Author: AussieHomeschool

Homeschooling High School by Terri Johnson

Posted by | Jun 20, 2008 | |

Homeschooling High School When it comes to high school, most homeschooling parents approach these years with fear and trepidation.  I will admit that I did, as well.  But I am so pleased that we decided to take the plunge and continue home schooling our oldest daughter rather than pursuing private or public school for these final four years.  Are the high school years approaching in your home?  I encourage you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider the possibility that homeschooling your high schooler might be a tremendous boon for you, your student and your whole family.  Here are some reasons why… 1. This is when homeschooling really begins to pay off.  Your student has become an independent learner and can schedule and manage his own work load.  High school level work should not require a great amount of your time (although more of his than he might be used to!). 2. Ideally, your student, who is approaching high school, has become a real helper to you and her younger siblings.  This is a wonderful time to have your teens home by your side, learning to cook, garden, manage a home, build a deck, balance a checkbook, etc.  Often high schoolers enrolled in public or private school do not have time to learn practical life skills because of the excessive class time and increased home work that their...

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What If Your Child Wants to Go to School?

Posted by | Jun 16, 2008 | |

What If Your Child Wants to Go to School? Advice From the Experts from Homeschool.com  In this issue… Q: What Should You Do If Your Child Wants To Go To School? A: We've asked the following homeschooling experts and authors for their advice (in alphabetical order): * David Albert * Susan Wise Bauer * Dr. Matt James * Pat Farenga * Diane Flynn Keith * Rebecca Kochenderfer * Marilyn Mosley * Win & Bill Sweet   Advice from David Albert David H. Albert is a father, author, homeschooling speaker, and magazine columnist. His latest book is "Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow – Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love."  His website is www.skylarksings.com. "When they were young, I didn't let the kids touch the stove, run out in the street, or sample items from the medicine cabinet. I'll grant it is possible they might have learned from each of these experiences, but I didn't want to find out. There were also things I didn't let them eat. It is possible they might have liked them, or seen other kids enjoying them, but I didn't want to deal with the bellyache in the morning, or the longer-term consequences of poor eating habits. I am, after all, the parent, and I get to make those decisions, based on my own experience and insight, both characteristics which I think it is unreasonable to...

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Various FAQ to do with homeschooling

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

The Home Education Association (HEA) has a good list of responses to the following:   What is home education? Is home education legal? Do I need to register with the Government authorities? Do I need a curriculum? Can the HEA help me with curriculum? Is this the same as correspondence schooling? What about socialisation? Will home educated children be able to matriculate and gain entrance to university? How do I make contact with home educators in my area? How many home educators are there in Australia? We are moving to Australia next year. We want to homeschool our children in Australia. Do we need to do the paperwork before we enter Australia or can we wait until our arrival? We are thinking about travelling around Australia. Do we have to register for homeschooling in each...

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What Resources Can I Use?

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Trying to find a starting point when choosing curriculum can seem like a huge task and this page is a starting point. The first thing is to consider if you want to use a pre packaged curriculum or a unit study approach, a workbook approach or a rigorous classical approach. The great thing is that you aren’t limited to choosing one approach and you are always free to adapt your approach or change it if it isn’t working for your family. However, these experiments can be expensive so it’s wise to consider as carefully as possible when starting out. Continue reading →

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Good Mom, Bad Mom

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Good Mom, Bad Mom by Lydia Bower Have you ever had someone say to you, “You're such a good mom,” and while you smile and say, “Thanks,” inside you think, but, if she really knew me, she wouldn't think so? If she had seen me this evening when I petered out, or yesterday when I didn't plan dinner, or last week when we didn't do school because everyone was sick, or the mess my house was in this morning. If she knew I wasn't perfect, she wouldn't say that. Well, of course we know that nobody is perfect, but why do we so often measure ourselves against a perfect standard? And why, so many times do we feel like “bad moms?” I think there are several reasons, which often begin with this line of reasoning: * Good moms put their kids to bed at the same time every night. * Good moms do devotions every day. * Good moms have weekly/monthly menu plans, a regular shopping day, a stocked pantry, and family style, on-time meals. * Good moms give their children baths every day, or at the very least every-other day. * Good moms read out loud to their children. * Good moms don't let their children eat sweets. * Good moms wear their baby in a sling. Now, each mom's mental list is different, depending on how she...

