Practical Home Schooling Tips And Resources

There is so much that parents need to learn before they can start to offer practical home schooling for their children! But like any complex and vast objective, breaking it down into simple to digest blocks makes it easier to get to grips with.

There's no one ideal starting point for everybody, as parent's experience and skills will differ. But, many will be presented early on with questions about whether home schooling is perfect for their children and family. Within the confines of the family home parents are able to offer a secure and friendly learning environment that's been adapted to their child needs, something that public schools are unable to do.

Here are the main tips and recources that relate to practical home schooling:

Support Groups - Many organizations have been establish over the last forty years that home schooling has been in effect, covering each state and virtually every district in America.

The Law - Learning about the legal restrictions and requirements is a great project to tackle early on. The Home School Legal Defense Association can offer you oodles of assistance, and this makes it much simpler to determine the law in your state.

Resources and Materials - most parents will select the School-At-Home system at the start. This basically means that the materials are provided by a local school district and transferred into a home teaching environment, with the parent taking on the role of tutor.

Magazines and Books - With the ongoing growth of the Internet, the available information on offer to practical home schooling students and parents has expanded radically. Apart from support groups, encouragement, and legal issues, there are hundreds of articles and books to be had to offer guidance and statistics.

Your child's eventual objective might be art school, or college, or simply a great foundation for a keen mind and knowledge. Whatever the issues and concerns, there's a resource to assist you in getting started and to overcome any problems that you might come across in achieving your practical home schooling success.

The New Globalist Is Homesick

My better half had an op ed piece in the New York Times today titled The New Globalist Is Homesick.  I'm very happy for her!  (And doubly so since there's a technology theme in the article).  Here's an excerpt:

Technology...seduces us into thinking that migration is painless. Ads from Skype suggest that Ӏfree video calling makes it easy to be together, even when youҀre not.Ԁ The comforting illusion of connection offered by technology makes moving seem less consequential, since one is always just a mouse click or a phone call away.

If they could truly vanquish homesickness and make us citizens of the world, Skype, Facebook, cellphones and e-mail would have cured a pain that has been around since ӀThe Odyssey.Ԁ

....The immediacy that phone calls and the Internet provide means that those away from home can know exactly what they are missing and when it is happening. They give the illusion that one can be in two places at once but also highlight the impossibility of that proposition.

Choosing a Home School Program is a Big Decision

If you decide to home school your children, you are going to have a big job ahead of you. This isn't as easy as dropping your kids off at school where you know the administration of that school already has a curriculum in place.

If you want to school your children at home, you might be anxious over what home school program to use. You can't just make up your own stuff, after all.

The main goal of schooling your kids at home should be to give them what they need to get into a good school. They will need all the basics including math, social studies, science, English, and many other subjects so that they can be ready for college level courses.

A number of effective and favorite homeschooling programs are available with some of the best home school programs, such as Saxon and Center for Learning, along with Curriculum Associates. Saxon in particular can pretty much be considered the best home school program if only because it is a product of Harcourt Archive, the company that publishes several educational material spanning several subjects.

A homeschooling curriculum, whether it is a free home schooling program or one that you will have to buy, will provide many options for those parents wishing to educate their children in the confines of the home. Homeschooling is a good alternative to public schools and something that provides a way out from having to send your child to a traditional school.

A good home school reading program should seek provide your child with greater flexibility in terms of educational material. When you compare a good home reading program with a public form of education, you will understand the importance of the former.

Where Professors Send Their Children to College - CBS News

Where Professors Send Their Children to College - CBS News

GoLocalProv | Lifestyle | 8 College Admissions Sites You Should Know

GoLocalProv | Lifestyle | 8 College Admissions Sites You Should Know

Practical Homeschooling Tips

Home Schooling Credited Programs

Credited programs for home schooling are what most home schoolers are trying to find. The reasons are obvious, mainly for their grades in high schools. In case the child in enrolled in an accredited program, then all major schools shall accept such credits. Your home school too receives a certain level of creditability.

Those people who are averse to home schooling methods would then have to rethink. Such programs give parents a great option if they themselves are faced with hardships in creating a curriculum of their own. The program relives them of knowing what today's high educative world needs of the child.

