Homeschooling and Beyond

My Homeschooling Whys and Wants

Homeschooling has come along ways from those bygone days living in a little sod house on the prairie. Where readin' ,writin' and arithmetic were the standard curriculum. No standardized testing back then. Just a good ole' standard switching if you were weren't listening and doing your school work.

The number of kids being home schooled is surging. Why are millions of parents taking their kids out of school and back home?

Standardized testing is leading this next generation of children away from inspiration, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Why can't we combine our best educational practices world wide from Singapore to Chicago? Do we really care if Africa invents the cure for cancer or an alternative fuel source made from water?

What qualities do you think your child will need to be successful in the future? What qualities will an employer be looking for?

Here's what I want for my kids.

I want my kids to love learning. I want them to love reading and writing. I want them to problem-solve and inquire and interact with the world around them.

I want them to be confident, caring, and courageous. I want them to be risk-takers, responsible and curious.

I want them ready for a world filled with ipods, iphones, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, wikipedias, Kindles, GPS, iTunes, Skype, Mapquest, and Google.

I want them to be unique and not like everybody else. I want them to ask why and not comply.

I want them to be entrepreneurs looking to the future with excitement. I want them to have options not obligations.

If you're thinking about home schooling or a seasoned veteran, I commend you. As the world steams forward I want my children ready to explore, invent and innovate towards the future and beyond.

Best Wishes!

Kelly Wissink

Feel free to email me at kelly@soyandbeyond.com

Welcome to Facebook, homeschoolers

Welcome to Facebook, homeschoolers: We've been working on ways to solve this-we want minors to use Facebook safely above all. Today, we're happy to announce that we've recently come up with a way for homeschoolers to join. We've created a new verification system-one that doesn't depend on being in a high school, but still provides the level of security we believe is required. So welcome, everyone, to Facebook.

Did You Know; Shift Happens

Did You Know; Shift Happens - Globalization; Information Age

Created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod; Globalization and The Information Age -- edit; This video was not on youtube during the time I uploaded it, and now, it has become a very popular topic of comments. I hope you enjoy the work of these fine gentlemen's video presentation. Music Credits: (1992) "The Last of the Mohicans" off the soundtrack the song is (Elk Hunt/The Kiss), which appears at the end of the film during the cliff scene. [if you haven't seen the film, you should watch it]

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Homeschool vs. School

Homeschool vs. School- Cast Your Vote: Homeschool vs. School The number of kids being schooled at home is surging forward. Why are millions of parents taking their kids out of school and back home?

Why Home Schooling?

What flavor of home schooling do I pick?

John Holt: Unschooling: After teaching for several years John Holt realized that children learn best when the are learning what they want to learn.He then went on to write many books about Homeschooling, started the magazine Growing Without Schooling and coined the term "unschooling"

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What happened to RECESS?: Do you remember the games you played during recess as a child? Think about all the physical activity that involved and what you learned from those recess games.Here you will find games, books about games, videos of kids playing and ways to encourage your community to keep or reinstate recess in your recess in your child's schools.
Guilt-Free Homeschooling: Whether you have a specific question, want some general advice, or just need a dose of encouragement, Guilt-Free Homeschooling is the place to be! GFHS offers help, comfort, and advice to new or struggling homeschool moms, assuring them that homeschooling can be manageable, successful, guilt-free, and glorifying to God.
Motivating Your Kids To Read: Are your kids readers? Are you a reader? What parent doesn't want their kids to read? Most kids who do well in school are readers.They don't watch a lot of TV. Are you serious in changing your child's reading habits? Creating a habit takes time. Most habits take 21 days to create.

My Home Schooling Reading List

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition

by Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise

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The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition

by Susan Wise Bauer

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The Story of the World: Activity Book 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Third Edition

by Susan Wise Bauer

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The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance, Revised Edition ... the World: History for the Classical Child)

by Susan Wise Bauer

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Explore These Home Schooling Units

Frog Unit Study: Hopping to Learn: The spring continues to warm the earth and frogs are laying eggs in the vernal pools. As the tadpoles begin to hatch, what will they be learning?Pull up a lily pad and listen to the story of Grandfather Frog, hop around the hundreds board, and leave your tracks on the spelling words.
Bluebirds: Classroom Meadow Theme: As your little bluebirds flit from place to place they will find educational activities at every turn. Your students will read about Winsome Bluebird and Welcome Robin as they sit under the tree, paint with feathers, spell with birdseed and count the bird tracks. Open your wings and fly!!!
Creatures of the Woodlands: It is Springtime! The little Woodland Creatures are building nests and preparing to bring new life to the forest.The Thornton Burgess Books, such as Old Mother Westwind, are just full of charming woodland creatures that bring the forest to life. Read them aloud to your children and then begin creati
Reading Comprehension Activities: Learning to read begins at an early age and reading comprehension activities that you can do at home with your child are so important for improving their reading skills. Developing a child's reading strategies and comprehension begins a long time before a child starts school or kindergarten.
Tapestry of Grace Classical Home School Curriculum: Tapestry of Grace curriculum is an award-winning, classical homeschool curriculum that you can get excited about using with your homeschooled children! This rich homeschooling curriculum can be overwhelming so here is a lens to highlight some of the features of Tapestry of Grace.
Ancient China: A Homeschool Unit Study: When teaching our children ancient history, we are sure to include Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. Unfortunately we sometimes omit another great ancient civilization on the other side of the globe-- Ancient China.

