Parents of several children engage in some seriously creative thinking to accomplish ordinary day to day tasks. This article is a collection of tips, gathered from ‘Moms of Many’, and is intended to supply helpful suggestions for homeschooling, maintaining your home, and generally keeping it all in balance.
In 1980, Marlene Bumgarner, a homeschooling parent, hosted author John Holt in her home while he was in California for a lecture tour. While he played in the garden with her two children, John and Dona Ana, she interviewed him for the bimonthly magazine Mothering. In this article, Holt answered such questions as, "What is your philosophy of learning?", "Why homeschool?", and "What about the child's social life?"
When it comes to math, practice makes perfect. Even after completing a homework assignment or working on all of the problems in a textbook, some children still need more practice to build their skills. Worksheets give children a way to improve their math skills by introducing them to a wide variety of problems. Math Game Time’s free math worksheets provide children with plenty of opportunities to practice applying their math skills. Some worksheets include standard equations, while others bring in word problems and real-life scenarios. Children will also find a selection of logic and puzzle based worksheets, including Sudoku and other fun games ranging from Pre-Kindergarten through 7th grade.
This article is a look at the Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic/Tactual styles of learning. This is a primer for parents who are seeking to understand their child's style of learning. Be sure to continue with the links at the bottom of the article that include "clues" to recognizing a person's primary learning method as well as strategies that focus on that individual style.
Alliance for Intellectual Freedom in Education is a network of individuals whose objective is to eliminate governmental interference in education, particularly home education, by raising awareness of the unalienable rights of conscience of all parents to raise and educate their children as they see fit.
I. The parent shall maintain a portfolio of records and materials relative to the home education program. The portfolio shall consist of a log which designates by title the reading materials used, and also samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the child. Such portfolio shall be preserved by the parent for 2 years from the date of the ending of the instruction. II. The parent shall provide for an annual educational evaluation in which is documented the child's demonstration of educational progress at a level commensurate with the child's age and ability. The child shall be deemed to have successfully completed his annual evaluation upon meeting the requirements of any one of the following: (a) A certified teacher or a teacher currently teaching in a nonpublic school who is selected by the parent shall evaluate the child's educational progress upon review of the portfolio and discussion with the parent or child. The teacher shall submit a written evaluation to the commissioner of education, resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal; (b) The child shall take any national student achievement test, administered by a person who meets the qualifications established by the provider or publisher of the test. Composite results at or above the fortieth percentile on such tests shall be deemed reasonable academic proficiency. Such test results shall be reported to the commissioner of education, resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal; (c) The child shall take a state student assessment test used by the resident district. Composite results at or above the fortieth percentile on such state test shall be deemed reasonable academic proficiency. Such test results shall be reported to the commissioner of education, the resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal; or (d) The child shall be evaluated using any other valid measurement tool mutually agreed upon by the parent and the commissioner of education, resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal. The results shall be reported by the parent or the testing agency to such appropriate official. III. The commissioner of education, resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal shall review the results of the annual educational evaluation of the child in a home education program as provided in paragraph II. If the child does not demonstrate educational progress for age and ability at a level commensurate with his ability, the commissioner, superintendent, or principal shall notify the parent, in writing, that such progress has not been achieved. The parent shall have one year from the date of receipt of the written notification to provide remedial instruction to the child. At the end of the one-year probationary period, the child shall be reevaluated in a manner as provided in this section. Continuation in a home education program shall be contingent upon the child demonstrating at the end of the probationary period educational progress commensurate with his age and ability. The parent of a child who fails to demonstrate such progress at the end of the probationary period shall be notified by the commissioner that the parent is entitled to a hearing as provided in RSA 193-A:7, III and IV and that the program will be terminated absent a finding for continuation pursuant to such hearing. Upon a finding that the program should be terminated, the child shall be reported by the commissioner or nonpublic school principal to the appropriate resident district superintendent, who shall, if necessary, take appropriate action to ensure that compulsory attendance requirements are met.
Anyone who is pushing arithmetic onto preschoolers is wrong. Do not hurry child. No math in preschool! Preschoolers can and should engage in mathematical thinking. All young children possess informal mathematics and can learn more. A combination of an environment that is conducive to mathematical explorations, appropriate observations and interventions, and specific mathematical activities helps preschoolers build premathematical and explicit mathematical knowledge.