freebies Archives - Marie-Claire Moreau

May 24 2017

Financial aid tips for college-bound homeschoolers

With tuition increases every year, paying for college can be a real concern. For one-income families with more than one child (i.e., the majority of homeschool families), the fear of not being able to afford a college education can be quite real.

After helping my children into college and working with many other students, I’m convinced there still exists a college experience for any student who wants it, within any budget, and under most common circumstances. More importantly, however, I’ve found there is plenty of college money available to those who want it. Bigger still, a lot of that money is free.

The trick to making the money appear is: a) knowing where to look for it, and b) knowing specifically how to qualify for it.

As someone who has graduated teens who’ve gone on to college debt-free, I’d like to share some of the tips that saved us tons of money. Of course there’s so much more to going college debt-free, but these concepts should get you into the debt-free mindset for when the time comes.

Tips for finding college money and saving a ton!

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Start Early

My first and most valuable tip for finding college money is to start the work early. By early, I mean in 9th or 10th grade, if not sooner. Many organizations and programs start doling out money early, and there are grants and scholarships of all kinds available throughout the high school years. Plus, by starting early, you’ll have the benefit of a huge file of all that information you collect over the years, so you’ll never be caught missing deadlines, lacking requirements, or having trouble finding information again later. Consider it a part-time job that you and your student work on periodically. That’s how we did it, and it worked!

Tell Everyone You know

I always recommend telling everyone you know that you’re looking for college assistance. By putting this on the radar of friends, family members, employers and other acquaintances, you start building a team of support around you and your child. During the time your student is in high school, this team can be keeping their eyes and ears open for opportunities like scholarships and grants, interning programs and awards, and pass on to you a lot of information you’d never get anywhere else. Supporters are usually glad to help you in this way, and often become especially invested in your child as you share periodic updates on what your child is doing in high school, and what his or her goals are after graduation. Don’t dismiss the idea of chatting up the local high schools, either. Guidance counselors and other personnel are sometimes enormously helpful to homeschool families at scholarship time.

It’s Sometimes Okay to Be Broke

This next tip falls into the “for what it’s worth” category. Oftentimes, families try to boost their income during the high school years, with parents taking part-time jobs, and students finding ways to earn money themselves. While this is commendable and can sometimes help the situation, it can also backfire, too. Remember that certain programs target lower income families or those with an inability to pay. Given this formula, students may actually become ineligible for programs if they’ve built a nest egg during high school. While I never discourage anyone from saving for college, it can be useful to consider the cost-benefit of doing such a thing. Putting a student’s grades at risk from working too many hours, for instance, to be later disappointed by an inadequate aid package is highly discouraging. Stressing parents out unnecessarily while causing the family to become ineligible for certain programs is also clearly counter productive.

Overcome Your Desire for Privacy

When it comes time to apply for aid and scholarships, you might as well kiss any desire for privacy good bye. The sheer number of applications you’ll be completing is nothing short of mind boggling, and with those applications comes the complete stripping away of any desire to shield the world from knowing every intimate detail of your personal lives. The desire to find college money requires disclosing anything and everything these organizations want to know. I still highly recommend teaching your teen about identity theft and protecting his or her privacy in every other situation, but on this one, you’ll need to explain (and yourself must learn to accept) this is one exception for which there is no other choice.

Be Sure the Student Transcript Reflects Everything They Want to See

Minimum requirements for college entrance and college money, financial aid programs and scholarship programs, and other sources of college assistance will vary from student to student, from state to state (if you plan on applying for state aid), and from college to college. By knowing specific requirements for these programs early on (go back to my first tip), you can guarantee your student is eligible by making sure any course requirements are met, any GPA requirements are met, any community service or leadership requirements are met, and any other eligibility requirements are met, before your student turns that tassel. It pains me to see students who could’ve qualified for something great, but were ineligible because they forgot take a simple class in an earlier grade. It double-pains me when parents end up costing their students money because they were unwilling to put the time in earlier on to make sure the student remained on track for later assistance. I cannot stress enough the importance of developing a 4-year high school plan to cover all these bases.

If you’ve found these tips helpful, follow me for more information like this in the future (SUBSCRIBE on the home page if you’d like to be notified).

I work with many families to develop college-ready high school plans that gain them access to colleges, and often tens of thousands of dollars of money later on. If this is a service you’d like to explore, contact me for a private consultation.

To your success,

Here’s more you might like:

Finding college scholarships

College Prep High Schooling (Series)

How do homeschoolers get into college?

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago. A homeschool pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast. Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed for illustrating how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever. A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide. Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

Nov 11 2016

How to use textbooks for homeschooling

I recently met with a couple who’d just received a large donation of textbooks. Among the things we chatted about were ways they could incorporate some of the books into the learning program they were developing for their kids.

Since textbooks sometimes get a bad rap in the homeschooling world, I wanted you to know there is nothing wrong with using textbooks if they fill a need in your family. The textbook stigma is really about not trying to duplicate public school at home, but leveraging the power of homeschooling instead. There are plenty of ways to use textbooks and still reap the rewards of a customized home education. Let me share some of the advice I gave them, in case these ideas could help you too.

First, a rule about textbooks and homeschooling:

There is no rule about textbooks and homeschooling.

Remember, when homeschooling, you can do whatever you want.

Next, some rules of thumb to help you decide which textbooks to keep, and which to donate somewhere else:

Publication date doesn’t always matter. Unless the subject is something likely to change every couple of years, an older textbook is just as good as a newer one. If you like it, and the information hasn’t changed since it was written, keep it. You might want to watch out for older “modern history” books and world geography books, for instance. You’ll probably also want to steer away from older computer books, too (unless studying the history of computing). It’s really up to you.

Whether the textbook is a “teacher’s copy” or a “student version” doesn’t always matter. Unless it bothers you when teacher’s notes are written in the margins, or answers to the test questions are in plain sight, a teacher’s copy has all the same text as the student edition. You can block out the answers with sticky notes if you like, or by folding (even cutting up) the pages if you want. But, probably, you’ll allow your student to read it for what it’s worth, no matter the format.

