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  • What I Wish I’d Known about Homeschooling (Part 2)

    What I Wish I'd Know about Homeschooling (Part 2)

    Read Part 1 here.

    “I was always in a hurry with my homeschooling, fueled by a nagging sense of falling behind.”

    3. You are going to skip something. And worse, it will be something really important. My twin sons enjoyed calling me from college their freshman year to report in on yet another news flash that would have been good to know! I told them thanks, and that I’d make sure their younger siblings benefited from their feedback. Seriously speaking, we are living in a world of rapid transformation. The skills and knowledge base our kids will need for their future lives is anybody’s guess. That’s why majoring on learning how to learn is the very best use of our time. My sons were teasing me when they called; they knew I was at home sweating bullets that first semester they were away at school. Fortunately, raising an independent learner had been a focus of our home school. And they just headed over to the library, searched online or visited their professors during office hours to get the information they needed to be successful. Posture yourself as a fellow lifelong learner alongside your kids. Modeling a love for learning and taking joy in the process will be a powerful influence on your children’s attitudes toward education and the effort they put into it. It’s also the best backup plan to offset the effects of your inevitable failures and oversights.

    4. What’s the rush? You have a lot more time than you think. I was always in a hurry with my homeschooling, fueled by a nagging sense of falling behind. I see now that was just a cultural norm not rooted in reality. God has created an inner timetable for each child called development. And it is not the smooth trajectory we see drawn on the pediatrician’s charts. Our kids’ physical, psychological and cognitive growth moves forward in fits and starts often preceded by seasons of dormancy. Kids need time to ponder, to experiment, to rest, and to play—even into their teenage years. That’s how their brains develop, that’s how they learn anything deeply. We support this God-designed process by filling our homes with books and resources that pique their curiosity, by building leisure into their schedule, and by bringing a sense of playfulness to our homeschooling endeavors. And who says they have to be ready to leave home or go to college at age eighteen? Gap years are becoming far more common, as is a part time start to college or gentle entry into the work force. Don’t be afraid to slow down your curriculum and to draw out the time allotted for completing algebra or learning how to read. What matters is consistency, not the pace we set.

    Tomorrow I will post three more things I wish I’d known about homeschooling. I’d love to hear your thoughts too. What do you know now  that you wish you had known at the beginning of your homeschool adventure?

    Part 3 of this blog series

    Debra Bell is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling and The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens from Apologia Press.

  • What I Wish I’d Known about Homeschooling (Part 3)

    What I Wish I’d Known about Homeschooling (Part 3)

    What I Wish I'd Know about Homeschooling (Part 3)

    Read previous articles in this series: Part 1 or Part 2

    “We assume there is only one right answer for every decisions, and we equate a choice that doesn’t work out well with failure. Not true.”

    5. Enjoy the choices.  A couple of decades ago, we didn’t have many options. There were only a few curricula suppliers; co-operative activities for homeschoolers were non-existent; the Internet was in its infancy. Today the challenge is sifting through all the choices available. There are any number of good phonics-based reading programs you can try; conventions are held in nearly every state with a full slate of speakers and a vendor hall filled with wares; support groups and co-ops in many towns offer monthly opportunities for parents and kids; and all of us, no matter where we live, can find virtual classes and support online. For most of us, all these options are stress-inducing. We assume there is only one right answer in each of these decisions, and we equate a choice that doesn’t work out well with failure. Not true. As long as we learn something from decisions we later need to abandon or tweak, our kids benefit from the process. It will help them become risk-takers themselves, and give them a healthy attitude toward their own missteps and mess-ups.

    6. Don’t try this alone.  I need my girlfriends, and I’m grateful the women I shared my homeschooling years with are still among my dearest friends. My kids are still close with the friends they made during our homeschooling years, too. I didn’t anticipate this side benefit to homeschooling. Find out where your local homeschool community is hanging out (in real time or online) and start networking like a pro. Your best advice is going to come from those in your neck of the woods. They’ll know the ins and outs of complying with state regulations; they can recommend the resources that have worked best for them; they can keep you abreast of all that’s happening in your area. Your kids will likely enjoy homeschooling more if they have their own network of support as well.  So don’t let the curriculum enslaved you. Seize opportunities to take field trips with others or join in some co-operative classes; such as, a homeschool chorus, a Spanish class, or a basketball team.

