-by Mimi Rothschild

Probably most of us have had days when we think it might be better for us as homeschooling parents if we just had a set of twins. Then we could do one lesson for all our kids, instead of hopping back and forth from one to another.

On most days, though, we realize that it’s a blessing to have all the different ages together. Mixing up the ages helps our kids have the natural socialization of the family instead of being segregated into age groups. It gives the younger children the opportunity to look up to the older ones, and it gives the older children the chance to show care and tenderness for the younger ones. It lets children see how far they’ve come in their skills and learning, and look forward to where they’re going.

Can we have all those blessings without exhausting ourselves? We can, with a little planning. Here are some tips for homeschooling when you have a range of ages in the family:

Dovetail the work.

Work with the younger children while the older ones work on their own, and then settle the younger ones with play or a project while you check in with the older ones. It’s a sensible approach, but we have to plan ahead in order to accomplish it. Otherwise, we find ourselves getting one child started while the others wait, then starting the next one, and then the next one – and finding that the first child needs us again before we have the last one settled into work. This is a recipe for feeling frazzled by the end of the day!

As long as we get each child’s first activity of the day organized and set out before the day begins, we will be able to start everyone at once, with only one activity at a time needing us.

Get the older children involved.

Older siblings’ reading skills can benefit from the chance to read to the younger children. A six year old can cement his understanding of counting by explaining it to a five year old. A teenager learns from helping younger siblings plan and produce a play on the subject they’re studying.

Again, it takes planning to make sure the older child’s involvement in the younger ones’ lessons fits into the older child’s lessons, too. It helps to list an objective for each of the lessons. When our seven year old reads a story to the three year old, the three year old is practicing listening and the seven year old is practicing reading aloud. It will be a cherished memory for both of them.

Take time for yourself.

With all the planning and thought this requires, you need to be sure to build time for yourself into the day. The kids’ reading time could be your recreational reading time. Their time with online lessons could be your quiet prayer time. Nap time for the children should be nap time for you, too, and the kids who are too old to nap can spend that time in quiet play.

Once our family was driving to the nearby botanical gardens for a visit to support our lessons on plants. As we drove, we were talking about the history lesson the older children were working on: the Renaissance. In a break in the conversation, our baby spoke up: “Ty-renaissance rex,” he said confidently.

We all laughed. We figured he had put together snippets he’d heard from our study of dinosaurs with the history discussion he was listening to, and made up his own new word.

Over the years, we’ve seen how the younger kids’ enjoyment of family lessons has made it easier for them when they get ready to study, and encouraged the closeness of our whole family. It can be hard, but it’s certainly worth it.
**********************************************************
Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

-by Mimi Rothschild

Incorporating what is happening in politics today into your homeschool lessons is a critical part of developing well-rounded, balanced students who are armed to face the world as they grow older. There is no better time to do so than now, with another presidential race in progress right before our eyes.

But what is the best way to draw your children in, and make it interesting? How do we instill in them the importance and gravity of selecting a leader for our country? It can be difficult, particularly with the media bias. It is quite evident that most national news networks favor liberal parties in their reporting. So the responsibility to provide your children with a true idea of what is happening in our country lies with you. Talk to them about the presidential race, and the candidates who are running. Explain to them, on their level, the difference in the views of each party, and what they both stand for. Encourage your children to ask questions, and take part in discussions about politics. Depending on their age, ask them to define what they believe to be the most important topics that our future president (and other political leaders) should stand behind.

Discussing current politics is also a great way to tie back into the subject of U.S. History, and remind your students of how this country was founded on freedom and democracy, and most importantly, Christian principles.

Relay to them the importance of voting, when they come of age, and how critical it is that we all have a say in who leads this country. Every vote really does count, so make that clear to them at a young age. And don’t forget to make it fun. If you have two or more students, organize mock political debates so they have the opportunity to think critically and articulate. (Not to mention, this will also help with public speaking skills.)

Discussing the topic of government and politics is also a wonderful way to remind children of the importance of praying for our country, and its leaders, so be sure to include this in your devotional as well. If you make a point to work at incorporating current events into your daily lessons, your children are sure to benefit on many levels in the future. And so will our country. God bless America!

**********************************************************
Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Every year thousands of students graduate from high school. The foremost question that lies before many of them is which degree programs are to be pursued in the future. That is to say, what is next? This is the most essential question that each one of us has to face at this point in life. This can be a decision that defines the rest of our life.For millions, the solution to the question lies in enrolling at a good college offering the right program for our needs. However, considering the present scenario, http://%3ca/>online colleges in America are one of the best options available to students. This option not only enables them to pursue higher education but also gives them the comfort of studying at their own pace and convenience. They can also manage their job simultaneously, without taking time off to attend classes. This will earn them valuable experience at the same time they are pursuing higher education.