Which home schooling programs are the best? The answer lies in what you'd like the child to learn. If you want to impart a good secular program then Saxon Math series program would be ideal. Various Montessori schools inculcate Saxon series, and then even if the child later on joins a regular school he will be able to adapt to the education most comfortably.

Another really nice program is the Math-U-See program. However these programs aren't home schooling having credits, as they remain individual courses. If your choice is a standard based secular credited home schooling lesson then it is better to search the various online home schooling programs available online such cyber schools. The Calvert School is amongst the best home school lessons that are secular based. Such programs are affordable 7 one can choose enrollment options. All the states will approve as these courses are credited and will help get transfers to any regular school as and when desired.

Your choices are immense if incase you want to find Christian home school programs. The Jubilee Academy and Grace Academy are bible based and are fine picks for home schooling lessons that are credited. Quite a few local churches too lend support to home schoolers while some go a step further and teach you child via their traditional school.

Want to know if there are home schooling programs available for free? Well yes, but you'd require money for home schooling programs that are credited. If your choice is for an accredited curriculum then you'll have to dish out some money. There also some ways to find a program of home schools that are free and accredited too.

One way is that to locate a similar home school family who will share your needs, or then you can make contact with accredited schooling programs who would be willing to offer a scholarship and lastly you can also request from a donation on freecycle.com or Craig's list website.

While taking programs from home schooling for High School courses make sure that it is a home schooling program that's credited as most colleges would ask for graduation from schools that are credited at the time of seeking admission. When ever you feel like getting a list of programs of home schools the best place to find it will be the Top 100 Home School Programs by Cathy Duffy. If you do not want to buy then just visit a near by library as all of them have it.

Codifying the Humanities, Humanizing Code

In a recent post titled Don't Circle The Wagons Bethanie Nowviskie observes that while the humanities tend to have a more theoretical orientation, coders tend to engage in a lot more praxis.  While one could nitpick Nowviskie about how much this observation really accords with reality (coders can spend a good deal of time honing tools before actually using them to produce anything useful) it does point to a semantic issue that lies at the core of the Digital Humanities.  DH, as Kathleen Fitzpatrick has defined it, uses digital tools for humanities work but at the same time uses the frameworks of the humanities to make sense of digital technologies.  Louis Menand, in The MarketPlace of Ideas speaks of this duality too.  Although in his view it's not particular to the humanities but is instead a tension that exists more generally in universities that promote the liberal arts and more utilitarian disciplines:

Liberal education is enormously useful in its anti-utilitarianism. Almost any liberal arts field can be made non-liberal by turning it in the direction of some practical skill with which it is already associated. English departments can become writing programs, even publishing programs; pure mathematics can become applied mathematics, even engineering; sociology shades into social work; biology shades into medicine; political science and social theory lead to law and political administration; and so on. But conversely, and more importantly, any practical field can be made liberal simply by teaching it historically or theoretically. Many economics departments refuse to offer courses in accounting, despite student demand for them. It is felt that accounting is not a liberal art. Maybe not, but one must always remember the immortal dictum: Garbage is garbage, but the historyof garbage is scholarship. Accounting is a trade, but the history of accounting is a subject of disinterested inquiry׀a liberal art. And the accountant who knows something about the history of accounting will be a better accountant. That knowledge pays off in the marketplace. Similarly, future lawyers benefit from learning about the philosophical aspects of the law, just as literature majors learn more about poetry by writing poems.

In embracing the university as a place that produces but also interprets, maybe one thing we need to do, as Digital Humanists take up the call to learn how to code, is to learn it in a way that embraces the dualities that Fitzpatrick and Menand describe.   Of course one can't learn to code simply through studying it's history.  But maybe,  when we teach and learn code we should spend more time dwelling on its origins.  As I begin to think how I'm going to teach an introductory course on Web programming next fall I wonder if there's room for the following video by Chuck Severance on the history and origins of Javascript:

My hope is that there's at least a little bit of room for history in these courses. If there is, we'll be in a better place to bring interpretive approaches to bear on technical subjects while also bringing technical know-how to more interpretive disciplines.