    7. Exploit the advantages of homeschooling. Don’t re-create conventional schooling in your home. There’s no need to.  Homeschooling looks more like mentoring or tutoring.  You don’t have to use materials created for a classroom of 20 kids – you can use your local library for a lot of stuff – and it is usually more engaging. Tests and quizzes don’t need to be the only method of evaluations. You have time for projects, papers,and performances – the kinds of activities that kids will remember and value. Get out of the house and into the world, you have the time and freedom to explore. When I was a classroom teacher, I could only take one field trip a year with my students. With my own kids, we did a dozen or more a year. Some were pre-planned and carefully built into the curricula; but some of the best were on a whim often after catching a notice in the morning’s paper.

    I enjoy asking my adult children what they remember most from our homeschooling years. They each take a shot at teasing me about the math program that flopped or the history lessons I skipped. But then they list the field trips, the projects, the friendships, the plays, the interesting people we met, and the wonderful children’s literature we shared together.  Their childhood friends from our homeschool community tell me the same. Homeschooling your kids will certainly give them a different education but it will be a “real” education, too.

    Debra Bell, PhD, is the author of Writers in Residence and Readers in Residence language arts program from Apologia Press.

  • How to Earn a College Scholarship

    How to Earn a College Scholarship

    “Getting a college scholarship is your new summer job.”

    These words spoken by my mom (Debra Bell) shaped my four years of high school and eventually landed me a full tuition scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. She believed I could earn more money by developing a stellar transcript than by working a minimum wage job. . . and she was right.

    You can design a high school plan that uniquely positions you to win a free (or almost free) ride to school. Here are the top three things you need to do to make that happen:

    1. Ace the SATs. The new SAT is harder but it is easier to prepare for. You can take an SAT prep course or just work your way through all the free material on Khan Academy. But whatever you do, make sure you give yourself at least 6 weeks to prepare. A score of 700  or higher turns heads and pushes your application into the right pile.
    2. Plan for letters of recommendation. Someone other than mom must validate your education, especially if you are home schooled. You can have a transcript full of honors classes but without an outside expert adding a stamp of approval the admissions board might question the level of rigor. The ideal candidate to write a letter of recommendation is someone with a PhD or an expert in your future field. If that fails, choose someone who is professionally accomplished or who has a connection at the school you are applying to. When you ask for the letter, type up a list of your achievements or things you’d like them to reference. And don’t forget to send a thank-you note afterwards.
    3. Study your school. Every college and university is unique. I poured over Pitt’s website and memorized their core values. I knew what type of student body they were trying to foster. That information influenced my admissions essays and helped me on my interview. As soon as you know what school (or schools) you might be interested in, start tailoring your high school program to fit their vision.

    There are thousands and thousands of scholarship dollars out there just waiting to be claimed. In the end, working on all those applications ends up being a very high paying summer job.

  • Training the Adolescent Brain

    Training the Adolescent Brain

    Bonnie Gonzalez’s current course offering

    As a professional counselor, teacher, anhttp://debrabell.com/product/secrets-of-success-getting-things-done-for-teens/d former homeschool parent, I want to give you some information which will help you to navigate the emotional angst that often comes with homeschooling teens.

    Teenage Angst and the Brain

    As a homeschooling parent, you have been the market leader in the field of parenting – an expert at understanding the personality and learning style of your children. But now at the onset of adolescence, “the times they are a changing.”  Teens are a “different animal” and it’s a  “whole new ballgame.” From both a psychological and parenting perspective we have many theories about why our kids are suddenly risk takers, judgement-impaired, contrary, and unpredictable.  For years we’ve heard that teen behavior is a result of early childhood experiences, peer pressure, hormones, and sometimes bad parenting.  But the latest research suggests another cause—structural changes in a teenager’s brain may largely be to blame for the chaos.

    Without going into a lot of technical terminology, recent studies have discovered that the brain does the bulk of it’s maturing between the ages of 12 and 20 (and in boys this may even extend into the mid 20’s).  The prefrontal cortex, where most of our ability to calm our emotions and make rational decisions occurs is the slowest part of the brain to develop.  So, yes, there may be a reason for the irrational behavior you are seeing in your adolescent son or daughter.

    Wiring Through Homeschooling

    Okay, so what does this mean to you, as the homeschooling parent of this wildly emotional, and often irrational, growing teen?  First, there is some good news.  Positive things such as sports, music, school achievement, and responsibility can be “wired” into that changing adolescent brain, by you as the parent and teacher.  There is lots of room for change and second chances abound during this prefrontal expansion.  The bad news is that if those teen years are filled with anger and alienation, these characteristics may too, get “set in stone.”  Adolescence is an important time, and you have the ability to guide your teen through this time.

