Homeschooling

[Dr T]

My wife and I have decided to homeschool next year. Never would have believed it but it's true. ONe of my big fears is in completing their schooling and then not getting a diploma and then having to get a GED instead. How do homeschoolers work this out in the state of CA?

[shanstress70]

Congrats on your decision, Dr T! I think that's great. My husband and I are toying with the idea.

[Dr T]

My wife and I will be going to a homeschool convention in June or July. I'm sure we'll be asking a million questions while there. We'll see how it goes.

[Guest mamacat]

i'm interested in unschooling...i think the idea is to provide a great learning environment, replete with great resources...i.e. books, musical instruments, craft materials, art supplies, etc... available and easily accessible. also readily available, the ability to embark on a variety of activities...such as camping trips, mountian climbing adventures, occean/diving trips...to name a random few. the idea i think, is that the child, through natural curiosity and self-guided learning, will advance his learning through real-life experiences. for example, if he wishes to build a motorcyle, the process of doing so will provide the opportunity to learn everything from math, to physics, to motor skills....

i've heard great things about it...it almost seems that it would require even greater attention to the educational front....as a child's curiosity, when unobstructed by boredom, is boundless.

why did you decide to homeschool Dr. T?

[FrankJL]

As an education major, this has been an interesting read so far.

I think people motivations and misconceptions of pubic schools are interestingly as well.

I'm also kinda curious why the subject of vouchers hasn't come up. In the ed field that seems to be the hot topic right now. Most people that are dissatisfied with their local public school are pushing for the vouchers for private schools, instead of trying to put the burden on themselves of doing something they have no experience with.

[pam]

My Parents tried to Homeschool me........I got expelled for being bad......

Somehow I believe that.

[Dr T]

We've decided so that we can teach our children what we want and minimize some of the school chaos/bad influence that they face in school today. We will keep them involved in activities/sports/social groups and instill in them the proper way to study and learn to think.

[Gabelma]

I am in the UK and although my eldest child (Elana) is only 3.5 we decided to home educate before my husband and I got married. My biggest motivation aside from a strong burning its what Heavenly Father wants me to do is the fact that children are pressured from a very young age I was shocked at the amount of homework elementary/primary school children get - I agree with Maria Montessori that play is a childs work but my neice and friends children seem to have no time at all to just play and be children, that can't be good for anyone.

My daughter is at present outgoing, a little odd, very intelligent and very sociable, all the things that in a few years school could ruin in her it might not but I am not prepared to take that chance. Teachers and other pupils tend not to take so kindly to children who want to be different. I have been very impressed wth the homeschooled children I have met so far, my friend is a librarian and I worked for a shortwhile in Museum Education and the difference in taking a group of homeschooled children over a group of school children is amazing. Whilst I don't want to knock schools, my local schools are great, I do think if its possible for parents to then home education wins hands down for me everytime - children tend to be (and I appreciate its a generalisation, naturally some school children display these traits and some home education is a farce and the kids are awful) more caring, more able to deal with adults and younger children, more interested in the world around them etc an example would be I went to a home ed camp and my daughter was looked after by the other children there I remember thinking she hadn't been to the toilet all day turned out the older kids just helped her, in our local street I get called to put my daughters shoes on.

Right now my plans are mostly unschooling but teaching her writing (following Steiner plan of no reading until 8), basic arthmetic and algebra, and pushing a foreign language very early on (right now because its cheapest option she is being exposed to some Japanese, Arabic and Scots Gaelic). Whilst I was pregnant with my son, Gabriel, we learned a lot about the body which has linked onto cells etc my DR was very impressed my daughter was able to tell him the various hand bones etc I had no intention of doing anything formal until Elana was 8 or 9 but she loves sitting at the kitchen table doing 'school' we use the Draw Write Now books and spent a whole month learning about chickens and learning to draw them, and now she can recognise words and is starting to be able to write her name. Last months was pigs and we have taken some time off before tackling the sheep. We have an active local homeschool group which does help

Need to go battery is low but if you have any questions

Charley

[Gabelma]

I am intrigued by this idea. This is definitely an American thing, we dont 'homeschool' over here. I dont think it could benefit a child as much educationally as attending school can. I went to a fantastic school and my parents could never in a million years have taught me to the standard I was. Plus, there are national set exams, so you have to follow a strict curriculum and are assessed along the way.

