Tuesday, August 15, 2006

 

Be serious about your child's education

By always being present during your children's education you make them understand that their education is a serious thing, not simply something to occupy them while you take care of more pressing activities.

Children learn by example, in subtle ways that are not always within our control. If you assign your children work and then leave to go and do other things you are sending a message to them that their schooling is not the highest priority for you. Even if they cannot articulate it, this negative message in terms of your priorities will affect the children's attitude towards their education.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

 

Increaseing your knowledge

General knowledge

One imortant factor when considering a child's education is the parents' suitability for the job.

Surely, no one is born knowing everything, but we can gain from the experience and knowledge of others. We can increase our knowledge by reading and studying and by seeking the advice of knowledgeable professionals.

You can also benefit by studying the experiences of others and by trying new things and adding to your own experience quotient. Exercise your abilities to communicate with and to understand others. Develop your skills in interpersonal relationships by practicing communication, both physically and verbally. Learn to interact with others.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

 

Blogger: home school curriculums :: Manage Posts

Blogger: home school curriculums :: Manage Posts

Friday, June 16, 2006

 

Getting the things you need

Reliable resources, information and support are essential elements for all of today's 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 homeshcooling families. As the movement continues to grow the number of people providing these services on the Internet grows with it.

As with anything else, you have to be selective and cautious when visiting unfamiliar websites. There is really no way of knowing how good the products being sold are or even if they are worth the money. Always look for a money back guarantee. Most companies will provide a 30 day guarantee; some will give you 90 days and more. But this is usually just a ploy used by Internet marketers rather than a sincere belief in the quality of their product. They operate on the assumption that the longer you have the product, the less likely you are to return it.

Always pay by credit card so that you have some control of your purchase. Check for shipping and special handling charges as well as the cost of insurance because these charges can sometimes double the cost of the product.

The good news is that there are any numbers of reputable and reliable companies on the Internet and that means an abundance of reputable resources and reliable information. Your first resource when looking for homeschooling products should be one of the major search engines, Google, Yahoo or MSN.

If possible, get recommendations from other homeschoolers or your homeschooling organization for proven and trusted vendors.



Jack Finnigan is the owner and webmaster at Homeschooling, Homeschool Curriculaums, and The NAPE Index. Jack also writes a homeschool curriculums blog. You are invited to visit for more information on Homeschooling.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box and all links are left active and intact.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

 

Is Homeschool Right For You And Your Child?

Your home school curriculum can also incorporate your own religious and moral beliefs, something that no one but you can teach your own child. By taking control of a child's education a parent can shape that child's value system better than any other way.

It is not necessary to have a teaching degree or to even be a college graduate for that matter. Although it is a tremendous responsibility to teach your own child the education they will receive from a concerned parent will be much greater than they can get in a public school system. And if you don't feel comfortable with some of the harder subject materials it's possible to hire a tutor for those classes.

If you want your child to excel in home school you need to possess two things. One, you must have the desire to teach your children and two, you must have the determination to succeed with home schooling. With home schools that's all it takes, a desire and some effort. With those two things your child can realize an education that will far surpass a classroom environment. Any parent can be an effective teacher if they truly have the desire for their children to learn.

There is no one else that will want your child to succeed as much as you do. And to progress at a better-than-public-school pace a child must have a teacher who knows them and wants them to learn. Many public school teachers are only in it for the paycheck. And most others have so many kids in their classroom there is absolutely no way they can give them the individual time and attention that a parent can with homeschooling. This is why home schooled kids have the potential to far exceed public school children.

The biggest hurdle that most parents face is being unsure of their own ability to teach. School teachers must go through many years of education programs before they are qualified to teach others while many parents have no training at all. But should this be the deciding factor?

You may be surprised at how effective you can be as your child's instructor. School teachers are face with many obstacles and regulations that you will never have. They must overcome many children's learning styles and behaviors, children with disciplinary problems, school regulations and a host of other things that will not be required of you. As a homeschool parent you are in charge of only one child, not a room full of children who possess different personalities that learn in many different ways.

In the public classroom, when it comes to curriculum, school teachers are required to follow a program and use materials that the public system as approved. Plus, they are bound to get through the material no matter how slow some of the children may be. You, on the other hand, with a homeschool curriculum can proceed at the perfect speed with home schooling. You can make sure your child learns a specific subject before going forward. And possibly, you can proceed much faster because there are no less intelligent kids slowing things down for you. In the public system you can only go forward as fast as the slowest kid, otherwise they will be left behind.

Another positive aspect to homeschool is your individual time. A teacher must start school precisely at a predetermined time and finish at a predetermined time. A parent can adjust the schedule as their children's learning abilities dictate. It is usually much easier to deliver the subject matter more quickly one-on-one which makes it possible to delve deeper into certain subjects. Deeper examination can help a child understand things greater. By getting through lessons quicker it also allows more time for other activities and field trips.