Although there are various degrees offered online, one of the most sought after of all is the online http://%3ca//Programs/BSCS/index.php> computer science degree in America. This degree program specifically emphasizes varying computation techniques and analytic skills. The program has been designed in such a way that it equips an individual to understand the workings of various hardware as well as programming languages such as C, C++, and Java. Theories and algorithms of computer science also form an essential part of the courses.

Many online computer science schools in the USA offer associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degrees to students, depending on their knowledge and previous course credits. The best universities produce computer science graduates that have the potential for designing, testing, coding, and analyzing different software programs. Some of these schools also offer specific industry certificates to its students to make them experienced and tested in practical applications.

American Sentinel is an online university in America that offers solutions for all the students who are confused about where to study after high school. It provides a high-quality education to students and aids them in finding their place in the corporate world.

For more information on online colleges in America, online computer science degrees in the USA, U.S. online computer science schools, or associate and bachelor’s degrees in business and computer science, log on to http://www.americansentinel.edu/.

Melissa is well know author writes on various http://%3ca%20href=//Online-Master-of-Science-in-Nursing.php”>Nursing Programsin America and other various http://%3ca%20href=/“>online degrees like International degrees and IT degree certification etc. For more informnation visit http://%3ca%20href=/“>http://www.americansentinel.edu/.

By Mimi Rothschild

It is crucial that homeschooling children perceive and understand what they read, no matter if they’re in first grade or twelfth grade.  The ability to comprehend text is an absolute necessity for students in the current fast-paced competitive digital world.  One way homeschoolers can improve their reading comprehension is by visualizing.  Read all about visualizing below in this great article I recently discovered.

What Is It?

Visualizing refers to our ability to create pictures in our heads based on text we read or words we hear. It is one of many skills that makes reading comprehension possible.

Why Is It Important?

Visualizing strengthens reading comprehension skills as students gain a more thorough understanding of the text they are reading by consciously using the words to create mental images. As students gain more deliberate practice with this skill, the act of visualizing text becomes automatic. Students who visualize as they read not only have a richer reading experience but can recall what they have read for longer periods of time. (Harvey & Goudvis 2000)

Visualizing text as it is being read or heard also creates personal links between the readers/listeners and text. Readers who can imagine the characters they read about, for instance, may become more involved with what they are reading. This makes for a more meaningful reading experience and promotes continued reading.

How Can You Make It Happen?

Visualizing is a skill that can be helpful in many domains, and while it is often associated with teaching early readers, even experienced readers can benefit from practice with this skill. When selecting a text for a visualizing activity, start with a piece that contains descriptive language and strong verbs and that lends itself to conjuring vivid images. It is not necessary to start with an entire book-even a well-crafted sentence or short paragraph can provide a rich springboard for a visualizing lesson.

Starting Small

To begin a series of lessons that will focus on improving visualizing skills, you might choose to start with a short passage taken from a text or of your own creation. For instance, the following sentences could be used to spark discussions:

Joan could barely believe her eyes. All these gifts were for her! She had never seen so many packages, not even on all her birthdays combined!

After listening to or reading the sentences once or twice, students can discuss the mental images created by the sentences. Students will likely differ in their descriptions of the scene. For instance, some may picture a small child surrounded by stacks of gifts. Others may imagine an older girl in front of a table piled with presents. There is no single correct answer, and those three simple sentences, though not particularly rich in detail, do offer enough information for the reader or listener to begin to form a mental picture.

Group Activities

Students can work on their visualizing skills as a whole class or in small groups. One way to challenge young students to improve their visualizing is to read a picture book aloud, sharing only portions of the illustrations. Then ask students to create their own illustrations based on the text they heard. More advanced readers might listen to a selection from a novel that the class has been reading and create a picture or written description of a character or setting based on the information in the text.

Independent Reading

Students can also practice their visualization skills as a follow up to independent reading. Ask young students who keep track of their reading in reading logs or journals to respond to prompts regarding the images created by the text they have read: “Does the main character remind you of anyone you know?” “Have you ever been to or seen any place that is like the setting of your book?” Very young students can also draw images in their journals, recording their mental pictures in response to their reading. You can discuss these drawings during one-on-one reading conferences.

