Homeschooling or Hackschooling from a kids perspective

This video from TedX makes me want to start homeschooling all over again. I'd have to go find a new kid though.

Homeschool Vlog Hop

A bunch of youtubers and I am working on a series of videos on homeschooling.  Here is my first video:

 

It takes about 4 hours a day to homeschool

If you've ever wondered why the law only required 4 1/2 hours a day to homeschool, it is because that is pretty much how long it takes.  After homeschooling all the way through, my kids spent some days homeschooling for 8 hours, and other days not homeschooling at all, or going to outside classes.  They may have done more than an average of 4 hours a day, but they also accomplished a lot more than what is required of a typical student.

This video is specifically about black homeschoolers in Louisiana turning to homeschooling, but one of the teachers/parents makes it clear how much can be accomplished in a short amount of time.

Homeschool update: We are finished... but not gone

I made a video a couple days about about being done with homeschooling.  While we are done... i.e. my kids are finished being homeschoolers and are moving on to college doesn't mean we are done with homeschooling.  My daughter right now is investigating an opportunity to teach crafts to homeschoolers for a summer camp, and I am always her to answer questions and give advise.

 

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My ideas for keeping schools safe

I can't seem to get off this subject... of the Connecticut school shootings.  So since my heart is stuck there, I thought I would engage you all to think, think, think.. about ways that schools might be made safer.

Mine is in this video.



(Looking at the video is hard... there is so much pain in my face... but still, it does not compare.)

What is your idea?  What do you think we need to do to make schools safer?


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Homeschool update 10/2012 How our last year is going

This is a summary of what we have accomplished so much this year and how my daughter's senior year is going.

Topics covered:

Accreditation
Changes in our plan
College applications
College plans

ps.  I could use some questions to give me more ideas for videos.


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The Dangers of Homeschooling

 Staying in the theme of my last guest post, here is a fun video called The Dangers of Homeschooling.  Enjoy


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Count down to graduation (video)

Video Summary:

Sharing my excitement about our upcoming graduation ceremonies this weekend.
The college admissions process was actually pretty easy, and my best tip is to apply early.
We've come a long way from the depressed child we pulled out of public school over 8 years ago.

We are very happy to be graduating our first homeschooler... one more to go- next year!



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Homeschool update video Feb 2012

Thought it as time I did a homeschool update video.
 Items discussed:

• My son will graduate this year. 
•  My daughter will graduate next year. 
•  Planning for my daughter's senior year.
•  Curriculum overview for next year.

 
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*stuff* people say to homeschoolers

Here's a fun video in the them of *stuff* people say to ....  Homeschoolers


That's nothing compared to what people say to homeschool parents!
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How did your family react when you announced you were homeschooling?

When I let my family know were were homeschooling, they weren't exactly all nice about it. 

Some of the reactions/ comments:

"One day they are going to outlaw that homeschool mess!"

"I'm not surprised, I always thought you were crazy" (and that was from the supportive person)

Or the relative that came to me at the end of each year and said, "so are you putting the kids back in school next year".  I finally had an emotional outburst and she stopped.

And there there are the relatives that just talked about us behind our back....  now they all want education advice.  Interesting.

Does this video sound familiar?  Actually, I would prefer my family were this nice.



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Yes, we wear our pajamas

I had to share this homeschool video.  This cool homeschooled kid sums it up pretty well.


Oh, and yeah, we wear our pajamas too. I try to buy pajamas that look as much like street clothes as possible in case I want to make a quick run and don't want to bother getting dressed. i.e. yoga pants....

I tried yoga once.

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Video Coaching for a Midsummer Night's Dream

YouTube is an excellent source for homeschool lessons.

Here is a video series where a teacher talks about a Midsummer Night's Dream.

He suggests watching the video.  I recommend reading the book and watching the video, and viewing his series.  (as I write this he has completed two videos and promises to complete the final one... I have every confidence that he will complete the series.)

Enjoy
Video 1


Video 2

Video 3: coming...

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Homeschoolers and the GED

Transcript (summarized)

I just want to do a quick video about homeschoolers and the GED.

I hear a lot of people ask me how I prove that homeschooling is complete, that it is done, that the child has learned enough.  And when I answer that we look at what others are doing and what the colleges have done
and write a transcript and a diploma, I get strange looks. 