Even if you don’t have all the supplements that go with the textbook (like the test bank, some of the exercises, or the answer key) it still might be okay. Again, the value of the textbook is in your eyes only. If it’s something you’d like your children to read, maybe it won’t matter if you’re missing all the pieces that traditional classroom teachers use. You’re not a traditional classroom teacher, so there’s that.

The level or audience for the book doesn’t matter. I don’t care if the book was meant for 6th graders, 11th graders, or college students. If your kids can read it, it’s probably a keeper. Homeschoolers don’t always talk grade levels anyway, so if a textbook can be understood by your unique learners, what the author/publisher intended when they released the book doesn’t matter.

How to use textbooks in your homeschool:

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Now, here are some different ways to use textbooks when homeschooling. Remember, there is no right or wrong here, so feel free to use these ideas or any others you come up with on your own:

Using the Whole Book & Taking a School-Like Approach

If you like a certain textbook, and you think your child could learn from it, too, consider using it to teach an entire class. The class could last for a semester, a year, or any length of time, depending on how long the book is. Think of this like traditional school, where you assign chapters and pages, ask the student take notes or highlight important ideas, assign him questions to answer, and so on. Make up tests, assign papers, or other ways to assess learning. Think of completing the entire textbook (or a significant portion of) as finishing the class. When your student finishes the textbook, assign a grade or credit. Textbooks are perfect for this use, since they often contain enough “material” for an entire class in a single subject.

Hopping In and Out of a Textbook

If the trademark of American home education is freedom, that also includes the freedom to use as much or as little of any curriculum resource as we see fit. The notion that students need to “finish the book” is about as silly as forcing a child to eat everything on a dinner plate when he’s already full. Sure, your students may finish the textbook, if it’s best for the education and also best for the child. But there’s nothing wrong with taking a break from the book, using only selected parts of it, coming back to it over and over for several years, or abandoning it when it stops working. Actually, I highly recommend hopping in and out of textbooks as needed.

Using the Table of Contents & Designing Your Own Class

Probably the most valuable part of any textbook is the table of contents. The table of contents is a ready-made list of related topics, already arranged in some logical order, just waiting for you to follow. If you want to teach a class in something, but feeling intimidated trying to figure out what to teach, following the table of contents from a textbook is the perfect solution. The learning itself doesn’t need to come from the chapters of the book itself (though it could). Instead, what you’ll do is follow the table of contents, but fill in the learning in other ways, like with other books, with taking field trips, by using web resources, with workbooks, and so on. In this case, the table of contents is just providing the framework, but you’re in control of the activities you use to teach the actual lessons.

Using Textbooks for Reference

Finally, textbooks can make excellent reference books. They’re even better together, too, as the impact tends to multiply if you own several textbooks about the same thing. There’s nothing better for looking up the rules of grammar or punctuation than a collection of English textbooks on the shelf. Math books are excellent for seeing how different authors explain the same concepts, especially for struggling students who may need to hear it several different ways. History textbooks, in particular the index at the back of the book, are fantastic tools for learning about people or events.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of ways to control textbook use, instead of allowing them to control you. I hope this has given you a new understanding of how textbooks can be used in freedom, for whatever they’re worth in your unique homeschool program.

To your success,

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago. A homeschooling pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast. Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed as it illustrates how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever. A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide. Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

Dec 08 2014

No Lesson Plans Needed — 100 ways learn without really trying

Homeschool parents tend to overflow in the areas of creativity and resourcefulness. It doesn’t take long before homeschoolers discover tons of neat, inexpensive ways to learn without really even trying.

Should your family be running short on ideas, however, may I present my list of “100 Ways to Learn (without really trying)”? Hopefully, you’ll find something here you’ve never done before, or something that may set you on a path of learning something new! And did I mention most are FREE?

