The basis for our education system has not changed much over the past five thousand years. We may now be teaching children from an earlier age, but this is simply tapping into children’s natural genius; much as Mozart’s father did when he began teaching him at the age of four.

But what we teach our children as the basis of our education system becomes the building blocks for their future education and careers. These building blocks are reading, writing and counting.

Every word that you read, every letter that you write and every number that you see and can calculate was built on this foundation of reading, writing and counting.

It is therefore important to make sure that your home schooled preschooler has a solid foundation in the basics of these three skills before they move onto more difficult and complex tasks. By ensuring that they can read with ease and enjoy reading for fun, that they can write the letters of the alphabet and numbers and can count from 1 to 100 (not such a difficult task) you will ensure that the rest of their learning becomes easy and fun and that they don’t associate these simple tasks with difficulty.

The greatest obstacle to home schooling your preschooler is to ensure that you always have their attention when learning these basic skills. By following a few simple rules, you ensure that they not only have fun, but also that they see themselves as succeeding at it, thus increasing their confidence and making future learning fun and easy as well.

Reading

Teach your child the 100 most common words in the English language. This will ensure that they are able to read approximately half of everything written in the English Language. This can range from the bible to a medical encyclopaedia. All books and written material will contain these 100 words. This provides an excellent basis for their future reading.

Writing

The skill of writing, a much revered skill of the past, is at its simplest a matter of hand-eye coordination. You have to simply introduce your home schooled preschooler to writing by getting them to doodle with a pen on paper. Once they are comfortable with the idea of a pen, show them how to hold it and once they are comfortable with that action, show them how to write letters.

Your three or four year old will be able to write the letters of the alphabet within a month. It won’t be very neat or exact, but will be on par with a doctor’s handwriting.

Counting

Begin by teaching your child the primary numbers – 0 to 9. Then show them the numbers in your day-to-day world. Show them the numbers in books, magazine, phone numbers and on TV. Soon they will begin to recognise the numbers and you can then begin to teach them to count further. Remember do not teach your preschooler everything at once, but instead teach them in small increments letting them fully understand one concept before moving onto the next one.

In Conclusion

When you are home schooling your preschooler, remember that you are not on anyone’s schedule other than your child’s. So, spend as much time as you need making sure that they have a solid and confident grasp of the basics, thus ensuring the success of your preschoolers future education and also making future learning easier for them.

Trinity Montecristo specializes in home school and home school preschool reading. If you want a method to teach your child to read EASILY and FAST, you can find out more about our wonderful reading system, “Teach Your Child To Read & Reading with Phonics” by visiting our website at: http://www.yourchildcanreadin30days.com

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Problem solving is a learned skill and can be enhanced in your home schooled learners. To develop this skill your home schooled learners have to see you as a role model who has effective problem solving skills. Life allows us to have a large array of choices. Some decisions are simple but others require more effort. Problem solving is a normal reaction for us. It becomes second nature when making decisions. There is a process we work through to solve problems. Some problems need more effort than others to find solutions.

A method for developing problem solving skills is to make your home schooled learners aware that there are five steps to solving a problem and reinforce them so they have the skills to work through any problems with their studies. This builds a strong foundation for problem solving throughout life.

What is the Problem – The first step for your home schooled learner is to recognise that a problem exists and that solving it is necessary. The problem belongs to the learner so don’t down grade the importance as each problem will be unique.

Defining the Problem – Your home schooled learner will decide how important the problem is and how much attention it deserves. They will decide why it is a problem for them and whether it is a part of an ongoing problem. They may need to talk this through with you to make things clearer.

Working a Solutions – Has this problem arisen before and what solution did they use to solve it. Is there more than one option to solving the problem and what is their plan to tackle the problem.

Making a Decision – Assist you learner to make a decision as to which problem solving option they will use and examine what they feel the solution will be.

Solve The Problem – Put in motion the solution and give it time to succeed. Implement changes needed to be made. Evaluate how the problem was solved or why you need to rethink.

Helping your home schooled learner solve problems is part of your job description as their teacher. It is very important to teach them the essential life skill of effective problem solving as this leads to fostering independence.

Irene Reardon provides an easy to follow program for Educators of children in the K-7 years in the homschooling learning area. This program has helped many homeschool parents reduce their stress, improve their skills, promote active learning and improve their children’s outcomes. All this from the comfort of their own home. Find out more at http://www.howtoforhomeschooling.com.