Then people ask, what about the GED.  What about the GED?

There are some instances where the GED would be helpful to the homeschooler, for instance, in my state, it is very had to get into a state college with just a homeschool diploma.  They tend to require that homeschoolers show proof of education far over and above what a typical applicant into a state college would be required to show (there are a few state colleges that have an exception).  The best way for a homeschooler to get into a GA state college is to have an exemplary SAT or ACT, take extra SATII tests, and/ or do well on the GED exam. This is grossly unfair.

Another reason to take the GED is to get into a community/tech college.  They would have the same issues as with any other state college.

Most homeschoolers, however, tend to go to private colleges to continue with religious freedoms and for small class sizes, etc, so the GED is not necessary.  You just have to show a homeschool transcript and SAT or ACT test scores and these colleges accept homeschoolers readily.

Some time ago, I wrote an article entitled Why homeschoolers will not take the GED and the reasons are:

It's kind of demeaning.  You're telling me that I have to take same test that a high school drop out would take when my level of education is probably higher than most who have graduated.

It carries a lot of stigma.  It says that this person could not complete what an average high schooler could complete when in fact, homeschoolers tend to do a lot more than that.

But I am not saying that a homeschooler should not take the GED, I am saying that they don't have to and they shouldn't have to unless they really want to.

Read homeschooling articles here: 

• Homeschool Questions: Diploma
  

  1/18/2008

  In a recent article I wrote, I discussed that for homeschoolers the GED carries a stigma that they could not handle high school. This article answers questions at arose from that article.
• 
  Why Homeschoolers Will Not Take the GED
  

  1/11/2008

  There are many people under the impression that a homeschoolers should take the GED exam to prove they know enough to graduate from homeschooling. Homeschoolers disagree.

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Teens who want to homeschool should take charge

This is in response to questions on "how do I get my parents to let me homeschool"... it is basically advice to teens.

Transcript:

Hello, this is A. Hermitt, and today I want to address teenagers deciding they want to start homeschooling, and I am going to go ahead and read from an article that I wrote some time ago on this subject.

Excerpt:  I like to peruse questions and answer boards on homeschooling. I also get lots of emails from
prospective homeschoolers. Between these two sources, one question comes up alot. The questions comes from teenagers looking to be homeschooled either with, or without the parents support.

full article here: http://voices.yahoo.com/teenager-homeschool-thyself-getting-5846362.html?cat=4

Most of these teenagers have been in highschool one or two years and at some point they decide they've had enough and they just want other options, they want to try homeschooling. The questions are usually about how to get their parents on board with homeschooling or they are looking for information that they can give to their parents so that the parents can see that it can be done even if the parents don't have a lot of time and/or money to put into it.

The first thing you need to do of course, is to get your parents on board. This is because without your parents permission and support, you are not a homeschooler; you are truant. That will get your parents into a lot of trouble, and not to mention- yourself. Plus in many states you cannot get a drivers license if you cannot show that you are in school.

The most important thing you can do to get your parents support if you want to homeschool is to show your parents that you are dedicated to your education. You can't expect to have failed 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th grades and expect your parents to say "sure, let's homeschool for 11th grade while I work full time and you are on your own.  Here are your books".  It's not going to happen, at least not from a reasonable parent.

But even if you have a sordid past where your education is concerned, getting on the ball now, and being 100% dedicated to your education is the only way you are going to get your parents to change their minds and let you homeschool. Start getting A's.  Start doing all your homework. Start reading for pleasure.  Start asking for other educational opportunities. These things are going to show your parents that you are dedicated to taking charge of your education.  That might make them consider allowing you to homeschool.

Once you do that, you are going to need to learn the laws of your state regarding homeschooling becuase your parents are going to need that information. You are going to need to do research regarding different methods of homeschooling, look at different online homeschool schools- if that makes any sense.

The one thing that I really must say is that if you really want to homeschool and you are 13,14, 15, 16 years old, and your parents are hesitant, but may be receptive, that it is up to you to be educated not your parents.  (meaning your parents can't learn from your or force you to gain knowledge)  Your parents are already educated. Your parents are already working.  You need to show that you are invested in your future.  And the only way your parents are going to let you take charge of your education is if you are 'on the ball' and you are already a good student.  There is no sense in allowing a bad student to homeschool.