There are at least 200,000 children home educated (its called home education not homeschool here) in the UK some of those are LDS although I only know about 10 families personally, this year we have been to several home ed camps up and down the country its a thriving and fun comunity. We don't need to follow a curriculum, or sit exams anymore than children in private schools have too. Indeed in Scotland (its different in England and Wales) I don't even need to tell the local authority I am planning to home educate unless my children are already enrolled in school. Education Otherwise is the first point of call here as you then are put in touch with other members near you. It does involve travelling quite a bit but then I figure doesn't do my kids any harm to learn about public transport and how to get to places.

Last year Scotlands top pupil was home educated until she was 16 she got 100% on her Higher Physics exam and is intending to study Theoretical Physics. Many parents are daunted until they realise you don't need to teach as much as you learn together and many home ed children fare much better at university than school children because they already know how to learn and set their own deadlines. And they do tend to be more interested in what they are learning.

My Mum didn't home educate us but wanted too and have to say the skills she gave us despite not being highly educated herself allowed me to learn more than anything I learned at school, hopefully I can do the same for my kids.

I have met many main stremed schooled children who don't know their geography and are pretty poorly educated some of them even have degrees lol the only home educated missionary I have ever met was the best educated person I have ever met

Charley

[Guest mamacat]

dear Gabelma ~

i've enjoyed your posts immensely! esp the way that you have combined unschooling and waldorf ~

Right now my plans are mostly unschooling but teaching her writing (following Steiner plan of no reading until 8.

this makes such sense actually....i felt such relief this. i would love hearing more about how you conduct your homeschooling, esp with the steiner/unschooling methods. i have not encountered the Read Write Now books but i will look into them.

as for my public school education, i entered high school without once ever having seen, discussed or referenced a map of europe, or any map for that matter. not to mention the various other continents, countries and cultures in the world.

we have world maps covering our walls, and our next project is obtaining maps and replicas of our solar system, stars and space.

i love this discussion. thanks so much for including your experiences here.

[ldsrebel]

Hey all!

I am homeschooled and love it.

So yeah...

By the way . . .

"Socializing" is waaaaay different that "socialization"!

An argument against home schooling originally was that children would not be "socialized" properly. Those who put forward this argument could haved cared less whether or kids had friends, activities, social interaction, etc. THAT IS NOT WHAT SOCIALIZATION MEANS. The worry was that children needed to attend public school (or similar) in order to be trained to be a proper member of society. In my own harsh way, in other words, "brainwashed". If your child is not in public school how will he know how to be an employee (worker bee!), and citizen (populace mass), and open minded (atheistic). Now, I know, I'm going to get hate mail, I don't know how else to express this. Obviously being a citizen and being open minded (but not atheistic) are VERY high values to me; employee not so much, because I'd rather train someone to be an enterpreneur. Anyway, "socialization" means the government wents to input your child into their system and output an adult that accepts the values and methods of society as they are desired by the government. Okay . . . . I DON'T WANT MY CHILD TO PARTICIPATE. As Rosie said it, I don't think the government and public schooling has a grasp on real life. A lot more could be said about this, but you can see what the issue is about "socialization".

Well, many people who do not understand this definition and argument have gotten ahold of the word (semantic) "socialization" and in their minds think it means "socializing" and have a serious cow worrying about if your homeschooled kid is going to meet enough children and have enough large group activities. My personal opinion is if I do not provide these kinds of activities to my homeschooled child, then my homeschool is severely inadequate. However, this is not the original argument. As well, I am a great believer that the interactions children need to have are with siblings of various ages, or extended family, or intergenerational (grandparents) (and I know not everyone has a big, geographically close family like this, either) NOT a lord of the flies scenario as public school recess so often is. (Recess is one of my biggest dislikes of public school!!!! lol).

I agree, as a homeschooler myself I don't understand how people can think we don't socialize...

Sometimes we get more socialization than PS kids.

I mean, with our sceduals we can do things in the day and save home work for later.

Or be done by early afternoon!

I also agree w/ the brain washing thing...LOL

sometimes I look at what the kids go along with and it's like...

What are you thinking?!

