Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Crafts - Dec 09

We are busy doing crafts this week and I wanted to showcase some of them. Click picture to enlarge.


Pipe Cleaner Crafts - Rudolph the (BIG) red-nosed reindeer and Ice Skating Snowman



Popsicle People Garland - K said this was Daddy, Mommy and K



Monday, December 21, 2009

The Socialization Myth Debunked

Great article and a must read for every homeschooler:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washingtontimes/200912140.asp

Here is an excerpt:

Until recently, “Homeschooling Grows Up” was the only study that addressed the socialization of home-schooled adults. Now we have a new longitudinal study titled “Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults” from the Canadian Centre for Home Education. This study surveyed homeschooled students whose parents participated in a comprehensive study on home education in 1994. The study compared homeschoolers who are now adults with their peers. The results are astounding.

When measured against the average Canadians ages 15 to 34 years old, home-educated Canadian adults ages 15 to 34 were more socially engaged (69 percent participated in organized activities at least once per week, compared with 48 percent of the comparable population). Average income for homeschoolers also was higher, but perhaps more significantly, while 11 percent of Canadians ages 15 to 34 rely on welfare, there were no cases of government support as the primary source of income for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers also were happier; 67.3 percent described themselves as very happy, compared with 43.8 percent of the comparable population. Almost all of the homeschoolers—96 percent—thought homeschooling had prepared them well for life.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Christmas Crafts

Our local homeschool group hosted a Christmas party.  There were several tables of different crafts the kids could do - snowglobes, decorating cookies and cupcakes, snowman sock, cinnamon cookie ornament, felt mouse, and graham cracker houses.  Below are K's creations, she had so much fun!  click photo to enlarge

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Famous Homeschoolers



The list is so extensive, there is a complete website devoted to famous homeschoolers: http://www.famoushomeschoolers.net/

Solar System Project

We are doing Apologia's Astronomy this year and one of the projects was to make the solar system.  K enjoyed this project very much and is really learning about the planets!  Her favorite is Saturn and then Pluto, although Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore we are still including it in our studies.  We had so much fun as a family doing this project and one planet made hubby and I have many jokes and laughter - I will leave you to guess which one.