Homeschool Help: a new series

I started to blog about our homeschooling journey as a way to share our approach, as well as to connect with other families who are either already homeschooling their children or are considering the possibility of doing so.

Since the beginning of this journey, I have learned much from the many homeschooling bloggers who have generously shared their knowledge, ideas, and insights on their respective blogs.  As we are well into the eighth year of our own journey, I am coming across more parents, both online and in person, who are curious and interested to know more about homeschooling in general as well as more specific topics such as our schedule/routine, our curriculum, and how I balance my life.  Therefore, I gladly accepted an invitation to write a series on the basics of home education, together with four other homeschooling mothers.

This series is appropriately named Homeschool Help.  It is the brainchild of Savannah from Hammock Tracks.  The other contributors are:

1. Julie from Highhill Homeschool
2. Bernadette from Barefoot Hippie Girl
3. Chareen from Every Bed of Roses
4. myself

I'm excited about participating in this project for the potential mix of different perspectives and ideas on each shared topic, resulting from having a team from different backgrounds and who are living in different geographic regions (two in the USA, one in Australia, one in Germany, and one in England).  The potentially varied responses by each contributor will hopefully mirror the wide spectrum of possible ways to approach homeschooling.  Writing for the series also gives me a reason to talk about things that have become second nature to me after so long that I don't even think about them anymore, but I recognise that such things (e.g. juggling housework and homeschooling) may still be relevant and of interest to new homeschoolers.

How does the series work?
The series starts next week.  Each contributor will publish her individual response to the weekly topic on Tuesday at 1100hr GMT, with a link to the corresponding entries in the other four participating blogs.

What are the topics?
The specific topics may subject to some changes later on, but in the pipeline at the moment are the following:

March

• Your Daily Schedule or Lack Thereof
• Book Recommendations for New Homeschoolers

April

• How to Juggle House Cleaning and Homeschooling
• How to Juggle Alone Time and Homeschooling
• Free Resources: Supplements or Full Curriculum
• Math... All About Math
• Kid's Extra Activities: How Much?  And When is it Too Much?

May

• How to Juggle Cooking and Homeschooling
• Co-op... or Not?  Why or Why Not?
• Local Homeschool Group - Are you involved?  Why or Why not?
• Science - How do you do it?

June
Your Favourite Apps (iPad or Droid) or Learning Websites

August

• What's New in Your Curriculum?
• What's New in Your School Room?
• What is Your Teaching Style for the New Year?
• Poetry - How do you teach it?

September

• Reading - What are you and your kids reading?
• Journaling - How do you do it?  Art Journal?  Math Journal?
• History - How do you do it?
• Help!  My Child Hates Math!

October

• Help!  My Child Hates Writing!
• Dad: His Role in Homeschooling
• Foreign Language
• Your Top 3 Suggestions for Someone who Pulled Her Child Out of School Mid Year

November

• Year Round, or Not Year Round?
• Grades: Do you Give Them?  Why or Why Not?
• Overload - What to do when You Run Out of Fuel
• Your Top 6 Favourite Read-Alouds (Picture Books)

December

• Your Top 6 Favourite Read-Alouds (Chapter Books)
• The Year in Review: What You Want to Remember

I look forward to sharing my ideas with you on the various topics.  See you next Tuesday!


This series is featured on Homeschool Chicks.