100 Ways to Learn (without really trying):

Take a virtual field trip: Travel to The White House, The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the ruins of Pompeii, a car factory , or anywhere else you like.
Visit a pool store: Learn about pH, chlorine, acid, algae and watch real chemistry in action as store employees test pool water samples.
Attend a yard sale (swap meet, flea market): Hunt for bargains or just compare prices while having a fun day wandering the aisles. Better yet, give the kids a couple of dollars, then compare who makes the best purchase by the end of the day.
Return bottles and cans: Kids learn great lessons in recycling, cleaning up the environment, and about calculating their earnings with this free and worthwhile activity.
Buy a snack from a vending machine: Necessary life skills come from buying chips and sodas from these machines, including inserting [crisp, unfolded) bills and getting change, comparing prices, selecting items according to a grid (letters, numbers), security issues around using credit/debit, nutritional content and more.
Visit an auto care center: Car repairs offer all kinds of learning. If your local automotive center has a free self-diagnosis area, this is a great way to learn about battery life, tire pressure, brake safety and more.
Head to the community center (church, hall, senior center) for BINGO night: Playing Bingo is one of the fastest ways for kids to learn letters, numbers, matching and good sportsmanship. It’s fun, too!
Head to the food court: Food courts are famous for offering a variety of ethnic dishes (and free samples, too). You can buy lunch, or just enjoy traveling the world while checking out all of the different dishes from all around the world (China, Japan, Mexico, Italy, and more).
Shop a discount center: Discount food centers, discount jewelry outlets, and discount furniture outlets are great places to compare prices over full retail. Find new places to shop, and spot great bargains this way, too!
Visit a science center: One of the bests places to get hands-on science training is by visiting a science center, a children’s science museum, or a theme park with a science or engineering theme. A full year of experiments can be had for the price of just one ticket. Be sure to ask about homeschooler, teacher or student pricing before you go.
Use your bank’s drive-thru or deposit box system: This teaches kids about saving, while also learning about using drive-thru monitors and other gadgetry, accessing personal accounts “long-distance”, and the protocols and manners required to use systems like these.
Treat yourselves to a BOGO deal: Whether at the grocery store, coffee shop or department store, BOGO deals have much to teach children about shopping wisely, saving and spending.
Visit a construction site: Carefully observe (from a safe distance) the machinery, employees and activities at a local construction site. If permitted, check out the plans or other public documents to find out what is going on.
Vote: Watching a parent vote in person or completing an absentee ballot is a great way for children to learn about the legislative system. Cover voter eligibility, parties, candidates, platforms, precincts, and more.
Select an insurance policy (life, home, medical, flood, car, etc.) By helping their parents with this activity, kids can learn about comparing prices and benefits, plus gain valuable life skills having to do with the necessity of purchasing these plans (or the consequences of not having them).
Attend a town meeting: Any town meeting will do, whether a school board, emergency preparedness, energy conservation committee, budget meeting, or anything suitable for the ages of your children.
Shop online: Making a purchase online requires comparing prices, figuring shipping, entering a form of payment, and anticipating a delivery. All great life skills, rolled into one easy transaction.
Help a neighbor: Whether walking a dog, weeding a garden, or just bringing in a newspaper or mail, kids learn kindness and compassion by helping others.
Clip coupons: Browsing mailers or newspaper inserts is a great way for kids to learn about shopping and saving. This is a fun activity that has the potential to branch in many different directions (donating to a food pantry, saving enough cash to afford an ice cream treat, tracking the grocery budget, and more).
Mending, lengthening or shortening clothing: Repairing and tailoring clothing an excellent way to talk with children about extending the life of the clothes they wear. Here’s a real skill that lasts a lifetime.
Tenderizing or marinating meat: Inexpensive cuts of meat can be easily transformed using a little kitchen magic. Be sure to talk about the physical and/or chemical transformations that take place in the process.
Create your own: Spice blends, soap bars, cleaning products and more. Lots of extensions for learning beyond the recipes themselves.
Take, edit and store photos: Think composition and lighting, special effects, uploading to photo sites, or creating collages. Making prints, videos or sharing photos keeps the learning going even longer. Minimal cost for valuable skills plus a whole lot of fun.
Write notes, cards and letters: Handwritten sentiments are special to create and even more special to receive. Consider writing to loved ones, military personnel, fan clubs, pen pals, or even The White House. Penmanship and letter writing skills are more and more rare. Encourage your children to understand the value of the hand-written word.
Organize something: A closet, a drawer, the pantry or a toy box. Skills like these don’t always come naturally. Kids might need to be taught this skill, so they can benefit by being orderly and organized the rest of their lives.
Plan something: A vacation, an event or an outing. Depending on the activity, learning here may come in the form of scheduling, map skills, budgeting, creating invitations, buying tickets, and lots more.
Make (or participate in) a Scavenger Hunt: Creating a Scavenger Hunt is great fun that comes with hidden learning as kids identify objects, create scenarios, label items or establish a scoring system. Participating in a Hunt is equally fun, and comes with the possibility of object identification, physical exercise, beating a timer, healthy competition and more.
Visit a farmer’s market: Learning about new foods, local farms, and so much more by browsing fresh produce selections at the farmer’s market. Be sure to check out all the offerings, including honey, raw dairy, fresh eggs, to maximize learning too.
Go to work: Many moms, dads and grandparents are given the option to take a child to work every now and then. Seeing what goes on at the office, factory, retail store, or small business is experience kids can’t get anywhere else.
Reorganize a room: Measuring a space and mapping out furnishings is really fun to do by hand or using a computer. Discussions can also include efficient use of space, comfortable flow and principles of Feng Shui.
Read the FAQ section: Of a favorite place, product, service or business. Kids love learning more about their favorite toys, activities, celebrities and more. Reading FAQs can result in new learning and a greater understanding of whatever-it-is.
Visit a bookstore: I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon. Spending is optional.
Take a nature walk: Observing nature has a way of bringing all kinds of curiosity and questions to light. Dream. Discuss. Hypothesize. Sketch. Photograph. Collect (shells, pebbles, pine cones). Look up the answers later on. Or not.
Watch the day/night sky: There is no better way to consider concepts like day and night, the Earth’s rotation, the changing of the seasons, and the vastness of the universe than by looking up.
Make a telephone call: Phoning a close friend or relative is a great way to teach children how to dial a telephone, engage in polite conversation and close out a call with good manners.
Etiquette practice: Kids learn etiquette and manners by doing. Setting a dinner table, escorting someone to an event, eating in a restaurant, and other situations like these often require slightly different behaviors than children might practice at home.
Take messages: Whether taking phone messages or leaving notes for mom and dad, this important skill is sometimes overlooked when training children in modern society. Proper message-taking is key for life and business later on. Teaching this early provides a great headstart.
Maintain something: Whether a bicycle or scooter, a guitar or a trombone, a set of tires or a refrigerator, keeping things in working order teaches valuable skills, plus extends the life of these expensive items too.
Wrap a gift: Gift wrapping and other paper folding activities are great for motor coordination and visualizing geometric and spatial relationships between objects. Kids enjoy giving, too, and this holds valuable lessons all its own.
Mail a package: Nothing illustrates the postal system more than experiencing it first-hand. Carefully packaging an item, weighing it, buying postage, and tracking it to its destination is fun and comes with great extensions into geography, measurement, and more.
Re-cover/reupholster something: Choosing foam and fabrics to recover a chair, stool, arm chair or felt board can be great fun. Doing the measuring, stapling, gluing and other needed steps to complete the project teaches recycling/upcycling, saving money, using tools, measurement, motor coordination and more.
Follow a recipe: This activity utilizes more than cooking skills, as it may also extend into measurement, chemistry, precision, world cultures and more.
Raise something: A chick, rabbit, puppy or tadpole. This is hands-on investigation at its best.
Plant something: Planting from seed or seedling, and watching something grow is both satisfying and productive.
Hang a picture: This activity extends into planning, measuring and using simple tools.
Stuff something: Remember the last time you stuffed a pillow or plush toy? You’ll probably recall that this is an activity that takes quite a bit of practice to get it right. Kids can benefit from from this exercise in coordination, patience and planning, too.
Clean something: Life skills should be taught early, and reinforced throughout childhood. Kids as young as 2 can begin dusting and wiping counters. Older children may gradually progress into more difficult jobs, giving them an advantage when they become adults.
Make candy: With supervision, using a candy thermometer and watching candy form is both a revelation and a great learning opportunity. Eating the results is a great reward!
Trim back a tree: Watching sap flow, observing wounds grow over, and monitoring new growth patterns is something many people pay no attention to at all. Kids can learn a great deal with simple observation, and even more by charting results.
Install a program or an app: Technology, security and practical applications collide when [supervised] children are allowed to install their own software on a PC, table or smart phone.