Homeschooling is not a vacation from education. It is actually a lot more intensive in many ways. But, the rewards are also exponentially better.  So, I am going to link the article I was reading from or scanning from http://voices.yahoo.com/teenager-homeschool-thyself-getting-5846362.html?cat=4 so you have more information.  It also links to more articles I have previously written that will help you get started on homeschooling if you are a teenager. 

So that is all I have for now.  Have a good day. 

Homeschool update Nov, 2011

Video Transcript

I have so many things to talk about that I am going to go ahead and make an update compilation video.  So here goes:


It is November 21st.  So, my son graduates in April so we've done 4 months of the homeschool year with five months to go. We are almost to the halfway point and I find myself correcting some miss-steps that we took this year.

Major Miss-step: Using online schooling through the public school system for the first time in my son's senior
year.  It is interesting because I always advised against using it but I figured, It's his senior year, we're going to make it easy.  He only has a couple of things he has to do and even those are optional, and it will give him a taste of what it is like to work with teachers.

So.... yeah-NO.  It's not turned out well. We are using Georgia Virtual School and as far as I can tell, there are two issues. The first issue is that it is online and there isn't much of any teacher contact. There is a once a week chat session and it just happens to be at a time when my kids are not available, for any of their classes. So if they have classes or anything, they can call the teachers on the phone between 9 and 5. But my kids are so busy and they are most likely to need help in the evenings, so that just hasn't helped.  So they haven't been able to get as much guidance as they needed. Second, there are some software issues and they have been updating the system, I think, once a month since they started.  There was a major update a few weeks ago and it so happened that it coincided with the week my kids were out of town to participate in the Bob Jones University High School Festival, which is the Arts, and Theater, and all that competition. So before they left they did all their work and uploaded (or downloaded) all their work into their drop box. They are away doing their thing, and my son decided to check on his grades and finds that his dropbox is empty. So I contact the teachers and said the drop boxes are empty....  My son's teachers agreed to let the him turn in this assignments late and my daugthters teacher agreed to think about it. (Still they ended up with zeros for several assignments) And what it resulted in was them going from like B students to D students. It is unacceptable because had they had more teacher interaction they would have been A students and if there had not been a software problem, even without teacher interaction, they would have been B (or even C) students. So I have a serious problem with that.

So what are we going to do? We are kinda going to start over.  Yeah, with 5 months to do. So I looked at the other curriculum and I've compared what they have gone over unit-wise with the other curriculums that I normally use, which are Hippocampus.com (my son was taking physics) and for my daughter, Rosetta Stone (she was taking Spanish 2).  So I am going to have them review and take the tests for those and then carry on as if they had always been using these curriculums that I normally use anyway.

So, do I say don't use the Georgia Virtual School?  I wouldn't say that. And actually my son is going to stay in the Financial Math Class and if we are not happy with that grade, I am going to have them do Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace for extra credit, and just add that to his grade.  So I wouldn't say don't use Georgia Virtual school.  I would say use Georgia Virtual School if there is a chance that the child will be going back to school, because they will accept those grades more readily. I'll also say only use Georgia Virtual School if your your child follows traditional school hours. If you have been homeschooling for as long as I have and homeschooling has become and integrated part of your lifestyle and you have your own special cycle and rhythm, chances are, that your child does not keep normal school hours. So if your child does not keep normal school hours, and they don't NEED a public school grading system that's going to be accepted by the public school, I would strongly recommend that you find something else.

OK?  On to happy news.

My son has been accepted by all three colleges he applied to, all with scholarships to all three of those colleges, some better than others. The one he most wanted didn't give as much money as he needed, for us to be able to afford it without hocking the house and closing a retirement account to be able to pay for it.  But we said nothing. We just laid out the numbers in front of him and said, here's how much cash we have for you every year.  The rest will have to be taken out in loans (we also talked about competing for additional scholarships) of some sort, and even if we take out those loans in our name, you are going to have to help pay them back. He opted for the college with the largest scholarship and the one that most closely meet our finances. ... And it's a good college, and it's a Christian college, and they actually have a better reputation in what he wants to take than the college he really wanted, so It's a happy thing and it's all good.  So that's wonderful. I am very excited about the college search being done. (For the first kid anyway).

