It is so difficult to be a teacher. They are saddled with unworkable situations and mandated to achieve unreachable goals.

Yet communally we still insist that this is the best environment for our children in which to learn.

Billions of dollars are wasted in the name of improving education. Read this article for an example of things going wrong in education.

True education has happened for thousands of years, and has traditionally involved much less money.

People have not changed. Learning styles will never change.

Yes, children today are conditioned to “need” excessive stimulation in order to maintain their attention….but that can easily be reversed by demanding their attention to their work.

Why fall into the trap of believing that we  have to meet the way their brains work, when in fact their brains work identically to the way they always have. Otherwise, they would learn to walk, talk, and eat differently, too.

But we don’t notice changes in those behaviors – why do we think we NEED money and technology to improve learning?

Homeschooling is NOT instituting “school at home.” Homeschooling has nothing in common with government-run schooling.

If you are concerned that you can’t replicate school in your home, you should REJOICE.

Homeschooling takes time and effort – but the investment in your family will pay dividends for a lifetime.

Parents are the primary influences in education

Do you know why homeschooling works?

It’s because the process acknowledges and amplifies the single most important factor in a child’s education: the parents.

Many would like to believe that the schools, if tweaked enough, can eventually provide a perfect education for all. If that were so, then you’d think after 80 years of “educational reform” and an almost bottomless wallet approach to funding, public education would churn out a majority of well educated citizens.

But we know this isn’t true. Look at your own educational experiences – how much did those 12 years really shape who you are today, educationally? If you are a professional, then being in school taught you how to do well in school, so you could move forward. This does not mean you are “well educated,” but rather that you know how to function within the school system.

Odds are very great that your own parents influenced your academic achievement even more than your school. And there is a government sponsored study that demonstrates just this truth.

Click here to read about it.

The original study is from 1966 but subsequent studies clearly show that public schools don’t work.

The primary reason? The socialization that fosters a dangerous environment for many students (and black students in particular).

Keeping children of all the same age locked in a room for hours every day, expecting them to sit still and operate like robots in response to teacher instruction…..how does this make any sense at all?

Do YOU learn that way? What makes you think CHILDREN are any different than most ADULTS are??? You remember being in school….don’t you think there’s got to be a better way?

Of course there is – homeschooling. If you put forth even a moderate amount of effort, the results will be better….and not because they will get a superior education, but because they will be shielded from the harmful effects of the socialization in public schools.

There is a new documentary making big news right now, because it condemns the public school union system. I have no intention of watching it. It’s easy to blame one entity for a failure of a system.

While unions, in my opinion, muddy the already murky waters of public education, the real problem is the ENTIRE system itself.

Of course many would disagree with this assessment, and I am not interested in debate. What I AM interested in is the heightened awareness of actual OPTIONS for education….including HOMESCHOOLING.

“The Today Show” is featuring educational options, and they are doing some stories on homeschooling families. Take a look and see how YOU could be doing it, too!

My only “complaint” (and I’m trying to stay generally positive) is that they picked a kind of extreme family to feature. How many families would really travel around the world for homeschooling adventures? Sure it’s MY personal fantasy, but my concern is that people will watch it and think, “There’s no way I can do that, so I guess we can’t homeschool,” rather than thinking, “Hmmm, homeschooling offers such opportunities for REAL learning, family bonding, and the best preparation for adult living….because they are LIVING the adult life that we are supposed to be socializing our children into!”

The joy in homeschooling is the FREEDOM for YOU and your family to decide how you want to expose your children to knowledge. There are SO many ways to do this, and indeed you might shy away from homeschooling exactly BECAUSE the choices are too overwhelming.

In that case, PLEASE just start! You can, and will, change your approach, your structure, even your environment as your homeschooling family life evolves and matures.

In a homeschooling situation, parents are students, too!

At some point, and I can’t exactly put my finger on when it was, I realized that we were in this for the long haul. We decided to COMMIT to homeschooling, not simply test it out from year to year.

That decision changed my whole perspective on education, curriculum, and my own schedule. Knowing that I would guide and manage their ENTIRE pre-college education caused me to re-evaluate numerous things….and to come up with a PLAN for the future.

Many people consider the high school years to be the most intimidating when it comes to homeschooling. And it’s true, the subjects are heavy duty, particularly if your children are college bound.

But there has NEVER been a better time to homeschool through high school than right now. So many options exist that make the process easier for the homeschooling parent.

In the FREE report, “A Declaration of Home Education,” (which you can get by entering your email address in the box on the right hand side of this page!) I discuss how learning in a home based venue is vastly different from the “teaching” that happens in schools. Home schooling is less about “teaching” and more about “learning.”

When I say, “learning,” I really mean just as much for the parent as the child. I am simply not an expert in all subject matters, to which most parents can probably relate. Therefore, I cannot “teach” many things to anyone.

However, I do love to learn. So, my children and I can BOTH learn together. In this way, we are ALL students embarking on self education using excellent resources. I have learned so much as a result of homeschooling my children!

As we moved through the years and it became clearer to me that we were in this for the duration, I realized with a sense of doom that my dreaded subject would rear its ugly head…

All along, I always told my children that I would learn along with them, or re-learn subjects as needed. But there is one subject that I intensely despised in high school. I really dreaded the idea of having to endure it again with my children.

So for years, I’ve told them, “I’ll re-learn any subject with you, be it calculus, trigonometry, literature, whatever……EXCEPT geometry!”

I hated geometry in school. I loved algebra and trig, and parts of calculus I also enjoyed.

But I knew in my heart I could not “do” geometry again!