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The threat and delivery of a swat for misbehavior is still used in many homes. I’m supposing most private Christian schools have now abandoned this practice, but like I said in a previous article, it was a disciplinary practice utilized in a private Christian school that employed me as a second grade teacher. It was designed to keep the boys in line. And it did for awhile. But like most school disciplinary policies, there was a backup plan if it stopped working. If the swat did not have its desired result, the teacher could send the student to the vice principal’s office. Like room 101 in George Orwells book, 1984, no one returned smiling.

After many “go-rounds” with one particular student, I finally decided it was this time to call upon the vice principal for “sterner” measures. I escorted the student to the V.P.’s office.

When he returned, the day proceeded without incident. However, the next day a different student seemed to go out of his way to “push my buttons”, which he did, and for which he also was sent to “Vince.” Later in the week a third student boy required the same action, and then I overheard a conversation between students that went something like this: “It’s not so bad, it only hurts for a minute, you can take it, I dare you…”

What was intended to be “punishment” for oppositional behavior had actually become the means of obtaining reward: membership in an “elite” group.

So what am I saying? I’m saying that I didn’t really understand an aspect of motivation, motivation that is extrinsic in nature. The better we understand it, the more effective we can be in leading our students to accomplish our educational goals.

So what is it exactly? Essentially, the weaker the relationship to the reward and the activity necessary to securing it, the more extrinsic this motivation is. And the more extrinsic motivation is, the more likely it will not deliver the desired results in a dependable, consistent manner over time.

Four examples of extrinsic forms of motivation are:

• Rewarding your student with money for doing their work

• Using “time out” to manage bad behavior

• Turning in all your algebra assignments to pass the course

• Requiring your child to do his chores before going outside.

As parents, we all use and are influenced by extrinsic motivation. However, like I said, the weaker the relationship between the reward and activity necessary to securing it, you can count on it failing sooner or later.

The four examples of extrinsic motivation cited above may work for a while, but likely will fail you eventually.

• Get ready to pay more as your child gets older. I’ve heard quotes of $50.00 paid out for each “A” earned for college classes taken by a home schooler.

• Some kids may like to be “timed out”. Then they can use their technology, read, or daydream.

• Doing algebra assignments to pass an algebra class may not be a big deal to some kids. Their thinking is, “When will I ever use this?” (Don’t let on that they may have a point…).

• “Going outside” may not be very desirable to the sedentary types.

One client of ours used a form of extrinsic motivation with her son when he came in for his annual achievement test. The deal she struck was if he checked his work during the test, she would take him to get an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen after it was over. That appeal may work with most seven-year-olds (assuming they like ice-cream), but it won’t carry the same weight with your average twelve-year-old, and will likely be responded to with an eye-roll if suggested to your sixteen-year-old.

I’m not saying we should discard the use of extrinsic motivation. We just need to be aware of its limitations. There are other factors that can be put to work to help us reach the educational goals we have for our children. I’ll discuss them in later articles.

Thanks for reading.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

We’re pleased to announce the release our new interactive e booklet, How to Ask Questions That Matter. Besides helping you drill down deeper into your student’s understanding of the content you’re covering, it will also help you prepare your student to answer the kinds of questions that appear in the new Terra Nova 1 test that has replaced the CAT 5. Higher level thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are explained and may be practiced.

Click here to go to this product page and see some sample pages.

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

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If you are new to home schooling and haven’t a clue as to what to do about curriculum other than buying a set out of a catalog, there is a wealth of learning possibilities available to you. Many are free or low-cost. You just have to dig a little!

There are advantages to using boxed curriculum, if you have the money they require. If time is short or you really dislike planning, then a boxed set may be the way to go. On the other hand, if your budget is tight, there are many alternatives:

1. Your child is the one being home schooled so start here. What does he love to do? Read mysteries, skateboard, collect seashells, play with his dog, and draw? For each of his interests you will be able to find books to read, documentaries, clubs, lessons, web pages, or activities. Build a unit study or theme around one of those interests. You may be amazed at what your child will learn if it starts with something he is truly interested in.

2. Check with your home schooling support group to see if a lending library is available. Some groups keep books about the different styles of home schooling while others may have unit study kits or materials arranged by learning subject.

3. Use the public library. Every library system is different; you will have to investigate to see what your library offers. If your library is in a city or county system, you may be able to request items from other libraries to be delivered to your own branch for you to pick up. Some libraries offer science learning kits, toys or musical instruments, or have hired or volunteer guests do experiments or magic or present plays, etc. You will find DVDs of movies, lessons and documentaries, audio books, foreign language CD sets, etc. Most libraries sponsor book clubs.