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Why My Way is the Only Godly Way

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Why My Way is the Only Godly Way Jenefer Igarashi, Senior Editor, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine If I could have only 30 minutes of your time, I could show you scripture and biblical principles that would convince you that the only godly way to plan your family dinners, is to go strictly vegetarian. Then we should talk about modesty. I know everything there is to know about modesty on account of a book that I read at last year's Ladies Church Retreat. We should talk about it, because if you haven't read this book, then you have no idea how ungodly you probably are. Then I need to stress the importance of family planning. I can show you (in a matter of three verses from the Old Testament) that if you are not trying to have as many children as humanly possible, then you are not trusting God, and therefore could not be near as godly as someone who requires two, full-sized school buses to get their family to church. And did you know…Courtship is far better than betrothal? Er….I mean, no, it's the other way….Betrothal is the way to go or your children will certainly end up divorced. Did you know that? You probably need the tape series on it. — It's eluded to in Scripture someplace. But before that, I should definitely talk to you about that...

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The Beauty of Reading Aloud

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | , , , , |

THE BEAUTY OF READING ALOUD by Virgina Knowles Reading aloud is a child’s first introduction to good literature. Why is this so important? Reading aloud connects parent and child. It links you together in a personal way around interesting ideas and words. Young ones are soothed by the sound of our voices. I tend to be so much more calm when I am snuggled up on the couch enjoying a great book with them, rather than chasing them around the house trying to keep them out of mischief. Reading aloud builds warm memories, too! What will they fondly remember looking back to their childhoods — pages upon pages of worksheets or the great stories they read with Mom? Reading aloud gives your child a splendid vocabulary. Good literature is rich in descriptive vocabulary. Your child can gain an impressive arsenal of new words to use in speaking and writing. A child can encounter a word in print, and even know what it means, but not know how to pronounce it. Is the word charade pronounced CHAIR-ray-dee or shuh-RAID? If he hears you say it while he is looking at it, he can make the connection and hopefully remember it the next time. Reading aloud prepares a child for learning to read. Study after study has shown that being read to often as a young child is one of the...

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Honoring Teens who Don't Deserve It

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Honoring Teens who Don’t Deserve It When challenged with the concept that honor means to value others, one parent responded honestly, “My fifteen-year-old son has become so hurtful I just don’t see any value in him anymore. I don’t feel like I can honor him at all.” A problem arises when a person’s worth or value is not easily apparent. A dad might dishonor a teen because he doesn’t appreciate her and even considers her opinions and actions foolish. He may overreact, pull away, or make sarcastic remarks. Mom may react with anger when treated poorly and over time lose any sense of value she once had for her son. It’s especially harmful when parents give up or become hostile in response to teen rejection. We believe this to be a serious parenting mistake that may contribute to young people searching for different friends and authorities who will listen and accept them. When others’ worth or value is not easily apparent, a person must learn to honor by faith. Each person has intrinsic value to God and is significant and worthwhile to Him. Often when you start with God’s perspective you recognize the value of even a difficult person. Stories abound of parents who have continued to be faithful even when all seemed hopeless, only to find the teen to make major steps of improvement. A teen is formulating...

