Common Teaching Approaches

Classroom Help, Informative, Parenting

Taken from http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-zines/ejournalapr2706.htm

Sometimes when you are searching for teaching materials for your children, it’s not just the number of products that is confusing, but it’s a shock to discover that the products are coming from different ideas of how children should be taught and what they should be learning.

A home school curriculum fair is kind of like an interdenominational meeting, but there aren’t just doctrinal differences–there are different educational philosophies, different teaching approaches, and different convictions about what kinds of lifestyles home schooling families should have.

Common teaching approaches

All home schooling materials fall into two main categories: traditional textbook curricula and non-textbook curricula.

The Traditional Approach- (more…)

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America’s Top Young Scientists

Events, Informative, Just For Fun, News, Preparing for College, Projects

Taken from Practical Homeschooling Magazine, September/October 2013 Issue

Three of the top 10 finalists in the 15th annual Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, “the nation’s premier science competition for students in grades 5-8,” are homeschoolers!

Students nationwide were asked to create a short video describing a new innovative solution that would impact an everyday problem.  Entries were judged on scientific ingenuity and inventive thinking.

The homeschooled finalists were Srijay Kasturi of Reston, VA; Katie Hudek of Grafton, MA; and Maureen “Reeny” Bostros of Wichita, KS (You can read the finalists’ bios at http://ow.ly/owy9u).

Each finalist will have the opportunity to work directly with a 3M scientist during a summer mentorship program, where the finalist will be challenged to identify an everyday problem and create an innovative solution.  Mentors will provide guidance as the finalist develops his or her idea from a concept into an actual prototype, which will be presented during the competition’s final event at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, MN.  Throughout the program, each student will have access to resources and support provided by 3M and Discovery Education.

This year’s finalists will also receive $1,000 and be awarded a trip to 3M Headquarters to participate in the final competition.  Students will compete in a series of three different challenges, including a presentation of their completed innovation.  Each challenge will be scored independently by a panel of judges.  The winner will receive $25,000, a trip from Discover Student Adventures and the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.”  Curious?  Visit YoungScientistChallenge.com

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Exposing Major Blind Spots of Homeschoolers

Burn Out, Informative, Parenting, Single Parents, Special Needs

 by Reb Bradley

girl covering eyes ffound-1.jpeg

In the last couple of years, I have heard from multitudes of troubled homeschool parents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn’t turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn’t hold to their parents’ values.

Some of these young people grew up and left home in defiance of their parents. Others got married against their parents’ wishes, and still others got involved with drugs, alcohol, and immorality. I have even heard of several exemplary young men who no longer even believe in God. My own adult children have gone through struggles I never guessed they would face.

Most of these parents remain stunned by their children’s choices, because they were fully confident their approach to parenting was going to prevent any such rebellion.

After several years of examining what went wrong in our own home and in the homes of so many conscientious parents, God has opened our eyes to a number of critical blind spots common to homeschoolers and other family-minded people. (more…)

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