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Online University and Online Courses in South Africa

Are you considering pursuing a distance education opportunity at an online university in South Africa? Have you decided on which university to attend׀the institution at which you plan to take the bulk of your online courses in South Africa? Distance education has become a major part of the educational fabric in South Africa, and is particularly popular among those living in the countryҀs more rural areas and for people whose full time employment makes it difficult to attend a traditional university. One institution that has earned an outstanding reputation for this mode of educational delivery is the South African Institute for Distance Education, or SAIDA, a university dedicated to transforming education and training in the country by providing greater access to every potential student.

Online University South Africa: About SAIDA

SAIDA was launched in 1992 by a group of prominent South African educators, and has since become renowned throughout Africa, particularly in the south, for its innovative approach and the manner in which it redresses educational, political and economic inequality. SAIDE is not a product of the South African government, but an independent entity based in Johannesburg, the South African capital. The schoolҀs mission since its founding has revolved around contributing to open distance education in all of its forms, including the development and implementation of online courses in South Africa in almost every major academic and career field. This important step affords every South African the prospect of self-improvement through education and ultimately prepares them to take part in the ongoing development of the South African region.

Online Courses in South Africa

Although the majority of online courses in South Africa are designed for higher education students and teacher candidates, SAIDA also works closely with the sectors of Early Childhood Development, adult education at the secondary level and technical training. At the higher-education level, the SAIDA Online University in South Africa offers programs in a wide range of academic disciplines. Students can partake in both undergraduate and graduate programs, leading to degrees in fields such as Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, Management, Education, Languages and a variety of social, physical and life sciences, including Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Biology and Chemistry.

The online university in South Africa is made possible by its dedicated faculty and staff, who are instrumental in the formation of policy, curriculum development and providing the training and resources needed to serve the schoolҀs large and increasingly growing population of students.

As is the case in many areas throughout the world, the number of online courses in South Africa is growing every year, as is the number of students opting to take advantage of these programs. Statistics show that nearly 75 percent of all South African students now take at least one online class a year towards their degree or certificate׀a number thatҀs even higher for students living in rural districts. Programs such as these are not only much more convenient for students, they are often more affordable as well, largely because the extra cost of providing and maintaining a classroom does not apply.

Study Online South Africa: How It Works and Why ItҀs So Important

Higher education in South Africa is highly valued, and their world-class academic institutions aim to provide the utmost access to the countryҀs many educational opportunities. Almost all of the countryҀs universities, of which there are 21, have now begun offering distance education programs׀programs in which students can study online in South Africa, as opposed to the more restrictive and traditional university setting. Needless to say, these online study programs in South Africa have become very popular among students. According to university records, nearly 3 out of every 4 university students in South Africa have taken at least one course towards their degree using the online study format.

Study Online South Africa: Why Is It So Important?

South Africa is an expansive country; a country that since the long-awaited end to Apartheid has become increasingly progressive, both educationally and politically. Its population is almost equally divided between people residing in urban areas and those living in the more rural areas of the country, the latter of whom had virtually no access to urban universities prior to the development and implementation of a comprehensive distance education system.

As computers became more advanced and access to the Internet became more widespread, online study in South Africa became increasingly popular. Individuals who were previously unable to take advantage of higher education opportunities׀people limited by distance, disability or time, as is the case with many who are employed full-time׀could now pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees, and increase their career knowledge and skill-set through advanced certification programs. Online study in South Africa effectively removed the educational barriers for a significant percentage of the population׀barriers that had formerly prevented educational attainment at the post-secondary level.

Online Study South Africa: How Does It Work?

As mentioned briefly above, the majority of universities now offer online study in South Africa, including at least two large institutions at which distance education is the sole method of educational delivery.

Students who wish to apply to study online in South Africa are required to have regular access to a computer and reliable Internet service. Courses are offered in subjects ranging from Accounting to Zoology, and class assignments are sent and returned electronically. Some programs even offer features such as virtual classrooms and streaming lectures, where students can interact with the instructor and their classmates in real time. Communication between teachers and students can take many forms, including email, instant messaging and video conferencing, and while some instructors may require students to physically attend the university periodically, for events such as exams, guest lectures, etc., many teachers will conduct the entire course through online study.

Collectively, the online study programs in South Africa have been instrumental in the countryҀs skyrocketing enrollment into university degree and certification programs. Programs with names such as Ӏdistance educationԀ and ӀStudy Online South AfricaԀ are slowly helping to close the gap between the ӀhavesԀ and the Ӏhave-nots,Ԁ and are ushering in a new generation of lifelong learners in the country.

