For those of you who have yet to dive in to homeschooling ideology and culture, Wikipedia’s homeschooling entry has a lot to offer. Even those of us with extensive homeschooling experience may learn a thing or two about the craft, politics, and science of home education. There are also a variety of helpful links that will give those thirsting for more information plenty of insightful documentation on which to chew.
A group of Comox Valley, British Columbia homeschoolers are learning how to make big bucks using real world entrepreneurship skills.
They learn about having to buy what is needed for their product, and come up with what they spend on it. The students may even have to get a loan to produce their product. Along the way, the students get a glimpse of the real world of business.
Homeschooling can cover more than just good old reading, writing, and arithmetic. Outside the rigid boarders of traditional public schooling, the possibilities are endless. On top of that, the independence and discipline of homeschoolers can come in handy in the entrepreneurial field. The sky is the limit for students who know how to manage their time and resources.
Here’s an interesting story about a homeshooled high school student who is turning his artistic abilities into a college fund. The 10th grader is currently proficient in the art of seed-beading, fuse glass, and is learning how to make silver pendants.
Pressler is currently selling his artwork at Jon-Ellen’s Flowers and Gifts of Gaffney and at Lu-Lu’s in downtown Spartanburg. He has already sold four pieces in the past month and will make a trip next month with the goal of entering the retail art market in Charleston.
Not only is Charles Pressler developing his artistic abilities, but the process of creating the pendants and other crafts is teaching him more about science, namely chemistry. Hoping to earn enough money to pay for college by 10th grade, Pressler is well on his way to becoming a renowned artist in the South Carolina crafts marketplace.
Town Online has a wonderful writeup about a Masachusettes Co-op program called Monday Funday. Assuaging the doubts that many new homeschool parents have about their children’s socialization, this program enables youngsters to ineract with one another once a week in a safe learning environment.
Monday Funday is held specifically to engage homeschoolers in activities with other homeschooling students from the area. Classes range from chemistry, to chess, to art and include students of all ages in every class.
They also provide monthly support meetings for parents who are new to homeschooling or are struggling to make it all happen. Yahoo! has plenty of groups devoted to local homeschooling. Be sure to research groups in your area in order to give your children a unique learning experience coupled with invaluable socialization opportunities.
A Pennsylvania Mom was recently sentenced to jail time on account of homeschooling her teenaged son. Recognizing that her son was unable to comprehend middle school learning material, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She faces almost $4,000 in truancy fines, but has little personal funds to pay them.
Unless the county court grants her appeal, Winters is slated to go to jail Dec. 14. The county court also possibly could require Kyle to return to school, where he would be in ninth grade and in the same trouble again, Walker says.
This is a good example of how not to homeschool. It’s important that homeschoolers do whatever they can to make things easy for the public school administrators to verify that we are in fact educating our children. That doesn’t mean we need to give up our rights, but we should be as helpful and accomodating as possible.