[Gabelma]

dear Gabelma ~

i've enjoyed your posts immensely! esp the way that you have combined unschooling and waldorf ~

Right now my plans are mostly unschooling but teaching her writing (following Steiner plan of no reading until 8.

as for my public school education, i entered high school without once ever having seen, discussed or referenced a map of europe, or any map for that matter. not to mention the various other continents, countries and cultures in the world.

Well technically the person that posted was wrong, its my soap box being an historian who studied, but its a common ignorance most people in the British Isles don't know what each term to describe our country means. England isn't an Island its 1 of 3 countries that make up the island of Great Britain (the others being Wales and Scotland) the UK - refers to Great Britain and Northern Ireland (so one island and part of another island). The safest term is the British Isles which then takes in the Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands, etc, but then we are a group of Islands, and don;t even have governments in common. Have met several conventionally schooled Americans that think UK stands for University of Kentucky and GB stands for Green Bay Wisconsin:). Many people in England particularly forget that the other countries are distinct and there are still calls for independence, even within in England itself the South West area (Cornwall) is Celtic rather than Anglo Saxon and some people there call for independence but less so now I should imagine. Ignorance comes in all forms and schooling imo even in normal schools is only as good as the children and parents make it.

The beauty of home education is you can just drop things and go and do something else - we just spent the night at a campsite, met up with another family that home ed and a group of French Bikers, some older people and Ellie had a great time, socialising your children out of school is easy and the socialisation is more natural, those that go to school later tend to be stronger and more able to say no to things they don't to do

- this is how I am going about things right now but its just the days we are at home

Unschooling for us happens as we go through our lives, as well as the Steiner writing I am trying to do the Waldorf Idea of having a rhythm to each day - we do some housework, then we do the Steiner bit of baking bread (OK not every morning, most mornings),

5 parts flour to 1 part butter, rub together then add enough milk to make a dough is a very basic recipe can be tweaked to make something that resembles a tortilla, small soda type bread or corn bread etc - cheese and carrot can be added. Doing this we do some chemistry (Combining ingredients), physics and we do measurements as well as making bread. I can give you some of the proper recipes its not proper bread but takes less than half an hour

We try to take a walk outside, when we go we take books and binoculars with us as I am not very good with birds and plants so we look them up, even at 3 Ellie can help find pictures that look like the. We are working in our garden I am hoping next year to have a vegetable patch and greenhouse set up. If we don't manage and its a clear night then dh takes Ellie out with his telescope.

Our house is full of books of all kinds right now I am very interested in Japanese culture so we have been learning how to cook Japanese food, speak a few words (how to greet a person), and I am looking into the architecture. And we have done what we can to take our baths Japanese style, which is great.

I try and do some yoga but I have an illness and somedays can't manage it.

We may do some painting or crafts - again the Steiner ideals come in here because I use real watercolours and acrylics which I scavenged off dh. Would like the beeswax crayons and clay but they are expensive so I scented some homemade playdough instead.

We have time a soft play centre over the week so she mixes with other children outside of church.

And then some days we sit in our PJs eat popcorn and watch say a wildlife show or even a movie. I think learning to relax and take stock is an important life skill. Or we can even just read books, do jigsaws. Right now she is very into She-Ra

We are trying to do a lot of camping as we get plenty of visitors from the rest of Europe are here over the summer so I am hoping she will pick up bits of French, German, Spanish etc

My daughter is bright and intelligent and would learn inspite of me - I know parents that unschool entirely never actively teach a thing their children generally learn to read and write at about the aged of 8 but they start with chapter books, some in a home ed magazine were 12-13 but then went on to college/university. I just personally feel that I want my daughter to read and write earlier because I know I would have missed out on a lot if I had left it that late.

Home education will become even more important with my son - schools in the UK at least are seriously failing boys they are underachieving in most mixed schools even the good ones they don't come upto the same standard of girls. Helping my son suceed and fulfil his potential at home will be much easier as he won't have to compete in the same way he can learn to compete with himself.

The unschooling for me is just grabbing their interests and helping them explore them and not really sitting down, but showing children how interesting and magical life really is, for example my daughter has a squint (lazy eye) and did have a hearing problem - gave us the opportunity to learn about how the eyes and ears works. For the last year she has constantly asserted to anyone who will listen she wants to be an ear doctor, so she has books on the skeleton and the workings of the human body, I want to invest in a Grays Anatomy, but will have to wait until my dh finishes college and gets a proper job.