Distance Learning South Africa

Education is very important to the South African people and the research performed here can only be defined as cutting edge. As this system continues to grow, and as more and more people are gaining access to educational opportunities, the country seems poised to make even greater educational strides in the coming years. One major growth area in recent years has been the implementation of online distance learning in South Africa. Distance learning opportunities, through online schools in South Africa, is providing access to higher education for people who were formerly excluded due to distance, disability or time, and is reshaping the educational landscape of what was once a very limited and elitist system.

South Africa is home to twenty-one public universities and several private institutions of higher learning. Together these schools provide a wide array of study and research options, and are designed to offer both local and international students a well-rounded, comprehensive and globally-significant educational experience. Recently, the education system in South Africa was restructured and revamped, finally freed from racist programs and policies of the old Apartheid-based system. This restructuring has led to the development of several comprehensive universities, including the introduction of ӀDistance Learning South Africaԗa program that through several online schools in South Africa provides a wide range of degrees, diplomas and certificates and broadens educational access at the tertiary level.

While distance education in South Africa had been in existence since the mid 1990s, it wasnҀt until January of 2004 that these programs became a widely popular alternative to the traditional university setting. It was in that year that the University of South Africa and Technikon South Africa merged, and incorporated the Vista University Distance Education campus. The new entity formed by this groundbreaking merger, a merger which created several online schools in South Africa, became known as ӀUnisa.Ԁ

According to university records, Unisa is the leading distance learning institution in all of Africa, with internationally accredited qualifications, top-tier instructors and world-class resources. In each of its online schools in South Africa, students, who, for a number of reasons, were precluded from attending traditional universities, can now gain the education and skills they need to excel in their future career choice; the knowledge to help them identify and present solutions to some of southern AfricaҀs most pressing developmental problems.

While distance education in South Africa is partially funded and supported by the state, educational policy, curriculum and all personnel matters are the responsibility of each institutionҀs council׀a council that is led by the University Chancellor and made up of prominent South Africans employed in a wide range of important positions within the community.

Distance learning in South Africa, and the opportunities it presents, is helping to ensure that EVERY individual in South Africa who desires a higher education is able to pursue that goal, regardless of whom they are or where they live. Ultimately, this creates not only a more well-educated populace, but equates to a brighter future and a better tomorrow for everyone living in this rapidly emerging country.

AP US Chapters 27-30 Study Guide

AP US Chapters 27-30 Study Guide is up at 11:53 PM on March 11th, 2012

10 High Dollar Award Scholarships for College - Forbes

10 High Dollar Award Scholarships for College - Forbes

San Ramon Express - Town Square Topic

San Ramon Express - Town Square Topic

For Juniors, a College Admissions Checklist for March - NYTimes.com

For Juniors, a College Admissions Checklist for March - NYTimes.com

Other Scholarships

To see more scholarships, visit MC's Financial Aid page - http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/plain.aspx?id=5387#state

Unpacking Code, Composition, and Privilege: What Role can Dilbert and the Digital Humanities Play?

I ordinarily wait a little longer between blog posts and try to write with a bit more polish but I wanted to jot down two questions that emerged after writing last weekҀs post on Code Versus Composition.  Hopefully I'll get to these concerns over the next couple of months: 

In the Digital Humanities blogosphere and in books like Unlocking the Clubhouse: Woman In Computing there is much to learn about the way that coding culture may create and sustain groups of privilege. In turn, the methodologies of class, race and gender studies can help to lend insight into this culture.  Despite the fact that we like to think we live in a post-class, post-gender and post-racial society those categories aren't going away yet.  And until they do there's room for sequels to Unlocking the Clubhouse books.    Humanists, and digital humanists in particular, may be in a good position to use these methods of analysis since they've honed these methods in other disciplinary endeavors.  


The question I have, however, is whether class, race and gender are the only lenses through which privilege and the distribution of power can be tracked.  While they are powerful tools do their methods generate attention blindness that obscure other forms of privilege? To this point there are very insightful technological theorists who haven't placed the triad of class, race and gender at the core of their analysis.  For example, Neil Postman's short address "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change" and his "second idea" in that essay provides a really useful way for uncovering how privilege (and deprivation) are realized during technological change:

" the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. This means that every new technology benefits some and harms others.....Who specifically benefits from the development of a new technology? Which groups, what type of person, what kind of industry will be favored? And, of course, which groups of people will thereby be harmed?"