Play Minecraft: The benefits of playing Minecraft are now amply documented. Let kids play and watch what happens!
Visit a grandparent: One of the most valuable experiences in life is to spending time with a grandparent or great-grandparent. If no grands are within commuting distance, children can visit senior centers to spend time with citizens who have much to share about the past, life experiences, general wisdom, history and more.
Shredding documents: For children old enough to be trusted with this equipment, this activity is both fun and raises discussions about the need to shred certain documents, and the possible consequences of not doing so.
Visit a plant or factory: Factory tours are excellent ways for kids to see how things are made.
Go sight-seeing: Pretend to be a tourist and take in the sights where you live. Benefits to acting like a tourist are many.
Take in a concert: Most cities and towns offer a free concert series during the summer, or all year long. Great way to learn about musical genres, different instruments, parts of an orchestra, terminology, vocals and more.
Take and score a test: Any test will do. Most kids will need this skill eventually, so it’s a good idea to learn it early and practice periodically.
Visit a showroom: It can be very eye-opening to view prices and options of cars, furniture or appliances. Kids will also learn different features, terminology, comparison shopping, and maybe something about how these items are made too.
Tie a knot: Most people are never taught, thus are unable to tie a secure knot in anything. Believe it or not, this valuable life skill comes in handy more often than you realize.
Translate a passage: Online translators are free and provide a glimpse into learning a new language.
Set up an account: With parental supervision, older children should be guided through the process of setting up an online account. Touching upon careful password selection, choosing security questions, establishing a username and selecting appropriate levels or privacy and security should not be left up to teenage experimentation. The time to teach children is when they’re still at home, and may be guided by the parents, so that they do not make lasting, potentially tragic errors later on.
Protect and store valuables: Another life skill that many children should be taught, rather than left up to chance.
Grab some number cubes (dice): It’s amazing what people come up with when handed a pair of number cubes. Games and learning collide when children and adults alike put their heads together to make up crazy games and lessons with these simple learning tools.
Build (or try to build) a house of cards: This seemingly simple activity overflows with extensions into mathematics (geometry), physics and engineering.
Do the Sunday crossword, word jumbles or Sudoku together: Or select easier ones the kiddies can do alone, or with minor help from you. Versions available online, too.
Go to a trade show: Check the local listings for conventions and trade shows coming to your area. You new know what you’ll learn at home shows, tech demos, gaming tournaments and more.
Cathedral/church tours: Visiting places of worship can be about finding a church community. But, depending on where you live, it can also be about sampling different philosophies, learning about world religions, viewing different styles of architecture, learning the history of an area, and more.
Gourmet food trucks: These traveling restaurants on wheels are fun to locate, and even more fun to try. Introducing kids to new foods they might not be able to sample anywhere else is all part of the adventure!
“As Seen on TV” products: Depending on your point of view, checking out these sometimes-ingenious, often-silly items can be a great way to talk to kids about inventing new products, successful advertising, unnecessary spending, or whatever else you like. Such products can often be found in drug store chains and shopping malls.
Make a word collage: Using Wordle or a similar program/app, creating word collages encourages kids to think about word relationships and word choices while pulling together concepts onto a word board. Design sensibilities come into play when kids are forced to think about color schemes, word shapes and make other design choices. When framed, these make great wall hangings, too.
Open a tube of crazy glue: Bonding agents offer fascinating opportunities for learning. Adult supervision required.
Dig a hole: Remembering digging for “clay” as a child? If not, be sure to join your kids on this easy learning adventure. If you find any, be sure to craft a small vessel and leave it in the sun to dry for several days. Extensions include learning about nature, native peoples, ancient artifacts, or whatever else you like.
Cut paper dolls: These don’t have to be dolls, but paper folding and cutting repeated shapes offers lots of learning. Coordination exercises, too. Paper chains offer fun and learning, too!
Create a book shelf or home library: Asking children to pull books out of closets and off the shelves to put them in order is one of the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon, in my opinion. Just watch as they learn and read, and also discuss book classification, writing genres, subject areas, and practical things like book sizes and placement, too.
Have an animal parade: When my children were little, some of the most fun we ever had was pulling out all the plush toys and having an animal parade. I’ll leave the learning up to you, but (hint!) it involves counting, patterns and shapes, classification, measuring and more!
Stage a production: A play, a fashion show, a variety show, a musical recital, sing-a-long, or anything else they can think up. Ready, set, go!
Hair styles: Hair styles have come a long way, particularly in the areas of up-styles and braiding. Looking up photos and duplicating them at home can be great practice for young people, and will result in many new ways to wear hair, too.
Pinterest ideas: Shop Pinterest for ideas you can do with things you already have on hand. Need I say more?
Make an obstacle course: Whether on the driveway or in the backyard, kids learn by designing the course, but also about their own physical capabilities and fitness, too.
Make (and bury) a time capsule: This fun activity can take weeks to pull off, involving many different areas of learning in the process.
“How does it work?” activities: Looking up a product or process, and discovering how it works, is an excellent way for kids to learn something new. Try television programs and online videos for starters, then search for web sites to explain anything they might still want to know.
Keep a journal: Many children enjoy keeping a journal of writing, sketches, ideas and more.
Set out to discover “The Best” of something: Whether searching for best cheeseburger in town or the best way to tie a shoe lace, kids will take this activity in many different directions, each packed with new and different ideas they never knew before! Establish a scoring system (thumbs up or down, or some kind of ranking) if you like, too!
Climb a tree: Think it’s simple? Think again! And if they’ve got a strong foot-hold or a safe place to rest, send up supplies like rope, a camera or a sketch pad, too.
Create a fitness training program: This is a great way for kids to plan activities and benefit from greater levels of fitness, too. Families can get involved in all getting healthy together.
Mix something together: Paints, melted bits of crayons, drops of essential oils or perfumes, glitters, liquid soaps, oils and vinegars, milk and food coloring, or anything else on hand. Predict outcomes. Invent new colors. Name scents. Live science in a fun way.
Polish something: It seems nobody polishes shoes any more, but why not let kids give it a try? Brighten up a sink or bathroom tiles, too. Polish silver or copper. What else needs a good scrub and a polish in your home? Creating polishing compounds can be fun and rewarding, too. Learn chemistry by studying reactions (think: vinegar and lemons). Learn about abrasiveness by trying different salts and powders.
Start a blog: Older teens in particular will enjoy this activity, plus having a place to post photos, writings and more. Whether free or hosted, this activity teaches web site/blog creation and give families the opportunity to discuss privacy and security issues, too.
Create a vision board (or idea board): Visual thinkers and dreamers of all kinds learn about pulling concepts, thoughts, designs and visions together by creating idea boards from magazine photos, paint chips, fabric swatches, famous quotations, and anything else that contributes to a thought collage.
Train a pet: Kids learn about animal psychology and physiology while having fun teaching commands, tricks and new pet behaviors.
Watch the “tube”: Lots of quality programs air during the day. Select your favorites and let the learning begin!
Discover lists: The internet is full of lists of best places to live, best colleges to attend, best educational web sites, best books for kids, most kid-friendly destinations, and more. Find some lists and explore these trails of learning. Final destinations not always required, as the learning occurs all the way.
Make art supplies: Kids enjoy DIY recipes for paints, chalks, doughs and more. Hit on chemical properties, cooking skills, measurement math, and other areas in the process. Talk about saving money, too.
Perform magic tricks: Magic tricks can be fun, but also a way to learn about the brain. Learn some tricks first, then study explanations for why these tricks (and the reactions of those who witness them) are so successful.
Play with small toys: Pocket toys (like a yoyo, a top, a Slinky, pick-up stix, a gyroscope, a kaleidoscope or jacks) offer fun and learning about physics,engineering, cooperation, coordination, game-playing rules, and more (without anybody even knowing it).
Read food labels: Extensions include wellness, nutrition, disease, standards, advertising gimmicks, measurement, grocery math, chemistry and more.
Play a keyboard game: Online games require kids to learn keystrokes or click sequences to move and score.
Sort laundry: For some kids, doing laundry signals fun. When turned into a game, many young children can be taught color matching, size matching, coordinating clothing items, counting, and lots more, just from helping in the laundry room.
Create/visit a maze: If there is a corn maze or hay maze near you, why not visit? If not, kids can create their own mazes out of cards, blocks, dominoes and more. Drawing mazes on paper can be fun, too. Don’t forget the learning that comes along with mapping out solutions, too.
Assign nap time or time out: Possibly the best learning of all comes from leaving children entirely on their own (supervised, of course). Children left alone, kids who should be napping, and children placed in a quiet zone (or time out), find some of the most creative ways to pass the time. Be a fly on the wall and just watch what your kids come up with — without any help from you at all. Guaranteed learning, and different almost every time!