There is an interesting discussion going on in my national home ed magazine right now about Unschooling and how in its various forms its been treated as the norm for home ed in the UK and more structured parents have felt pushed out and are now speaking out.

Charley

Hey all!

I am homeschooled and love it.

So yeah...

I agree, as a homeschooler myself I don't understand how people can think we don't socialize...

Sometimes we get more socialization than PS kids.

I mean, with our sceduals we can do things in the day and save home work for later.

Or be done by early afternoon!

I also agree w/ the brain washing thing...LOL

sometimes I look at what the kids go along with and it's like...

What are you thinking?!

e

LOL I am thinking if anyone is gonna brainwash my kids its gonna be me - I do agree the joke in the UK community is the parent on a trip to a castle with their kids during term time and they are asked the usual questions, is it a family holiday, the home ed parent explains no they home educate, the parent of the other family asks aren't you worried about socialisation - the home ed parent looks at her children carrying on a conversation with an old man about the battlements, and then looks at the bored children of the family on holiday, just smiles and says no:)

I have seen it myself - my daughter will arrive at a playground and go upto children and say hello will you play with me, and so many children get scared by that and hide behind parents legs etc I find it refreshing when we do meet children she doesn't frighten by a forward nature:)

How do your parents homeschool?

Charley

[ldsrebel]

<div class='quotemain'>

dear Gabelma ~

i've enjoyed your posts immensely! esp the way that you have combined unschooling and waldorf ~

Right now my plans are mostly unschooling but teaching her writing (following Steiner plan of no reading until 8.

as for my public school education, i entered high school without once ever having seen, discussed or referenced a map of europe, or any map for that matter. not to mention the various other continents, countries and cultures in the world.

Well technically the person that posted was wrong, its my soap box being an historian who studied, but its a common ignorance most people in the British Isles don't know what each term to describe our country means. England isn't an Island its 1 of 3 countries that make up the island of Great Britain (the others being Wales and Scotland) the UK - refers to Great Britain and Northern Ireland (so one island and part of another island). The safest term is the British Isles which then takes in the Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands, etc, but then we are a group of Islands, and don;t even have governments in common. Have met several conventionally schooled Americans that think UK stands for University of Kentucky and GB stands for Green Bay Wisconsin:). Many people in England particularly forget that the other countries are distinct and there are still calls for independence, even within in England itself the South West area (Cornwall) is Celtic rather than Anglo Saxon and some people there call for independence but less so now I should imagine. Ignorance comes in all forms and schooling imo even in normal schools is only as good as the children and parents make it.

The beauty of home education is you can just drop things and go and do something else - we just spent the night at a campsite, met up with another family that home ed and a group of French Bikers, some older people and Ellie had a great time, socialising your children out of school is easy and the socialisation is more natural, those that go to school later tend to be stronger and more able to say no to things they don't to do

- this is how I am going about things right now but its just the days we are at home

Unschooling for us happens as we go through our lives, as well as the Steiner writing I am trying to do the Waldorf Idea of having a rhythm to each day - we do some housework, then we do the Steiner bit of baking bread (OK not every morning, most mornings),

5 parts flour to 1 part butter, rub together then add enough milk to make a dough is a very basic recipe can be tweaked to make something that resembles a tortilla, small soda type bread or corn bread etc - cheese and carrot can be added. Doing this we do some chemistry (Combining ingredients), physics and we do measurements as well as making bread. I can give you some of the proper recipes its not proper bread but takes less than half an hour

We try to take a walk outside, when we go we take books and binoculars with us as I am not very good with birds and plants so we look them up, even at 3 Ellie can help find pictures that look like the. We are working in our garden I am hoping next year to have a vegetable patch and greenhouse set up. If we don't manage and its a clear night then dh takes Ellie out with his telescope.

Our house is full of books of all kinds right now I am very interested in Japanese culture so we have been learning how to cook Japanese food, speak a few words (how to greet a person), and I am looking into the architecture. And we have done what we can to take our baths Japanese style, which is great.

I try and do some yoga but I have an illness and somedays can't manage it.

We may do some painting or crafts - again the Steiner ideals come in here because I use real watercolours and acrylics which I scavenged off dh. Would like the beeswax crayons and clay but they are expensive so I scented some homemade playdough instead.

