March/April 2006 • Download the PDF HERE

New England Homeschool Conference

Homeschooling

Homeschooling - Why are we doing it?
by Cheryl Carter

Over the years my opinions about home education have evolved. I used to think I did it as an alternative to school; now I see home education as a lifestyle of learning. I did not always see it that way. At one time I was obsessed with finding just the right textbook or method obtrusively yet subtly competing with traditional schools both private and public.

Homeschooling Provides Therapy for Special Needs
by Tonya Poole

One afternoon three years ago in Albuquerque, we learned from the back of a brown paper grocery bag that my then nine-year-old daughter Sarah has autism. We unloaded groceries as we read, putting fewer and fewer cans and breads and teas away as we made it further down the list: vocal ‘stimming’ or chanting; extreme resistance to and/or distress at change in routine; ‘flapping’ arms and/or hands; becoming easily and markedly distressed for no visible reason; unusually focused fascination on specific subjects or objects; frequent repetitive behaviors; coordination and motor difficulties; noticeable lack of natural fears and presence of unnatural fears; delay in and difficulty following set of instructions …By the time we reached the end we were sitting at the table, bag in hand, looking across the room at Sarah on the floor playing and wondering why Albertson’s knew more about my daughter than her comprehensive interdisciplinary team at school seemed to. Even her pediatrician had never mentioned a word or suggested an evaluation. So for nine years, Sarah had been a compelling mystery to her doctors, her school system and, admittedly, to us too.

"But What About Socialization?" The College Test
by Peter Kowalke

I wasn’t even paying attention to the first signs proving I had avoided a life of disappointment. There probably were great exhalations of relief from my parents when I started to read at the age of ten, but I was oblivious to the concern, the tense expectation that homeschooling would work, that learning to read would manifest itself in me when the time was right. Only later, in my teen years, did I start to inherit uncertainty that I might be making a mistake by staying away from the classroom. Certainly I cannot speak for every child or teen that doesn’t go to school. Drawing from my own experiences as a lifelong unschooler (until going to college), as well as my many homeschooling/unschooling friends, I can nonetheless state that not going to school instills at least a modicum of doubt in one’s own education choices.

Spend Time as a "Shadow"
by Silvana Clark

Ask most teens what they want to be when they grow up and you’ll get either a blank stare or the reply, “a doctor like the ones on Greys Anatomy”. Teens today gain their awareness of various professions from the glorified images on television and movies. At the moment, there is a rise in interest in forensics due to the popularity of several shows depicting that career. Colleges report seeing an increase in the number of students wanting careers in interior design because of shows such as Trading Spaces.

Teaching and Learning

Are You Listening?
by Renée Fuller, Ph.D.

The two women entered my office somberly, followed by a boy of about three. Even a cursory glance at the child indicated that something was very wrong. He showed no interest in the toys strewn around the room, or in the three of us women. Instead the child scratched the furniture, the floor, even the walls with an unabated fury. I turned to the two women “He has no language I presume?” Both women nodded. We sat down facing each other while the child continued scratching the diverse surfaces of the office. “What diagnosis, if any, were you given?”

The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: A Risk Factor in Child Psychopathology

by Sharna Olfman

Over the past decade, there has been an alarming increase in the incidence and prevalence rates of child psychopathology across a wide range of diagnostic categories, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Asperger's Disorder in particular), and Bipolar Disorder. Advances in genetic research and brain imaging techniques have led to a wealth of insights into the genetic and neurochemical substrates of a number of psychiatric illnesses, facilitating more precise interventions for scores of children who might otherwise have been misunderstood as lazy, moody, immature, unintelligent, or the victims of bad parenting.

Stages of development: Looking at Adulthood
by Shirley M.R. Minster

Part One
Being Responsible Adults

Let us reflect on the past year and consider how we approached the myriad responsibilities we had. Did we act in an adult manner, facing each situation head on or did we hope that ugly times would pass by us or fade away of their own accord? Did we accept the challenge to grow through difficulties or did we bemoan the fact that we had to deal with them?

How one looks at any situation will determine how he acts. Alexandra Fuller wrote,
“A man’s idea of an elephant, for example, is bound to change depending on whether he experiences the animal at the end of a telephoto lens, the end of his millet plot, or as a weekly stew.” (September 2005 National Geographic article ‘Return to Zambia’)

Motherhood: dirty diapers and child evangelism
by Cindy McDermott

Everyone knows the emotional pull of a picture of a young mother loving her newborn. Motherhood in this form is soft and warm and beautiful. Your own skin can tingle as you see the innocent caresses. Your heart can melt when you see the protective affection in the eyes of this mother and the trust and contentment in the loving gaze of the child. Would you like a Kleenex now?

Writing the College Essay
by Lynn Scully

The college application essay is not a piece of prose or a business proposal-it is an interview in essay form. Many students agree that writing the college admissions essay is the most challenging part of the college application. The essay is important- after considering first the academic record, and then the SAT or ACT scores, the essay is the next opportunity the admissions official has to consider a student for acceptance.

Family Life and Parenting

Between Storms: A Garden
by Jon Remmerde

My chain saw roared and threw chips and sawdust that bounced from my leg and piled on the ground beside my foot. I cut low into the dead Douglas fir tree and dropped it crashing to the ground. I stuck the sticker on the end of the logging tape hanging from my belt loop firmly into the sawed off end of the tree, walked up beside the downed tree and cut the limbs off. I checked the tape reeling off behind me and cut the tree through at twelve feet, three feet to bury in the ground and nine feet to stand up and support fence.

I looked up the slope to where I had cut several posts. Juniper looped her rope around the end of a post and pulled the post down toward the road.

Viewpoints

Cinema: The New Cathedral of Hollywood
by Read Mercer Schuchardt.

How films are replacing religion in our cinematic age.

Imagine yourself on a Sunday afternoon. You’ve just walked into a very tall building, been greeted with a smile by the same person who greeted you last week, and ushered into a dark room with seats all facing forward. There is music playing. You feel reverent. And then the previews start. You are about to worship at the new altar of technological culture, the movie theatre.

Resource Reviews

Thomas Edison, one of the world's greatest inventors, is introduced in this fascinating activity book. Children will learn how Edison ushered in an astounding age of invention with his unique way of looking at things and refusal to be satisfied with only one solution to a problem. This book helps inspire kids to be inventors and scientists, as well as persevere with their own ideas.