trips and offer their children a wider range of educational opportunities than they may get in a state school. In fact, many children that are home schooled may actually be exposed to a wider range of social situations than those in public schools.

There is nothing stipulating that the only way in which to gain such an education is through public school. In fact in the past it was common that children were educated at home by a governess or parent. Examples of famous people who have been home schooled include Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, LeAnn Rimes, Ansel Adams and William F. Buckley Jr.

Most children usually spend around 7.5 hours in school every weekday, with classes only taking up around 6.5 hours of that time. The other hour of the day is split between lunchtime and getting to and from each class, and there is not a whole lot of time for socializing in that time. Many children at school get most of their socialization experience from out of school activities and clubs.

The public doesn’t generally know that much about homeschooling however. This means that many people may not have an accurate perception of what actually happens when a child is home schooled. It is not often realized that one of the founding principles of homeschooling to encourage participation in activities outside of the classroom to explore other areas than academia, and develop a whole range of interpersonal skills. The fact that homeschooling may not result in recognized qualifications doesn’t mean that social skills are not developed. In fact there are a number of national spelling bees which are often won by home schooled children, including the National Geographic Bee and Scripps National.

One of the main reasons that there have been such a lot of misconceptions built up about homeschooling is that before the 1960s many of the people that were home schooled were those with learning or mental difficulties which couldn’t be provided for in mainstream schooling. This may have contributed to the current idea that home schooled children are deficient in social skills.

There are many who today are working to try and dispel these myths, such as homeschooling organizations and the media. In fact, given the higher numbers of children winning many national competitions, it is only a matter of time before the merits of homeschooling are better recognized.

A subscription to Home school Success News or another specialist publication allows parents to stay current with the latest news in homeschooling.

Students often find that they have a particular interest or a special talent they want to spend time developing. Often, especially during high school, this creates a time crunch. Traditional schooling doesn’t allow much flexibility for students who have a particular talent or interest, such as acting. Many students who are also actors opt for a nontraditional alternative to education and turn to a distance learning program.

Many young actors find that in order to continue both their work as an actor and their schooling, they need to homeschool. Because they are busy working at their craft, they look to a quality distance learning program to help them meet their school requirements. Homeschooling frees an actor from the constraints of a traditional classroom. It allows the actor to follow the ebbs and flows of his work cycle and yet maintain progress toward high school graduation. It used to be that actors would employ tutors to work with them while they were on a set or involved in a particular show. While this is still an option, many actors prefer to rely on distance learning classes.

In the past, actors have led isolated lives. They are working professionals at a young age and while they thrive in that environment, it doesn’t usually offer them much in the way of interaction with their peers. Having a tutor can compound that problem, and can isolate the actor even more. Distance learning homeschool classes can offer an opportunity for an actor to be involved with an online learning community. A distance learning homeschool can offer a classroom community and can also offer an opportunity for a student to participate in extracurricular activities. An actor could conceivably be involved in clubs or a student run newspaper through his distance learning school, thereby creating for him a sense of community he wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.

A distance learning homeschool program allows a learning program to be tailored to the individual. An actor might find himself with six months off between jobs and he might want to concentrate on accelerating his studies for those six months. An actor might want to try to condense his time in school, earning a high school degree in three years instead of four. Or, if an actor is particularly busy, he may well want to slow down his high school classes and earn a degree in five or six years, instead of the traditional four. The flexibility of a distance learning homeschool program is important to many actors.

A distance learning homeschool can be a great educational choice for an actor. It can afford flexibility of scheduling and in the length of time it takes to complete a high school degree. It can offer an online community of learners the actor’s own age, allowing collaboration and communication with learners involved in similar situations. An online distance learning homeschool can offer the structure needed by some actors to stay on task and to work toward completing a high school degree, while continuing to work at their craft.

Home schooling is the method whereby children are educated at home, instead of in a more traditional public or private school setting. Most often, the teacher in a home school situation is the parent of that child.

There are two sides to the home schooling debate. Those who are opposed to home schooling feel that it does not provide the best standardized education or socialization that a child needs to become a healthy and contributing member of society. In addition, they feel that parents who choose to home school their children are “weird” and old fashioned. These people still see home schooling as archaic.

However, parents who home school their own children will tell you differently. First, home school programs are just about as dynamic as you can get, in terms of providing unique and authentic experiences for the child that cater to their individual needs and learning style. Most parents who home school will tell you that it is the biggest reward ever to watch your own child discover new things and develop as an individual, especially knowing that you played a part in facilitating that learning.

If you are deciding whether or not a home school program is a good fit for you and your child, there are many convincing arguments on both sides of the table. Ultimately though, the decision is yours to make. Consider the following steps to preparing for home schooling your child.

