Gabby Douglas, the athlete who just won multiple gold medals in the Olympics is a buzzing topic right now... because of the state of her hair. Wow. This makes me angry because too many of use are out of shape and unhealthy because we are worried about our hair. This young athlete has her priorities in order. Yes, her hair doesn't look like she just came from the salon, but have you seen how far that child can fly!
Oh, and that's not the only complaint. Fox News is complaining that she had no business wearing pink and should have chosen a more patriotic leotard. Give me a break! So what does that have to do with homeschooling?
CONFORMISM.
It continues to blow my mind that many homeschoolers are focusing on what their homeschooling looks like and not what their children are getting out of it.
Too many of us bow to demands of socialization (that our momma's keep bugging us about) and sacrifice time our children should spend reading and doing math.
Too many of us run to accreditation and sacrifice time our children could spend deeply exploring a subject they love. (not against accreditation as long as it doesn't usurp what our kids need).
Too many of us focus on measuring our children's progress against others instead of teaching our kids according to their own strengths and weaknesses.
Maybe my comparison is a bit of a reach, but that is the comparison my mind jumped to when pondering the atrocity of people focusing on this child's hair. Fortunately just as many of us homeschoolers don't bend to the peer pressure of looks that is common in public school mentality and put the heart and talent before something as superficial as hairstyles.
I think what we most need to remember is that we are homeschooling for our children, not for the world, just as Gabby must remember she is out there to win, not for a mention in a hair and beauty magazine.
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!
I am now allowed monitization with YouTube so there will be a lot more videos. I just realized that I used to preach about using public school resources for homeschooling, but we are now using them.
Never say never huh?
I do feel comfortable with using individual classes with Georgia Virtual School because it is not an online school, but online classes, so that parent still controls the students schedule and is responsible as their "principal".
Children learn more in their travels We cram too much information into children What about family time? Not against public school, but is enjoying the homeschool experience
I love to use visual aids and movies as much as possible to teach students and illustrate points. http://www.tvschoolhouse.com is just getting started, but they are building a library of "old school" educational films. I was especially enthralled by the full length version of the movie Nineteen Eighty Four... an excellent addition to studying the book!
Their tag line is: "A free and fun way to support your classroom or homeschool curriculum using time-proven Educational Films, Newsreels, TV Shows, PSAs, and Movies from the past."
I have a special place in my heart for kids struggling to finish highschool. Students who have dropped out, who are in the process of dropping out, or thinking about dropping out should know that there is an alternative and homeschooling can solve your problems and help you to get into a good college.
If you want to talk more about it, drop me a note.
I was prepared for this video to be awful. The reason is that I keep coming across how-to homeschool articles and advice written by people who haven't the foggiest clue on how to homeschool... it drives me crazy.
I only homeschool two kids so I am not going to confess to having a day like this one, but sometimes my kids display the habits of the two older girls.
So I received a phone call from a new homeschoolers who was told that if she handn't already filed her homeschooling forms that she could be arrested.
That is the kind if misinformation and alarmist reactions that scare people away from homeschooling. I gave her the correct information she needed, but I made a video to vent.
The moral of the story is, don't let random educators (who are not intimately aware of homeschooling) to give you homeschooling advice. Chances are they will be wrong.
My guess is this person got their information from the fact that a local homeschooling mom was arrested last year for educational neglect. They had been "homeschooling" for years and had not filed any paperwork or done any testing. (If I remember correctly, there were some other illegal things going in the house too).
So please, don't let peopel scare you... check with a homeschooling expert
I had stopped making video blogs because of technical difficulties and also because I got many ugly (and racist) responses for no good reason.
But today is a new day.
I am making video blogs again for 3 reasons:
1. Too many of my kids homeschool friends are returning to traditional schools as they enter the high school years. While that is OK and each parent must do what they feel is best, I would like to encourage those on the fence to consider sticking to homeschooling and finishing strong.
3. I have seen far to many pushouts and drop-outs from public school with no means of completing their education. I feel they can use homeschooling to finish and get into a good college.
3. Just from my personal experience alone, I can see that homescholing is growing exponentially. I would love to be a person that helps influence that growth.
As you are homeschooling your child, do you have qualities in mind that you hope they possess as an adult? Do you know someone with those qualities so you can fully picture what they look like?
I have known this young lady for about 8 years or longer. She is 5 years older than my daughter, and I have always seen the qualities in her I would like my daughter to possess. They are both talented musically, and this young lady is modest about her talent, and grateful to God for it.
Here is a video she just did as a contest for a local radio contest. I am posting it for two reasons:
1. To demonstrate what I see for my daughter in the future and 2. To support her and help her reach a million views by the end of the month.
You may or may not have noticed that many of my old Youtube video blogs are disabled. Sorry. Looking back over them, I just didn't like them. I felf some were unprofessional, and others were just not what I want to present.
I want to thank those people who still regularly encourage me to make videos and tell me that they have helped or inspired them. It's kind of weird to realize that people you know actually follow your videos and others recognize you on the street.
Nevertheless, I plan to start making homeschool video blogs again. I will not allow comments on them because some people can be downright evil and hurtful. (The experience made me painfully aware of racism.) Instead, commenting will be strictly reserved for my blog readers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources
I haven't made a youtube video in mega ages... Frankly, sometimes I feel like they are not a good idea. If you like my youtuve video and want me to make more, leave a comment.... infact, tell me what you would like me to record... homeschool related.
Here's an interesting report on homeschooling. I noticed some inacuracies or over generalizations especially in the comments below the video.
comments from video "Home schooling is a growing force in the United States, where families opt out of the public education system in favour of parent-supervised study. The country's growing evangelical Christian communities are largely behind the growth, seeking to teach their children Biblical creationism instead of the scientific theory of evolution. But home schooling by politically progressive families is also on the rise."
His father is professing that the kids will get "a proper education like they are supposed to". As homeschoolers we know that means public or private school and no more home education. That's interesting though because Joe Jackson did not get his kids a "proper education like kinds are supposed to have" considering he was dragging them all over the country getting rich off of them.
I know its time to stop talking about this and to home that the teacher who started this noise goes away. Still, it's a free country and I really wanted to get in my last word on this subject.
This video gives and analogy on how homeschooling and public education and teachers are different, so there really isn't a reason for such dissention... or is there?