4. Use the Internet. I love having our computer nearby as it is wonderful to be able to look something up as we are discussing a subject and a question arises. You will find tons of learning resources such as worksheets, coloring pages, online dictionary, thesaurus and calculators, lesson plans, educational games and skill practice. Moreover, so much of it is free! Your kids will be able to take classes online as well.

5. What resources will you find in your own community? Look for Girl or Boy Scouts, 4-H, YMCA sports, community classes, the Civil Air Patrol, government student council, Toastmasters, community gardens, Parks and Rec events and sports, extracurricular activities at your local school. There are clubs for aviation, writing, horses, the arts, radio-control racing, bird watching, dog sports, etc. Do you attend a church, synagogue or temple? Is anything available for your kids there?

6. Take a second look at the people in your life. Grandpa fishes and is a top-notch cook. Grandma plays lively music on her piano. Uncle Joe is an avid bird watcher, and Mrs. Garcia next door loves talking about Shakespeare. See what potential you may find!

7. Keep a daily journal about the activities your kids do, such as science experiments, buying their own meal at a fast-food restaurant, exchanging a roll of dimes at the bank or building a model of Stonehenge in the backyard. All of these involve learning!

Learning occurs anywhere in so many variations that you can create your own curriculum for your own home schooling kids.

To learn more about home schooling and the many options available to you, please visit our website at http://www.homeschooltheater.com. You can follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/homeschoolart.

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No one can deny that children come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of learning ability. This being the case, it is possible that your child might have some special challenges when it comes to learning. Home schooling can be difficult enough for students without any special issues to address. It takes it to a whole new level for children that need additional resources. The question then is asked:

Can a special needs child be home schooled?

Even though there are parents who would respond with a big “yes”, one difficulty children with special needs will face is the necessary time and attention needed to make homeschooling possible. Each state offers resources for parents when educating their special needs children in the public school system. This may or not be the case when desiring to teach your special needs child at home. In the end, it is up to parents to see that their children get what they need to succeed educationally.

There is no argument that every child is entitled to an excellent education. For too long, parents and children have settled for a cookie cutter education, because that was what the public school system offered. Home schooling has changed that perception with the desire to reinstate the individual attention each student needs to succeed. The evidence of the success of home schooling of special needs children is still being revealed.

To begin with, let’s look at attention deficit disorder. It is considered by the school system to be a special need. Children have a hard time concentrating and keeping still. School work that is not challenging enough just increases their level of anxiety. Instead of resorting to medicating the student, this situation can be resolved through home study.

Even though being home schooled doesn’t provide an instant fix for educational problems of the special needs student, it does allow a child with special needs to learn in a more relaxed environment, and at a pace that suits them. If reaching them requires three hours one day and four the next, a home school curriculum can work well with the child. As a result, their grades won’t suffer simply because they can’t keep up in a more traditional classroom setting.

Parents know their children better than anyone. No one else will take the time that is warranted to keep him or her on track with their education. For example, your child may be a visual learner or more inclined to learn with a hands-on approach. In a classroom of thirty students, it is hard to create a lesson that will challenge both the visual learner with those who can read and comprehend more easily. Quite simply, there isn’t enough time to give to each child individually.

With the help of tutors (if needed) and counselors, students with special needs enjoy a fulfilling educational experience at home. No longer do they have to suffer through being picked on or frustration because they “just don’t get it.” The home school environment is conducive to helping them learn the way that feels comfortable to them. And that individual attention is what sets homeschooling apart from the more traditional classroom setting more than anything else.

If you can honestly answer that you have the time and energy to teach your special needs child at home, there is every reason to believe that your child will succeed!

Maintaining your family is an important fact of life and we want to give you the information you need to make wise decisions in all your parenting and family situations. We are always adding new pertinent parenting-related articles to our web site. Whether it has to do with teaching, raising or anything else having to do with your children’s well-being, we are your one-stop location to help you with all your parenting needs. For more parenting and family related solutions, simply go to http://moorehomeschool.com where you will find a wide variety of articles addressing all things relating to parenting, the family and the home.

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Sono Harris, Joyful Mother of Children

For twenty-one years Basic Skills presented the Winter Home Schooling Workshop. Sono Harris was among the many speakers who made regular presentations. Sadly for us, on July 4, Sono passed away after battling cancer.

My wife Jenny and I met Gregg and Sono in the early 80’s when the home school movement was just beginning. While Sono was in the habit of saying “no” to a number of invitations to speak at various functions and events, she always said “yes” to our conference.

