Home Educator's Family Times

Enter our “cover” photo cover and if your photo is selected, it will appear on the cover of Home Educator’s Family Times and on our web site, too. The deadline for entries has been extended to December 31, 2007 (must be postmarked or emailed by that date). Each family may enter up to three photos. Good quality prints must be in color and measure at least 8 inches wide by 10 inches high. Digital photos (on CD or by email) are welcome but must be at least 300 dpi in resolution and their print size must also measure at least 8 inches wide by 10 inches high. Up to 8 finalists will be selected. All winners will receive a $50 U.S. Savings Bond and their photo will appear on the covers of upcoming Home Educator’s Family Times. Families will be notified by January 10.

Include your name, address, telephone number and email address. Also include a short description of the photo. If you would like print photography returned, please include a correct sized envelope with correct return postage. Send all entries to Home Educator’s Family Times, Learning’s Our Life!, P.O. Box 6442, Brunswick, Maine 04011. Photos (proper resolution jpegs) may also be emailed to: famtimes@blazenetme.net. Please remember to include all contact information in the body of your email message when sending photos by email. The file should be zipped if it is larger than 5MB.

The feminists of the 1960s and 70s were certain that “society” was responsible for the differences in personality and intellectual aptitudes of women and men – boys and girls. But the parents of the children I worked with thought otherwise. They were convinced that their little boys were born with greater aggressiveness, higher activity levels than their sisters or other little girls. And then there was the difference in toy preference. To the horror of many of the pacifist parents their little boys wanted guns, tanks and other warlike paraphernalia with which even angel-faced little boys played war games with great glee. These same little boys despised the dolls their sisters cuddled.

There is a difference between discussing and talking. One means give-and-take, a sharing of ideas and opinions. The other means moving one’s lips to utter sounds. Parrots talk, people discuss.

As home schoolers we are not confined to the walls and rules of a school. And as home schoolers we know how much more outside-of-school has to offer.

A great many parents of profoundly gifted children end up home-schooling their children for part of their education. These children are so different from the typical child, and so different from each other, that it’s a rare school that has the perfect program all set up. And even if the school offers good options, they are rarely sufficient. These children often eat curriculum in great gulps and come back raging for more.

One of the many reasons I wanted to homeschool is that I didn’t want rebellious teenagers.The homeschool magazine I read back then (before there were many homeschool magazines at all) was great for keeping me enthused and inspired about homeschooling before I was even doing it. The articles in it assured me that as long as my kids were homeschooled in a Christian home where God’s Word was taught, there would be no rebellion.

“Mom, there’s just seven more days until the first day of fall!” My six year old son announced, giving me the usual morning ‘fall countdown’. “How are we going to celebrate? Can we jump in the leaves?”

Whenever I’m asked to write, I put myself in the reader’s head. And this time, that’s you! It happens to be the time of year where our hearts and minds are on getting back to teaching and settling in for the new year. So let me guess…. as you search for the curriculum you want to buy you are excited about new lessons, seeing your kids eyes light up as they grasp a new concept or master something they’ve been struggling with.

Writing letters, stories, and reports is a daunting task for many adults, especially if they remember disliking it when in school. Children can learn to enjoy expressing themselves through the written word if a few simple steps are employed.

It’s not unusual for young people, still learning to pass on information in writing, to present that information in jumbled and chaotic ways. In fact this is the norm, so if you’re reading your children’s writing and are finding that the ideas don’t flow smoothly from one information bit to the next one, don’t despair. You’re having an experience that’s shared by most teachers.

In our family, we have three homeschooled children (Kyle, Keni and Kala), two Yorkshire Terriers, a German Shepherd dog, two Chihuahuas, and fourteen tiny toy and teacup Poodles. My husband and I have wanted a home business, and we are devoted dog-lovers, so this is ideal for us. We have named our business Kit~N~Kaboodle Poodles, as poodles are our main focus, but our children are branching out with their own personal favorites. They now want to have their own home business raising dogs!

September/October (Fall) 2007