Homeschooling

Well, as you all know, I homeschool my kids...Yes, Jakob too.....I look at it as we teach them how to walk, how to eat, how to dress themselves, how to count, say their ABCs, life skills, etc. etc. It is all "schooling" as far as I'm concerned.
Last weekend I was asked to help out in the kitchen for a homeschooling conference here in Algona. I decided to go and stay the whole day and listen to the whole thing even though it was called "Homeschooling the High Schooler." I knew there were a lot of things I didn't really know yet, and good to know where I will be "going."

It turned out that the day was more than I expected!! It was more than worth it! I even got ideas to start using NOW. Some of the things I learned I had no clue about! First off, do you know there are homeschool kids who are basically graduating from high school with either their associate degree or BA already under their belt?! I was excited to hear this. Basically, it is through distance learning and testing. You see, those of you who have been to college know that the first 2 years is just spent doing what you already did in high school...You know, the gen ed stuff, so a lot of kids are getting that taken care of at the same time they are learning about it in high school, instead of spending thousands of dollars repeating that material again. The speaker is a woman from Michigan who has started a couple of programs for homeschoolers. She has recently moved to Iowa and is trying to help homeschool families here too. They have a program for high school students where they can learn online...totally interactive. The teacher is there, and has been hand picked for the subject...for example, the kids' French teacher may actually be French etc...and all have a biblical world view. The students have web cams set up, and so they are in this virtual classroom. When they are done, they get the high school credit for it, but they also can take a test that gives them college credit for it. It is so awesome! I had no clue something like this existed!

She also taught how to keep records and how to grade your kids, and how to make a transcript for colleges. In addition, she gave us tips for taking ACTs and SATs. She actually teaches courses on taking the tests also, and suggest students take them three times because their scores usually improve each time they take it, and that's how many times you're allowed to take it.

The woman was such a great speaker. She had awesome stories. She homeschooled back when hardly anybody did it. She was an English teacher, and her husband and son suggested she just stay home and teach their kids. At first she said, "No way! We aren't going to be like those other freaks!" Then her husband and son worked on her for a while, and she gave in and here God had huge plans for her life in regards to homeschooling. She is a grandmother now, and she is still very much in the center of homeschooling.

Another thing she does is debate teams. She had a huge league in MI...So big (and this was homeschooling kids only) that scouts came from IV league colleges to recruit these students. She is starting this around here now too, and last year was the first year, so one of those students got up and talked about it. I can't wait until Kristina is old enough. It would be perfect for her. Carter says he can't wait to do it (you have to be 12) and he says he has lots of practice because he debates with his mom every day! LOL!

There was also a woman who spoke on learning disabilities, and she had some interesting curriculum for reading and writing. I got to talk to her about Kristina's reading, and one of the things she suggested has really helped this week, so I am very excited about that!! It seems the trouble Kristina is having is very common, especially in first-born children. Cool! She's normal! =) She also said to remember, she is still very young for reading. I'm like, "yeah, but she's known all of her letter sounds since she was 2 1/2!! I thought she would be an early reader for sure!" Oh well. Just so long as she is progressing in some way, it doesn't matter how long it takes. She can read words, but gets...um...I don't know....performance anxiety when she has to read a book, and she wants to do it so bad, and so she tries to read at an adult speed, instead of slowly so she can get each word. She is now allowed 1 "fast day" and the rest of the days she needs to slow down, and the other thing that helped majorly was taking a piece of paper and cutting out a rectangle so that only 1 sentence shows at a time. Not seeing all the other words on the page has really calmed her frustration down a ton! I found this also helped with her writing as well, which, can I brag a little??? She has gorgeous handwriting for a kindergartner! I mean, it is prettier than mine! LOL! She has always loved to draw, so I suppose this is where it comes from. Her other strength is math, but here lies another problem....She doesn't know exactly how she knows some of the math skills she knows...it is just natural, so when it comes to teaching her how to "show her work" (not like she is doing geometry proofs or anything, but there is still work to be shown on some of her addition that she is doing...or when she has to solve for an unknown.) She is so used to just "knowing" the answer, and math has always been like that for her, that she doesn't want to take the extra time now that things are getting a little more challenging for her now. Anyway, FINALLY, she is coming around and seeing that if she works on "showing her work" enough, it is starting to get ingrained in her memory, and so she isn't fighting me on this too much anymore. =) Did I mention, she is strong-willed and knows everything and how it all should go and should be?

Well, there is so much more I could say about that conference! It was just so informative, but unless you do homeschooling or are interested in doing so, this has probably been a boring enough read thus far. LOL!