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Top 10 Mistakes of Homeschoolers

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | , |

======================================== INSTRUCTED by the Scriptures, LED by the Spirit Bold Christian Living E-Mail Newsletter, Issue #129 Top 10 Mistakes of Homeschoolers Copyright 2005 Jonathan Lindvall Permission to re-post in full is granted. ======================================== Top 10 Mistakes of Homeschoolers I am very thankful the Lord spoke to my heart, as a single man back in 1972, that when He gave me children I was to teach them myself. At the time I thought I was unique. I had never heard of anyone besides foreign missionaries without access to schools teaching their own children. It didn’t occur to me that the Lord might be speaking the same word to many others. Later, after marrying and having our first child, my wife and I encouraged a few other families to teach their own children. We even started a Christian School ministry to facilitate this (we have never had a campus–all the students are taught at home by their own parents). We didn’t call it homeschooling for well over a year–we hadn’t even heard that term yet. We thought we were the only ones in the world doing this, and only knew we were to disciple our own children rather than send them to school. We were amazed to later begin meeting many others in diverse places who reported that they, too, had thought they were the only ones the Holy Spirit was...

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Fortifying the Faith of Our Children

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Fortifying the Faith of Our Children by Wayne Jackson Why do our children succumb to apostasy when they reach maturity? What can we do about it? Wayne Jackson explores these questions. “My son was raised in the church. We taught him the Bible. As a youngster he sometimes helped to serve the Lord’s supper. He even gave talks occasionally. After he was in college a while, something changed. He began to question the teaching of the Scriptures. Now, he professes no faith at all. What happened?” This is a story that I have heard over and over again across the years, Many of our youngsters are losing their faith? Why is this? Perhaps there is no simple, single reason; however, it may be sufficient to observe that one of the causes of this growing defection among our young adults is the fact that for years they were operating on a borrowed faith. In too many instances they had superficial instruction from mediocre teachers in their church Bible classes. Added to this is the fact that they were given no substantial intellectual training at home. Accordingly, when they encountered the crass, humanistic environment of the university atmosphere, they were unable to survive. It is time that we awaken to the reality that if we wish to preserve our children we must take more seriously our responsibility to educate them in...

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Learning Self-Discipline

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Learning Self-Discipline For many years, I have had the privilege of knowing the renowned classical guitarist Christopher Parkening. By the time he was thirty, he had become a master of his instrument. But such mastery did not come easily or cheaply. While other children played and participated in sports, he spent several hours a day practicing the guitar. The result of that self-disciplined commitment is proficiency on his instrument that few can match. Self-discipline is important in any endeavor of life. It's best defined as the ability to regulate one’s conduct by principle and sound judgment, rather than by impulse, desire, or social custom. Biblically, self-discipline may be summarized in one word: obedience. To exercise self-discipline is to avoid evil by staying within the bounds of God’s law. I'm grateful for my parents, coaches, professors, and the others who helped me develop self-discipline in my own life. People who have the ability to concentrate, focus on their goals, and consistently stay within their priorities tend to succeed. Whether in academics, the arts, or athletics, success generally comes to the self-disciplined. Since self-discipline is so important, how do you develop it? How can parents help their children develop it? Here are some practical tips that I've found helpful: Start with small things. Clean your room at home or your desk at work. Train yourself to put things where they belong...

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Cleaning House

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

CLEANING HOUSE (author unknown) Last Week I threw out Worrying, it was getting old and in the way. It kept me from being me; I couldn't do things God's way. I threw out a book on MY PAST (didn't have time to read it anyway). Replaced it with NEW GOALS, started reading it today. I threw out hate and bad memories, (remember how I treasured them so)? Got me a NEW PHILOSOPHY too, threw out the one from long ago. Brought in some new books too, called I CAN, I WILL, AND I MUST. Threw out I might, I think and I ought. WOW, you should've seen the dust. I ran across an OLD FRIEND, haven't seen him in a while. I believe his name is GOD, Yes I really like His style. He helped me to do some cleaning and added some things Himself. Like PRAYER, HOPE AND FAITH, Yes I placed them right on. I picked up this special thing and placed it at the front door. I FOUND IT- its called PEACE. No thing gets me down anymore. Yes, I've got my house looking nice. Looks good around the place. For things like Worry and Trouble there just isn't any space. Its good to do a little house cleaning, get rid of the things on the shelf. It sure makes things brighter; maybe you should TRY...

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