…kids who should be napping…find some of the most creative ways to pass the time.

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I hope I have helped you recognize the tremendous learning that comes from even the simplest of activities, and inspired you to try some new things this year.

Feel free to share some of your easy and effortless learning tips here, too!

For more lists like this, click on this link-up:

And be sure to leave a COMMENT about how you plan to spend the next 100 days!

Oct 29 2014

Meal Planning Printable Set

How’d you like a set of meal planners for the season?

I’ve got something FREE for you today – my meal planner printables with an autumn theme!

I promise these will get you more organized, and make your world a little bit more colorful, too!

Just click & print:Meal Planning Printable Set …and don’t forget to share the love with friends, too!

Aug 25 2014

Finding college scholarships

So, you’re ready for college and the acceptance letters are starting to roll in. Congratulations! I’m sure you’ll rock it.

Good vibes aside, how are you going to pay for it all? Even after the federal grants come out and the work-study is distributed for the year, most families still have a “parent contribution” to contend with.

And that tuition isn’t going to pay itself.

That’s where scholarships come in. Believe me, they help big time. In fact, for many students, they make the difference between going to college or not.

Just so you know, a scholarship is money that doesn’t need to be paid back. As in, free. You don’t pay any interest, and there usually aren’t any terms other than staying in school and getting a ‘B’ average.

Scholarships are either one-time awards or — if you’re lucky – sometimes last all four years. They come in all different dollar amounts, starting at $50 or $100 up to reaching even $10,000 or even more (think: “full ride”).

College scholarships are awarded on the basis of many different things:

academic merit (i.e., good grades, high SAT scores)
possessing special skills or talents (e.g., flute, acting, Lacrosse)
pursuing certain careers (e.g., Engineering, Anthropology, Photography)
participation in certain groups or organizations (like Scouting, 4-H, Future Business Leaders, and so on).

There is even a category of so-called “unusual” scholarships floating around out there if you look for it.

Basically, there is a little something for everyone. And indeed lots of money is available — that is, for those who know where to find it.

Unfortunately, scholarship searches elude many families. Either that, or people feel they stand no chance of winning, therefore never apply.

Did you know many scholarships aren’t even claimed each year? Nobody applies!

Imagine that? Free money — earmarked for your college education – just going to waste. Such a shame.

Today, I’m going to help you locate college scholarships. And in an upcoming article, I’ll also give you tips for how to apply.