While Postman's approach certainly prompts us to think about race, class and gender groups, it isn't constrained by it.  Other groups can also be considered.  For example, in our current N.E.H research my colleagues and I are examining how digital technology is shaping and reshaping cognition.  While it's certainly worthwhile to ask whether these changes privilege particular genders, classes or races, an equally salient question is whether it favors a type of person who is better able to multi-task.  In creating more and more digital distractions are coders generating the social conditions in which multi-taskers will prevail? And in my open source software advocacy work one should ask whether a particular form of coding collaborative work privileges groups with a particular political and economic ideology.  The same question applies to the study of growing global networks: are those networks privileging people who harbor sympathies to neo-liberalism and antipathies to more communitarian ideologies?  

On a more humorous level, the Dilbert cartoons also illuminate.  But his lens, more often than not revolves around the tensions between technicians and managers:

Certainly class, race and gender help to inform who is privileged as technicians and managers negotiate technological change.  But maybe technicians and managers can be considered groups as well.  Which of these groups is more favored as coding's presence grows?

Finally, while coding and the product of what coders produce is certainly subject to class, race and gender studies critique, and more largely the critique of Neil Postman, we shouldn't forget that coding, in creating privilege and division, can also often be a bridging activity that brings together and harmonizes cultures that conventionally are portrayed as at odds.  On our campus the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Applied Sciences and Technology don't mix that much.  It's a division that is reminiscent of the one C.P. Snow popularized 50 years ago.  But coding doesn't have to be this way nor is it always this way now.  It can bring different cultures together. Speaking metaphorically, it's not always Code versus Composition but sometimes very much Code and Composition. That I think, is at least one hope of the Digital Humanities.  That hope shouldn't be forgotten even as we engage in class, race and gender critiques and it raises a concomitant question:   In recent years how much has this hope been satisfied and what more work needs to be done in order to have this hope fulfilled?

The Number 1 Best Home School Jobs - Find Out How You Can Make Money As a Home Schooler

Home school jobs like online writing help home school students make money online while living at home. Why are these jobs unique for homeschoolers?

Here's why: Many home schoolers aren't allowed to work outside the home. This might be due to a strict family policy or a lack of funds that prohibit them from making car payments or buying gas, both of which drastically cut into earnings from a typical employer.

If home school jobs that let you stay at home and work are what you're looking for to make money, then I can show you exactly where to find them. And they're easier than you think!

1. Associated Content: Here is your very first step. Associated Content accepts everyone from the United States, no questions asked. All you have to do is sign up and submit your first 400-word article on any topic. They'll review your article and determine how much they're willing to pay for it. Once you're paid, you'll earn extra money each time your article gets a view.

2. Revenue Share sites: Places like Bukisa and Info Barrel are great places for home schoolers with a home school job to make a little more money with writing. They pay for each time an ad gets clicked near your article only, no upfront payment. Some people make a killing at these sites, and again, there's no acceptance procedure.

3. Bright Hub: If you know a lot about homeschooling, you can spend part of your time at these home school jobs writing for Bright Hub. They accept writers for a variety of channels, homeschooling being one of them. You can sign up for more than one channel to make more money. They pay $10 per article, plus performance payments for every view you get.

4. Demand Studios: Demand Studios is great for home schoolers who have written at Associated Content and Bright Hub and want to get paid a little more. Demand Studios pays $15 per article for most submissions, and they're hiring all the time. Although they are a little more strict with their acceptance policy, they still allow a lot of writers into their writing pool. If you can write one article per hour, you'll make $15 per hour. If you can write two articles per hour, you'll make a whopping $30 per hour. That's more than most of your non-home school peers are making!

Do you see how profitable these home school jobs can be for you? You have nothing to lose by trying them out.

How to create compelling college scholarship essays - Grand Rapids Community Colleges | Examiner.com

How to create compelling college scholarship essays - Grand Rapids Community Colleges | Examiner.com

Watch out for the scholarship police - CBS News

Watch out for the scholarship police - CBS News