PARENT AT THE HELM

Homeschooling Starts In Many Different Places

For some folks, the decision to pursue homeschooling is a piece of cake compared to actually facing the first day of complete responsibility for their children's education. I know: I've been there. There can never be a definitive...

Serious Folks Can Bring Too Much School into Homeschooling

y Linda Dobson Have you heard the old saying, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy?" This could easily translate into, "If Mama is stressed-out over homeschooling, her children will be, too." It's the nature of family that what affects one of us affects all of us, and this phenomenon is especially...

Mother’s Love Leads to Better Learning

The Connection between Learning and Loving While the connection between loving and learning may seem as common sensical to you as it does to me, it saddened me that common sense needed to be tested in the laboratory. So now everyone knows the great news - providing love and a nurturing environment to small children helps the hippocampus grow larger which improves learning. Now all parents can support their children during the early years. Not so...

Homeschooling Resources: Artobet!

Incorporating a study of the artists has always been hard for me in our homeschooling. There is so much information available that it becomes overwhelming. I have struggled with this since day one of our homeschooling journey. Do you find yourself in that same position? I have often tried to find a product that will work for our family, but our budget doesn’t allow for most of these curricula. If our budget...

Weirdest Homeschooling Laws

Here, in no particular order of weirdness, are some odd rules and regulations about homeschooling:

Are You an Accidental Homeschooler?

Are You an Accidental Homeschooler? Please join me in a big ol' Parent at the Helm welcome to our newest sponsor, Time4Learning, helping to keep informative PATH posts in your homeschooler e-mail box or on your Facebook page throughout the seasons. We're happy to share this guest post by Nela Prado! Even before they have children, some families already know that they want to homeschool, while others find themselves homeschooling based out of necessity or by accident. These “accidental homeschoolers” had their children in schools and – for many different reasons – decided that homeschooling was the best...

Homeschooling Starting Points: Simply Watch the Dust Settle

"Kid cleaned" means some of the laundry will be put in the right pile, some of the dust will be displaced by the cloth and some of the library books will be readily found when you need them again. "Kid cleaned" means most of the dishes don't have egg on them, most of the rug will be visible after a vacuuming, and most of the...

I Feel Sorry for Kids In School. Every. Single. One.

By Linda Dobson I check education news every morning. I know good news is rare. I know some days are worse than others. And there are some days when the news breaks my heart. Today was one of those days.

Decompression Time After School Attendance Described

To decompress means "to relieve of pressure," and no other term could better describe what homeschooling parents have found to be a saving grace for the child coming to intellectual and social freedom from schooling. Pressure created by school attendance comes from many directions and may be subtle or blatant. Often children aren't even aware that the pressure...

Homeschool Resources: Morphology the Game

By Amanda Werner I am going to let you in on a little secret about my family. We love a friendly game of just about anything. We enjoy playing games so much that it is not unusual to find us waiting in a parking lot, in a business office of some sort, or even traveling down the road, playing a game of whatever kick we happen to be on that day, week or even month. Does that sound like your family as well?