Leaping From The Box » Books/Reviews

Homeschooling Can Encourage Socialization

Leaping — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:05:01 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about how some non-homeschooling individuals are still worried about homeschooling and socialization. Serendipitously, I just read an article by a Marisa Chow, a Contra Costa Times Teen Correspondent and a homeschooled teen in the Bay Area of California. In Teens: Home schooling aids, rather than inhibits, socialization, Marisa states:

Not only does home schooling include activities outside of the home, it also allows — and even encourages — students to socialize with people of different ages, backgrounds and perspectives.

She then gives many examples of how homeschooling has facilitated socialization in her life.

It is encouraging to read articles written by homeschooled teens, seeing homeschooling from their eyes and experiences.

Do you worry about socialization for your homeschoolers? Do you worry about homeschooling through the teen years? High school can be as fun and interesting to homeschool as were the elementary years. Check out my articles on homeschooling through high school. And if you have a worry, please leave a comment here and let us see if we can alleviate your concern.

Homeschooling High School and Beyond to College – Higher Education

Unexpected Opportunities, Finding Educational Resources for Homeschoolers Within the Community

Unschooling High School

Worried about Socialization and homeschooling? Get over it!

Leaping — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:30:06 +0000

We began homeschooling in 1996 and at that time, the one thing above all else that concerned those who heard we were homeschooling was “socialization.” Over the years, this continues to be THE concern most voiced, even though a generation of homeschoolers have proven it is a non-issue.

In an otherwise spot-on article about homeschooling this week, Why Urban, Educated Parents Are Turning to DIY Education, author Linda Perlstein quotes psychologist Wendy Mogel:

Psychologist Wendy Mogel, the author of the bestselling book The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, admires the way homeschoolers manage to “give their children a childhood” in an ultracompetitive world. Yet she wonders how kids who spend so much time within a deliberately crafted community will learn to work with people from backgrounds nothing like theirs. She worries, too, about eventual teenage rebellion in families that are so enmeshed.

“A deliberately crafted community” sounds like public school to me! Our experience was that our homeschooled children learned to interact with people of all ages, all backgrounds, via community sports, theater, and various other classes. And as for teenage rebellion, it is not always “eventual” but even if it does occur, it is certainly not any more worrisome in a homeschooled family than it is in a non-homeschooled family.

What do you think about the article? Do reporters/authors always have to stick in something about socialization just to “balance out” an article?

J.K. Rowling Announces Pottermore

Leaping — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:15:05 +0000

J.K. Rowling announced her newest venture, Pottermore, via Youtube.

What do you think?

Zenschooling Giveaway

Leaping — Tue, 31 May 2011 22:03:47 +0000

Hunt Press is giving away a copy of Zenschooling, written by Tammy Takahashi. All you have to do is leave a comment on the Hunt Press blog and they will draw a winner on June 7th.

Here’s the blurb from Hunt Press about Zenschooling:

Zen is the practice of choosing peace over drama, balance over dogma, and compassion over judgment. Homeschooling is an extraordinary experience, but it can also be stressful and overwhelming. Bring a little Zen into your education at home, and use the power of experience, mindfulness, and acceptance to create an amazing homeschooling life. Bring out the best in your children, and in yourselves, with Zenschooling.

This book normally retails for $23.95. Pop on over to Hunt Press and leave a comment right now! And if you win, let us know how you like the book.

Colleges the Change Lives Tour

Leaping — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:57:58 +0000

The CTCL (Colleges that Change Lives) people have announced their 2009 tour dates. If they are coming near you, I urge you to take the time to visit them. We attended one of their sessions several years ago in Nashville and found it well worth our time.

The tour is based upon the schools featured in the book Colleges That Change Lives, 40 Schools you should know about even if you’re not a straight-A student, by Lauren Pope. This is one of my favorite college-prep books; check out my review and you will begin to understand why.

The 2009 tour includes 26 cities, so be sure to check the list for the one nearest you!

Unschooling, Part II

Leaping — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:13:38 +0000

My regular readers no doubt have been wondering about my blogging absence. My apologies for leaving you hanging on the Audacity of Hope review. I do hope to finish that up soon. Life intruded, as it often does. In late April our daughter and two-year-old granddaughter came to live with us. And just as suddenly, two weeks later, our youngest child decided to move back to Alabama. He had turned eighteen in March and decided his life was in Alabama. We wish him luck, miss him terribly, and hope he finds what he needs.