We have time a soft play centre over the week so she mixes with other children outside of church.

And then some days we sit in our PJs eat popcorn and watch say a wildlife show or even a movie. I think learning to relax and take stock is an important life skill. Or we can even just read books, do jigsaws. Right now she is very into She-Ra

We are trying to do a lot of camping as we get plenty of visitors from the rest of Europe are here over the summer so I am hoping she will pick up bits of French, German, Spanish etc

My daughter is bright and intelligent and would learn inspite of me - I know parents that unschool entirely never actively teach a thing their children generally learn to read and write at about the aged of 8 but they start with chapter books, some in a home ed magazine were 12-13 but then went on to college/university. I just personally feel that I want my daughter to read and write earlier because I know I would have missed out on a lot if I had left it that late.

Home education will become even more important with my son - schools in the UK at least are seriously failing boys they are underachieving in most mixed schools even the good ones they don't come upto the same standard of girls. Helping my son suceed and fulfil his potential at home will be much easier as he won't have to compete in the same way he can learn to compete with himself.

The unschooling for me is just grabbing their interests and helping them explore them and not really sitting down, but showing children how interesting and magical life really is, for example my daughter has a squint (lazy eye) and did have a hearing problem - gave us the opportunity to learn about how the eyes and ears works. For the last year she has constantly asserted to anyone who will listen she wants to be an ear doctor, so she has books on the skeleton and the workings of the human body, I want to invest in a Grays Anatomy, but will have to wait until my dh finishes college and gets a proper job.

There is an interesting discussion going on in my national home ed magazine right now about Unschooling and how in its various forms its been treated as the norm for home ed in the UK and more structured parents have felt pushed out and are now speaking out.

Charley

Hey all!

I am homeschooled and love it.

So yeah...

I agree, as a homeschooler myself I don't understand how people can think we don't socialize...

Sometimes we get more socialization than PS kids.

I mean, with our sceduals we can do things in the day and save home work for later.

Or be done by early afternoon!

I also agree w/ the brain washing thing...LOL

sometimes I look at what the kids go along with and it's like...

What are you thinking?!

e

LOL I am thinking if anyone is gonna brainwash my kids its gonna be me - I do agree the joke in the UK community is the parent on a trip to a castle with their kids during term time and they are asked the usual questions, is it a family holiday, the home ed parent explains no they home educate, the parent of the other family asks aren't you worried about socialisation - the home ed parent looks at her children carrying on a conversation with an old man about the battlements, and then looks at the bored children of the family on holiday, just smiles and says no:)

I have seen it myself - my daughter will arrive at a playground and go upto children and say hello will you play with me, and so many children get scared by that and hide behind parents legs etc I find it refreshing when we do meet children she doesn't frighten by a forward nature:)

How do your parents homeschool?

Charley

My Mom homeschools me as my father passed away.

She prints up scheduals, (weekly) and we do everything we can alone. Then we do what we need help with...

It's been rough tho, with my dad gone and all.

Kat

p.s. My mom maybe joining here soon.

[Gabelma]

My Mom homeschools me as my father passed away.

She prints up scheduals, (weekly) and we do everything we can alone. Then we do what we need help with...

It's been rough tho, with my dad gone and all.

Kat

p.s. My mom maybe joining here soon.

it would be interesting to hear from your Mom - she sounds like an amazing lady, has your Dad passed away recently? I can't imagine how rough it can be for you my Dad lef t us when I was 13 but its very diffes rent emotions -

Do you have any subjects you are particularly interested in? have you always been homeschooled?

Charley

[ldsrebel]

My Mom homeschools me as my father passed away.

She prints up scheduals, (weekly) and we do everything we can alone. Then we do what we need help with...

It's been rough tho, with my dad gone and all.

Kat

p.s. My mom maybe joining here soon.

it would be interesting to hear from your Mom - she sounds like an amazing lady, has your Dad passed away recently? I can't imagine how rough it can be for you my Dad lef t us when I was 13 but its very diffes rent emotions -

Do you have any subjects you are particularly interested in? have you always been homeschooled?

Charley

My father passed away last November.

It's been hard but the church has been wonderful.

I have homeschooled my whole life but most of my friends are PS, so I hear a plenty.

I love litature! Reading and writing are my thing, I am currently writing a book. Fantesey and Sci-Fi are my favorites.

