http://www.parentatthehelm.com Your Family's Incredible Lifestyle Begins HERE - With Homeschooling Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:42:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7925/homeschooling-the-temporal-nature-of-messy/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7925/homeschooling-the-temporal-nature-of-messy/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:52:02 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7925 When our older son first moved out of the house, we wound up rearranging everyone's sleeping quarters to create space for a much-needed office. On the appointed day, the bed and dresser were moving out (look at all those crayons back there!), the desk was coming in from the garage (yuk!), the tangle of computer wires was becoming frustrating, and the piles of papers and files rescued from their various storage spaces were growing higher in the middle of...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7925/homeschooling-the-temporal-nature-of-messy/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7872/can-kids-teach-themselves/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7872/can-kids-teach-themselves/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:38:51 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7872 I always shied away from praise about the kids’ behavior, intelligence, talent, kindness, whatever. Assuming there was enough time for the conversation that would commence as soon as I said it, I’d respond with something to the effect, “It’s not me; it’s the kids; really, they’re educating themselves.” Interesting how the person who just moments before was flattering me suddenly experienced a complete body language shift. The eyes might widen in disbelief, or narrow as if...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7872/can-kids-teach-themselves/feed/ 2 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7840/congrats-homeschooled-miami-dolphin-jason-taylor-part-two/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7840/congrats-homeschooled-miami-dolphin-jason-taylor-part-two/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:37:31 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7840 Congrats Homeschooled Miami Dolphin Jason Taylor Part Two By Linda Dobson Please visit Part One of Congrats Homeschooled Miami Dolphin here. Volunteer Experiences Full of Life Lessons for Homeschooled Jason Taylor The younger members of the Taylor family are still growing up and homeschooling in one of the many residential neighborhoos that constitute greater Pittsburgh. [...]]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7840/congrats-homeschooled-miami-dolphin-jason-taylor-part-two/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7673/building-a-strong-family/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7673/building-a-strong-family/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:36:51 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7673 By Ann Lahrson Fisher, author of Fundamentals of Homeschooling: Notes on Successful Family Living Families with children in traditional schools can enjoy many benefits of the homeschooling life. Why? Because living and learning with kids is amazingly natural for most of us, almost instinctive. After all, isn't this exactly how our ancestors lives, parents guiding children, learning together as family and using whatever methods and...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7673/building-a-strong-family/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7544/would-you-sit-by-and-let-your-children-slowly-starve-to-death/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7544/would-you-sit-by-and-let-your-children-slowly-starve-to-death/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:39:10 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7544 By Linda Dobson I can almost hear what you're thinking. Linda's flipped her ever-lovin' lid. Why in the world would she ask parents if they'd watch their children slowly starve to death? Of course they wouldn't. Their love for their children would cause them to instantly intervene. For starters, they'd get their children out of the situation causing the children to slowly starve to death. Next, they'd find out what the children want to eat, then move heaven and earth to...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7544/would-you-sit-by-and-let-your-children-slowly-starve-to-death/feed/ 1 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7457/homeschooler-david-beihl-national-geography-bee-winner/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7457/homeschooler-david-beihl-national-geography-bee-winner/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:46:16 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7457 By Linda Dobson Gary and Penny Beihl lived in Texas when their three children were still preschool age. On a whim, homeschooling friends invited them to an upcoming seminar on the topic presented by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore. On the eve of the seminar, baby Debbie got sick, and Gary attended the first day while Penny stayed home. "He came home and told me, 'Oh, you've got to go,'" remembers Penny, who had briefly taught...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7457/homeschooler-david-beihl-national-geography-bee-winner/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7439/ny-times-article-reveals-homeschooling-misperceptions-abound/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7439/ny-times-article-reveals-homeschooling-misperceptions-abound/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:32:01 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7439 By Linda Dobson The homeschooling community was abuzz with news that New York Times magazine ran a story written by someone who homeschooled in the 70s. I'm sure the title, "My Parents Were Home-Schooling Anarchists," helped sell the magazine on the article, possibly allowing the editors to overlook a major factual error. "In the ’70s, home schooling was still against the law; it wasn’t until 1993 that it became legal in all 50 states" Not true. The even more interesting aspect of all of this, though, is that the paper's blog, The Learning Network...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7439/ny-times-article-reveals-homeschooling-misperceptions-abound/feed/ 6 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7242/the-moms-who-grew-homeschooling/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7242/the-moms-who-grew-homeschooling/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:34:14 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7242 The homeschooling movement unfolded largely through the dedication, creativity, open minds, patience, and tenacity of what were to become known as stay-at-home Moms who also chose to homeschool. As the homeschooling community was growing – then thriving – then gaining society’s acceptance, at times I wished I was a fly on the wall at the National Education Association headquarters, or Columbia University’s Education division, or...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7242/the-moms-who-grew-homeschooling/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7029/assessing-your-homeschooling-childs-progress/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7029/assessing-your-homeschooling-childs-progress/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:35:42 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7029 Many parents begin the homeschooling journey full of doubt in their ability to assess their children's educational development (there are "experts" to do this, mind you!). They find it reassuring to believe that there is some sort of "yardstick" to measure progress, and consider it a very important aspect of...]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7029/assessing-your-homeschooling-childs-progress/feed/ 0 http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7012/yes-you-may-have-to-give-up-some-things-to-homeschool/ http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7012/yes-you-may-have-to-give-up-some-things-to-homeschool/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:16:39 +0000 Grandma Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/?p=7012 The truth is you don't have to be rich to homeschool and, indeed, many current homeschool families are anything but. Here's the other part of that truth: You may have to give up some things in order to homeschool. When I couldn't bear what was happening to my son in public school kindergarten, we made the decision to homeschool him. It entailed, in no particular order of importance:]]> http://www.parentatthehelm.com/7012/yes-you-may-have-to-give-up-some-things-to-homeschool/feed/ 14