Start by having the student (not the parent) set up accounts in these 4 places:

Big Future / The College Board

Peterson’s

Scholarship America

FastWeb

I know, I know. They ask for a lot of information you are hesitant to provide, or prefer your student not to answer. Unfortunately, this is a time to get over all privacy concerns and feelings about over-sharing. Supply whatever is being asked, and try not to think too much about it again. (If you want your student to win scholarships, that is.)

Next, begin searching. Search those 4 places, then branch out your search from there.

Search for scholarships offered by your workplaces, community organizations, nearby schools and programs, religious groups, honor societies, sports leagues, social clubs, business organizations, and everywhere else.

Leave no stone un-turned. Seriously. Ask everyone you know if they offer a scholarship, or if they know of scholarships anywhere else.

Additionally, find out if your state offers scholarships that homeschoolers are eligible for. Often, just by completing a financial aid application, students become automatically eligible to receive state money.

Finally, check out links like this one:

Scholarships for homeschoolers

Look specifically for homeschool organizations that offer scholarships (statewide groups, legal organizations, local chapters, co-ops, mentoring organizations, volunteer groups, and so on). And if you belong to an organization that does not have one, ask if they’d consider funding a scholarship this year.

There is no need to pay anyone to find scholarships for you. It’s easy enough to do alone. If you must, you must. But, if you and your student make a schedule and stick to it daily, a few minutes a day will add up to a long list of eligible scholarships within a few weeks.

When searching, look carefully at all information, making sure you’re finding the most recent criteria and application deadlines.

Don’t discount “lottery” type scholarships, either. Somebody wins them — it could be you.

Looking for a free course on homeschooling high school? Check this out

Need more high school information? Click on this

Aug 15 2014

How to teach labs — when you don’t have a lab

Have you ever wondered how to teach science without a lab? Perhaps you have just chosen not to assign the labs, or have given up on teaching science altogether.

I want you to know that labs are very important. They allow students hands-on practice with ideas they have only read about, deepen understanding of course material, and — for some students – are the preferred way to learn. For many kids, they can also be fun!

Obviously, some science classes do not require a formal lab. But many benefit greatly by having a lab component.

High schoolers in particular need to take labs if they are applying to college. For them, these labs are not optional — college acceptance actually depends on it. (Read more about college requirements HERE.)

I am about to share with you some options for families without a fully equipped science lab. These are particularly helpful when trying to fulfill a lab requirement for biology or chemistry. But know that lab options exist for lots of other sciences, too.

Some families choose to co-op science labs. When homeschool parents gather together, they have more impact and power than teaching labs alone. Supplies can be purchased at a discount, or shared if there aren’t enough to go around (i.e., tweezers and microscopes). Parents skilled in lab procedures can do the teaching, and others can help with supervision and clean-up. Co-ops are a cost effective way to teach labs, and are successful in many areas around the country. (What’s a co-op?)

Another option is the lab intensive. When a regularly scheduled lab isn’t available, sometimes cramming an entire year’s worth of labs into one weekend can fill that need. Companies catering specifically to this need are offering lab camps (sometimes called “intensives”) from coast to coast. Landry Academy is one, but there are plenty of others as well. Ask your friends what they’re using, and consider an intensive weekend of labs versus conducting labs on a weekly basis.

One of my favorite options for labs at home is the virtual lab. Click the links throughout this blog as you read, to see examples of some of the free virtual labs that are available.

The virtual lab

Safe and hygienic, available 24/7 and repeatable any number of times, virtual labs can be completed from any room in the house, by any number of students alone, or together. As a bonus, many virtual labs can be found free online.

Virtual labs exist for dissecting animals like frogs, sharks, pigs, cats, plus animal parts (such as owl pellet or cow’s eye). Detailed illustrations and close up photographs allow students to get inside animal parts without needing to do it themselves. Explanations make it possible for biology students to study dissections thoughtfully, and to experience an almost hands-on sensation of being there — without the odor, expense, and [for some students] squeamishness that often accompanies labs of this kind.

Virtual labs are widely available for plant and animal cell studies, too, offering topics like cell division, reproduction, respiration, heredity and genetics studies and more. The kinds of labs are valuable in situations when supplies are unavailable, and are particularly beneficial in cases where intense magnification is needed, but no microscope is present in the home. (Did you know that can find lab on using microscopes, too?)

For students taking Earth Science, virtual labs can illustrate processes like erosion, glacial land changes, weather patterns and the effects of thermal energy. Chemistry studies may be supplement with labs mixing common solutions, or not-so-uncommon solutions without the risk of injury. Criminology and Forensic Science labs are available for blood typing, fingerprinting, and other procedures associated with crime scene analysis.

Finding virtual labs can take a bit of investigation on the part of families. Paid subscription services are available (see Online Chem Labs and Late Night Labs as examples) and free lab simulations can be obtained from textbook companies, science web sites, colleges, universities, museums and research centers.

Keep in mind that virtual labs are no less serious than actual hands-on labs, and should be treated the same way as any other course component. Students should be assigned a lab notebook, and taught to take good notes, ask relevant questions and seek out additional information if they do not understand. If course credit is to be awarded, lab reports should be turned in — and graded – for every lab in the course.

For further reading on this topic, click on:

Teaching Tougher Classes

Teaching science the “cool” way

Sourcing lab supplies

Interview with Janice Vancleave

BIG list of science resources

Want more like this? SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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Jul 15 2014

{Round-Up} Free Homeschool Planners

As homeschool families, we all begin and end at different times of the year. In our home, for instance, the “year” runs [roughly] August to August.

Most of my major planning occurs in July (read how I do it HERE). Then, I use a variety of planning systems to track smaller items and keep things running smoothly from day to day.

At planning time, I often develop new forms I can use to streamline what we do.

Apparently, lots of other people do, too!

A few minutes of visiting friends’ blogs and web sites, combined with a little prodding to hear what others were up to, and I was quickly able to produce a list a mile long (almost).