Older students who are reading novels can think about questions such as, “If you were going to make a movie based on your book, who would you want to play the main characters?” “What would the scenery look like?” and “Where would you want to do the filming?” These questions get at the imagery created in the mind of the readers and encourage those readers to share their mental pictures in their responses.

By Mimi Rothschild 

Math and science are not always the easiest subjects to learn, I wish they were because there are so many fascinating lessons to be learned in both subjects.  While surfing the web I found this excellent list of strategies that will help your student improve in the areas of math and science.  Each strategy includes articles or lesson plans so homeschooling parents can better understand how to apply them into their child’s homeschool curriculum. Below are the different methods scholars use to better understand math and science. 

By Mimi Rothschild

The MorningStar Academy is proud to announce that graduating senior Melissa Pettignano’s first book, entitled “Suzanne Lantana” is now available to the public. “Suzanne Lantana” “is about a young, full of life girl that has gone through many things a pre-teen would go through all the way up to being a teen. The biggest one is loosing her aunt Arlene T. Babakitis on Sept 11th 2001 in The World Trade Center. This book is a collection of short stories. Stories that have meanings and teachings for young girls who can relate. If not relate can understand.”

Melissa exemplifies the home school education to the fullest. Home schooling allows students to pursue their interests and encourages a love of learning. Melissa pursued her passion for writing and telling stories. Home schooling also allows parents to customize and tailor their children’s education to meet their learning styles. These are only two home schooling benefits, but they show why home schooling is statistically proven to provide a better education than public schooling.

Melissa is currently writing her second book and will be on a book tour this summer.

To find out more about Melissa Pettignano’s “Suzanne Lantana” or to buy it click here.

By Mimi Rothschild

What are your homeschoolers doing this summer? Going back in time? Sailing on the high seas? Hanging out with the three little pigs? Summer is the perfect time for homeschoolers to improve their readings skills and have a blast while doing it. We’ve compiled a comprehensive summer reading list for each Grace Academy grade so that your homeschoolers can improve their reading skills over the summer and have fun reading a variety of amazing stories. Encourage your homeschooler to read everyday and see their reading skills improve dramatically over the summer!

Homeschool parents should also check out our homeschool summer school program. Our summer school program helps homeschoolers grow their minds, gain credit toward a high school diploma, and surge ahead academically instead of developing lazy habits. Have a great summer!!!

By Mimi Rothschild

The Deseret News has some good news. Colleges are becoming friendlier towards homeschoolers. In the past, college admissions departments raised an eyebrow at the applications of homeschoolers. As homeschooling grows in popularity, these institutions of higher learning have begun not only considering homeschooled applicants, but seeking them out.

And with good reason! Homeschoolers have now been shown to excel at the college level in an age where colleges are scrambling to maintain academic standards.

Under UC Riverside’s new policy, home schoolers can apply by submitting a lengthy portfolio detailing their studies and other educational experiences.

A portfolio is a great way to prove to college admissions counselors that you’ve completed a legitimate homeschool program. Students at The MorningStar Academy can receive portfolios detailing their yearly progress. These can come in very handy when hunting for colleges.

By Mimi Rothschild

There are some questions that homeschoolers can never seem to get away from. The main reason is that people have the temptation to devolve into an hour-long debate rather than offering simple answers that cut to the quick. I’d like to share with you my personal fail-proof answers that will not only prevent drawn-out arguments of epic sociological import, but will help your detractors understand why you have chosen to homeschool. Here are the Big 3 questions I receive the most. I hope that you find the following information helpful.

Q. What about socialization?

A. Any readers of this blog should recognize this as a no-brainer. I think the best way to handle this one is to call attention to the fact that you don’t want your kids to be socialized to disobedience, rebellion, vulgarity, secular knowledge, and moral relativism. If that doesn’t work, try explaining that your kids get all the socialization they need in church groups, athletic organizations, and whatever activities in which your homeschoolers participate.

Q. What makes you think you can teach?

A. This question is somewhat understandable. After all, you don’t have a teaching degree. I’ve found that a good way to approach this question is by explaining that no one loves or cares for your child like you do. Sure, teachers are committed to their students, but they can’t meet every unique need of every child in the classroom. All kids have different learning styles and learning levels, how can we expect a mass-produced textbook education to triumph over a specialized home education? You can also point out the declining test scores of public school students, illustrating the widespread failure of well-educated teachers.

Q. Can a homeschooled child get into college?

A. Of course they can! Colleges are more accepting of homeschooled children than ever before. In fact, according to recent studies, colleges are actually beginning to seek out homeschoolers given their high performance on standardized tests and ability to learn autonomously. It’s just a different process.