Home School Legal Defense Association
Families in nations around the world look at our home schooling freedoms in awe. Many are willing to sacrifice and pay any price for similar opportunities. …

Education Otherwise
1055120, operating in the UK; its members have a high level of interest in the fields of home-schooling, education at home, distance-learning, …

Learn in Freedom! Education Reform, Home-Schooling Links
Links to information about learning in freedom on many different Web sites.

Homeschooling has its benefits - Winnipeg Sun
Homeschooling has its benefitsWinnipeg Sun, Canada - Mar 6, 2006… setting. Unlike tofu, homeschooling is a movement that continues to grow in popularity. … bandwagon. But is homeschooling really best for children? …

Homeschooling in the United States - Connect For Kids
Homeschooling in the United StatesConnect For Kids, D.C. - Mar 2, 2006Similarly to previous years, 31 percent of homeschooling parents say concerns about school environment, safety, or peer pressure led them to homeschool, and 30 …

Homeschooling just makes sense to me - Newburyport Daily News
Homeschooling just makes sense to meNewburyport Daily News,  USA - Mar 2, 2006… having spent six years as a public school teacher. Homeschooling just makes sense to me. I can form a curriculum around her interests …

Official Claims Homeschooling is Turning West Virginia into a ' … - Home School Legal Defense Association
Official Claims Homeschooling is Turning West Virginia into a ' …Home School Legal Defense Association - Mar 6, 2006… At one point, she said, "You've heard of third world countries? Well, that is what is happening to West Virginia because of homeschooling.". …

The Reading File G.O.P.’s Record on Families
New York Times - In the March 27 issue of The Weekly Standard, Allan Carlson, the president of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in Rockford, Ill., says that while the Republican party has made progress in helping traditional one-earner families, it

Cock-a-Doodle ‘Do
Record Searchlight - WASHINGTON — It’s dark outside, but powerful streetlights cast the salon in jarring day-glo relief. Parking, in this normally congested suburban thoroughfare, is a breeze. Inside the Aveda Salon, owner Ray Claery boots up the computers. He greets

1. New Word of the Day

Introduce your preschooler to a new word each morning at breakfast and define it for him. Keep it simple by using synonyms for words he already knows. Example: vehicle can be another word for car, truck, van, etc. Make a game of using the word as many times as possible each day. This is a fun way to build your child’s vocabulary.

2. Create a Reading Hide-Away

A large cardboard box can become anything your child wants it to be. Spend a fun-filled afternoon fashioning a reading hide-away with your child. A miniature house, a castle, or a cave are just a few possibilities. It need not be fancy to catch your preschoolers fancy! Large pieces of construction paper can be taped to the outside to represent stone or siding. Place a rug, some pillows or child-sized furniture and a few age-appropriate books inside. Be sure to design a skylight into the top of the box. Your child will spend many hours “reading” or playing in their special spot.

3. Her Very Own Scrapbook

Scrapbooking is a fun way for children to develop their fine motor and categorizing skills while creating neatly organized memories that parents can cherish for years to come. Scrapbooking supplies are readily available at specialty stores and craft shops. Let your child choose a topic for her scrapbook. If she needs ideas, suggest a birthday, a holiday or other special family event. Allow her to choose her own stickers, colors and accessories while explaining that certain symbols represent certain events. If she really insists upon using a cake with blazing candles in a Halloween scrapbook, let her! This is supposed to be fun, remember? Sort through your family photos together and help her choose ones that fit her theme.

4. Community Map

Show your child a map of your state or the U.S. Using a large piece of poster board, draw a map of your community and help your child mark your home, school, grocery store, and relative’s and friend’s houses. Children enjoy using colorful stickers to represent familiar landmarks. Help him create a simple key for your map. New landmarks can be added as your child further explores the community.

5. Personal Telephone Book

Buy or help your preschooler make a telephone book of her own. She can list emergency numbers, such as 911, and also the numbers of her friends and grandparents. Provide a toy telephone with realistic buttons so that she can practice dialing and proper phone etiquette. Her reading hide-away would make a nice quiet spot in which to do this.

6. Roleplay Bedtime Stories

Preschoolers feel secure with routines, and as a result parents often find themselves reading the same bedtime story night after night. Another result is that children often know the stories by heart, even if they can’t yet read. Break up the monotony by having your child take over the speaking part of his favorite characters. This gives them early practice in dramatic interpretation and makes bedtime a little more fun!