Luckily, with all of the resources out there, I knew I could find help! Our county has a very large homeschooling community, so I signed my 15 year old son up for a co-op class in geometry! What a relief!!!

But if that hadn’t existed, there would have been Tablet Class or Teaching Textbooks to get me through, in addition to many of the curriculum providers listed on the curriculum page on this site.

The take home message here is that even for things that you don’t particularly enjoy as a parent, you CAN find numerous alternatives to fill in. You may still have to bite the bullet and engage a bit in the subject (my son still asks me to help him figure a few things out in his geometry homework), but the sacrifice and effort will be worthwhile.

And 10 years from now,  you will be VERY grateful for the strong influence you took in your childrens’ lives….and you may have even improved your own education in the process

Woke up at 6:30 AM, boys got up, dressed, ready to go by 8:00

8:10-9:00 – Read aloud (this is my favorite part of the homeschooling day!)

9:00 – 10:00 – 11 yo ds does Latin and Greek homework, 15 yo ds does geometry

10:00 – 10:30-ish – Work on math with 11 yo (least common multiple and greatest common factor review), help 15 yo with some geometry

10:30 – 11:15 – worked on history with 11 yo (doing ancient history this year). Had him write a paragraph on why Mesopotamia was such an attractive region for conquering tribes. Then he had lunch.

Meanwhile, older son did Economics. Then he had lunch.

12:00 – 1:30-sih – 15 yo working on chemistry. Needed some help in figuring out what exactly the book was asking him to do (he tends to over-think things, and get stumped right out of the shoot with interpreting directions….)

2:15 – 3:30 – 11 yo son and I did a P90X workout together – how fun to do it with him! And he really enjoyed it. We had done an Insanity workout a few weeks back that seemed to scare him

Various friends from the neighborhood came over to hang out until about 5:30. Quick dinner, then took 15 yo son to various sporting meetings (sign up for basketball, then off to a tae kwon do class). 11 yo played a video game for an hour.

Client calls from 7-9 tonight, then hopefully asleep by 9:30 (probably wishful thinking…)

Yet another day under our belts…

Thankfully, the homeschooling lifestyle is particularly well suited to FIXING this problem, and this short article talks about different strategies, including ones I’ve mentioned here, that really help. Take a look!

Remember, just because you get tired and overwhelmed does NOT mean you give up on homeschooling! It means find ways to recharge and refresh. The most valuable characteristic of homeschooling is its flexibility, and the knowledge that education happens for a lifetime – not only until age 18.

Your children will learn the specific skills and techniques they will need for their careers. Your job is to instill in them a love of learning, a knowledge of how to access and evaluate information, and basic math and reading skills to get them through life.

You can’t know what specific knowledge they will need for a future career – so don’t try to “jam in” subjects just for the sake of it! Focus on the tried and true methods, the old standards that NEVER lose relevance. Read the classics. Learn a language. Study history. Observe and experiment in the environment. People who love learning CANNOT be stopped.

President Obama

This past week, President Obama gave a speech to the public schooled children in the United States. I did not watch the entire speech, as I had to return to educating my own children. But I did listen to the first 10 or so minutes…

And I was heartened by his initial comments – he emphasized over and over again that you can do WHATEVER you want to do with your life – that the only thing standing in your way is YOU and how much work you put towards that goal.

I could NOT agree more, Mr. President! So all of you parents out there who really WANT to homeschool, but feel intimidated by the prospect of it, or are scared at the level of lifestyle change involved in it….it’s time to get off that fence and PLAN for HOW you will homeschool – not IF you will!

Our president himself agrees that you CAN do it!

PLEASE understand that taking control of your children’s education is a big deal. But it’s not AS big as you may think.

We have this illusion that schools produce education, when in fact that is not true. At their best, schools provide the environment for learning, but education starts and ends with each individual. Your child is responsible for his or her education – your role is to facilitate that education, to monitor, to mentor, and make sure that your children are moving along AT THEIR PACE in their educational pursuits.

We can’t bully children into learning. We can’t coerce them into learning. We can’t MAKE someone learn when they are not engaged.

In many, but not all, cases, homeschooling can produce a superior education for students. In other situations, the educational results may actually be the same as with public school, but the atmosphere of homeschooling can provide a better environment overall. The tightening of familial relationships, and the bonding that happens among family members is unparalleled.

As a parent, you get to know your children in a way that you cannot possibly know them when they are out of the house for 7 hours (or more!) a day. And your children learn the “real life” skills that schools do not teach, nor allow for. This gives them a head start in life, because they know how to manage themselves in the adult world.

I hope you are seriously thinking of taking the plunge. Even if you homeschool for only two or three years, you will NEVER regret spending that time with your children. Why give away the most meaningful part of your life to a system that is geared only towards mediocrity?

And by the end, some of the boys joined in the mid-day prayers with the Muslim men.

Is Islam problematic? Maybe not. But is there a balanced presentation provided of Christianity? Of Buddhism? Of Judaism? Of Hinduism?

Is it possible that there is a concerted effort to promote Islam? Should there be a discussion about whether this is a good idea or not?

Again, KNOW exactly what your children are being exposed to. You may agree with it or not, but you MUST know. And you can’t always rely on your child being an accurate reporter on the circumstances – they may not know how to evaluate the information they were presented with in any other way than the way they are TOLD to evaluate it….

President Obama

Last year, this event created quite an uproar – why the silence now?

Have you called your school district to see if they will be broadcasting the message? Have you looked to SEE what the message is?

Do you want your children hearing the message?

Are you prepared to TALK to you your children about what he says?

Be INFORMED parents if your children are still in school…..and start making plans TODAY to bring them home for a TRUE education under YOUR watch.