Lainielou's comments

Socialization of Homeschoolers in the Upper Grades - Blog Entry

13 May 2008 04:25 PM

Homeschool groups and odd social mixes are probably more common than not. I've tried to get the homeschooled middle school kids in my community together. So far all my attempts to gather a group of middle schoolers have either failed or have been uncomfortable situations, at best. It is clear that homeschooled kids, whether they are many years at home or new to the scene, need to practice social skills in order to communicate with confidence. "Social skill" is something that must be taught and practiced like any other skill we learn. There are many psychology books and articles that report that peer relations have a very strong influence during the adolescence. It is a healthy thing to be exposed to new people and new situations during these years. Our middleschoolers are discovering who they are and as a homeschool parent, I have the pleasure of seeing that take shape first hand. Yes, it is a beautiful thing.

Don't Give Your Children Everything - Blog Entry

09 Apr 2008 07:39 PM

Smart, healthy people have healthy boundaries, with many aspects of life; food, alcohol, relationships and things/money, work. If we will lead by example our children will be more apt to have them also. Setting boundaries for kids is more about dealing with the parents habits first. If we don't have self control why would we expect our children to it? Buy what is good for them and have them work towards goals. When is the last time you reached a personal goal? Did your children help you celebrate your victory? I bet if they did, they would want to set a goal for themselves too!

Don't Give Your Children Everything - Blog Entry

09 Apr 2008 07:47 AM

Children in the US are amazingly privileged. I live five miles from Mexico so I am used to seeing poor, hungry kids. My kids are asking for Puma tennies, or the latest video games and Ipods. The poor children around here ask for a job! Here is what happened when we decided to change our shopping habits: Our family decided not to buy items made in countries that are communist, where the "Party" is only one who benefits and the "People" nearly starve. or countries that employ children to manufct. the goods our spoiled kids can't live without! Once we put our beliefs above our wants, our kids' "spoiled factor" went way down, and frankly mine did to! It wasn't easy to have 13 and 10 year olds jump on board with us, but we are the parents and we simply educated them on the facts. They shop with us and we share our frustrations as a family over the perfect item (especially when it's on sale) but was not manfct. in one of the countries we buy from. Apply personal morals to your shopping habits, educate yourselves and stick to your beliefs, no matter how hard it is to do so. You'll see a change in your kids and possibly the World! Americans need to wake up.

Homeschooling Our Gifted Son: The Hunt for "Gifted Curriculum" - Blog Entry

31 Mar 2008 10:23 AM

Valorie,

I am new to homeschooling, but not new to having gifted kids. Yes, I agree that there is a difference between giftedness and really, really bright. (But, be careful with that. Your really bright kids can understand that you are amazed with the gifted one and feel "less than" without us realizing it, bright kids are very intuitive.) I am interested in finding others who have an idea of what that means, how to home school these kids without loosing my mind! My son is 10, we will be homeschooling him next year, if I don't chicken out! My daughter is 13 and we just started home schooling her recently. It has been exhausting and difficult, and yet awesome and I love it with everything in me!

Please get back to me, I would like to know what your day is like with your son. Is he completely out-of-the-box? Do you school him outdoors? Do you use workbooks? What?

Please help me not to chicken out! I am trying to plan ahead.