I also love to draw. I've been doing that since 2.

Music is on the top tho, I play guitar. (although I have been taking time off for awhile now.)

[Annabelli]

Public School is a very structured environment. Children know how to plan for their school day, what will be expected of them, and that there will be no conflicts of interest in their enrollment. There are rules of conduct for personal behavior and achievement levels.

The teachers in Public Schools are educated in the fundamentals of teaching and concepts of learning. The teachers have studied child development as part of their curriculum for a degree in education.

Most parents cannot provide the basic concepts of education.

I have interviewed many parents who home school their children. They are from all walks of life. One of the characteristics that they all had was "hit & miss" homeschooling values.

Adults will retain an average of a 5th grade level of education after they graduate from high school. Adults with some years of college and even a degree will retain an average of an 8th grade level of academic studies. And that is to say the adult did not major in education.

Homeschooling with a private instructor is a practical solution.

Conventions organized for home schooling are basically companies selling products.

[Gabelma]

M

I love litature! Reading and writing are my thing, I am currently writing a book. Fantesey and Sci-Fi are my favorites.

I also love to draw. I've been doing that since 2.

Music is on the top tho, I play guitar. (although I have been taking time off for awhile now.)

For me school was a disaster I am bright enough and got to univeristy, but I have something called Dyspraxia (when I was diagnosed it was still called clumsy child syndrome) so I have always been untidy and the one that got 'picked on' - Do you find being homeschooled as a teen makes being LDS easier? I know the home ed teens round here seem so much better able to look after themselves.

I wish I was musical - my husband is he plays the trumpet but I am about as tone deaf as a person can be what music are you into? I really like George Harrison, Robbie Williams, Johnny Cash, Charlotte Church (as in her pop stuff), my daughter loves old fashioned Diva's like Diana Ross, Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt. I Do love books though I am currently reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hern and Three in a Bed by Deborah Jackson the latter is about cosleeping with babies, I studied family archaeology at university and find the ways children are brought up in other cultures interesting. I used to read a lot of SciFi Fantasy books but started to find some of them a bit dodgy lol and had to be very careful. Have you read the Dragons of Pern series? I think they are my favourites. And I read on another board you love Harry Potter I do too - my all time favourite is CS Lewis though he wrote the Mars Trilogy - there is one of them Perelandra which is about a world where the fall didn't happen? have you read any CS Lewis apart from the Chronicles of Narnia? The Screwtape Letters are funny too?

I've been helping my daughter write stories - we have been writing a series together called the Colour Fairies - she tells me the story, I ask her questions and then we draw the fairies or I get my husband or my

brother to help.e If I ever did them into a story book though the villian would have to change as we borrowed Evil Edna the TV from an old cartoon series in the UK - guess she could become Petulant Petula the PC or Ellie liked the idea of a cat called Custardy Carnage, but he would have to be yellow and we have just written about the yellow fairies would make the pictures a bit yellow. Any ideas of a grey and dreary super villin?

Have you got plans for college? at 30 I am still trying to work out what I want to do with my life aside from bring my kids up - I am doing a counselling course right now?

Charley

[Dr T]

Hi Annabelli,

Thank you for your thoughts. I want to say "You are a teacher." Is that correct?

[ldsrebel]

M

I love litature! Reading and writing are my thing, I am currently writing a book. Fantesey and Sci-Fi are my favorites.

I also love to draw. I've been doing that since 2.

Music is on the top tho, I play guitar. (although I have been taking time off for awhile now.)

For me school was a disaster I am bright enough and got to univeristy, but I have something called Dyspraxia (when I was diagnosed it was still called clumsy child syndrome) so I have always been untidy and the one that got 'picked on' - Do you find being homeschooled as a teen makes being LDS easier? I know the home ed teens round here seem so much better able to look after themselves.

I wish I was musical - my husband is he plays the trumpet but I am about as tone deaf as a person can be what music are you into? I really like George Harrison, Robbie Williams, Johnny Cash, Charlotte Church (as in her pop stuff), my daughter loves old fashioned Diva's like Diana Ross, Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt. I Do love books though I am currently reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hern and Three in a Bed by Deborah Jackson the latter is about cosleeping with babies, I studied family archaeology at university and find the ways children are brought up in other cultures interesting. I used to read a lot of SciFi Fantasy books but started to find some of them a bit dodgy lol and had to be very careful. Have you read the Dragons of Pern series? I think they are my favourites. And I read on another board you love Harry Potter I do too - my all time favourite is CS Lewis though he wrote the Mars Trilogy - there is one of them Perelandra which is about a world where the fall didn't happen? have you read any CS Lewis apart from the Chronicles of Narnia? The Screwtape Letters are funny too?