About The Author I am a homemaker and homeschooling mother of four. I live with my husband, two sons, two daughters, two flop-eared bunnies, and one sweet cat in southeastern Michigan. myrandamorgan@yahoo.com

KidsTheFun The brain is like a muscle — you use it or lose it. During summer vacation is your child “losing it”?

Picture two different athletes. Athlete A is on a schedule where she trains ten months and then takes two months off. Athlete B trains year round. When Athlete A goes back to training after her two months of being a couch potato, she’s going to feel sluggish, slow, and frustrated, while Athlete B is still in prime shape.

So, how do we, as parents, keep our children’s brains in tip-top shape? Exercise your children’s brains with these activities.

Writing Skills: Do your children have a favorite series of books, like The Magic Tree House or Harry Potter? They can write the next book in the series! Brainstorm the plot with your children. Provide them with a special notebook for writing the story — and let their imagination take them on a journey. A chapter each week will really add up!

Reading: Enroll your children in your local library’s summer reading program. These reading programs reward children for reading during the summer months, and are usually free to join. If your library doesn’t offer a summer reading program, contact your local bookstore. Or make your own reading contest. Simply draw a chart with rewards at different levels. Every time your children reach a new level on the chart, celebrate their accomplishments!

Math: The easiest and most delicious place to incorporate math is in the kitchen. Doubling recipes, figuring fractions, adding, subtracting — plus the experiments are yummy! It doesn’t get much better than that.

Logic Skills: Teach your children the classic card games like Uno, Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights. Older kids can learn the basics of Poker and Gin Rummy.

Music: Introduce your children to new styles of music on a regular basis — Classical, Reggae, Jazz, Blues, Opera, Soundtracks from Musicals, Classic Rock, Popular Music from the 60’s-90’s, Music from all over the World. Not only will it stimulate their minds, but it’s a lot of fun!

Art: Go to the library and find a great book about famous works of art. With your children, look through the book and ask them which pieces they like and why. Then, give them the opportunity to recreate the art they saw in the book, using whatever materials they’d like — chalk, paint, crayons, glue, etc. Your children will surely surprise you with their creativity.

Summer is a fun time of the year. Take these ideas and run with them. Not only will your children benefit from keeping their brains active and in tip-top shape, but you get the benefit of seeing their creative, brilliant minds at work. Have a great summer!

About The Author:
Visit http://www.ShowKidsTheFun.com and Free Online Preschool Themes (link
to http://www.showmomthemoney.com/homeschooling.asp ) for more fun ideas to spend time with your children.

Copyright ShowKidsTheFun - http://www.ShowKidsTheFun.com

Shattered by the end of charter
Charlotte Observer, NC - Mar 8, 2006… Many have taken tours of local public schools, while others have called charters in surrounding counties and contemplated homeschooling. …

Two are chosen as Mothers of the Year
Bismarck Tribune,  USA - Mar 24, 2006… Keeping the children busy is key to keeping life on track and homeschooling her children actually makes her schedule easier, she said. …

HomeSchooling Resources | Education from Home Directory
1 HomeSchooling Resources | Education from Home on the web with 3088 hard to find links in several related categories. If you own a related website, add your website now.

Homeschooling Resource Center for Homeschool Programs and More
center, providing all the homeschool education information for schools, home schooling, testing, tutoring, learning disabilities, distance learning, certification training, Christian homeschooling and

Homeschooling
Another Path - comprehensive guide to homeschooling deaf or hard of hearing children Homeschooling Children With Down Syndrome

Homeschooling Today
Finding the right college can be a daunting prospect for a home schooling family. Homeschooling Today magazine can help. Here is a list of colleges who …

Jon’s Homeschool Resource Page
A large collection of homeschool resources. Online support groups, regional support groups, FAQs, discussion boards, chat, mailing lists and links.

About Homeschooling
A community with forums, email courses, curriculum reviews, unit studies and activities.

Home Schooling. ERIC Digest
Provides full-text access to the ERIC Digest of this name.

Colorado Virtual Academy offers national curriculum
Summit Daily News - Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) is one of a group of charter schools in several different states managed by a company called K12, Inc. K12, Inc., based in McLean, Va., was co-founded in 1999 by former secretary of education William Bennett. Bennett

Teachers Demonstrate Against John Stossel
News Busters - The New York Sun reports that ABC “20/20″ co-anchor John Stossel was confronted by protestors outside the studio who were enraged by a report he did on public schools. Organized by the United Federation of Teachers, hundreds of teachers waved signs