Many mothers came simply to hear her. While the men had something worth listening too, they were, after all, still men and did not (or could not) relate or address the topics these mothers needed to hear, to where they were living. While all of our speakers were respected, appreciated, and their expertise recognized and helpful, Sono was all of the above but more importantly, loved.

In the early 90’s she addressed basic, practical topics. But as the home school movement grew, her children as well everyone else’s grew up with it and her focused changed.

Mothers came not so much to hear her teach how to do something, but how to live. Sono filled with them with hope, and that’s what they needed. Many were ready to quit and were tired. But just being around her helped them stay the course. She was gracious, and she lifted spirits. She shared insights that could only be truly understood as spoken by one mother and wife to other mothers and wives. They listened to her because she was completely invested in whatever she was involved in.

I think of Sono when I read the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought the field.” She was like that merchant. She held nothing back when it came to her Lord, family, and again, to whatever she committed to. She was, as one of the titles of a talk she gave, a “Joyful Mother of Children.” She invested deeply and completely.

Because of this, her life experiences were rich. She had a way of pulling back the curtain of her life just enough and then inviting the mothers in her seminars to get a glimpse. She related in such a way to those she spoke to that at times it was like having a personal conversation with her. She had the ability to distill ideas into something her listeners could easily take in and remember. If she felt she needed to present a correction (attitude, point of view, etc.), she did so in a way that her listeners did not feel scolded or reprimanded.

As I mentioned before, in her later presentations her topics and focus changed. Near the end our twenty-one years of home school conferences, she spoke more about the difficult issues of life that she and other mothers had in common. Mothers felt she identified with their struggles.

I remember one talk she gave which was titled, “An Anchor for the Soul” in which she introduced her presentation by speaking about the desire most wives and mothers have for stability. She then spent the rest of her session talking about change and in particular suffering. She said “motherhood is about change in a progressively painful direction.” She was talking about the separation we experience with our children as we move through the stages of life.” All of us go through this.

At the end of this particular session, she posed the following questions, “What am I to do with this, how am I to manage this? How am I to handle this suffering, loss, and pain.” She talked about “increasing the sacrifices we make (as mothers) while reducing the expectation of immediate returns.” She said, “It’s about spending all that you have, and letting go. When we embrace God’s will, everything changes.”

In referring to the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44, she said the key word was “bought.” We must buy the field. Often we think the field God wants us to buy will be attractive and pleasurable, but it’s often bleak, with trouble, pain, suffering, and loss. But there is treasure in that field. The loss and suffering we experience drives us to the only dependable anchor for our souls, Jesus Christ. That is where our suffering finds its greatest meaning.

For Sono, Jesus was that priceless treasure, and now she is enjoying his presence in person. Sono Harris was and is a joyful mother of children.

If you’d like to make a donation to help the Harris family during this difficult time, an account has been set up at West Coast Bank. Donations can be made at any branch in Oregon and Washington. The account number is 1141007201 under Sono Sato Harris.

To read more about the life of this remarkable wife and mother, go to www.joshharris.com.

Thank you for reading.
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

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Frisbees, Microwave Ovens, and Velcro have something in common…

In the 1940’s Yale students sailed pie tins through the air and played catch. Ten years later, Walter Frederick Morrison, a flying-saucer enthusiast, improved on the idea. Morrison and the company Wham-O produced and sold a saucer-like disk which they called a Frisbee. It was named after the baker William Russel Frisbie whose reusable pie tins in the 1870’s provided the original source of the fun.

During World War II, Britain’s radar system used microwaves to track Nazi warplanes. Several years later, Percy LeBaron Spencer discovered they could also cook food when he accidentally came into contact with a microwave that melted a candy bar in his pocket. Many experiments later, the first microwave oven was put on sale in 1954.

George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, returned from a walk outside one day in 1948 to find some cockleburs clinging to his jacket. He took one off and upon examining it under a microscope, he found a maze of thin strands with little hooks on each end that caused them to cling to fabrics. Eight years and many experiments later, Mestral had created a new fastener: Velcro!

So you say the point is… The point is that all of the above inventions are the result of thinking on the synthesis level, the fifth step of our hierarchy of questions we use to check our children’s understanding. Simply put, synthesis thinking results in the creation of something new and different. It is important to note that it does not take place in a vacuum; students typically first possess a level of skills and information and apply them with rigor and structure. The top artists, athletes, actors, and musicians spend innumerable hours studying, practicing, and perfecting their discipline before reaching the level of excellence that brings about regional, national, or even international notoriety.

