Everyone Homeschools Blog - Benefits

Why Homeschool? Reason 2 - Safety

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:06:00 -0400

The recent tragic college killings of Monday, April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech reminded me of another reason why some people homeschool. When our daughter was quite young the Columbine High School shootings happened. I remember watching in disbelief and wondering what our world was becoming. As details emerged I wondered how the parents of these shooters could not have known what their kids were preparing to do. Then I remember hearing of parents who where still waiting to learn whether their children were dead or alive many, many hours later. The agony those parents felt must have been unspeakable as they waited to hear from authorities. Over the years, I have heard some people argue that you can't just keep children at home because it "might" be unsafe at a school because that is not how the world works. While I understand their argument I don't necessarily agree. If a parent is homeschooling solely for this reason and constantly tells the child they are doing so because the world is unsafe, then it will become debilitating for the child and is unhealthy. But the reality is that schools are not safe. Remember Platte Canyon High last fall amongst others? Then there are other safety issues such as bullying, gangs and so on. Another factor often overlooked is that in a school setting, children are trained to be very submissive to authority figures, such as teachers. If a gunman came into a place of work, adults would take cover, run and do anything necessary to survive. They would not wait for their boss to tell them what to do. This was evidenced by the adults at Virginia Tech who started jumping out windows to escape. The truth is that there are no guarantees in life. But it is also true that that the likelihood of a random gunman walking into your home, while you're homeschooling, is very minimal. Another reality for us is that we have always taught our daughter, via TaeKwonDo and conversations, that you never look for trouble but if trouble comes looking for you then you do whatever is necessary to defend yourself and be safe. The reality is that schools are not safe and there are no guarantees in life, but by homeschooling we have a little more control over the safety of our home and family. And for that, I will give thanks and be sure to hug everyone in the family a little closer tonight as I remember the victims of school violence.

Why Homeschool? Reason 1-Portability

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 22:41:00 -0400

Most people think that homeschoolers homeschool only for religious reasons. What a misperception! My good friend has often explained to new homeschoolers that there are thousands of reasons, and she is not lying. So, in an effort to enlighten unofficial homeschoolers of the many reasons to homeschool, I decided to write a weekly on this topic. So, here we go. One reason to homeschool, and one of my favorites, is that homeschooling is portable! We do not have to stay in a classroom or at a desk all day. Some days my daughter does her reading assignment in her pajamas in her bedroom. Other days she does assignments at her desk or kitchen table. Still other days we get wild and crazy! You know what I mean. We do what professionals and college students do, we go to Barnes and Noble, get ourselves a treat, both a food item and drink, grab a table and get to work. Once she accomplishes her goals for her assignments then we find a magazine of interest and stay a little longer and just read. We have homeschooled in the car, see Prisoner Paddy Wagon Adventure, at a friends house, on vacation, at the library, at home, at a table, on a floor, on a bed, and in the backyard on a beautiful sunny spring day. We have homeschooled while visiting family, in a park, in a caf, at a museum and even on a plane going to visit family. We have even homeschooled at our office in a spare office. Because homeschooling is portable the possibilities are endless. Do you have a favorite spot in the world, your town or in your house? Maybe you have a favorite rock or bench in a park? Well, you can homeschool there! Try it!

Deeds, Documents and Town Hall

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:35:00 -0400

Part of the requirements to adopt from Ukraine is the judge wants to see proof that you have a residency. So, if you rent you need to show proof of a lease and if you own your home they want to see a notarized copy of the deed to your home. Enter another homeschool lesson. My daughter and I set out to our town clerk to obtain several copies of the deed to our home because we are hoping to adopt a sibling pair and need the copies for the dossiers. (And an extra copy should anyone lose a copy of the deed.) I expected that we would walk in to the town clerk's office, request the information, they would pull the book, copy it, notarize it and then we would pay and be done. What a surprise when the clerk told us to go to the vault and look it up ourselves. Huh? The look of dumbfoundedness on my face must have been pretty clear because the clerk then proceeded to explain the steps. I took a deep breath and realized I was going to experience this homeschool lesson first hand, side-by-side with my daughter. So, walked into the vault and found a locked area that contained all of our town's vital statistics, such as the births, deaths and marriages. As we looked in awe at books dated back to the 1800s, I could tell this was going to turn out to be a pretty cool experience. As most parents know, I could have completed the task in a record 10 minutes but realized that this would be a great hands-on learning opportunity for our daughter and quickly determined she needed to perform the task. (Did I mention I had no clue how to do this search?) We located a large book that listed all the home owners in town. Our daughter looked up our last name, first name and street and identified the book that our deed was located in. We then walked around the vault a couple times as we tried to orient ourselves with how the books were arranged. Once we figured out the order, our daughter quickly located the book volume that contained our deed and then found the pages of our deed. Wow! In a short period of time she had found the deed to our home and a new interest was seriously sparked. We proceeded to copy the deed, have it notarized and pay for the copies. Throughout this part of the process, she kept asking if we could go back in the vault. Through several questions she realized that we could go back and search our home's previous owners, see how much they had paid for it and so on. As our daughter asked questions, the clerks could overhear our conversation. Soon one of them offered some information on how to do title searches in the vault and I realized there was a serious field trip opportunity here. I learned that Town Clerk does field trips for the local kids to the vault and explains the clerk's job, the records and other interesting facts. So, what would any self-respecting mom, specifically a homeschool mom, do but realize that we need another field trip to the town clerk's office with some friends. Don't underestimate your local town resources. Children can learn about the history of their town and home. They can learn about economics and inflation as they identify home prices over the years, legal documents as they see how deeds are written and notarized, how to do research and of course, communication by asking for help from the clerks. This unplanned errand turned into a great educational experience.