I've been helping my daughter write stories - we have been writing a series together called the Colour Fairies - she tells me the story, I ask her questions and then we draw the fairies or I get my husband or my

brother to help.e If I ever did them into a story book though the villian would have to change as we borrowed Evil Edna the TV from an old cartoon series in the UK - guess she could become Petulant Petula the PC or Ellie liked the idea of a cat called Custardy Carnage, but he would have to be yellow and we have just written about the yellow fairies would make the pictures a bit yellow. Any ideas of a grey and dreary super villin?

Have you got plans for college? at 30 I am still trying to work out what I want to do with my life aside from bring my kids up - I am doing a counselling course right now?

Charley

being HS makes being LDS alot easyer as I am almost always surrounded by good influences.

I can look after myself pretty well, although I still need and want my mom's attention.

My favorite music is alot of the christian artists. Krystal Meyers is my favorite female singer, (she is amazing) and Hawk Nelson takes the cake in the male department.

Other favorites are Flyleaf, (Stay away from the song "i'm so sick" the rest is fine.) Jump5, Steven Curtis is good, Tobymac, Building429, like 3 songs from Skillet.., Superchick and soooooooo much more.

If your into girl power check out Superchic[k]!

Jhonny Cash is good! As is Charlotte, but I will always love Elvis.

Books...

Yes, I do read C.S. Lewis, although I didn't really like The screw tape letters.

Sci-Fi is a hard market but I have found many good ones. Try Eragon and Eldist, Dragon Rider and Twilight.

I have been writting a book too. Any tips?

Villians....Hrmmm....No ideas now. But check out my website, there's some tips on developing villians.

www.freewebs.com/bandageingthewounds

College is sketchy right now, I am thinking about "The Art Instatute of Houston" as my grandfather works there and my entry would be free, but it's so far from home.......

I want to work in art. Art has always been my passion, Music would be my second choice. It too is one of my passions.

[Gabelma]

Hi Annabelli,

Thank you for your thoughts. I want to say "You are a teacher." Is that correct?

I do find teachers tend to be very polarised when it comes to home ed - my daughters best home ed friend is the son of a nursery teacher. And actually of the 20 teaching students I lived with at uni 6 now home ed their children

Charley

[Annabelli]

Hi Annabelli,

Thank you for your thoughts. I want to say "You are a teacher." Is that correct?

No, I am not a teacher. I am a parent who values education. The values that I find in the Public School system are accountability, responsibility, dependability and honesty.

I value the people who spend 4+ years in college majoring in education. Their sacrifices must be validated because they usually humble their material quest during those years. Public School is not a position where the education staff will earn a great deal of money but feels rewarded through their service in teaching others.

The gift of sharing knowledge is an unconditional love.

[ldsrebel]

<div class='quotemain'>

Hi Annabelli,

Thank you for your thoughts. I want to say "You are a teacher." Is that correct?

No, I am not a teacher. I am a parent who values education. The values that I find in the Public School system are accountability, responsibility, dependability and honesty.

I value the people who spend 4+ years in college majoring in education. Their sacrifices must be validated because they usually humble their material quest during those years. Public School is not a position where the education staff will earn a great deal of money but feels rewarded through their service in teaching others.

The gift of sharing knowledge is an unconditional love.

It is true that you learn in PS, but it's what you learn.....

All I have heard from my PS friends is who is dating whom, who's gay, what's "Hott"

and what's "Cool."

The pressures to stray from what we know to be right is so great that it's takling it's toll.

Teachers violating their students, Students being violent twords one another...

I do think with a greater effort this could be corrected but our world is going down fast....

It's just gonna get worse.

In one of my school books it talks about everyone having a "Model" of how our world works,

we are constently changing our Models and the way we see things.

But the goverment wants us to conform to the ways they think that things should work, so they start us off at an early age. Telling us how things work....

Example...

