It’s August, and while most of us have our school or homeschooling plans all neatly lined up and ready to go, I know there are a few parents out there scrambling to get a homeschool up and running at the last minute. If you’re in the pinch right now, I’d like to offer four thoughts […]
I homeschooled my six children from kindergarten through 12th grade. In the beginning, we were very structured. I enrolled my children with a homeschool program that had once been a school. I spent my life monitoring them doing their “schoolwork”. Watching them produce this much schoolwork ( some of it ‘busy work’) every quarter, every […]
When I was a Sophomore in high school, I was assigned a research paper that was to make up a percentage of my overall English grade. I purchased a sizable stack of index cards per instructions and immediately set to work filling them in. As I sat surveying the small mountain of ridiculous index cards […]
“How do you do it?” Busy mothers hear this all the time. Time management is an important yet elusive goal. Everyone wants to know “the secret.” I’ve been blessed to know some very holy and efficient mothers. Let me introduce a couple to you and then we’ll talk strategy. My mother had 13 children, yet always […]
A new homeschooler recently asked me, “How do you homeschool a preschooler?” Time was, keeping a child home for his or her preschool years was a perfectly normal thing to do. Children went to school when they were five (or even six!) and somehow still managed to learn to read and write and maintain friendships. […]
As my son enters the final lap of his grade school career, I’ve noticed a marked increase in anxiety. An increase in my own anxiety, of course, but also in those who remain unconvinced that homeschooling for high school is a healthy option for my son. I don’t mind discussing the pros and cons of […]
I’m a bad Catholic. Do you know how I know? I took my Christmas trees down before Epiphany. That’s right. By January 2 I couldn’t stand the clutter anymore and we took them down. I did leave the Nativity scene up, but the trees are gone. I’ve never done the Liturgy of the Hours. Never. […]
If you do an Internet search for “Catholic Fatherhood” how much data would you find in comparison to Panda Bears, Applied Linear Algebra, and Welding Theory? According to John Clark, author of Who’s Got You, Catholic Fatherhood comes in last. The results respectively were 1,914, 1,706, and 284. Catholic Fatherhood netted 270 results. Clark surmised […]
Jamaica’s Prime Minister and his wife recently decided to homeschool their two sons after noticing that their youngest was falling behind. Critics were quick to complain that this suggests that the public and private schools are inadequate. The Prime Minister’s defense highlights the important role of parents. Andrew Holness became Prime Minister two months ago, […]
As the mother of two lively boys, athletic boys, theater-loving boys, exploring boys, immersed-in-everything boys, I am forever seeking. Forever balancing. Forever juggling. Forever discerning. Activity versus stillness. Sound versus silence. Society versus solitude. I still, now for fleeting moments, still, have a measure of control over the feeling, the tenor, the rhythm of my […]
The other day, I was half-jokingly trying to talk my friends into doing a reality show about homeschooling moms. Unfortunately, they weren’t buying the idea. As one put it, “I’d much rather have people believe the myth.” The Sept/Oct 2011 issue of the HSLDA Home School Court Report features an article by Michael O. Farris […]