Investigate These Home School Units

Educational Games: What do kids do best? Play of course. Why not encourage this natural tendency by providing them with great entertainng games that just happen to be educational as well.

Educational Games such as Mancala and Set teach math concepts. Go Fish and Concentration are educational card games that can be adapted to teach anything from sight words, to math concepts to learning a second language. There are educational games to teach number theory, cooperation, and social studies. How do you feel about the educational value of computer games?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?: How do you feel about Gray Wolves? What do you know about wolves in general? Do wolves really dress in Grandma's clothes and eat little girls?Learn about Gray Wolves, wolves in general and the story of the Big Bad Wolf.
River Otters: Playful Friends of the Woodlands!: Learn about River Otters through games and hands-on learning centers. Decorate you classroom with a Woodlands Riverbank Theme.Learn the habits of River Otters, the food they eat and how they raise their young.
Adjectives: A Unit Study for Valentine's Day: Fill the day with arts, crafts, science experiments and ways to say I Love You. Pour out your feelings of love throughout the day.But it's not Valentine's Day you say? No Problem, these activities adapt to any other day or holiday.You will find bulletin boards, games, word walls and math activities.
Woodchucks: How much learning could a Woodchuck teach if a Woodchuck could teach school?: Don't just hibernate, pop your head up and find out about woodchucks. You will find dozens of ideas for learning centers, Word Walls, games, activities and literacy bags. Sharpen your claws and dig into learning...
Nature Study -- Charlotte Mason Style: Charlotte Mason's educational philosohpy is a great fit for homeschool families who love great books, simple methods, and academic excellence. One component of a Charlotte Mason education is the regular study of nature. Nature Study has just two parts -- the Doing and the Documenting.

The Home Schoolers Thrive On Innovation

Making Every Freshwater Aquarium: The Best Freshwater Aquarium Ever: Every freshwater aquarium can be the best freshwater aquarium ever. All a person needs to know is how to make it into the best freshwater aquarium ever. I am going to fill this page full of all the advice and tips to make any aquarium into the best freshwater aquarium ever.
Lapbooking: Lapbooking can be done by any learner-- from preschoolers to adults. With this educational method, you make mini-books covering details that you've studied. After making a variety of mini-books about a larger topic, all the books are put together in a large folder.
How to Build a Pyramid Kite: Alexander Graham Bell is well-known as the inventor of the telephone, but few people realize he also invented an early form of airplane! Well, not quite. It wasn't a plane -- a flat wing -- but a tetrahedron, a pyramid-like* structure with four sides. (Count 'em. The sides are shaped like triangles,but there's four triangles, not three!)
Sundials: How to Make a Sundial, How they Work and Some Sundial History: Many people think of sundials as nothing more than historical curiosities. How wrong can you be? Sundials are fantastic things to have in your garden, incredibly beautiful focal points just like any urn or garden sculpture.
Make Wind Chimes: Build a Wind Chime, it's fast and easy! Wind chimes add a nice element to any home. I have mostly built my chimes from copper pipes or metal conduit and like the sound produced from these materials. I have listed many useful links below for building and understanding how wind chimes work.
Disney Pin Trading For Kids At Heart: My 10 year old daughter, Beka, loves Disney World and Disney Pins. And so do I. We actually got into Disney pin trading by accident during our trip to the Magic Kingdom. While shopping, we noticed a cast member with a Disney lanyard and Disney pins. We asked her about her intriguing Disney pins.
Making Your Own Envelopes: Among paper crafters, making cards is very popular, but how often do we make our own envelopes to go with them? Not only is making envelopes easy to do, but it's inexpensive as well, requiring only a few basic supplies. Here are some resources to get you started making your own envelopes!

A Home School Lapbooking Blog

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Raise Your Own Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies Are Easy To Raise: My family lives in the country. And we love raising Monarch Butterflies. It's really quite easy to raise them at home. We've got milkweed growing in our butterfly garden in our backyard. I just took some old milkweed pods in the fall and threw them on the ground. The next spring I had my own milkweed.

We Raise Monarch Butterflies In The Summer

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Did You Know?

Did You Know 2.0

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.

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