1. Make your decision: Home schooling your child is not a decision that is, or should be arrived at lightly. This new dynamic in your home can change your relationship with your child and others. Make a list of pros and cons for the decision. Sit down and talk with your family about how each person feels about home schooling. Finally, consider whether or not you are willing and able to make the time and energy commitment that home schooling requires in order to be successful. You need to be able to clearly articulate why you feel that a home school program will be the best fit for you and your child.
2. Understand that learning is a process: Once you enter into the home school program, you now become a teacher. If you don’t have an appropriate understanding of child and learning development, you should do a little research. Learning takes time. And obviously a pre-schooler will be at a much different level than a high school student. That said, you need to be able to prepare a lesson that meets your child where they are at and takes them where they need to go.
3. Know and follow your state laws for home schooling: Each individual state has its own laws regarding home schooling. You need to keep abreast of the laws and regulations so that your child will be prepared when it is time to enter a higher education institution. Otherwise, all your hard work and theirs could go to waste, as it would not be considered a valid education.
4. Find a local support group: Parents who are just beginning to home school their child will benefit greatly from a group of experienced home schoolers. They can provide all the necessary resources and advice. In addition, this group provides a social network of other home school students for you child. Consider joining one of these groups right away.

Homeschooling used to be the standard in education, rather than an unusual occurrence. Most families educated their children at home and focused on the skills necessary for their child to meet the demands of his job and station in society. That changed with the development of the one room school house, where one teacher would teach a diverse group of student at their own levels. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the factory model of education came into being and standardized the educational product. This meant that each student was taught the same thing, at the same time, and in the same way.

Homeschooling has continued to be an option for many families throughout this time period. Many families embraced homeschooling for the flexibility and freedom it afforded them. Many looked to it as a way to meet a child’s learning needs or learning differences. But homeschooling was seen by many as a limited alternative to what had then become traditional education. Homeschooling was often seen as an isolating experience, where students would rarely come into contact with other students. These students were seen as lacking in social skills and being deprived of the lively interaction of a traditional classroom. Homeschooling was seen as an educational option, but a limited one.

In the twenty-first century, homeschooling has taken on a dynamic new identity. Homeschool students have a variety of options available to them and more and more families are turning to these options as a way of meeting their child’s educational needs. Traditional schools are seen as becoming more and more entrenched and limited in their offerings for students. With the advent of accredited distance learning programs, the educational opportunities for homeschool students have been dramatically enhanced and often, traditional schools are unable to compete with the scope and variety of distance learning programs.

With a variety of accredited distance learning options available to homeschool students, it is now possible to tailor an education to the learning style of your child. Parents no longer have to settle for an education simply because that’s what the school down the road offers. As savvy consumers, homeschool parents can pick and choose the education that best meets their child’s needs.

These distance learning schools offer aspects of learning that homeschoolers were often left to create on their own. These include things such as extracurricular clubs and activities such as newspapers and yearbooks. Distance learning schools also offer a community learning experience to the homeschool student. He can find his place among his peers and learn in a collaborative environment that includes both an expert teacher and interesting and challenging classmates. All this can take place in a safe environment overseen by the distance learning school administration and teaching staff.

With the advent of distance learning opportunities, the face of homeschool has taken on a dramatic change. No longer is the perception of a homeschool that of a lonely student toiling away at home. The new face of the homeschool student is a dynamic, interactive student savvy enough to capitalize on a great education, tailor made for his learning style.

Learning environments can make a great deal of difference in the quantity and quality of things a student learns. A student’s comfort level in that environment makes a great deal of difference as well. Many successful traditional school students mastered their classroom environment early on. They almost subconsciously found the keys to be successful students and then simply continued to expand on those skills. They listened attentively, took good notes, memorized information, asked the teacher questions, and worked hard to complete the assignments that would earn them good grades.

Not everyone finds success in a traditional classroom. Many students never learn the skills necessary to be successful and often fall through the cracks. Many simply fade away, some drop out, and some limp along as best they can. Many families make the choice to avoid traditional classrooms altogether and opt to homeschool their child. Homeschooling affords families the ability to create the learning environment they feel is best for their child.

Homeschool learning environments can be tailored to the individual learning style of each student. In general, homeschool learning environments are dynamic and active. Many homeschoolers thrive in a hands-on environment with much tactile and kinesthetic learning taking place. A close relationship develops between the student and the parent/teacher in such a setting, due to the intimate nature of the classroom. Students are able to discuss issues and questions much more closely in a homeschool learning environment. This often leads to greater understanding of material. In a homeschool environment, students are not left behind if they don’t get something the first time. They have the ability to stick with an issue until it’s mastered. That ability to master a topic or a concept and then move on helps to foster a greater sense of confidence in a homeschool student, therefore creating a stronger student in general.

Homeschool learning environments have the ability to create genuine learning situations that often just aren’t available in a traditional classroom. Often in a homeschool setting, learning one concept can lead to a natural question about another concept or a related idea. That idea can be explored thoroughly in a dynamic homeschool environment, where in a traditional classroom it might need to be pushed aside in order to meet the next learning objective on time.

Homeschool learning environments can be enhanced in many ways, through collaborative efforts of homeschool groups. Often students will join groups and form small classes in order to gain the benefits of collaboration and to capitalize on the knowledge of an expert. This learning environment can be further embellished by the addition of a distance learning environment. Distance learning environments can open up new worlds to the homeschool student, where he can find challenging and dynamic learning opportunities that suit his learning style and capitalize on the expertise of teachers everywhere.

