e-course Archives - Page 4 of 9 - Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

Jan 29 2014

{Day 29} Pointers For College Prep

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

Admissions requirements for colleges and universities are fairly straight-forward. Whether traditionally or non-traditionally schooled, all applicants must meet the same set of basic requirements.

For Freshman, these requirements usually consist of:

a completed college application
proof of high school completion
an SAT or ACT score
a transcript of high school course work
a Freshman resume listing accomplishments, activities and extracurriculars

Although no two people are exactly alike, these requirements result in most applications looking exactly alike once they are submitted. Just imagine an admissions office receiving thousands of similar applications every year!

This begs the question, what makes certain students stand out? In particular, what can homeschoolers do to increase their chances?

Homeschoolers already several default advantages. Unlike traditionally schooled students, homeschoolers are able to mix and match courses and experiences to focus on specific areas, and then showcase their expertise in endless varieties of ways — projects, internships, jobs, service, special electives and more. Exploiting this flexibility by choosing high school experiences wisely is one way homeschoolers already stand out.

Another advantage is the result of homeschoolers being raised and schooled at home. Differences in character and maturity are immediately obvious during college interviews, making favorable impressions right off the bat. These characteristics come across in the activities that homeschoolers choose during high school, too. They shine through in written essays, as well.

A deliberate way for homeschoolers to stand out is to have a rigorous education plan. By completing a challenging curriculum and by investing the time and energy it takes to do well, graduates will be well prepared to compete for limited college vacancies. Adding into the education plan things like early college, AP and honors courses, and in depth treatment of certain subjects, and the transcript just looks better and better.

Another way to stand out is by sending additional exam scores. Instead of just taking an SAT or ACT, homeschoolers can take subject examinations, too. Subject-focused exams provide ways for homeschoolers who excel in certain areas to pull ahead from the rest of the pack. Working this strategy into the homeschool curriculum is crucial, so that a high level of mastery can be achieved by test taking season.

Finally, as a by-product of certain kinds of homeschooling, many homeschooled grads are already excellent writers. For those who are not, there is plenty of time to practice during high school. Strengthening writing skills makes it easier to ace college application essays, compared to students less skilled in this area. Colleges notice.

Across the board, homeschooled graduates have no difficulty get into good colleges, and great colleges too. For additional college prep advice, follow the ‘high school’ and ‘college’ tags at the end of this post. You’re invited to contact me for more specific advice, or to schedule a high school seminar for your group or organization.

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Further reading:

Free homeschool curriculum for high school

Earning credit for life skills

Goal-setting for a great beginning

The Core

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 liaison for regional school-to-home organizations, 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.

Jan 28 2014

{Day 28} The Importance of Listening To Your Kids

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

I have a confession. I am a trained teacher. Though theories have evolved greatly over the years, I was trained by that part of our culture that believes ‘teachers always know what is best for students’.

For many years, I learned from top universities how to “tell” students this and “make” children do that. Never really comfortable with it all, I still used those techniques in my classes. But, I always felt something was wrong, and looked constantly for ways to better understand my students. I began applying things I learned from computer programming and artificial intelligence to my classes. I studied the human mind, behavior, and social psychology, searching for ways to figure my students out. I believe my success and popularity as a professor and a teacher at the time came from the fact that I was different from the other teachers.

Some 20+ years ago, I became a homeschool parent. I knew my children would never go to school, and was determined to teach them in the ways that were best for them, too. Despite my determination, for a teacher trained like me, this still took a little adjustment. Part of the adjustment was about remembering to always listen to my kids. Above all training and classroom management techniques. Above ANYTHING else the teacher books said.

You see, teaching isn’t only about delivering information to students. It’s about watching them, and hearing what students say back to us. We’ve all seen the cartoons of information dropped into human brains. These have nothing to do with true education at all.

Even today, I still find some homeschoolers have this problem, too. Educated in schools themselves, naturally, many moms and dads still buy into the “Open head. Insert information.” theory. Many do not understand the importance of observing and listening to their children. Many try to duplicate school at home. Some do not understand there is a difference.

This conversation is very eye-opening to the parents I meet with. In my work as a homeschool coach and counselor, I often meet parents who think homeschooling is nothing more than dropping a set of books in front of a child and walking away.

In fact, what can be gained by watching and listening to children speaks louder than any chapter summaries, any grades, any tests, or any results of science experiments. What can be gained by truly watching and listening to our children is the absolute essence of teaching, for it reveals exactly what children think, how they learn, and where their misunderstandings lie, too.

Imagine a child completely mesmerized by a movie, wrapped up in a game, or fascinated by a place. What can be learned by observing this child? Have you every really watched a child on the edge of his seat?

Now imagine a child fidgeting, wiggling, looking about, and playing with small objects around him. What does this reveal?

Finally, listen to any child at the dinner table, in the car, or while she is talking to a friend. The clues in these conversations are priceless!

I assert that homeschool parents have the very unique opportunity — and responsibility – to optimize learning just by watching and listening to their children. Without this important component, the possibilities for that child’s learning will never be fully realized.