So, within a two-week time period from late April to early May, our household increased from four to six and then went down to five. Miss Munchkin, our granddaughter, is a very busy two-year-old and it is taking Grandma quite some time to adjust from having quiet peaceful days to busy toddler-chasing days while Miss Munchkin’s Mommy goes back to work fulltime. It has been a long time since I had a two-year-old in the household full time and there are days that I am sure I am much too old for it all! I think, though, that we are finally beginning to settle into a bit of a routine.

Beginning Again

So it appears that, instead of being done with homeschooling children, I am beginning all over again! Miss Munchkin is at that age where she soaks up everything, misses nothing, and repeats everything you say. Words are beginning to string together to create short sentences. She is getting taller and we have to keep pushing things further and further back on the counters. You can read about the fun we are having with the refrigerator on my Musings, Mischief and Mayhem blog, Refrigerator Fascination. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

It has been a number of years since I had my toddlers, so I would love to hear ways in which to keep her brain working and her body out of trouble! She has been learning ASL for the last year from the Signing Time series and we just received Volume 11: My Neighborhood and Volume 12: Time to Eat in the mail this week. Her very favorite activity is playing with her wooden ABC puzzles. But we need something new and frankly, Grandma is feeling more tired than creative. Access to the public library is a once a week thing right now, as transportation is a bit of an issue. So we need simple things we can do inside an apartment, as it is now 97 degrees outside here in north Florida!

One great thing we did earlier this week was move Uncle Charles’s discarded mattress to the living room floor. Oh, that is great fun to jump on and dance on and tumble on and run around. Did I mention that Miss Munchkin is active? Grandma is certainly getting her workout these days!

Growing With Science blog

Leaping — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:55:56 +0000

Leaping From The Box contributing author and science writer Roberta Gibson invites homeschoolers, parents, and educators to visit her new Growing With Science blog.

Roberta is putting the fun back into scientific exploration! Two of her recurring posts are:

Bug of the Week
Weekend Science Fun

I especially enjoyed her Making a Science “Boredom Bin” post. There is no way anyone could ever consider me a science person, so the ideas that Roberta gave for a Science Boredom Bin would have been invaluable to me when my children were young. In fact, I might just have to put some of her ideas into action for my granddaughter.

Be sure to subscribe to her RSS Feed (found at the bottom of each post) so you don’t miss a post! And leave comments! We bloggers love comments!

The Audacity of Hope book review – Part One

Leaping — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:51:17 +0000

Normally I post book reviews on my personal blog, Musings, Mischief and Mayhem, unless the book (or other item) pertains in some way to educate or homeschooling. But I have recently read Barack Obama’s two books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father and thought that the readers here at Leaping From The Box would enjoy hearing about them also. So, today I will begin the first of a three-part review of Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream, with a review of Dreams from My Father to appear in the near future.

The Audacity of Hope

The Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream was a slow read, not because it was not interesting, but because each chapter gave you cause to stop, think, consider and reread sections.

Audacity contains a prologue and epilogue and then nine chapters. Each chapter goes in some depth about the past choices that America made, both as a country and as individuals, to bring us to where we are now in each of these areas. Obama then explores what may occur if we continue on our present course and what alternative courses we could choose.

Republicans and Democrats

Obama discusses the relatively recent events that led to our “great political divide” and explains what politicians gain from adopting polarizing viewpoints. Unfortunately, their gain is our loss. As Obama states, “It is such doctrinaire thinking and stark partisanship that have turned Americans off of politics. But for those of us who believe that government has a role to play in promoting opportunity and prosperity for all Americans, a polarized electorate isn’t good enough. What’s needed is a broad majority of Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and independents of goodwill – who are reengaged in the project of national renewal, and who see their own self-interest as inextricably linked to the interests of others.”

Obama believes that the electorate is waiting for politicians to rise above dogma and the polarity that has been the norm in Washington for the past thirty years or more. He believes that Americans “are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point.”

Values

This chapter discusses some of the core values that most Americans believe in: family, community, patriotism, obligations of a citizenship, a belief in something bigger than ourselves, an individual’s value as a person. And the ensuing tensions that those often contrasting values create in a society.

“In a country as diverse as ours, there will always be passionate arguments about how we draw the line when it comes to government action. That is how our democracy works. But our democracy might work a bit better if we recognized that all of us possess values that are worthy of respect.”

Of all the values Obama mentions, there is a recurring theme of empathy throughout the whole book. “I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help, we diminish ourselves.”

Our Constitution

Before Obama became a U.S. Senator from Illinois, he taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His admiration and respect for the Constitution comes through loud and clear. It is obvious, too, that he is not a strict constructionist, stating “… it is not a static but rather a living document, and must be reading the context of an ever-changing world.” Later in the chapter he writes, “In sum, the Constitution envisions a road map by which we marry passion to reason, the ideal of individual freedom to the demands of community. And the amazing thing is that it’s worked.”