    My caution to you is this:  in this time of unpresedented brain development, many new and unpredictable thoughts and behaviors can arise.  Often emotions and actions can outrun judgement capabilities, just like they did in early childhood.  Teens find it difficult to process emotions such as anger and fear; and their behavior in the midst of this emotional turmoil, can be maddening.  But remember, this behavior is not a character flaw, but rather simply a function of some confused wiring in the brain, which will eventually straighten out.  The goal is to respond to this behavior with responses which will allow the teen to become well-adjusted.    Remember the impulsiveness and risk-taking behavior are critical to growing up into an adult.

    (Thanks to Michael J. Bradley in his book, Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy, Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind, for some of the scientific content in this article. Photo credit: Affen Ajlfe)

    Bonnie Gonzalez has 36 years of experience as a counselor. She has taught high school and college classes and teaches an Intro to Psychology course and an Intro to Sociology course through Aim Academy.

  • Free Printable: Writing Rubric by Debra Bell

    Free Printable: Writing Rubric by Debra Bell

    I can still remember my confusion as I stared down my first pile of student essays. Now what do I do? How do I decide who gets an A and who gets a C? Is this good writing for a fifteen-year-old, or not? Even more mysterious—what do I say to help them improve?

    Ever feel that way when looking at your kids’ work? I sure did. Math always seemed obvious—this answer’s right, this answer’s wrong—but their stories, essays, poems? What do I tell them? I’m their mother! Seems likely I will be too hard or too easy on them. Odds are slim I’m going to give them feedback that’s on the money.

    All that changed when I learned about the six traits model for teaching writing. Suddenly I had a language to discuss writing with my kids and students they could understand—and their writing took off.  As their writing coach, I knew what was working well. I knew what to suggest that they try next to improve.

    I used the six traits of writing model to develop the writing rubric. Download the free Traits of Great Writing for Teens rubric and let us know what you think.

  • 3 BIG Reasons Kids Need to Learn a Foreign Language

    3 BIG Reasons Kids Need to Learn a Foreign Language

    Learning a foreign language is a tough assignment, but it comes with great rewards.
    • 1. Research shows learning a foreign language boosts cognitive development across all subjects.

    Why do researchers think this happens? Learning a foreign language requires kids to stretch new cognitive muscles—ones they haven’t used before. Our children learn their first language* without study or effort. It is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon—our brains are preprogrammed to learn our native tongue during our early years. As we learn our first language, our brain trims the areas that facilitate this—and they can’t grow back. After this early learning opportunity passes, learning another language requires study and effort. To do this, kids must develop learning strategies they haven’t used before—in particular, new reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.  Once they have these new skills, they automatically apply them to other subject areas—especially to math and science and similar subjects where completely new information or skills are introduced.

    • 2. Learning a foreign language prepares kids to enter a global community.

    We already are globally connected. You probably have friends or work with people who live in other countries. That is only going to increase. The strategies your kids learn studying a foreign language will help them travel internationally or interact with others who do not speak English natively. Once they have strategies for learning a foreign language, subsequent languages are learned more quickly. My daughter, Kayte, studied French in high school and college. She added Arabic in college. Even though it was as far from French as you can imagine, she still says the strategies she acquired studying French applied. She became conversant enough to travel confidently throughout the Middle East by her junior year.

    • 3. Learning a foreign language will increase your child’s love for learning and self-confidence.

    The best thing you can do to prepare your children for whatever the future may hold is to teach them to love learning. They most certainly will have to keep learning throughout their lifetime; it sure helps if they take joy in this reality. Learning a foreign language is a tough assignment, but it comes with great rewards. We gain access to people, food, art, music, history, and so much more. We can’t fully appreciate these things without understanding the language that binds them together.

    When studying something difficult opens doors to fascinating experiences, kids learn that hard work is worth the effort. They approach the next learning challenge with expectations of pleasure and success. Voilà! You have self-motivated, self-perpetuating learners in the house (every parent’s dream).

    Studying a foreign language is exactly the kind of learning opportunity that will propel your child forward in all directions. That’s why we offer French, Spanish, and American Sign Language at Aim Academy. We want to be a part of your homeschool success story, and we think studying a second language is a critical piece of that equation.

    *If you raise your kids in a bilingual home, they will learn both languages without effort or study. In this article I’m referring to learning a new language after that early learning opportunity has passed.