The learning environment for the homeschool student is now nearly unlimited. With homeschool collaboration groups and distance learning schools added to enhance the learning experience, the homeschool learning environment is undeniably rich.

Homeschooling has long been an enticing alternative to traditional schooling. Many families choose homeschooling as a way to keep their children safe, as a way to help control what information their children are exposed to, and as a way to help foster their children’s competence as a learner.

Homeschooling creates a one on one relationship between a parent/teacher and a child/student. In a homeschool environment, this relationship is a very intimate one. In a traditional classroom, it’s always possible for a student to fly under the radar. If a student doesn’t prepare for a class by doing the reading or the homework, it may be possible to get away with that undetected by the teacher. In a homeschool environment, this is not possible. The parent/teacher knows what the child is doing (or not doing). Students in a homeschool environment quickly learn that they are responsible for their own learning and that they have an integral part in the learning equation. Students understand that there is no benefit to showing up unprepared because there is no “faking it” or sliding through. Homeschool students shoulder the full responsibility for their work.

Because homeschoolers learn from an early age that their work is their responsibility, they become more responsible learners. Homeschoolers also learn that they are a valid part of the learning process. In a homeschool environment, questions a child asks can all be answered. If a child doesn’t understand something and asks for clarification, the teacher in the homeschool setting will answer that question until the student is satisfied. In a traditional classroom, often there is no time for answering questions, or students feel embarrassed to ask questions because they don’t want to get laughed at or ridiculed by other students. Homeschool students develop a better sense of their own competence because their questions are treated as valid by the teacher and each question can be answered. Homeschool students tend to have more self confidence and more tenacity when it comes to learning, which leads to greater success.

Homeschool students tent to be more invested in their learning process. Often, homeschool parents will create curriculum with their students, following their students’ interests and goals. In traditional schools, student schedules are often created for them or without student input so that students feel that they are just supposed to show up and do what they’re told. Having an investment in the creation of the learning curriculum enables the student to feel like a competent part of the process instead of someone who merely shows up and does what he’s told. That investment and feeling of competence will stay with the student as he moves on in life and will help him become a successful adult.

Homeschooling creates and fosters a sense of individual responsibility and a sense of personal competence that enables homeschool students to find success in their schooling and in their lives. That sense of competence and self-confidence is fostered by the flexibility and freedom of the homeschooling environment and the amount of personal investment the homeschool students has in his own learning process.

Children begin to learn about choices at a very early age. We are teaching them how to make decisions when we ask them questions such as:

Do you want cheerios or raisin bran?

Do you want orange juice or grape juice?

Do you want to play with the blocks or the puzzle?

When children are small, we limit the choices we give them and we instinctively know that too many choices can be overwhelming to them. When we limit the number of choices we give them, and make sure that the choices we give them are all acceptable to us, we are allowing them to make choices that are safe for them. It also begins to build their confidence in making decisions.

What we seem to forget as they are growing up is to continue to give them choices where the options we give them are acceptable to us. If they do want to make a choice that you are hesitant about, ask them to give you the reasons why they would like to make that choice. This experience will help them learn to assert themselves which is a very valuable skill as they move into their teens. They also just might have a logical reason why they want to make that choice. Assertion is not about getting what you want; it’s about asking for what you want and the chances of getting what you want goes up when you ask for it. Teach them to ask in an appropriate way and then listen to them.

I know a dad who was spending the day with his 13 year old daughter. They decided to go to the movies and she wanted to see Transformers. His reaction was that he did not think it was suitable for her. Her reply was would he take her if she was a boy. When he realized that he would, his reaction to her choice was a positive one and they saw the movie. Most important, however, was that she learned to give reasons why or why not this would be a good choice, and he learned that he needed to be more careful about not stereotyping her gender. It was a win/win situation that brought them even closer.

As your children mature, it is still advisable to limit their choices to ones that are acceptable to you. Safety, resources and time involved in their activities will limit some choices out of necessity. When you ask them what sports activity they want to be involved in they assume you mean what you say. If there are limited choices they can make it is better to limit the choices to ones they can actually make, such as do you want to take music or dance, play piano or violin, play baseball or basketball, if these are choices they can make. Otherwise you are setting them up. I once worked with a mother who told her teenager that it was her way or the highway and was surprised when the child ran away. She may not have been into choices but her daughter was!

As children mature they will begin to see what options and choices they have and be able to evaluate them in a way that will help them make better decisions as they journey through their teen-age and adult stages. We cannot expect our children to make good decisions as they grow up if they have not had any experience doing so, and experienced the results of the decisions they have made. When a decision has not produced the results they wanted, it provides a great opportunity to discuss with them what happened and what different choices they may make in the future.

Watch for future articles about the process of teaching children how to learn decision-making skills in a safe structured way as they learn to set and reach goals. In the meantime, go to www.homeschoolingsuccessfulkids.com for more information about goal setting and click on questions on the left to ask a question, need for more information, or to share your experiences with us. We look forward to hearing from you.