Children's Creative Cottage

Weekend Edition

09/23/06

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Contact Information

Website: http://www.childrenscreativecottage.com
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This Weekends Highlights

• In The News
• Featured Article
• Homeschooling Resources
• Homeschooling Tips
• Forums/Support
• Visit Our Sponsors

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In The News:

NEW YORK - Homeschooling is a great success. That's why many public-school authorities hate homeschooling parents, according to Joel Turtel, author of the new book, "Public Schools, Public Menace, How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."
Turtel says that homeschoolers are a direct challenge to the compulsory, public-school monopoly. This monopoly controls the education of about 45 million children in this country. When homeschooling parents withdraw their kids from a public school, they challenge the public-school system's competence and right to control their children's education. That's why school authorities view homeschooling parents as a serious threat to their monopoly.
Many school officials also can't stand the fact that average parents who never went to college give their kids a better education than so-called public-school experts.
Successful home-schooling parents therefore humiliate the failed public schools by comparison. Homeschooling parents also humiliate school authorities who claim that o­nly certified or licensed teachers are qualified to teach children. Most homeschooling parents thankfully never stepped foot inside a so-called teacher college or university department of education. Yet these parents give their children a superior education compared to public-school kids.

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Featured Article:

Tips on Choosing a Homeschool Curriculum
by Carrie Lauth
Now that you've made the choice to homeschool your child, you're faced with thousands of curriculum choices. How do you know what is right for your family? Here are some tips to help narrow down your choices and guide you to the best curriculum for your child. Consider your objectives
Think about why you chose homeschooling. What is the most important benefit in your estimation? Are you concerned about the quality of your child's education? Do you want to mesh your child's secular education with religious instruction? Is it important to you that your child be accepted into a good college, or are you more concerned with teaching your child entrepreneurialism or respect for the earth?
What is truly important to you and how do you want to impart that to your child? Answering these questions can help lead you in the right direction in regards to what curriculum to choose.

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Homeschool Resources:

Parents want Homeschool Curriculum that Helps.
Time4Learning: Online Homeschooling Curriculum.
Homeschool.com Top Choice Ready for some real help with curriculum? Time4Learning is a convenient, online home school curriculum that combines education with interactive fun.
Time4Learning's online learning system (an implementation of CompassLearning Odyssey®) teaches language arts, math, science, and social studies, preschool to eighth grade.
Kids like using the computer to learn. The Time4Learning homeschooling curriculum gives students independence as they progress at their own pace.
Parents like that it tracks progress through the curriculum and helps kids advance by teaching with individualized curriculum that assures mastery of the skills and concepts that makes kids succeed.
Time4Learning is proven effective, has a low monthly price, and provides a money-back guarantee so you can make sure that it works for your kids, risk free!

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Homeschooling Tips:

Finding The Right Curriculum
Written by Christina VanGinkel - © 2002 Pagewise
As more parents turn to homeschooling their children, the need for quality curriculum for all ages of students is becoming evident. Age and readiness of child, cost of material, value of what you are getting for your money, and what to do if you just can not find the specific material you are in search of, are all important things you must consider when gathering curriculum for your child’s education.
Age Recommendations
You know your child better than whoever puts the age ‘recommendations’ on products, and the key word here is ‘recommendation’. If you have a four year old who already knows the alphabet by sight, can recite it, even print it, knows his or her colors, numbers up to 10, etc., you most likely will not get much use out of a preschool program. Kindergarten and first grade curriculum will most likely be a much better value. Do not overestimate your child’s achievements either. If your six year old still needs help with the basics because he has been more into nature, just a late bloomer, or for whatever reasons, do not assume a program or set of books that has an age suggestion of three to six, is too young. Jumping ahead to save a few dollars will not help your child learn, and may even frustrate your child immensely. You know your child best, go with your instincts!
Cost Versus Value
After searching through every source you have for the perfect biology course for your 16-year-old, you have come up with three programs. One is a program on CD-ROM for the unbelievable price of $19.99. One is a complete course in book form, with both teacher’s manual, student book, consumable workbooks, and a separate list of alternatives resources for additional learning and go with products, plus a CD-ROM, but total cost is $229.00. The third is also a book-based course, with a consumable workbook, total cost of $49.00. Any of these courses may be fine, but you need to look at what exactly you are purchasing with each. Ask yourself the following questions about each:
What exactly is covered in each course?
Is more than one subject or grade level included?
Do they meet your child’s learning style? Are they visual, text based, combination?
Will you need to buy additional materials with them?
If buying a computer based course, does your computer meet or exceed the program’s requirements?
Finding Course Material
With the renewed interest in homeschooling, finding materials is not as difficult as it once was, but unless you live in a large metropolitan area, most outlets will be online or through mail order. If online, go to any of the major search engines and type in homeschool curriculum. This will give you many hits for companies that curriculum for sale via websites, or offers for catalogs. The local library is still an excellent place to find curriculum outlets also. Even in rural areas, groups of homeschoolers are becoming increasingly common, and these are an excellent choice for finding curriculum. Many offer used curriculum that their children have outgrown. What do you do if your child shows an interest in a subject that you can not find a set course, or even any curriculum whatsoever in? First, define, with your child, in writing, what the subject is? Are their other learning outlets available? Museums, businesses, and again, libraries can be helpful. If you live near a college campus, or can look online for a college textbook site, do these offer books on the course? The advantage of homeschooling is often just this, that your child can learn about subjects that fall no where near the traditional classrooms offerings. Do not be afraid to approach places that you feel may be able to offer help. If your high school student shows interest in a field of work that, you know nothing about, go right to the source. Veterinarians, police, architects, hospitals, and just about any line of work you can think of, offer regular high schools career days, where students can visit and gather information. Call and inquire if they can accommodate a small group of homeschoolers in a similar fashion.
Remember, you are homeschooling your child because you want to give them every advantage possible to ready themselves for the adult world, so do not short change them with the materials you give them to work with. Search out, give choices, and help make informed choices, and offer alternatives when necessary and you will be providing the entire curriculum your child will need!

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Homeschooling Support Groups:

If you go to the following page on our site, you will see links for all fifty states, click on your state, and you can find your local support groups in your state:

The Childrens Creative Cottage Statewide Homeschooling Laws

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