Many parents struggle with homeschooling the high school years. One common debate is whether or not a local community college is a good place to send a 16 year old, homeschooling student to finish high school. Here are some of the pros and cons that the families I've worked with are considering. Pros: It's a free program that offers "dual credit," meaning that the student gets both high school and college credit for their courses. This means that when they graduate high s

The first year of homeschooling can be the most discouraging for parents. For example, on my daughter's sports team this year, a fellow Mom and I found out we had a mutual friend. She told me that this friend, or rather acquaintance, of mine had decided to homeschool her 3 children and it was not going well. This family wasn't planning to continue next year. I was sorry to hear that and urged her to give her my number, but I thought, "She's probably so discouraged by now

One question I hear a lot from new homeschool moms is, "How much time should I spend on homeschooling?" or, "I work full time. Do I still have time to homeschool?" Deciding to homeschool is an important decision for your family. Making the time is just another decision only you can make, because you know your own situation. You can spend as much or as little time as it takes for you and your children to feel comfortable and develop a successful schedule (or non-schedule) th

Dear Worn-out Homeschool Mom, It’s Ok to Need a Community. There are many brave and amazing homeschool parents out there. But some talk as if it is shameful to need help in homeschooling. This is to those do-it-all, be-it-all, homeschool Moms who feel that having someone else teach your child was akin to homeschool failure. First, I'd like to say that Moms, in general, are amazing and should be told so constantly. I don't know of another class of people who give more an

What a unique and fun experience I had tutoring/mentoring a Language Arts class with my daughter and some of her homeschool friends this year. For Naomi's Language Arts, I invited my own small group/co-op class in my home to join us. These parents were glad for an experienced teacher to mentor them. We met twice a week. I mentored them in all five of the Language Arts subjects: Reading, Spelling, Writing, Vocabulary and Grammar. The kids were in 3rd grade, 4th grade, 6

Dear Mr. Socialization Boogie Man, I know you are a lot nicer than your brother, Mr. Academic Boogie Man, because you never hide in trees and bushes to scare us. I've already told him how I feel about his scary tactics. You are suave, cool, even respectful. But please stop gossiping behind our backs. This whispering about us when our children are "different" due, inevitability, to their lack of socialization has got to stop! I want to ask you who decides what proper so

5 Steps to Begin Planning Your Homeschool Year How do I plan my homeschool year? Below is a list of some of the major aspects to consider. For some, this would be a trick question because they don't plan! That's ok, but most homeschooling parents I've meet feel more comfortable with some idea of what they are doing. After all, in this state of North Carolina, parents are held responsible for the "scope and sequence" of the curriculum they develop (or don't develop), thoug

The Academic Boogie Man is watching behind every tree, just waiting‹ to jump out at homeschoolers and say, "Ha! I got you now! Your child didn't get a good education at home!" There are several things I'd like to say to this guy. (By the way, his brother is the Socialization Boogie Man but more about him later.) The Academic Boogie man is a very scary guy! He scares some people away from homeschooling all together, making them believe that they will just never be good e