July 23, 2010, Newsletter Issue #340: Ok, the kids are home…Now what?

Tip of the Week

One of the first things I recommend is that you sit down, make a list, and check it twice! Once you have the answers to these questions, deciding how and what to teach will be easy! Some of the questions to ask your self are:

1. Why are we homeschooling?
If you decided to homeschool because the public school taught something that was not of your belief system, you have the ability to leave that out of your child´s education.

2. What do we want our child/ren to learn?
We want our children not only to learn “academics”, but also to learn lifeskills. Mom isn't going to do their laundry forever!

3. Do we want them to attend college?
This will determine what course of study a high schooler needs to follow i.e.: 4 science credits, 2 math credits…

4. How long will we homeschool them?
If you plan to homeschool till they enter college, you can take it slower, and not have to worry so much that they are “at grade level.”

5. How much time are we willing to invest?
If you don't have the time to do hands on projects, for example, you would want to look closely at any curriculum you are thinking of buying.

6. How much money?
Science project are a wonderful learning tool, but if you don't have the extra money to buy the materials needed, they can't learn from them.

Take some time to sit down and evaluate and reevaluate your list. It can be a real eye opener.

The most important thing to remember is to relax! If you pick something just doesn't work at your house, it isn't the end of the world. Mistakes will be made, and you will recover from them!

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Thanks so much for reading the the Homeschool Tips Newsletter.

The new 2006-2007 Sonlight catalog is hot off the presses! In addition to new educational resources, we've also made some significant improvements to our curriculum, such as expanded flexibility in Reader choices for Levels K through 2.

The catalog also provides several articles with helpful homeschool tips. For example, check out the "Top Ten Goals" article (pp. 146-147) which can help you think through your personal philosophy when it comes to homeschooling. And "Why we use certain books that some homeschoolers won't touch" (pp. 144-145), that gets into some pretty important issues about the content of books. And you won’t want to miss “27 Reasons NOT to Buy Sonlight”—a perennial favorite (beginning on page 148).

To take a look at our catalog online go to:
https://www.sonlight.com/request-catalog.html?am=06catonln

To request a copy of the catalog go to:
https://www.sonlight.com/request-catalog.html?am=06catreq

Sincerely

Sarita Holzmann
President
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.