Why Homeschooling

Why Home Schooling?
By
Zohra Sarwari
Copyright 2011 Why Home schooling? by Zohra Sarwari
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording, stored in or introduced in a retrieval system, or otherwise circulated without permission in writing by the author.
www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Dedication
'(Our Lord! Accept this from us. You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing).'
(The Quraan: Chapter 2, Verse 127)
Introduction
The education of our youth is an extremely important subject. Caring for children, teaching them, and helping them grow into intelligent and prosperous people is at the forefront of society. Homeschooling is an educational choice which is not always understood, yet is an option which is growing exponentially. Many parents in the United States and around the world are beginning to question the motives behind public schools and private schools and the quality of the education their children are receiving. The decision to homeschool is a big one, but for most homeschooling families it ends up being the best decision they ever made for a myriad of reasons. As homeschooling becomes main stream again, it is showing itself to be a viable, and even outstanding, educational option.
Asalamalakium (Peace Be Upon All Of You) Homeschooling? Me NEVER! I didnt go to 7 years of College to stay at home and be a house wife. That was for the people who were uneducated. Educated women work, and send their kids to school or hire a nanny or tutor. However, they go and make real money to pay for others to work for them. This is what I said to the idea of homeschooling when I first heard of it. I had no clue what homeschooling was and I admit I was very ignorant of the whole idea of it. Alhamdullilah (All praise belongs to God) that I was enlightened and a few years later the day I never thought would come, came, after being frustrated with what the private schools had to offer, which was not enough for me, I decided to homeschool. Many laughed at me first, many ridiculed me, and others said my children would not be normal. I thought I too was ignorant at one time, so I expected these behaviors, and thought nothing of it. I said time will prove everything. Alhamdullilah it did, my kids have been homeschooled for almost 4 years now. They are each 3-4 grades ahead, very social, confident, and amazing, to say the least. Alhamdullilah. They have written 7 books in total, and have been featured on TV, Radio, Magazines, Websites, etc. Alhamdullilah. This could not have happened had I chosen to take the road most traveled. Allaah (God) knows best. I would like for all of you to please read this book with an open mind and you will learn so many great things, and if home schooling is for you, great, if it is not for you, great! Either way you will obtain more knowledge and hopefully by the end of this book have a different view on homeschooling.
Thomas Edison: Inventor and Homeschooler

