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TheHomeSchoolMom

Homeschooling help and encouragement from experienced homeschoolers - find out how homeschooling works and how to start, get tips & ideas for when things need adjusting, read curriculum reviews before buying, learn how online schools work, gain confidence about homeschooling high school, and more.

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Jeanne Faulconer

Ask Jeanne: Homeschooling is hard because of my background teaching elementary school -- how can I let go of the desire for structure?

Ask Jeanne: When a Teacher Turns Homeschool Mom

by Jeanne Faulconer

Dear Jeanne,

It's so freeing to hear your thoughts about the effectiveness of a more informal education! I have realized that homeschooling is hard because of my background in teaching elementary school. It's hard to shake away from formal lessons and expected structure, but, when I do, my active 6yo boy thrives!

Sincerely, Teacher Mom

Jeanne's response:

Ah yes. All my elementary teacher friends say that this is the hardest thing for them. You are in good company here.

Try to think about how much you did in a classroom was because you were in a classroom -- with 25 kids who had to get through a set curriculum... Continue reading »

Winter Warmup: Making Snowflakes (Credit: Image created using photo by Liz West under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license)

Winter Warmup: Making Snowflakes

by Jeanne Faulconer

Snowflakes are fascinating to children and adults. They are unique, beautiful, and tiny marvels of nature.

Introduce your children to the fun of cutting paper snowflakes. Instructables has step-by-step text instructions with photos and diagrams to show you how to make six-pointed snowflakes. Six-pointed flakes are the most authentic, since they generally occur in nature with six points.

This YouTube video by The Bookhouse is a great paper snowflake-cutting demonstration that is easy to follow: Continue reading »

Ask Jeanne: Would a speech delay directly affect the child's ability to comprehend and read simultaneously?

Ask Jeanne: Speech Delay and Reading Comprehension

by Jeanne Faulconer

My question is this: in your opinion would speech delay in a child directly affect the child's ability to comprehend and read simultaneously - meaning, the ability to read words is good, however the understanding while reading seems to be disconnected. My little girl is turning 6 at the end of the month and although had a speech delay which was identified at 3, she is now within the "normal" spectrum ... translated as: her speech and language therapist says she has caught up with her peers but still has some pronunciation issues. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: Deschooling vs. Unschooling - What's the Difference?

Deschooling vs. Unschooling: What's the Difference?

by Jeanne Faulconer

New homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers sometimes wonder about the word "deschooling" vs. "unschooling". The prefixes "de" and "un" often mean such similar things. We "de-humidify" and we "un-tie" our shoes — both acts of reversing the meaning of the root word.

And in that sense, the words are related. Both deschooling and unschooling require thinking about the inverse of schooling.

But within the world of homeschooling, the two words deschooling and unschooling have meanings that are, most often, distinct from one another. Continue reading »

Ask Jeanne: How can I talk my son and daughter-in-law out of homeschooling?

Ask Jeanne: Don't Homeschool My Grandchildren

by Jeanne Faulconer

I know you know about this homeschooling thing. I understand it probably can help some kids, but my grandchildren are absolutely fine, and they don't need it. My daughter-in-law quit her very good job when they were born (twin girls) and now when we bring up preschool, she says she's homeschooling. I thought this would pass, but she recently mentioned not registering for kindergarten next year. We have really good schools here, probably some of the best in the country, and I am devastated thinking about these dear little girls missing out. My son won't talk to me about it; I think he has his head in the sand and is so busy supporting the family (this is a high cost area) that he just goes along. I know homeschooling should be legal for the children who need alternatives if they can't function in school, but this is not the case. How can I get them to open their eyes? Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: How a "third place" can help homeschooled teens

Homeschooling Teens: Finding a Third Place

by Jeanne Faulconer

Homeschooling teens means a lot of questions about preparing for college admission or getting experience and training for a vocation or artistic endeavor. We wring our hands over curriculum and credits, and we help our teens learn to drive and manage their money.

But another little piece of life experience we can help our teens with is being able to work in "a third place."

Typically, a third place is talked about in the world of adults, as the place that is "not home" and "not work."

College students and some high school students often study or socialize in a "third place" that is "not home" and "not classroom." Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: Developing a Pet Unit Study

Ideas for Creating a Pet Unit Study

by Jeanne Faulconer

Your dog, cat, bird, fish, ferret, hamster, or lizard may be a unit study waiting to happen. Many children are fascinated by domestic animals, and their strong interest will motivate them to read, write, solve problems, and create projects. Here are some ideas for developing a unit study around our pets. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: What is the best curriculum for homeschooling boys that are active and outdoorsy?

Ask Jeanne: What Curriculum for Homeschooling Active & Outdoorsy Boys?

by Jeanne Faulconer

We just started homeschooling about a month ago. Our son is in first grade. We purchased the curriculum (here she named a specific well-known Christian curriculum), but it's not going as well as I had hoped. My son really doesn't like the structure of the program. He's a six-year-old boy who loves to be outside. Any encouragement, advice, resources, wisdom, or thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks so much! Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: 20 Topics for a Nutrition Unit Study for Homeschoolers

20 Topics for a Nutrition Unit Study

by Jeanne Faulconer

Nutrition is an ideal homeschooling topic for the 10 - 14 year olds in your family or homeschool co-op. These middle years are an excellent time to go into more depth about what we eat and how it affects our health and growth. Tweens and early teens are especially interested in the changes brought by adolescence, and nutrition is a "safe" topic where kids can think about how their current choices affect their future. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: Sensory Math with Tangrams