Click on the articles below for further reading about this topic. Contact me if you’d like to learn how to unlock your child’s true learning potential.

NEXT LESSON

Further reading:

Lost exuberance: The important of play

Uncovering hidden clues in what children say

When a child hates a subject, he’s telling your something

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 liaison for regional school-to-home organizations, 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.

Jan 27 2014

{Day 27} How To Handle Bad Days

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

No family is immune to the occasional bad day. Whether homeschooling or not, life just isn’t predictable. When something unexpected happens, even the most well-planned day can fall to pieces within minutes.

How families tackle these challenges and interruptions is crucial to homeschooling success. Handling situations promptly, then swiftly getting the family back on track is the best way. Crumbling under pressure and quitting homeschooling altogether is not.

New homeschoolers may not always recognize the signs of a homeschool day about to go wrong, and may not be aware of the tactics other families use to avoid certain kinds of problems. Parents new to homeschooling haven’t enough experience under their belts to diffuse situations, and haven’t always acquired the knowledge need to figure out some other way. They may become very stressed and lose confidence. Sometimes, they throw in the towel too soon.

For new homeschool parents, the best advice is staying calm and reassessing the situation. This is almost always the most effective way to go. Taking a time out, either with or without the children, and looking at the problem objectively will help to reframe what is going on. Only after everyone is calm can parents brainstorm solutions, then apply them. It is never a good idea to make significant changes while everyone is still upset.

Some bad day problems are easy to solve. If children are tired, hungry, fighting or misbehaving, first handling the specifics, then getting back to work, is all it takes. If children are uncomfortable or whining, often checking simple things like an uncomfortable chair, the room temperature, the difficulty of a question, the grip of a pencil, or something relatively easy, will set the family back on course in minutes. Dealing with easy problems is very helpful in the long run. After addressing these kinds of things several times, parents will come to recognize the signs and handle them (or prevent them altogether) the next time.

Other bad days are not so easy to diffuse. In fact, some even require a couple of days off from homeschooling until a solution becomes clear. If a certain curriculum isn’t working, for example, it could take a day or two to figure out what to do next. If illness strikes, it could be a week of irregular schooling (or none at all) until everyone is feeling better. If out-of-town relatives come to stay or major equipment malfunctions make it impossible to accomplish anything, families have no choice but to school somewhere else or take time off. When new babies arrive, it can take even longer to reestablish a regular, “good” routine.

For seasoned homeschoolers, bad days take on a completely different form. Having already learned to expect the ups and downs of homeschooling and family life, these families are unaffected by trivial things, since they have already mastered lots of ways to turn bad days around.

For veteran homeschoolers, bad days seem to develop from longer-term challenges, like a growing boredom over a routine, lack of enthusiasm over a curriculum that has turned stale, difficulty teaching/learning more challenging material, adjusting for attitudes/needs of growing teenagers, or something of this nature. Parents who have been homeschooling for many years may also experience fatigue, a feeling they are running out of ideas, a desire to be done with it all, or a growing feeling it is time to resume a career and move forward with other things.

When bad days persist like this, a variety of factors may be at play. In these cases, more serious assessment needs to happen. Just as homeschooling takes many years to hone and fine-tune, so these kinds of situations can take some time to resolve. Long-term bad days are not impossible to solve, but require deeper thought before arriving at the right answers.

Just as suggested above, these families must also take a time out. Parents in particular should take a serious step back and assess the situation from all angles. This could take a few days, or even a few weeks, but should be long enough for the anxiety and pressure to wear off a bit, for the family to reconnect on some level, and for truly objective analysis to occur. During this period, families go on field trips and family outings, select relaxed schooling activities they love to do, or take an actual vacation from school.

Next comes taking a look at priorities. With a fresh perspective, it is time to list what is important and what is not. This creates the opportunity to remember why the family is homeschooling in the first place. It is also a time to evaluate which activities do nothing but add stress and confusion, and should be stricken from the calendar from now on.

After a time, families will be able to resume schooling with a new perspective. Should any solutions have been uncovered, or changes to homeschooling discovered, they should be implemented. Usually, bad days will vanish homeschooling returned to normal, happy functioning.

This is much more to this topic. Check the links, below, for further reading. I also invite you to consult with me for additional techniques to help restore joy to your homeschool and your family.

NEXT LESSON

Further reading:

TPC – Time Off, Prioritize, Change Thinking

Too much togetherness

Real homeschooling life. It isn’t always pretty.

Things we don’t do.

Jan 26 2014

{Day 26} Advice For Pulling Kids Out Of School

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

I am not an attorney. The information in this article is not intended as a substitute for seeking advice from a legal professional.

As a lifelong educator, I meet many parents thinking of withdrawing their children from school. Sometimes there is a situation taking place that requires immediate action. Other times, families have just been thinking about homeschooling for a long time and are finally ready to do it. When making these choices, parents need to feel they are not alone. Moms and dads look for confirmation that their choices are valid. Most seek advice about how to do it.

There are many, many factors that can lead to homeschooling. This is a major focus of the book, Suddenly Homeschooling, and one of the main reasons I wrote it. In the book, I talk in great detail the kinds of situations that can lead up to the very important decision to homeschool. You can PREVIEW a CHAPTER of the book HERE.