When Thomas Edison was attending school, his teacher thought he was dull and constantly confused. When Thomas came home and relayed this information to his mother, she promptly went to speak with the teacher. Mrs. Edison and the teacher hotly debated Thomass abilities, and when the teacher expressed her opinion that Thomas was simply unteachable, his mother removed him from school. Thus began his homeschooling adventure. Although he was schooled intermittently until age twelve, when he was finally dismissed completely, he was labeled addled. His mother did not agree, and she took over his schooling permanently. Mrs. Edison taught Thomas to read and to conduct experiments. She encouraged him constantly, believing that he had potential and giving him the tools to reach it. Edison himself recalled that his mother helped make him the man he was. She believed in him, took on the responsibility of teaching him, and gave him goals and purpose. Mrs. Edison believed that Thomas needed both a hands on and thoughtful approach to learning. She let him have his own laboratory in the basement of their house. The story goes that Edisons father was often concerned about the odd smells and frequent small explosions which came from the basement while Thomas worked away happily. Thomas Edison credits his mother for much of his success. She taught him to never be afraid to fail; she advised him to learn from his mistakes and just keep trying. She encouraged him to read all types of literature, even that which he didnt like, but to also that working with his hands was valuable and that many important lessons dont come from books. Most importantly, she inspired him to keep improving and never stop learning. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Chapter 1
The Difference Between Public School, Private School, Charter School, and Homeschool
1. Public
Regular public schools are local, publicly funded schools which are open to all community members. Public schools are attended by the students within their particular geographical area. This means that if you plan for your child to attend the local public school, they must attend the one closest to you, in your area of the district. To attend a different school in another part of the district, generally the parent must apply for an in-district transfer. The school principals will usually make the decision about whether or not your child will be allowed to attend the other school. Part of this decision is based on what is best for the child, and part of this decision also has to do with school population, meaning how many students already attend each school, and funding, meaning which school needs the money your child brings with them. Each school receives ADMw which stands for Average Daily Membership/ Weighted. This is the amount of money which follows each student to the school they attend. This amount can vary widely between districts. If a district has a school low on attendance, it will try to keep the students there and allow transfers into that school. If a school is struggling, students from that school may be denied transfers. If a student would like to attend a public school in another district, the parents must apply for an interdistrict transfer. Since public schools are funded
based on attendance, it is in the best interest of the school to maintain its student population. Attending a local public school means that parents must accept the philosophy of the school and the schools chosen curriculum.
2. Charter Schools
A charter school is a publically funded school of choice. Most charter schools are started by parents who are looking for another educational option for their students. Charter schools are grass roots efforts to create a publically funded school which is focused on a particular philosophy, curriculum, or style. For instance, a charter school might be arts based, science based, or classically based. A charter school has to follow certain guidelines set by their state and their district and they must meet benchmarks and align with the states curriculum guidelines. But a charter school can also create some of its own educational goals, guideline, and content. Charter schools are publically funded, meaning that they receive the ADMw for each student which attends the school, although their sponsoring district is allowed to keep a portion of the ADMw in their general fund. A district generally keeps between 5% and 15% of the money brought to the charter school through attendance. Charter schools are a testament to freedom of choice in education because any www.superchargehomeschooling.com
student can attend any charter school which they choose. The charter school movement has been gaining momentum in recent years. Numerous issues influence parents to choose charter schools. Parents who feel that their local school isnt doing a good enough job will often choose to drive farther and rearrange their schedules to allow their children to attend a charter school. Many charter schools choose curriculums and set standards that are appealing to parents, such as curriculums or programs that focus on a classical education, the arts, science, or technology. While not all charter schools are outstanding and not all succeed, they are attractive in many ways. Charter schools have the ability to institute dress codes, hire teachers who are experts in their field, fire teachers who do not meet the schools standards, maintain strict discipline policies which include the ability to remove habitually disruptive students, and maintain local control. Most charter schools are operated by teachers and parents of the students they represent and the charter school board has a close, hands-on relationship with the school, the students, and the parents. While charters dont fix all the problems in education, they have made an important step in that direction which is choice. Educational choice allows for competition, which forces improvement and fosters excellence.
3. Private Schools
Private schools are privately funded and operated. Usually a sponsoring entity, such as a mosque, provides the base support for the school, while tuition provides the rest. Private schools usually will become accredited so that the education they offer will be considered comparable to other schools. Accreditation organizations review schools and colleges to ensure their standards and improvement rates. While accreditation is not the only quantifying standard for a school it is especially important for private schools because they do not necessarily have to adhere to government rules and regulations for schools. Private schools are allowed greater freedoms since they use only private funds and they choose not to take advantage of public funding. Most private schools are religious based and funded by religious organizations. Private schools are universally recognized as providing higher levels of achievement and higher college attendance.
4. Homeschooling
Homeschooling is a growing trend here in the United States. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there were 850,000 homeschoolers in 1999, 1.1 million in 2003 and in 2007 that number had increased to approximately 1.5 million homeschoolers in the U.S. alone. It is www.superchargehomeschooling.com
important to bear in mind that these numbers are never truly accurate because many homeschoolers choose not to register their children and are not included in surveys because they tend to be less involved in activities where they would be surveyed. Homeschooling tends to be a private, family oriented activity. Homeschooling is generally defined as any education which takes place outside of a public or private school environment. In actuality, the term home schooling can be misleading. Most homeschoolers find that they spend much of their time at the park, the library, the zoo, homeschool classes, gymnastics, martial arts classes, museums, and at the homes of other homeschoolers. These are just a few of the places homeschoolers roam as they take advantage of the freedom which exists outside the walls of the schoolhouse. While homeschooling is legal in the United States, each state has its own requirements for homeschool registration and standardized testing. Any parent or legal guardian can homeschool. A teaching license is not required. Most parents who homeschool feel well equipped to do so. Raising children is natural, and homeschooling is a natural continuation from infancy to toddlerhood to elementary age. Of all education methods, homeschooling affords the most freedom for the family and the student. While homeschooling, parents can adjust curriculum requirements to fit their childs needs and to accommodate learning www.superchargehomeschooling.com
disabilities or accelerated learning abilities. Parents also enjoy the ability to embark on the educational journey with their children, being an integral part of the journey instead of just a bystander.
Chapter 2
Why Parents Choose to Homeschool
Bindi Erwin
Bindi Sue Irwin was born on the 24th July 1998 in Queensland, Australia to her two proud parents Steve and Terri Irwin. From the very first day of her birth, Bindi has been involved with her Mum and Dad's filming and wildlife conservation work and handled everything from spiders and snakes to crocodiles and elephants. She has traveled extensively all over the world with her family and made numerous appearances in not only most of her parent's television programs but guest spots on many worldwide talk shows. Bindi is homeschooled and making excellent grades a first class student who likes "creative writing" best and not too keen on math. She sponsors a World Vision unprivileged child in Asia and donates a lot of her time and pocket money to help Wildlife Warriors Worldwide (her dad's conservation charity) and assists at the Australian Wildlife Hospital.
The reasons parents homeschool are so numerous, its hard to know where to start. When asked, most homeschoolers will begin to get very excited about telling their story, the reasons they homeschool, and their experience. The reasons to homeschool range from wanting to raise their children with their faith, dissatisfaction with local schools, lack of challenge in coursework, experiences with bullying, a desire for family unity, a concern with negative socialization, a desire to meet the needs of a child with disabilities, and the list goes on and on. Most families homeschool for a variety of reason and those reasons can change as time goes on. The National Center for Educational Statistics breaks down the reasons parents give for homeschooling as follows: In 2007, the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction (36 percent of students). This reason was followed by a concern about the school environment (such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure) (21 percent), dissatisfaction with academic instruction (17 percent), and "other reasons" including family time, finances, travel, and distance (14 percent). Parents of about 7 percent of homeschooled students cited the desire to provide their child with a nontraditional approach to education as the most important reason for homeschooling, and the parents of another 6 percent of students cited a child's health problems or special needs. (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=91)
1. Moral and Religious Instruction