Coming soon: Part Two, covering the next three chapters of The Audacity of Hope.

Great Courses – The Story of Human Language

Leaping — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:24:35 +0000

I have drooled over the Teaching Company Great Courses catalogue for years, wishing for this course or that course. After reading Timothy’s description of The Story of Human Language in his blog post A Brief Description of Why I’m Ignoring Y’all over at Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent, I knew it was time to bite the bullet and buy a course. I mean, my birthday is coming up and all, and I don’t want this old brain to turn to mush from disuse! This course is 18 hours long, broke down into 36 thirty minute lectures. By the time I was into lecture two, my son was watching it with me. The presentation is very well done and the topic is most interesting! I wonder if dh would like a course for his birthday? This one on Modern Economic Issues looks interesting!

All of their courses go on sale one month out of every year, so only buy them on sale! And, if you are willing to part with them after watching them once or twice, they seem to hold their resale value very well on E-bay.

High School Unschooling and Transcripts

Leaping — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:38:46 +0000

Another response to a question I received about unschooling. If you have your own question, click on the “Email Me Today” link on the right sidebar and send me your question.

Background: We have homeschooled our children for many years. Our eldest is now in college. But my dw continually stresses out about curriculum and “being behind,” and this stress is loaded upon the remaining child as she is pressured to complete particular work.

Questions: Is it possible to transition to an unschooled paradigm with only a 15-year-old left in the house? How? What difficulties can one expect? How does one set up transcripts for college?

Thanks,
Unschooling Wannabe Dad

Dear Unschooling Wannabe Dad,

The quick and easy answer is, “Of course it is possible to transition to unschooling!”

Does your youngest child wish to unschool? Does she already unschool in some fashion and just does not realize it? If she has some input into what her studies are and how/when she does them, then she may already be unschooling to some degree.

Unschooling Difficulties

One key to unschooling success is to have everyone in the household at least willing to give it a good try. If your wife is already stressing and worrying, then I suspect she will have a great deal of difficulty adjusting to the notion of unschool. You might need to do some “selling” of unschooling to your wife: meet some local unschooling families, learn about unschooled students who successfully made it into college, joining some unschooling email lists or support groups, and read some good unschooling books.

How is your eldest doing at college? Is your wife worrying because the eldest is having difficulties adjusting to college? Or is she just worrying because that is her natural tendency? If she has specific concerns, such as writing abilities or particular math levels, it may be necessary to compromise and continue with an academic schedule (plan) for those areas and then allow your daughter to unschool in all other areas of her life.

Other than getting your wife on board, the only real difficulty I can think of is if your youngest is uncertain about unschooling or believes that unschooling might not work. Sometimes students are so used to having their academic work laid out for them, without their having any input into what they study, that the idea of unschooling seems scary or even wrong in some way. They worry that they won’t cover the necessary material to get them into college. Or they flounder for a while, not certain what to do nor when, simply because they are so used to following someone else’s schedule.

Deschooling

Your daughter might find it necessary to deschool for a while, just to gain the time and perspective to see what she wants to do for herself. Deschooling is like a vacation from prescribed learning, allowing the student to regain touch with her own desires, her own reasons for learning. Sometimes deschooling is necessary for students who have always followed a strict regimen of learning where they had no input into what they learn (whether school-at-home or in public school). The rule of thumb with deschooling is one month for each year that child has been in public school. Since you have already been homeschooling for a number of years, your daughter might not need that long.

Transcripts for Unschoolers

As for transcripts, there are many ways they can be done, depending upon the homeschool regulations in your particular state. Many homeschools are considered private schools; if that is the case in your state, you create your child’s transcript, translating their activities and interest into “schooly” subjects. In Alabama (the state I have the most familiarity with), homeschoolers join church schools and the church school provides the transcript and/or diploma, based upon the information provided by the homeschooling family.

There are also some “unschooling schools” that provide transcripts and diplomas for unschoolers, which might be a way of reassuring your wife that the necessary material will be covered for college. One such school is West River Academy.

Unschooling High School

Unschoolers can and do graduate from high school and go on to college just fine. We graduated two unschoolers, and while our eldest decided not to attend college, she easily could have, given her grades and SAT scores. Our middle child is currently enrolled at Tallahassee Community College, majoring in computer science, and made the Dean’s List last semester. Both unschooled their high school years, each in their own particular way. I chronicled some of their unschooled high schooling a few years ago, which you can read at Unschooling High School.

Unschooling Wannabe Dad, please let us know what your family decides to do and why!

Readers, do you have any suggestions for this Unschooling Wannabe Dad? Please post your comments!