Who We Are

Mercy Every Minute
Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

I've never been a completely relaxed homeschooler, but when I have donned the "relaxed" hat, my kids have loved it.

One of the things I appreciate about this philosophy is that the learning environment of the home is such that a child is drawn into a subject, and sometimes simply by the enthusiasm of the parent.

For example, you find a gem and mineral book full of colorful pictures and you get so excited that everyone gathers around you to see what it is. Pretty soon, your child can't wait to meet the first person he encounters to tell them about it. Realizing you've hit on something, you take the kids to a mineral shop and look at real examples. If the interest continues, you try to get your own rock tumbler and make a display. You feed the interest for as long as it lasts.

I'm not sure exactly everything that entails "relaxed homeschooling," but I think it has something to do with the idea that you are not trying to institutionalize the learning that happens in your home. You're not "doing school" you're living life and learning while you're at it. And that sounds a lot like the main basis for homeschooling no matter what method you choose.

Feel like you might overuse textbooks? Try doing half the problems in the lessons and use the extra time to find something you are excited about. Ask the kids - they'll tell you what they'd like to learn about, even if it happens to be jelly beans! Go with it, and they won't forget it.

Relaxing a bit,

October's Contest: We have a wonderful book of historical fiction on the French Revolution called Marie's Home 199 page soft bound novel By Caroline Austin, Salem Ridge Press, www.salemridgepress.com. Read our TOS product review here.

To enter, just send your name and mailing address to senioreditor@thehomeschoolmagazine.com and put "Marie's Home" in the subject line. See website for contest rules.

Schoolhouse Spotlight
Dena Wood, Schoolhouse Store Manager

One of the great things about being a relaxed homeschooler is teaching what your kids are interested in when they are interested in it! As a fairly relaxed homeschooler myself one thing my family really enjoys are lapbooks. At The Schoolhouse Store we offer over 160 Lapbooks!

Lapbooks are wonderful because they can be done with children as young as preschool and as old as high school.  They can be used to teach a WIDE range of topics.  Here are some examples of lapbooks we offer for many different ages:

For the littlest learners we have:

Five Little Pumpkins Project Pack from Hands of a Child.  In this lapbook your kids will learn the Five Little Pumpkins poem and complete 20 hands-on activities to go along with the theme.

The Beginning Reading Project Pack introduces your student to reading.  This 133-page project pack includes a short story and 5 hands-on activities for each of the short vowel sounds as well as games and activities for all short vowels combined. There are 30 hands on activities in this project pack!

For a little older student:

The Astronomy Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central includes 27 science booklets with activities on The Planets, The Moon, The Sun, Copernicus, Galileo, Challenger, Constellations, Neil, Armstrong, Vocabulary, Eclipse, and other topics.

The Automobiles Lapbook includes 21 booklets and activities that addresses Early Cars of Automotive Pioneers such as Karl Benz and Henry Ford. Also explore and learn from the development and technological advancements of the Great American Fascination with automobiles. From the Model-T Ford, to Car Parts, Car Systems, Hybrids, Car Safety, and more.

For your Junior High and High School Students:

The American Government Project Pack  can help your child learn about the government that rules our nation. This project pack comes complete with a 16-page research guide and 25 hands-on activities about the system of American Government.

This is just a tiny example of the titles we offer.  You can click HERE to view all our Hands of a Child titles and HERE to view all our Knowledge Box Central titles.

Also, make sure to check out our newly reorganized E-Book section of the Store.  What could be more relaxing than knowing you have over 350 E-Books you can download whenever you need them! 

While you are visiting the Store you might want to pick up a back issue of the Summer 2006 Magazine.  This issue includes Show and Tell - Five completely different families, but all so passionate about home education!

The Familyman
Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries

Let me just state right off the bat that I'm directing this writing to the non-relaxed homeschooler, and you know who you are. You're the one who feels uptight most of the time by your school schedule, your children's lack of progress, and your own lack of discipline. You try harder, but fail 'oftener'.

Deep down, you know you should take it easier, enjoy your children more, and care less about their performance, but you just can't relax!!!

You'll probably never be like the mom who doesn't care what time she gets out of bed, has tea parties at 10am, and sings and smiles when her children spend the day turning the front yard into mud, and that's okay. That's the way she was designed by God, just like you were designed to be "non-relaxed."

With that said, you can still be a relaxed homeschooler and enjoy the benefits of being relaxed. Here's how:

1. Quit wishing God had made you more relaxed and thank Him for designing you just the way He did.

2. Acknowledge that you're not responsible to turn your children into "what" they're going to be and then quit acting like you are.

3. Throw away all the expectations you have for your children. You do your job, and let God make your children who He designed them to be. If you don't, you'll just frustrate them and yourself.

4. Quit playing by "their" rules, and the "their" I'm talking about is the public school. They've proven that institutionalized school methods don't work (they're searching for something different), so don't try to replicate "their" school in your house. It's not a good model, and you can't replicate an entire school staff by yourself anyway.

5. Make yourself do what you know is important. For example, if you feel like it's important to play a game with your child (and it is), then do it. Forget math for the day and do it!!! Just do it!!!

6. Get a copy of my book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe today and read it from cover to cover.

7. And, of course ...
   

...Be Real,
Todd

Homeschool Freebies
Jamin, Freebie Finder

If you have ever visited my blog you know without a shadow of a doubt that I am a relaxed homeschooler! I am not an unschooler, we use a curriculum, but I am definitely relaxed. My philosophy of education is to have fun and learn together as we go.

Here are some great free sites my family has been enjoying lately:

Homeschool Helper Online is a site that allows homeschool parents to post their Lapbooks, Unit Studies and Notebooking pages to share with other homeschoolers. This is an excellent resource! You can visit my blog to see the Senses Lapbook my youngest son recently completed from this site.

HERE is a list of more book report ideas than you could ever use. From writing songs to making book jackets this list goes on and on with all kinds of great creative ideas!

My 3 and 6 year old both love the free phonics program at starfall.com. This is a series of games & stories that my kids keep going back to over and over.

Big Brainz Timez Attack is a free multiplication online video game. If you have kids who love video games this will be a BIG hit!

Enjoy!
~Jamin