Take a little time to search the web for ideas and lesson plans. You will find many different topics such as accredited home school, home school materials, Christian home school programs and more. If you think you can't do it think again. With all of the resources, online home education groups, forums and your desire and effort you can help your child achieve a brighter future that they can achieve in no other way.

About The Author...
This article is brought to you by Home School Materials, an online source for quality accredited home school education information. Find resources for Christian home school curriculums, home school material, homeschool books and much more.
Article Source: Education

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

 

Having Fun as a Homeschooler

Homeschooling has so many advantages for a child's education. For one thing, you as a parent, can tailor a specific education geared towards your child's particular needs. You can also teach in a manner that suits your child -- different strokes for different folks, some people learn more in different ways. When you decide to homeschool it is important to remember that as well as being a parent, you are now taking on the role of a teacher. This is, of course, not a responsibility to be taken lightly, and you have to make every effort to be the best teacher you can be.

Everyone has had the experience of having both a good and bad teacher. If you stop and think about it, I'll think you'll notice some things that your good teacher's had in common. The most important is that they were genuinely interested in their subject areas. Nothing makes a teacher better then enthusiasm for a subject. I think you'll also notice that most of the bad teachers you had didn't seem particularly interested in the subject they were teaching. It is for this reason that it is crucial that you create a homeschooling experience that interests both you and your child.

While your child's education should come first and foremost when creating a homeschooling curriculum, you shouldn't be shy to think of your own education as well. When looking at things to study in particular subject areas, think about things that interested you in those areas that you didn't get to explore as much as you liked to when you were in school.

It cannot be understated how valuable an experience it is to learn with your child. You will be strengthening a family bond, and your shared interest and excitement in a topic will ensure that your child retains the information. A way to do this is to understand the balance between rigidness and flexibility in a homeschooling curriculum.

A certain amount of formalness is required in a general curriculum: you have to have set goals and timelines in which certain things must be learned. But within those timelines, you have a lot of flexibility, and you should use it to your advantage. When studying literature, for example, understand that the goal is to read and learn about good literature, not necessarily to read a particular book. So instead of studying a "standard" novel that you've already read, consider a book that is new to you as well. With both you and your child interested in the book, the experience of reading it together will be enjoyable for both of you, as you will both be excited about the outcome.

This concept needn't be applied only to literature, think of things in science or music, for example, that you've always wanted to learn about. If you make sure that you are interested in the subjects as well, your child will sense your enthusiasm and become more drawn into the subject, ensuring a much more valuable educational experience.


Homeschooling curriculums



Jack Finnigan is the owner and webmaster at Homeschooling, Homeschool Curriculaums, and The NAPE Index. Jack also writes a homeschool curriculums blog. You are invited to visit for more information on Homeschooling.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box and all links are left active and intact.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

 

Online Textbooks

Online Textbooks

I am sure you are all familiar with elearning or distance learning and technology but a new chapter is now being written. A new technological innovation called Online Textbooks promises to lessen the burden of learning, both literally and physically by eliminating book bags and backaches.

The electronic textbook is a fairly new develpopment in education but a few schools are now considering them as an alternate to traditional classroom texts.

Textbooks were a $7.500,000,000.- buddget item for school districts across the country in 2004. About 26% of that or $2,000,000,000.- was spent on new electronic testbooks and other digital teaching tools.

Six years ago there was hardly any electronic publishing industry in academia to speak of.

But the hardcover textbook may be on a par with the dodo and they could disappear, as we know them, in another ten years or so.

Textbooks have become more expensive to produce, print, and to distribute. Many of today's textbooks are soon out of date. With electronic publishing online textbooks can be updated as soon as newer informtion is discovered and made available as updates or replacements for the original text.

Supporters say that e-learning with electornic textbooks can improve a child's learning skills by incorporating real-time multimedia training with audios and visuals right in the classroom.

Students will be able to participate in online class experiments usingreal interactive e-learning and without programming. Interactivity will engage them more in their studies and should promote and improve their interest in learning. E-learning and electronic books are valuable resources that can contribute to any student's academic success and help close the achievement gap.

Publishers such as McGraw Hill are working closely with classroom teachers to develop applications, lesson plans and content that will work in classrooms and contribute to student learning and achievement.Most schools now have broadband access to the internet so using this as a teaching tool within the schools is not a problem. Not every kid has broaddband access to the Internet at home, but a good 56kbs dial-up connection should be adequate to read any of the books and do any of the prescribed exercises. It should also be possible to get many of these electronic books on CD or DVD media.




Jack Finnigan is the owner and webmaster at Homeschool Curriculums, and The NAPE Index. Jack also writes a homeschool curriculums blog. You are invited to visit for more information on Homeschooling.


This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box and all links are left active and intact.

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