The problem we’re faced with as home educators is again textbooks and their “tests” that don’t move beyond the knowledge and comprehension levels. These publishers would lead us to believe that recalling the right answer is the ultimate measure of educational achievement, not realizing that such information should be seen as a launching pad for higher levels of thinking. But in all fairness, asking questions or assigning tasks that require thinking on the synthesis level isn’t easy.

Questions or tasks that require thinking on the synthesis level often include words such as:

Assemble
Build
Compose
Create
Develop
Devise
Design
Formulate
Integrate
Modify
Organize
Plan
Propose
Rearrange
Revise
Rewrite

Again, being able to respond to questions or tasks that require this level of thinking typically presumes the student has a degree of knowledge, understanding, application, etc. in the given discipline. Synthesis thinking usually doesn’t take place in a vacuum. In my next article, I unpack this a little more and suggest some specific tasks you can include in your home schooling day to stimulate this important level of thinking in your children.

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to http://www.basicskills.net.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Director, Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

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I remember when our family first made the decision to home school. It had taken several months of praying about the decision and talking to other home school families getting their advice and we also talked to family members and friends. Most were excited for us and the journey we were about to take if there was a concern they expressed it was when are the kids going to see their friends? For some reason, people with no experience with home schooling seem to have this view that home schoolers stay locked up in the house peeking their heads out only in the dark of night. If you are thinking of schooling at home or if you know a family close to you thinking of it let me help you out with a little knowledge about the average home schooled child and their socialization.

While the socialization for a home schooled child might be different then a public school child the need is met. This is a fear that is legitimate that friends and family might have for a child that they feel might be leaving a conventional form of education study with the social factor built in. Depending on the age of the child the opportunities that are available for the child to learn and socialize are great. Following are a few places were socializing can happen for the home schooled child.

If there is a YMCA in your community there is probably a weekly home school gym day. The kids come in and play a variety of sports with other home school children in the community, friendships and gym class can be taken care of in one car ride to the Y. An art museum or pottery shop might offer classes for home schoolers where children of different ages and even mom and dad can become involved in projects exposing the family to the arts and at the same time introduce them to other families who enjoy the same activities. 4-H is a great activity to involve your children in. There are so many different activities available in 4-H that you can probably find something that each of the kids in a family enjoys and can become involved in. Specialized clubs, such as computer, art, chess, even specialized sports teams such as soccer and hockey are available in larger communities. Music is also an important element for most home schooled families, young children starting out in kinder music offered through the Y to private lessons as the child grows older and then joining a home school band or community orchestra.

Older kids can socialize with others in different age brackets as they work perhaps with the elderly in their church, or help out in junior church. Jobs also offer socialization to teenagers as they gain experience dealing with the public, with their peer group and with the boss. A lot of the time things come full circle for teenagers as they step into roles of teaching younger children at the same classes they use to attend when they were younger children.

At one time perhaps socialization might have been an issue when home schooled families were more afraid of how society would react to the lifestyle they chose. But today, it would be very hard to find home schoolers shut up behind their doors with no social contact with the outside world.

Shawn is half of the partnership of The Odd Couple Blog. Where the topics of family, marriage, finance, online business, home repair, home remodeling and other various topics will be covered. Come and visit at http://theoddcoupleblog.com/

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Parents will opt for home schooling for several reasons from a wish to instil particular values to the desire to remove a student from an unsafe public school setting to the aspiration to offer a better quality education. But the most general, basic reason for many is the well established belief that home schooling is ultimately healthier for their child.

‘Better’ can imply an assortment of things, but it includes as many deficiencies as it does positives. The omission of bullying or peer pressure are two major features of public school that many home schooling parents aim to remove from their child’s life. But the positive side is as equally important. It has been well studied that an improved education can be achieved by home schooling over public or even the modern private schools.

And the research undertaken largely agrees: home schooling is superior for education in the vast majority of cases.

There are numerous individual achievement stories. Winning student of the 1997 National Spelling Bee contest was home schooled. Four sisters went on to achieve Master’s degrees from an Ivy League university after being home schooled.

But cases like this might be dismissed, declaring that these students, and their parents, were unusual. Also the numbers indicate that the typical home schooled pupil is within the 60-70th percentile by 12 years of age. From this, on average, they are a grade in front of their public school peers.

