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Welcome
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Jennifer James,
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Articles | Support | RESOURCES | Blog | About Us | Join There's no question -- not every family is able to homeschool. Every family’s situation is unique and sometimes that means it is impossible for some families to school at home. If you find yourself presently in a situation not conducive to homeschooling here are some easily adaptable suggestions and ideas for a modified homeschooling regimen. It is first essential that as a parent you make a deliberate decision to put education first and foremost in your home. Ensuring that your child receives a stellar education must rank in equal importance to providing adequate shelter, food and safety for your children because it is also with an excellent education that your children can accomplish their own goals and dreams for the future. So, set your mind steadfastly on not only providing an education for your family; but providing an excellent education. There is a difference. Utilize Evening Hours At Home Many say there aren’t nearly enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. Do not allow your busy schedule to deter the work that you want to do with your children at home every evening. Oftentimes during the school week, evening hours pass so quickly that it seems far easier to cook a quick meal, watch a few hours of television and fall into bed rather than eating a meal together as a family, working on homework instead of watching television and reading a story to your children before they fall asleep. You must make a concerted effort to go over your child’s homework every evening to help her understand the work and to reinforce what she does during school hours. Your child will, in turn, imbue a confidence unrivaled to others in class. By putting forth that extra educational effort every evening your child will gain a mastery of her school work. She will also be given the tools that will allow her to face the next school day. Helping your child the day before translates into proven results during her school year. Weekend Hours At A Glance The weekend invariably rolls around just as quickly as evening hours pass. That is why it is particularly important that you use the time you have to your advantage. It is crucial that you do not over-extend your child into a litany of activities during their weekends. You don’t want your child as busy on the weekends as she is during the week. The weekends should be reserved for relaxation and reflection for you and your family. That includes your children as well. Put together educational activities that you and your family can enjoy. Visit a local cultural center, go to the library, take a walk on a nature trail, or visit an art museum. These are all activities that the family can do on a Saturday that entails not only quality family time, but also affords great learning opportunities. If you don’t want to go out, find opportunities to learn at home during the weekends. Take some time to teach geography by finding lesser known countries on the world map( something that all families should own.) Or, you can gather the children together and teach a math lesson by baking a cake or by baking bread. You can also step right outside your door and encourage your children to turn over rocks, look underneath leaves, and roll over logs to see what life dwells outside in the insect world. School Vacations And Summer: Perfect Learning Times Some decidedly rich opportunities to get in effective educational time at home are during the holidays and summer. Obviously, during some of the shorter holidays your children will probably be occupied with completing projects, reading books and studying for exams waiting for them when they return to school. In these cases, make sure to assist your child with her projects and insist that she finishes her readings early so she can review and get a firm grasp on her lessons. Ensure that your child has thoroughly studied for her exam everyday during the holidays and not wait until the night before. On longer holidays take the time to put together involved projects. A lot of these projects you can get from Internet sites. For example, during the summer, help your children plant a container garden or help them to learn about the moon cycles by tracking where the moon is each night. You can peruse teacher web sites and glean ideas for lesson plans and even view sample lesson plans for free on most sites. Assign novels for your children to read and then have your children write a book report about what they read. If your children, especially boys, are more adept at outdoor activities or building things, take them to your local home improvement store and buy them wood, paint, nails and a hammer or drill and project plans (parental advisory necessary) and let them learn math through building a chair, table or bookshelf. There are a plethora of learning opportunities that come your way if you recognize them and take advantage of them. Even if you cannot home school, utilize the time that you do have with your children during the evenings, weekends, holidays and during vacations to impart a quality supplemental education for them. Your children will then become intelligent young adults primed for higher education and confident in their ability to excel on the next level away from home where they have to use their free to time to enrich their educational experience themselves. Copyright 2004 National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance
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