Amazing Race Contestant Homeschool Graduate

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:20:00 -0400

Amazing Race Contestant Homeschool Graduate Have you been following the Amazing Race? Do you know which one of the 7 remaining teams has a member that is a former homeschool graduate? Well, watch closely because the next time you see the "Beauty Queens" or the "Barbies" as some of their fellow contestants call them, you are watching a former homeschooler! Dustin Leigh-Konzelman is the current Miss California 2005 and a former homeschooler. Practical Homeschooling magazine, http://www.practicalhomeschooling.com/, featured her in their Winter 2005 issue. If you would like to learn more about Dustin visit http://www.misscalifornia.org/misscalifornia2005.htm/ Being part of a homeschool family, Dustin Leigh, had some unique opportunities. Check out the Konzelman band at http://www.konzelmans.com/ So, now you can add an Amazing Race Contestant and Miss California to the list of well-known homeschoolers.

Pencils, Pens, Markers, Crayons, Paper and Notebooks... Oh, My!

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:59:00 -0400

Alright, I have to make another admission. When I was in school I enjoyed checking out all the gadgets and cool notebooks, pens, and other school supplies for back-to-school season. Actually, when I was in college I left my husband-to-be dumbfounded because I would take notes on blue, yellow, pale green, pink and purple legal pads. Cool supplies kept things interesting for me. Even now, I always have plenty of pens on hand. In fact, I just cleaned out my purse from vacation and I found 15 pens, pencils and highlighters. You'd think I strapped one to every finger. When it comes to pens, I might be considered a pen connoisseur. I enjoy writing with the furry pens, the ones that light up, and the ones that write in gel. Our daughter has also begun training to be a pen connoisseur. She has received very unique pens, including one that was anti-gravity and one that could record messages. This summer when we cleaned out our homeschool room/library I found so many markers, crayons, pens, pencils, notebooks, rulers, and so on I now know that if our school district ever runs low we might be able to help them out. Just kidding! Anyway, what is my point? Homeschooled kids enjoy these types of supplies too! Granted they may not use them nearly as fast as is the case with our daughter's backpack which will probably last five years. Nonetheless, a backpack can be useful when traveling, visiting with friends or bringing something to do, as with our daughter, when she visits her Dad at work. They can be used for field trips or visits to the library. Our daughter always has a journal or notebook in hand. Either she is composing poetry, writing a story, or taking notes. For a period of time she counted cars while at another time license plates intrigued her. She liked writing license plate numbers down. Sometimes, when she is in spy mode, she will take notes of people she is watching. There are many, many uses for notebooks besides just taking notes. It is amazing what a child can come up with when given blank paper and a pen. Since most homeschoolers often fall into the eclectic style, which incorporates different educational styles, office supplies can be very useful. And office supply stores recognize homeschool parents as teachers. So, if you go to Staples, Office Depot, Office Max or any other office supply store be sure to ask about their teacher discount cards. We regularly use Staples which pays a teacher reward in the form of cash back, which we promptly spend at Staples on, surprise, office supplies. Depending on where you live and what your homeschool laws are for your state you may be asked to provide a certificate or simply a support group card as proof that you homeschool. Often during back-to-school shopping they may also have special teacher shopping days with gift bags. And let's face it, discounts are great but free is even better! So, the next time you see a neat notebook, colored gel pens or some cool paper check them out. See if your child might find them helpful and then consider making a purchase. After all, you are the teacher and you get to make your own supply list! Office Depot Star Teacher: http://www.odstarteacher.com/ Staples Teacher Rewards Program: https://www.staplesrewardcenter.com/SORC/UserManagment/Login/Login.asp/

October Vacation?

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:47:00 -0400

Wait a minute, October vacation? Since when do families with school-age children get to take a vacation in October? Almost never. Vacation only occurs in December for the holidays, sometimes in February for winter vacation, around Easter for spring vacation and finally in the summer. So, how can a family easily go on vacation in October? Simple, when a family homeschools they have tremendous flexibility. Vacations don't have to be limited to major holidays and more real-world learning can take place since museums, geography, history and cultural differences can be explored. Our family just recently took advantage of this flexibility at the beginning of October. When most other families were having a regular work week, we decided to explore Rhode Island. And since it was off-season we got better rates. Our first day on vacation my husband managed to get a sunburn as we planned our vacation. Did I mention this is October? While there was definitely plenty of fun to be had, we also never stopped learning. Our daughter entertained herself by creating different poems and she got to practice her map skills when she acted as our navigator. We tested out our new amateur radio equipment, explored the area by doing some geocaches and checked out some historical homes. Through it all she continued to read daily. So, if you are one who enjoys vacations and tremendous flexibility but not the onslaught of tourists and seasonal high prices consider how well homeschooling could fit into your lifestyle.