My Mom was in her science class were the teacher was explaining the theroy of evalotion, the teacher siad that the reason for Girrafe's long necks was that the trees had gotton higher..

My mother had an queston so she asked..

"So if I want my kids to have long arms, I just let them hang on the monkey bars all day?"

She was thrown out...

I have also heard many more storys like that...

That's my opinion as a homeschooler.

I really didn't mean to offend so I am sorry if I did! :)

[FrankJL]

I value the people who spend 4+ years in college majoring in education. Their sacrifices must be validated because they usually humble their material quest during those years. Public School is not a position where the education staff will earn a great deal of money but feels rewarded through their service in teaching others.

Little insight from an education major...

In my state - Pennsylvania

4 years (bachelors degree) is what you need just to get started, at 28k a year, and can get fired without any reason. After you get a teaching spot, you have 3 years to get your master's before you can get tenure and get some kind of job security. Its not a job you go into for the money, thats for sure, you do it because you like it.

Just another interesting fact...if you calculate starting teachers pay in most states, per hour.....the bus drivers make more then starting teachers do per hour.

Also for everyone bashing public schools you need to understand there is only so much teachers can do. The onus is the parents teach their own kids to value education, and teach them basic behavior and respect for people. There isn't a whole lot you can do with a kid when the parents don't care, and often oppose what you are trying to do. Schools do work great for kids that care, and those are ethics that come from their homes.

In my most recent student teaching semester, we had a parent teacher conference day. Every single parent of the A students came in. Of the D or failing students two parents came in. Of those two, only one genuinely cared about what could be done to help her daughter. The other parent seemed to only want to cuss me out for being "too f....ing stupid to teach her kid" her words, she became so belligerent, we had to have police remove her. As she was struggling with the police, it just so happened two joints fell out of her pocket.

Also if you are worried about biased views from teachers in school, please do your self a favor and don't send them to college. The liberal and anti-religious bias in college if far more then anything your kids will ever see in public schools.

This is the crap we have to deal with, and get put down because "we don't do enough". Almost half of all people that go into education, quit after less then two years of teaching. Its something you really want to do, there is so much you have to put up with from all sides it just overwhelms people.

[Gabelma]

I'm not knocking teachers or schools - my local schools are fine small class sizes encourage the arts etc, and I am sure my children would cope and do OK in that enviroment. However I think both of them will flourish much better and be more likely to reach their full potential being home taught. My daughter because she is a little odd, intelligent, possibly autistic and fun, people at church call her a 'character' kids at school are not that kind but I want her to retain her character, home ed will allow her to do that. I also feel that elementary/primary school children are too pressured in 2007 thats not the teachers fault at all they are in a straight jacket, they have ridiculous targets to meet - I am a fan of Montessori education (to a point), and agree with her that play is a childs work - I don't feel children get enough time to play and explore freely, I find it interesting that people over 65 seem to agree with me, without exception the older people around me want to know how they can help me home ed my kids and wish their grandchildren were kept at home longer. There are recent studies backing up my decisions.

There is enough studies and evidence that say at least in the UK that our school system is failing boys so my son will do much better at home - Both my Mum and my MIL regret not pulling my husband and I our of school and using home ed with us

Plus as a Latter Day Saint parent I have the gift of the Holy Ghost when my daughter was born I was given a blessing that told me to always go with my first instinct, as those instinct are from Heavenly Father. So I parent by instinct - my strongest instinct is that if I keep my daughter close now I will keep her close to my Heavenly Father. I have had enough answers to prayers that home ed is what Heavenly Father wants for my children and my family. And I do feel that he knows my children better than I do or any teacher even if they do have 4 years education.

Charley

[Annabelli]

There is usually a distance between what the Holy Ghost provides and the Free Agency insist upon.

There are just a few terms used by people expressing honesty without insulting parents.

Your child is a leader: instigates trouble and is disruptive.

Your child is a genius: sleeps in class.

Your child is a character: immature.

Your child is very creative: makes frequent trips to the bathroom.

Your child is talented: talks and distracts others.

Your child is gifted: always late to school.

Some words used to describe a good kid would be nice, considerate, cooperative, polite, courteous.

As for school conferences: Children not meeting the requirements for their grade level or course of study are usually counseled privately. Parents attending conferences with children who achieve A's are usually sniffing out scholarships and financial prospects for college.