Not only is it fun to print and use these planners and tracking sheets, but you’ll get many new ideas seeing how others do it in their homes!

Grab a cup of coffee, tea or your favorite green smoothie and pull up a chair. You’ll be here a little while.

Might want to check for ink and paper in the printer, too…

For starters, some of the forms I have to share with you:

My household binder is available free HERE for download.

My high school planning map (a 4-year plan) is available free HERE.

[I do have a curriculum and lesson system and a high school planning system. Neither is free, but are available inexpensively in our bookstore.]

My blogging friends have shared some of their fantastic & free planning pages with me:

Meet Penny offers a free planning calendar plus a lesson planning page for you to print.

Over at 123 Homeschool 4 Me, you’ll find free planner pages, report cards and other fun pages to share.

Everyday Snapshots is offering a free set of planner pages after you enter an email address.

Homeschooling on a Dime offers an entire set of homeschool planning ages exclusively for its subscribers.

Simply Vicki has a color-coordinated set!

Dynamic Homeschool Plus has developed a full set of customizable plans that are free for the taking.

Walking by the Way offers some great interest-led planners listed for free.

One Fun Mom offers several different planner pages for organizing a homeschool week.

Alternative Learning has some great printables and downloads for planning around thematic units.

LJSkool has a one-page printable to track school vacations. (I love that it says school is “closed” during those weeks!)

Denschool offers an entirely free system for homeschool planning and creating a calendar.

And don’t forget Christian Homeschool Hub, where subscribers have access to tons of printable resources for organization.

Others you might like — all free – that hail from around the globe:

Donna Young has loads and loads of free planning pages for every style of homeschool and every need

Passport Academy offers many freebies, including planner pages and lesson planners for preschoolers.

Five J’s has a one-page assignment planner free for downloading.

Living Well Spending Less has a free planner she developed for her own use. I particularly like her cover designs!

The Homeschool Mom offers several different planners, including one for high school.

Free homeschool deals offers a free student planner in 6 colors.

Bright Hub Education has a free planner for download one page at a time.

Notebooking Nook offers planner pages in both black & white and color.

Some free planning e-books I came across:

A free planning ebook, with printable forms, is available for download at Homeschooling-Ideas.

A Free & Frugal Homeschooling Planning Pack e-book is available for free download.

Plus, a couple of free programs and apps for planning, too:

Homeschook Skedtrack

Learn Boost

Finally, even more free planners in case you still haven’t found what you’re looking for:

The Happy Housewife offers a high school planner is 2 different formats. Make sure to double-check that it meets your particular requirements before using.

A Unit Study Planner is available free at Heart of Wisdom

Several different planning pages can be found at Pumpkin Patch.

Homeschooling Hearts & Minds offers some free pages. They remind me of the ones I made when my kids were little!

Highland Heritage Forms offers 22 different free for homeschoolers to print.

Mama Jenn has a bunch of forms free for printing.

Homeschool Creations offers several printables, including planning sheets that are useful for a workbox system.

Have I left one out? Do YOU offer a great free planner, too?

Feel free to list it as a COMMENT. Thank you!

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Jan 18 2014

{Day 18} Balancing Housework with Homeschool

{For an overview of the 31 Days of Homeschooling, click HERE}

One of the things that concern some families is keeping the home in order. In particular, since homeschooling is a full-time job — one that usually requires more time at home – how will anything else ever get done?

This is a common concern. Common, but not unsolvable.

For those who like a clean house and an orderly environment, there are many techniques that can help. These range from easy to much more complex. Choose one that fits your lifestyle:

Confine homeschooling activities to one or two places — not all over the house. Assign a space or an entire room for classroom items and leave everything there. Then, close the door if you’d prefer not to look at it all day. If space in a room is not possible, use a closet, several cabinets or an armoire instead.
Keep everything neatly organized by using totes, bins, boxes, drawers or whatever is needed to fit daily homeschool supplies. Make sure that children know where everything goes when the day is done. Dedicate a time each day to putting everything away. This gives the feeling of neatness — at least for a little while each day.
Schedule periodic breaks throughout the day to replace items, do quick cleanups, put things away and perform household tasks. Don’t save everything until the end of the day. Put in a load of laundry before morning activities begin. After the first activity, transfer it to the dryer. In between classes, run a vacuum or clean a toilet. Children should do this, too. Have a cleanup period every 2 hours — involve the children. After lunch, assign cleanup duties to someone. Set a timer to start dinner at 4:00 pm, to be sure it’s ready by 6:00 pm. The possibilities are endless. {For more suggestions, search on BLOCK SCHEDULE.}
Assign chores to specific children every day, and enforce that chores are completed to your satisfaction. Post chores in a place where everyone can see. Children as young as 2 or 3 can help. {For more suggestions, search on CHORES.}
Choose less “messy” and less “big” activities. For example, instead of a finger-painting activity, choose one using washable crayons or colored pencils instead. Instead of measuring the proportional distance between the Sun and the planets using a tape measure and a very long driveway, use a computer program instead.
Homeschool on a porch, in the back yard, in a tree house, on a boat, in the garage, in a vehicle while waiting for someone, or somewhere else from time to time. This method keeps the house clean for a period and gives relief for a short time.
Take a few classes outside the home, especially the ones that require spreading out (e.g., cooking), creating strong odors (e.g., chemistry), involve messy supplies (e.g., sculpture), generate loud noises (e.g., percussion), and so on.

…and, to remove the pressure of worrying that someone may drop by while the house is a mess…

Tell family, friends and neighbors that you will be homeschooling.
Explain that school takes place between 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (or whatever times you prefer) and that you are unable to receive guests during those hours.
Make it a habit of visiting friends and neighbors during “after school” hours. Do this before they have the chance to come to you.
Hang a flag or a sign on the door saying, “School is in session” or a similar message.
Or, do as some moms do, and keep a bathrobe or house coat by the front door. When visitors stop by, explain you aren’t feeling well, and it isn’t a convenient time to drop by!

