Readers were books published solely for the purpose of teaching children to read out loud. In a time when there were no TV's, no radios, and no phonographs, listening to someone read was a common form of entertainment. Being able to read clearly and pleasantly was important. The student was taught how to breath, how to stand or sit, and how to enunciate. Passages in Readers were usually selected with this in mind.
While parents do it for various reasons, some may start looking at recent violence in schools as a viable reason to homeschool thier children.
It's been a horrible couple of weeks for public schools, with fatal shootings in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Wisconsin. We've also heard stories of teachers sexually abusing their students. It's all got parents questioning the safety of public schools, and taking a closer look at homeschooling.
Many parents choose to educate their children at home to protect them from the low academic quality and dangerous moral and spiritual atmosphere rampant in the public schools. But when it comes to college, the decision is often one-sided. Parents believe that their children must attend a traditional four-year school and acquire at least a Bachelors degree in order to be financially and vocationally successful. Our society places so much emphasis on a college degree that parents and students see no alternative.
Are you eager for your children to be able to work independently? Most of us juggle so many responsibilities that it's impossible to direct our kids all the time. We may sometimes supplement with software, videos, books on tape--anything they can do alone. Happily, there are also activities that will train our kids to find, process, and present information--equipping them for true independence. Even better, these activities can be used again and again, so we don't have to spend extra time planning.
We are now seeing a new generation of homeschooling parents that were, themselves, homeschooled. This is certainly refreshing. For these, the path of home education is a natural, logical and thus, comfortable choice for them. Now embarking on the adventure with their own young children, they come prepared with valuable experience and are sometimes envied by their traditionally schooled peers. But does walking the "homeschool experience" automatically guarantee immunity from the doubts that plague every parent?
Any home-schooling family with more than one child knows the challenge of keeping "Baby Kong" from tearing apart the house during school time. Now that we are teaching the oldest two of our four children, my wife, Mary, has had to develop an intricate strategy in order to have a productive day.
We would like to share with you some tips on how to deal with those unruly toddlers and make it through this difficult and often exhausting stage of home school life.
In the 1980s Homeschooling was virtually unheard of, but now it's a growing trend across the nation. There were an estimated 2 million children educated at home last year in the United States and According to the National Home Education Research Institute, that numbers grows between 7 and 15 percent each year.
Donna Samples has homeschooled her two children from the beginning of their school careers. Emily is in kindergarten and Eli is now in second grade. But the two have never been inside a school classroom.
Critics call it an all-out attempt to give education power to the state, and the implications are a little too close to home. Conner Miller is fine-tuning his reading skills with his favorite teacher, mom. For Mocha, homeschooling her four children was a spiritual decision.
"The greatest thing we're concerned about is their character and that they walk in the ways of the Lord." If Mocha was caught doing this in Germany, she'd be well on her way to prison because, thanks to the European Court of Human Right's ruling, the law outlawing home-schooling will be enforced.
