Category: Homeschooling

Setting Yourself Up to Homeschool

If you are one of the many parents about to embark on your first year of homeschool, you may be wondering what you can do this summer to set yourself up for success. (That is, assuming you choose to begin this fall. Ah, sweet freedom.) While there is no definitive way, as homeschooling is by…


Music, Mission, and Home Studies: A Visit With the Scott Family

Let’s head down to Florida and meet the Scott family: homeschoolers and musicians extraordinaire. But first, let’s pay a visit to their website, TheScottDuo.com. Here we find two musicians, Rosa and Marion Scott, who sport a list of awards and honors that will blow the reader away. They’ve attended various universities, including the Julliard School…


Paper, Pen, Books, and Eggs: Resources and Some Advice for Homeschoolers

Recently, my daughter and her family paid a visit to Virginia. My 8-year-old homeschooling granddaughter, a firecracker of a girl, bounded up to me and cried with delight, “Grandpa, I’m learning to read!” For two years, my granddaughter had struggled to learn to read with the books used by her four older siblings: Alpha-Phonics, some…


Joyful Homeschooling: 10 Practices That Add Joy to Your Learning Environment

One of the greatest advantages homeschooling families enjoy is the freedom to design a learning environment, strategy, and lifestyle that suits the needs of each child individually, as well as the family as a whole. While reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic are important to think about as you conjure ideas for next year, I highly recommend…


The Single Best Thing Americans Can Do to Retake America

Commentary The most frequent question people pose to me is: What can I/we do to fight back against the nihilistic anti-American destruction of virtually all the country’s major institutions? There is an answer. The single best thing Americans can do to counter the left-wing attack on America—against its freedoms, its schools, its families, its children,…


Giving Parents the Choice

Commentary With widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the debate over school choice has once again taken center stage. For the past seven years, approximately two-thirds of Americans have consistently supported school choice. Additionally, support is largely bipartisan, with 82 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Independents, and 55 percent of Democrats in favor…


Living Books: Essential to a Student’s Appetite for Learning

Grandma’s counter was spread with salads, appetizers, main dishes, and desserts for the family meal. All the second cousins were vying for the coveted positions at the front of the line. The food was blessed and with excessive speed, the entire feast was devoured. It would be comical to suggest that the family needed to…


No Crying in Debate

The young men and women arrived for their debate dressed in jackets, slacks, and skirts. They wanted to look the part, as a strategy for winning. This was to be their very first debate in their weekly homeschool co-op class day. The subject was a sobering one: The federal government should discontinue capital punishment. Jane,…


Homeschooling, a Generation Later

Upon writing this, I’m watching my 6-year-old granddaughter tranquilly learn to needlepoint a bookmark. It’s her Mumsee and Pops’s day of play and learning. She’s backlit by the sun, wearing lavender overalls with her long wavy gold hair in a ponytail. This lovely picture brings me back to one of my favorite memories: watching my…


The Unexpected Spoonful of Sugar: Benefits of Structuring Your Homeschool

Mother’s journal entry, July 20, 2004: I just can’t seem to stay on top of my game. First, the kids got up and made a huge mess in their room while I was still asleep. Then, after a breakfast of cold cereal, the kids wouldn’t leave me alone during my morning devotions. I put them…