One of my favorite seminars to deliver (and one of my most popular) is called, Make Block Scheduling Work For You! See a description of this talk, along with some of the other topics I talk about, by clicking HERE.

Further reading:

Tips for keeping chore systems running optimally

Recognize time-wasters and reclaim the day!

Drop everything and clean!

Clean enough

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Jan 17 2014

{Day 17} What If One Parent Doesn’t Want To Homeschool?

{For a complete overview of the 31 Days of Homeschooling, click HERE}

Homeschooling isn’t just a way to learn, but a lifestyle choice, too. Obviously, it works best when everyone in the family is entirely on board.

Sometimes, a person significant in a child’s life does not agree that homeschooling is the best option. This could be a parent, a grandparent, a school counselor, a trusted family friend, an older sibling, or someone else.

Homeschooling without full support isn’t impossible, but also isn’t ideal. Usually, parents know their children and make the best teachers. But sometimes, support is withheld for good reason, from someone who knows the child and the family very well.

I don’t have all the answers. However, in my work as a homeschool coach and counselor, I have run in to this scenario multiple times.

This disagreement sometimes occurs after divorces, when one parent wants to homeschool, but the other does not. Other times, it can occur in families where one or the other parent either isn’t familiar with homeschooling at all, or isn’t entirely sure it’s the right fit.

There are no perfect solutions.

There are, however, several things that can help mediate the discussion.

1. Supply the unsupportive party with as much accurate information as possible.

All parties in the discussion need to have access to the same information. Oftentimes, a parent may not want to homeschool because they are unfamiliar with something. Some parents may worry that homeschooling is too free-form or that there is not enough structure. They may worry that certain services the child relies will no longer be available during homeschooling. Some worry there is no way to test children to see if they are doing well enough. Still others are concerned that children won’t be able to have friends, participate in sports, or any number of other things that seem important. Making sure that everyone understands homeschooling the same way will help open the discussion and allay these fears right from the start.

2. Suggest a trial period.

When one of the parties isn’t entirely “sold”, ask if they might be willing to give homeschooling a try. Time frames and deadlines will depend on each unique situation, but a full year of homeschooling could be just long enough to gauge early success and convince the other party to continue. While the pressure to succeed may be a little greater, it gives both parties a chance to see what is possible through homeschooling and reevaluate their positions at the end of the year.

3. Ask the unsupportive party to stay involved.

If possible, make sure the other party has the chance to be involved. Homeschooling isn’t a solitary activity, so see if they’d like to participate along. If this is a spouse, ask how they might like to help with lessons, activities or anything else. If it is a grandparent or friend, see if they can come over to help with things from time to time, or just sit with the children as they do their lessons.

4. Request the oversight of someone they trust.

If the opposition stems from a parent thinking that homeschooling just won’t work, suggest the family seek intervention from a third-party. At the end of each year, for example, the family can hire a teacher or other professional to review the student’s work. Or, they might jointly decide to have the child tested by an objective testing organization.

In the end, the specifics of each situation will ultimately determine the outcome. Often, equipping families with these tips can help settle these disagreements completely in favor of homeschooling. Though this is not always the case, at least all parties will feel their concerns were properly addressed before coming to a final conclusion.

{Day 13} Are There Different Ways To Teach The Same Things?

{For an overview of the 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE}

If there was ever a reason why homeschooling trumps all other forms of education, it would be this one. Allowing students to learn the way they learn best is a tremendous advantage of homeschooling, and why the results are often so superior.

It’s no secret that some children learn differently than others. While organized schools must teach large groups of children the same way at the same time, homeschool parents are able to constantly adapt to the needs of their own children. While organized schools traditionally use textbooks and classroom lectures for teaching, homeschoolers can discover the ways their children learn best, then adopt the strategies used in the home to maximize the learning potential of every child.

This is where the idea of selecting a homeschool method comes in. A homeschool method, or teaching philosophy, is a phrase used to describe the general strategy that will be used for teaching and learning activities in the home. Some homeschoolers choose a teaching method that heavily involves the use of textbooks. Others decide to use a method that relies more on hands-on experiences, online activities, independent discovery, learning using classic literature, or something else.

Common homeschooling methods have names like:

Classical Education
Charlotte Mason
Curriculum Approach
Leadership Education
Enki
Montessori
Unschooling

Selecting the method that best matches the children and fits in well with the family’s lifestyle creates a richer learning environment. When a match exists between people, methods, values and ideals, learning is optimized with little or no additional effort at all.

In addition to selecting a general teaching philosophy, homeschoolers can also choose the learning tools they want to use. As long as curriculum goals are being met, the way the material is delivered doesn’t matter at all.

For example, teaching math can be accomplished with a book. But it can also be accomplished using an abacus, using pictures, by watching videos, by playing math games on a computer, or by using counting sticks. Teaching reading can be accomplished using sophisticated reading systems, or can be reinforced by providing stacks of early readers, by reading together, by listening to audio books and following along, by holding read-aloud sessions for the family, by using electronic tablets and pads, or using any number of other ways.

Learning history can also be accomplished by using textbooks. But a great many homeschoolers also learn history by visiting museums, watching educational programming, re-enacting characters from the past, attending plays and lectures, conducting research on-line, reading biographies and more. Science can be learned in books, too. But it can also be learned by exploring nature, talking to scientists, reading articles and periodicals, and visiting companies and talking to the staff.

In my latest book, The Homeschooler’s Guide to Science Fairs (available on Amazon), I talk about the importance of having students select topics they find interesting, or are meaningful to them. That’s because the most learning occurs when students are very interested in the topic they are studying. This theory also applies to selecting the learning tools that best match and most motivate students. This idea can be used across the curriculum, and not just for science, too.

Imagine a place where children have access to a world of resources and are able to use those resources any time, anywhere, in any way they like. That is what homeschooling is like. Exploiting the ability to learn in many different ways is what makes homeschool the most perfect school of all!

Further reading:

Choosing a homeschool method

What to Use? What to Choose?

Accidental learning

The best homeschool curriculum ever

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