So, we are about to go into tech week (which I've written about before.)  Tech week is when Drama club takes over our lives. Our houses fall apart from an inability to shop, clean, or do anything else other than drive back and forth to the theater, and watch shows (and work on shows).  It is also a time of great illness, as everyone tend to get sick from the kids all breathing so close to each other and passing that on to their families.  But it is an amazing time to watch these kids get better and better in their acting and theater.  And most of the kids are looking forward to a future in theater including and especially my daughter who plans to go into theater and costuming.

So that's where we are at.  If you have any questions about homeschooling; anything in particular you want to know, go ahead and drop a question.  It helps me have a reason to make a video log because otherwise I just can't think of anything.  I mean, I know what I know, but I don't know what you want to know,

So until next time... thanks.

A bit of encouragement for homeschoolers

Be encouraged and don't second guess yourself. If you allow your homeschooled kid to be themselves, you will be very happy with the end results. Just hang in there, and teach them well, and provide opportunities for exploration. There will be rewards in the end.





Transcript:

HI, it's A. Hermitt and I wanted to give a little encouragement for homeschoolers. I know, from day one, when I began homeschooling, I was always worried. Just worried that I might not be doing the right thing.  Worried that I might not be giving my kids all that they need. Worried that someone was going to prove me wrong and show that I wasn't homeschooling (correctly).  Worried that the out come of our homeschooling was going to be less than what others around us were doing. 

This weekend really helped me to overcome that. Basically, just from the experience. I'm not saying that I won't continue to worry.  My son son is 17, he'll be starting college next fall, my daughter 15,
and she'll be a senior next year.  And I am going to keep worrying probably until they are married with children, and working, and, you know, living their lives.

But this saturday, we took my son up to a college (that had already accepted him). But it is his second choice college, he still is waiting to hear what his first choice college has to day.  It is so refreshing to see how accepted homeschoolers are by college recruiters. A friend of his also goes to this college and he was homeschooled and the recruiter just knew him and this kid was so popular.  We couldn't walk anywhere without someone stopping and talking.  And I guess it's that kids nature, but it just goes to show that homeschoolers are not unsocialized by nature.  Homeschoolers each have their own individual personalities.  For example, my son IS quiet. So people might look at me and say, see, this child hasn't been socialized properly. But my son's been quiet always. When he was in preschool (private traditional school) the teacher was actually under the impression for like 5 MONTHS that he couldn't speak at all!  So, ummmm, he's speaking now (chuckle). So that's a thought.

So the interesting thing is that when we sat down to talk with the recruiter, after we'd said "hi" and had all of the pleasantries, and he'd spoken to my son a little bit, just introductions, and then he said, you're going to have to excuse me but, I need to know more about homeschooling because I have an 8 month old and I've taught in public schools and I think I want to homeschool my kid (big grin).

I mean, that was fabulous, and it just went on from there. And it's a good chance that my son's second choice college may just be my his (Freudian slip) first choice college, because the attitude of the recruiter at his college... we'll see what his first-choice college has to say. But he was offered scholarships that will probably cut the tuition in half, so that won't hurt either.

... And he's just and average student. He's specktacular in that he's himself. He's specktacular in that he's his own person. I didn't create a mastermind super-brain.  I just let my kid be my kid.  I let my kid go where he wanted to go and let my kid do what he wanted to do. (In saying go where he wanted to go and do what he wanted to do, that doesn't mean running the streets with a bad crowd, and getting into whatever they want, if just means exploring and seeing what fits them and what doesn't. And it worked out, and it's working out, and it's going to continue to work out.  ... And I am encouraged, and I want you to be enouraged, so , thank you. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
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The Raw Truth About Homeschoolers

Just came across this awesome video about homeschoolers by a former homeschooler, now in college.
I don't know that I agree with all of it, but from her perspective what she is saying is true in her experience.

"We just want to be normal.  You can talk to us."

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Sex ed becoming Mandatory in NY classrooms

First things first.

  With kids becoming less and less literate, why waste time on subjects parents should be teaching at home? Shouldn't they focus on reading and writing. Considering they are not teaching reading and writing well, how well are they going to teach sex ed. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE

Favorite homeschool websites

Enjoy this video/slideshow of our very favorite homeschooling websites for high school students. And they're free.



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