Homeschool with Tangrams

by Jeanne Faulconer

Tangrams are simple seven-piece puzzles that build visual-spatial skills. Kids and adults alike enjoy manipulating the standardized pieces in the set, which includes a parallelogram, a square, and three sizes of right triangles. The pieces can be fit together to form a square, and in fact, when the puzzle pieces are made of wood, they are often stored in a square wooden frame. The real fun and thinking occur while moving the shapes around to form "pictures" or shapes. There is a real challenge in matching shapes that are already drawn out as puzzles to solve. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: Tub Schooling

Tub Schooling

by Jeanne Faulconer

What are the toys in your bathtub? And how good are you at tolerating a little mess? If you're able to create a nice collection of bathtub toys and allow some extended playtime in the bath, you have the possibility of giving your preschool and kindergarten age kids a good experience "tub schooling." It's more important for your kids to enjoy creative play than to sit at a table doing worksheets for hours a day from ages 3 - 6, and there's no place better to play than in the bathtub. I suggest having a plastic bin full of toys, stocked with... Continue reading »

Ask Jeanne: Concerns about spelling

Ask Jeanne: Concerns about Spelling

by Jeanne Faulconer

After we'd met for a homeschool evaluation, a mom of a ten year old wrote to me with concerns about her son's spelling.

We have are having an issue (problem?) with spelling. Up until last fall we had been using All About Spelling with good success (I thought) and had made it through five levels. Since then, it's kind of fallen to the wayside, and every few weeks I have my son write a story, mark the words he has misspelled (which he always identifies), and then work on spelling them correctly. When he tries to write things out, he has a really hard time spelling and has to really think things through. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: 5 Benefits of Playing Chess

5 Benefits of Playing Chess

by Jeanne Faulconer

It's not part of the traditional curriculum in United States schools or homeschool families -- but playing chess is a part of the curriculum in about thirty countries around the world. According to Dr. Teresa Parr of MATCH, there are five significant educational advantages to chess for homeschoolers (and others) to consider. Continue reading »

Educating head, heart, hands, and health

Educating Head, Heart, Hands, and Health

by Jeanne Faulconer

I grew up participating in 4H, and while I recommend the 4H program itself, I also find myself thinking a lot about the four "H's" as they apply to homeschooling: head, heart, hands, and health. If you want a holistic way to personally assess your homeschooling, think about whether what your kids are doing is working in each of these areas. Continue reading »

Instead of Curriculum: Unit Studies withBSA Merit Badges

BSA Merit Badges {Free Unit Studies}

by Jeanne Faulconer

Where can you find over 100 free high quality unit studies? Boy Scouts! The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) program offers great merit badge materials to its Scouts, which my older sons used on their way to achieving their Eagle Scout ranks. Completing merit badge requirements was often a great addition to their study of science, history, culture, government, business, and technology, and they also learned some great life skills for staying fit and healthy, managing money, and dealing with emergencies. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: When It's Time to Quit Homeschooling

Good Reasons To Quit Homeschooling

by Jeanne Faulconer

There are some times when some homeschooling parents should decide to quit homeschooling.

We're used to cheerleading for homeschooling and supporting homeschoolers through temporary hard times. We're accustomed to supporting people who have short-term or medium-term misgivings about homeschooling, but their kids are really doing fine, and they're really doing fine.

But if we're really going to be "Homeschoolers Helping Homeschoolers," as I've been writing about in this series, then we also have to provide support for homeschoolers who are making the decision to quit.

What are some good reasons to quit homeschooling? Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: When you are homeschooling only one child

Homeschooling One Child

by Jeanne Faulconer

A common mental picture of a homeschooling family includes Mom, Dad, and multiple kids -- if not a whole bunch of kids. That picture may not be accurate for lots of reasons, but today I'll just take a look at the kids in the picture.

There are a lot of us who aren't homeschooling multiple kids, much less a bunch. Some of us are homeschooling just one child.

How does "homeschooling for one" come about? And what's it like? Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: From School to Homeschool Co-op

From School To Co-op

by Jeanne Faulconer

Many children come to homeschooling directly from attending school, or the kids have been homeschooled their whole lives, but their parents' only existing model for group learning is the school classroom from their own childhoods.

When parents hear about homeschool co-ops, they are excited about the possibilities that this kind of learning community might offer to their family. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: Joining a Homeschool Co-op

Joining a Co-op

by Jeanne Faulconer

How can I join a co-op?

If you're looking for a homeschool co-op, keep in mind that co-ops have different approaches to new families. Some co-ops are "closed," meaning they already have all the families they can accommodate, and they are not accepting new members. Others take new members every year or every couple of years, as children age out, families move away, or needs change.

Some co-ops actually hold an open house or allow families to visit during the spring of one year in order for parents and co-op participants to consider whether prospective members and the co-op are a good fit for one another. Continue reading »

TheHomeSchoolMom Blog: The #1 Tip for Organizing Homeschool Activities

#1 Tip for Organizing Homeschool Activities

by Jeanne Faulconer

You float an idea on a homeschool email list or a Facebook group:

"I'm planning a field trip to Smith Historical Farm on the morning of April 10. I can get a group rate if we have 20 kids, and they'll do special hands-on projects with the children."

You give the details, and people say "count us in," giving a headcount of 32 children for the field trip.

The day before the field trip, emails start flying with all the reasons people can't be there. You go anyway, embarrassed to find that only 11 kids are there, and two of them are technically too young to participate. The Smith Historical Farm people are nice, but point out that you no longer qualify for the group rate, meaning that each family is now going to pay double what they expected. Continue reading »

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