Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Basic Tips on How to Home School Your Kids

It is estimated that around 1 million students are homeschooled in the United States every year. Homeschooling is an excellent way to stay close to your children; give them the proper care they need while helping them become well-rounded adults. Homeschooling allows you individualize; to find education that is best suited for your children.

Reasons for Homeschooling

Find out whether you share the following thoughts about why homeschooling is required: (i) Parents have religious belief that they can provide better education at home; (ii) Parents thinking that the environment at school will not be congenial for their children; (iii) Homeschooling will help develop character and morality of a child; (iv) There are subjects taught at schools that are not in accordance with the faith, thinking of the parents; (v) The child has special needs or disabilities.

Now, the question arises whether or not homeschooling has any adverse affects on a child's education; maybe not. Homeschooled children have above average test results on the ACT and SAT college entrance exams. Also, homeschooled kids are sometimes better at social adjustment than kids who go to school. The way the homeschooled children make up for not attending a regular school is by participating in homeschool support groups, scouting, church and recreational activities, and other associations.

Getting Started with Homeschooling

One way of knowing more about homeschooling is by joining local support groups. Such groups can be found by word of mouth or through public or private schools, religious groups, or state or national associations. Each state has at least one homeschooling association. These groups offer necessary advice and information and hold conferences at which families who school at home discuss legal, philosophical, and teaching issues. Some school districts allow homeschoolers to attend public school part-time.

Following are different homeschool methods: (i) Diane Lockman's authentic classical trivium (The Classical Scholar) unit studies, (ii) Charlotte Mason's methodology, (iii) Montessori or Waldorf methods, and (iv) eclectic blends of different styles.

Is Homeschooling for Everyone?

No. Homeschooling is hard work. It can also be expensive, as you have to pay for educational materials and extracurricular activities. You may also be faced with a loss of income if one parent has to quit a job to homeschool. References: The Responsibilities of Homeschooling Homeschooling means being able to devote yourself to your children all day through. You, as a parent will fully responsible for the direction, depth, and breadth of your child's education for the rest of its life. This is a very big responsibility and should not be taken lightly.

Ask yourself these questions to see whether you are ready. Why do you think you want to homeschool? What is it that your child will be able to achieve by being homeschooled that he or she will not receive in a regular school? What do you consider a "good" education? These questions can help you make the decision, and help you create the right environment that will be best your children.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Tips for CBSE Papers

Each time CBSE Papers (board exams) approach, students witness higher anxiety levels manifesting in sweaty palms, shaky legs and twitching fingers. The fear of exams gives most students sleepless nights. Students often tend to find it difficult to get down to studying and try to seek answers from their friends as to where to begin. The problem does not end here. Panic attacks before entering examination hall, issues like how to answer CBSE Papers and what to do once you are done with your exams crops up. Here are a few tips for all you students out there who are to face CBSE Papers or any other board exams (conducted by other boards). It is important for students to learn to deal with the situation by breaking it down into stages. The entire examination period can be thus, divided into three stages i.e. Pre Exam, During Exam and Post Exam.

i. Pre Exam:- The most important key to fare well in any exam is to prepare well. Before starting it is important to go through the entire CBSE syllabus for your grade. Start off with the difficult subjects first, as fresh mind allows for fast and effective understanding and memorization of concepts. Prepare a time table for yourself in detail that lists down when and how you plan to deal with all the subjects. For attempting CBSE Papers well, going through all the related NCERT text books thoroughly is a primary requirement. Generally NCERT text books deal with all the relevant topics in detail, however if you feel the need seek help from the reference books suggested for CBSE Papers, feel free to do so. While studying subjects like Social Sciences, it may be a good idea to practice CBSE papers for each of the individual subjects like History, Geography and Civics separately. Be careful not to delve excessively into a subject that you like; concentrating on 'least preferred' subjects first will help you make the most of your revision time. Once done with memorizing key points, try to revise at least once before attempting the final CBSE Paper. If you are left with enough time before the final exams, try your hand on mock tests prescribed for CBSE Papers.

ii. During Exam:- Once you enter the examination hall, do not stress yourself or panic. First read all the instructions and the marking scheme carefully. Accordingly, allocate your time for each question. An answer within the prescribed word limit that covers all the important points will fetch you more marks in CBSE Papers than writing lengthy and incomplete answers. If possible, support your answers with diagrammatic representations. Your writing should be legible enough for the examiner to read. Once done with answering the CBSE Paper, do revise your answer sheet and highlight the major points. It will make your answer sheet look more organized.

iii. Post Exam:- There's not much that you can do once you are done with a particular CBSE Paper. Unwind and quickly start preparing yourself for the next one. If it was the last CBSE paper set goals for the future and support them with a concrete and actionable plan. It is equally important to have backup plans or alternative courses of action after your CBSE papers.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Should You Homeschool Your Kids?

The ability to home school your child has many positive aspects, probably one of the biggest being the ability to give each child very specific, individualized, one on one attention. Another plus for home schooling your own child is that the child doesn't have to deal with many of the negative peer pressure issues that are so often associated with the entire public school system.

In my own experience I feel I must also tell you that there are a few negative aspects that can go with home schooling as well, such as, the lack of social skills and the feelings of being on the outside looking in that many a home schooled child may develop.

In many ways though I do strongly feel that going to public or private school is best for most children, because most children need to feel a part of things, and going to regular public school gives most children the social skills needed to be a part of the real world. These kids get to experience their prom and other good things in life that they would not get to experience being home schooled.

In many ways I feel that both home school and private school has its negatives and positives but for the most part I do feel that public school is best. Here's why: home school doesn't help you learn as many social skills and other skills the way public or private school does - you can miss so many of these opportunities when you're home schooled.

But, you can also learn things in a different way than others and that can sometimes be a good thing, but in other ways you also miss out on certain things. Over all I think its just a personal choice that a parent has to make for their own child but they should make it with open eyes - not just for protective reasons.

The best idea is to make a choice that's best for your child's overall well being and education because choosing to home school your child just to keep them safe or to keep them from dealing with peer pressure can be detrimental in so many ways. Without meaning to you may actually be over protecting those kids from life, but this is just my opinion which comes from my own experience dealing with home schooled kids. Think about it for yourself, take your time and you too can decide whether or not home schooling is right for you - and for your kids

Friday, May 1, 2009

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