Families have different concerns when withdrawing children from schools. Some worry about student learning, others with behavioral issues. Some are concerned about access to events and about socialization. Still other parents want advice about returning children to school, either after a situation has resolved, or if homeschooling just doesn’t work out.

Advice is different in every case. Several things remain constant, however.

When withdrawing children from school, consider the following:

Legal requirements for homeschoolers in your area. Some states (not all) require notification of homeschooling, a curriculum plan, establishing a private school, making arrangements for testing, or something else. Check state laws to be sure any paperwork is completed, or authorities notified, if necessary.
Staying in contact with school authorities, or not. Some situations (like temporary homeschooling for travel or illness) may require routine contact with a teacher or school counselor. If this is the case, gather important data and phone numbers before withdrawing the child.
Gathering important documents prior to withdrawing, or not. While school experiences can be exactly the reason some families withdraw children in the first place, others like to access student records before saying good-bye. Specifically, some parents want to see test scores or progress reports, IEP documents, or other things they may have never seen before. Viewing and photocopying documents in a permanent student record is not required, but make some parents feel better, knowing no stone has been left unturned.
Picking up student work and supplies prior to withdrawing. Though many homeschoolers try hard NOT to duplicate the same kinds of curriculum and projects found in schools, it can still be helpful to know where students left off. Once a school year has ended, it may be difficult to contact a teacher and gather a personal items or outstanding work. It is always best to do it sooner, than risk loosing track of meaningful items later.
Burning bridges. Making a favorable exit is something to consider. Some parents, particularly those who admire their child’s teacher and have had positive experiences at the school, may want to explain why their child will be leaving. Some even bring snacks on the child’s last day as a way of thanking the teacher, and saying good-bye. Other parents may feel the need to sound off about a situation before making an exit. Consider the effect of leaving a school in a disgruntled or adversarial manner, and how it may affect the family’s standing in the community or reputation in the district later on.
The temptation to educate school authorities. In my experience, most schools have very little understanding of homeschooling and believe only that “schools know best”. Depending on the situation, explaining homeschooling or how it is better suited for a particular student is certainly warranted in some cases. Then again, gauging each situation carefully, sometimes saying nothing is more prudent overall.

I meet privately with families and offer telephone consultations, too. Visit THIS page for details and pricing.

NEXT LESSON

Further reading:

Learning from your kids

Uncovering hidden clues in what children say

Eliminating boredom by what it tells you

Pulling a child out of school? 10 Things You Should do Right Now

Jan 25 2014

{Day 25} How To Teach Those Tough Subjects

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

Let’s begin with a shocking truth. One of the first things many of parents say (or think to themselves) when contemplating homeschooling high school goes something like this:

“But, I can’t teach chemistry!”

“I don’t remember anything about Algebra.”

“I was never a very good student.”

“I don’t know the first thing about being a teacher!”

As a homeschool coach and counselor, I hear these concerns all the time.

Now, for some good news. Many of the parents who say these things end up homeschooling high school anyway. They do it well, too!

Turns out, the secret to relieving all fears of teaching high school is to adopt a different point of view. I have found the key to helping parents gain the confidence to teach high school is to help them realize they do not have to be the primary teacher.

This realization is both eye-opening and liberating at the same time. For it is only once parents realize they will be forgiven for not knowing everything, and that other ways exist to teach high school at home, that the real fun begins. With the burden of teaching lifted, homeschooling high school suddenly seems a whole lot easier.

I refer to high school parents as Conductors. Or supervisors, or coordinators, or facilitators, or proctors, if they prefer. I use this terminology to illustrate the supervisory role that parents take on in high school, and to de-emphasize the teaching role they played during the elementary and middle years.

High school chemistry is a great example of learning to adopt a new role in the education process. No parent is required to teach chemistry alone. The real job of the homeschool parent at this stage is to help secure resources — the books, curriculum, classes, DVD, schools, mentors, internships, co-ops, tutors or other resources to do it instead. Students are not helpless in the process either. In fact, many high schoolers get involved in deciding how and when every subject should be mastered, too.

The same goes for other “tough” classes. Parents uncomfortable with the thought of teaching high school math often turn to other sources for help. That is why high school math is so often taken online, using self-guided books with videos, or by enrolling in courses along with other high schoolers. Many high schoolers take math courses on college campuses, too.

This is true for physics, foreign language courses, technology or any course parents do not feel confident enough to teach. Resources abound for these subjects for this very reason. Families will have no difficulty finding ones that work for them.

I offer a highly informative seminar entitled, “Don’t Fear the High School Years!”. Parents consistently leave this particular workshop feeling more confident about teaching high school than ever before. In fact, some return year after year just to hear it again! To learn more about this workshop, or to BOOK A SEMINAR for your group or network, I invite you to contact me.

NEXT LESSON

Further reading:

Homeschooling the high school years

High School Math: What is really needed for college admissions, and why?:

Calculus and Chemistry: 5 Solutions for Teaching Tougher Classes

Awarding advance high school credit