The figures for the elder children are often even more notable. After the average home schooled pupil reaches the equivalent to 8th grade, he or she will likely be four grades ahead of their peers. That’s to a great extent due to the poor results of some public schools as it is great results of home schooling. The figures are based upon research not purely by home school supporters, buy also by the U.S. Department of Education itself.

Although, as most home schooling tutors are aware, nothing good will come easy. Parents can feel the effects of burnout, especially when first beginning with the home schooling. As with any new assignment, it will need time to gain the knowledge require to instruct a child everything needed to develop suitably.

In accordance with a well established home school philosophy children are natural sponges for soaking up knowledge. But many home schooling tutors will feel the need to study the curriculum options, guide children, define goals, and several other duties.

But are the results from home schooling worth the effort? If the desired outcome is a keen minded, well-adjusted student ready to begin life’s challenges, for many parents that will be a simple question to respond to.

Darren Lintern writes extensively for www.andallabout.com, a popular informational website that provides helpful tips, advice, and resources on many home schooling topics including Home Schooling Programs [http://www.home-schooling.andallabout.com/Articles/If_Im_Teaching_My_Child_Why_Do_I_Need_a_Home_Schooling_Program.php], and Home Schooling Curriculum [http://www.home-schooling.andallabout.com/Articles/How_to_Plan_a_Home_Schooling_Curriculum.php].

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Home schooling has been around for quite some time now. The debate about it’s overall effectiveness has been going on for just as long. Recently however, home schooling has been gaining more and more advocates in support of it.

For the longest time, home schooling has been viewed with a somewhat contemptuous attitude by many. They’re under the misguided notion that home schooling is for weirdoes and social misfits.

People these days are much more open minded about the idea of home schooling. Lots more parents are choosing to put their kids in some kind of home schooling program.

So what are the possible reasons for parents to home school their kids? What are the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling? Is it right for your child and what must be taken into consideration when choosing to home school your child?

Home schooling has traditionally been for those children who suffer from some kind of condition or whose current circumstances don’t allow them to attend regular school. However, more and more parents are choosing to home school their children because they believe it to be a more beneficial alternative to traditional schools.

There are a lot of advantages to be taken from home schooling.

Home schooling allows a child be taught in a more individualized way. The child will not have to compete with several other students for the time and attention of the teacher. Their parent is their teacher and the one-on-one teaching that the child receives will increase the quality of learning.

The nature of home schooling allows for an incredible amount of flexibility and freedom in regards to learning. The lessons and curriculum to be undertaken can be custom made to suit the particular educational needs of the child.

The child can also learn at their own pace, seeing as there’s no set schedule that must be followed. A child can take as much time as they need to learn something without being pressured, or they can go as quickly as they can, learning things that would normally take a much longer time to cover in a classroom.

In many cases home schooling will enforce an inherent love of learning and will strengthen the child abilities to learn on their own. These skill will become a valuable asset throughout their lives.

Many parents home school their kids in order to instill moral values that can’t be sufficiently achieved in traditional schools. This is especially true if they feel that the child is easily influenced and the schools in the area are a particularly bad influence.

Home schooling helps to cultivate family ties. The time that the family spend together teaching and learning helps to strengthen family bonds.

Thanks to more advanced technology and in particular the internet, home schooling has become even more effective. The internet is a vast source of knowledge and you can find a plethora of home schooling resources like sample curriculums, lesson plans, and all sorts of guides.

The greatest criticism aimed at home schooling is that it might hamper the child’s social growth. Home schooled kids tend to be more isolated and many feel that this is harmful.

This isn’t necessarily the case though, as studies have shown that many home schooled adults have excellent social skills and are living happy, meaningful lives.

These studies also show that home schooled individuals tend to do better academically than traditionally schooled individuals.

Despite the seemingly many benefits of home schooling, it isn’t for everyone. Parents should take in mind several considerations before taking the plunge.

Home schooling takes a tremendous amount of time and effort on the part of the parents.

Teaching will take up most of the teaching parent’s day, so this means that the they will most likely not have the time to work. The family must be able to cope with this situation. This is especially difficult for single parents.

Also, the parent must be sure that they will be able teach their child properly and handle all the possible problems and responsibilities that come with the home schooling their child.

Home schooling, when done right can have very positive results. However, getting it wrong can result in absolute disaster. Ultimately, it’s up to the parents to assess their child and decide if home schooling is the right choice for them.

Lee Dobbins writes for [http://homeschooling.biz-review.com] where you can learn more about home schooling [http://homeschooling.biz-review.com].

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