Found a good "Home Schooling" link? Let Us Know!

incomplete - in progress

Let's Decorate Easter Eggs!

Visit the great prairies (right in your own back yard)Did you ever get an urge to just take off and go someplace exotic? Maybe the North Pole or the Amazon river basin? If you would care to take an adventure into the wild grasslands of North America, save this article! You can spend a morning on the dew-soaked plains, have several narrow escapes, share a snack with the local inhabitants, visit a real working commune, maybe even witness the mating dance of the elusive diptera conopidae AND be home in time for lunch! Are you ready? LET’S GO!

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

Life in the forest "It's a jungle out there!” You’ve probably heard that phrase time and again, but did you ever stop and ponder the fact that “There’s a forest in here?” Right now, you are probably sitting in the middle of an exotic forest. There are conifers, hardwoods, aromatic cedars, flat-leaved trees, and strange combinations of all of these surrounding you at this very moment!

Take a nite hike How many times have you lain awake in your bed on late summer nights listening to the symphony of creatures outside? Sometimes do you imagine what it might be like to become a part of that chorus yourself? If you get permission from your grownup, you might just be able to join in the ruckus...take a nite hike! It’s best (and more fun) if you invite a quiet buddy or two to go along with you. Perhaps you might even wangle your favorite adult friend into giving your hike a grand start by helping you to make a camp fire supper.

Some farinaceous folly Try this experiment. The next time that you are served rice, potatoes, noodles or corn for supper, take a big bite but don’t swallow it until you have chewed one hundred times. On or about chew number fifty, your bite will begin to have a sweet flavor that is decidedly PASTY. That pasty flavor can be the subject of amazing study! A starchy description of the flavor can be found in the dictionary: “A carbohydrate universally diffused in the vegetable world forming the greater part of all farinaceous substances…

Sun-kabobs & solar sizzle Picture yourself in this dreamy scenario: It’s a hot summer afternoon. The sun is beaming through the shade trees as you loll in the hammock sipping fresh-made icy tea and nibbling tidbits from a home- cooked sizzling lunch. Sound great? It will sound and taste even better when you find that you can create this scene yourself with no help! While it can be pretty dangerous to try and cook lunch on your mom's kitchen range, there's a safe and fun way to cook your own lunch with a heat source that's roughly 149,600,000 kilometers away. It's hard to burn your fingers on this stove! Our special oven (if you haven’t already guessed) is that amazing cooker, our SUN!

Killing some time There is a book that describes a time warp as being a kind of bubble, a place in time that doesn’t really fit into what we know of as history. How often have you wished that you could spend one or two days in a big bubble like that? Maybe the time that you accidentally spelled your name in permanent ink on the bathroom wall. Wouldn’t it have been nice to just go to sleep in a big vacant bubble until the flack from that blew over? What about those sickly tense minutes spent at the doctors office staring at a tray of sterile needles, wondering which one was for you? How about the Dentist? The principal’s office? Sunday evenings at nine o’clock with three hours of home work that you’ve been putting off?...

In the classroom and at home, this system will help you grow self-reliant kidsThe classroom management methods taught to teachers in college, approved by school administrators, and advocated by teachers’ unions (the controllers of education) made students rely on an authority for almost everything. Pupils were offered little opportunity to think for themselves. Even a drink of water or a trip to the bathroom must be approved first. When the teacher couldn’t force the student to do his will, he had to try to rely on the parent for coercion. This seemed a terrible way to teach in America. (Of course, in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia, the rulers would have been delighted.)

Based on years of personal experience, here are 10 good tips for homeschooling your kids

Teach speed reading to your children even if you can’t speed read yourself For over two years, I have had the hobby of teaching speed reading to people in the community where I live. So far I have taught over 300 people (most of them children) to speed read.

"The Oatmeal Box Crystal Radio Set" Great little article on building your own crystal radio out of an oatmeal box (tube). Includes parts list, graphics and detailed instructions. Great science project.

"How They Survive" Interesting educational article on how various plants & animals deal with the harsh winter.

"Injured Wildlife" Very good article on what to do when coming upon injured or abandoned wildlife. One of the rarely answered questions in childhood.

"Boys Like Bugs" Despite the title, this article applies to both boys & girls and contains many excellent ideas for the camp parent or home schooler teaching a session on bugs.

"Campfire Pottery" While originally a BSA article for camp crafts, this easy to understand article provides valuable information on creating pottery by the oldest method known to man - the open campfire. A good educational lesson that may just come in handy in a survival situation.

"How Children See Nature" Fascinating article on a study done of how children of various ages view nature and the origin of such things as the sun, trees, the sky, etc. A must read for the home schooling parent and a should read for everyone else.

"Demystifying Spiders" Excellent article very well written on the origin, history and habits of spiders with an aim at understanding and teaching about them to children.

"Egg Power" Short, but interesting article designed to give you some ideas about teaching children about eggs. Believe it or not, this is such a common item (in our refrigerator and on our plates) that it is often left out of the lesson plan - yet is a source of wonder to children.

"Teaching First Aid to Kids" Good ideas for getting kids interested in and learning basic first aid techniques. Article by Jim Speirs

"Neat Chemical Experiments" A compendium of interesting and fun learning experiments to do with your kids.

"Craft Recipes""Field expedient" recipes for making crafting materials - not only good for crafts & home schooling exercises, but could help you out of a real jam in a survival situation where only "common" household goods are available. Recipes include dryer-lint clay, flour & salt paint, finger-paints from cornstarch & gelatin, eggshell chalk, salt dough's, sawdust clay, wheat, flour & starch paints, crazy dough's, edible clay-dough's, face and body paints, invisible ink - all kinds of neat stuff.

This BSA Merit Badge Requirement FTP Site is a gold mine of ideas for teaching boys, girls, young men & young women a plethora of skills for dealing with life in general. Invaluable resource for home schoolers!

A Bunch of links I haven't got around to reviewing yet:

Apache Junction Unschoolers

A Self Indulgent Homepage Written by a teen unschooler

Family Learning Exchange Articles from this newsletter are available online. This is a nice site for natural learners.

France and Associates

The Gill Family Homeschool Very nice referral site for essays and articles relating to unschooling

Growing Without Schooling A Must have publication for all homeschoolers!!!

Heather's Homeschooling Page Articles and debates on homeschooling and unschooling.

Home Education Press

The Homeschool Connection This is another site maintained by Kathleen, and offers an abundance of help with legal matters and more!

Mishy's Homepage

Mostly Essays on Homeschooling

Rocky Mountain Education Association Information about upcoming conference in Colorado

Shirley's Homepage Resources for Canadians, including catalogs for materials.

Summer's Magic Homepage This is a homepage of an unschooled teen.

Tina's Homepage

Unschooling

The Unschooling Page of Nemesis Eudaimonos Wonderful quotes, and links to articles to learn more about unschooling.

What is Homeschooling Gopher article explaining unschooling and homeschooling in general. This also included the words to the "12 Days of Homeschooling"

Winona Farm Dick invites all unschoolers to come stay with him at his farm in MN

e-How Tip sheets. Not overly detailed on most topics, but profligate:

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