The most common reason to homeschool, to provide religious or moral instruction should be disseminated a bit. Many homeschooling parents want to provide religious and moral instruction, but often this translates into the idea of raising their own children instead of sending them off to be raised by the government. Parents feel that a child should be shown all the love, patience, support, and guidance that they need by their parents. Homeschooling parents strongly believe that in the first five, eight, ten, or fifteen years of a childs life, they are learning the moral and character lessons which will set the stage for everything else they do in their life. Especially, in Islaam this is the time to help build the child to be a responsible, righteous, pious adult, inshAllaah Teaching children at home is not just a story about parents choosing full responsibility for their childrens education, but understanding the greater responsibility of molding and shaping an excellent human being. We live in a complicated world which is fraught with mixed messages, questionable morality, and a lack of the knowledge of right and wrong. Homeschooling provides a safe haven where parents can teach their children morals, values, and tools for handling the complexities of modern life. By homeschooling, parents also keep children under their wing longer. A five year old child does not yet have a strong base in their beliefs, nor the ability to defend themselves. Homeschooling allows parents to www.superchargehomeschooling.com
take the time to raise and train their children in the ways of the world, and keep them safe until they are ready to venture out on their own with a mature and grounded foundation. These parents understand the importance of fully preparing their child for life before they send that child out into the world. The influences of public school also may not reflect the religious beliefs of the family. For example, parents who believe in creation theory may not approve of their child being taught the origins of life through evolutionary theory. Also, a family which believes in the sanctity of marriage and that sexual activity should be reserved for marriage may not approve of a health class which promotes the use of birth control and sexual experimentation. The bottom line is the right and responsibility parents to homeschool so that they may pass on their beliefs and values to their children, even in the area of hobbies, interests, and issues such as conservation or social service.
2. Safety and the School Environment

Today more than ever, safety in our schools is a huge concern. Stories about bullying, harassment, sexual abuse, drugs, and gun violence are in the news daily. Todays public schools resemble The Lord of the Flies more than the sweet, quaint, one room school house depicted in Little House on the Prairie. In the last www.superchargehomeschooling.com
fifteen years, school violence has become a regular occurrence. Below is a list of school shootings:
Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings

The following table lists the worldwide school shootings from 1996 to the present. Find the date, location, and a short description of each incident. Feb. 2, 1996 Two students and one teacher Moses Lake, killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis Wash. opened fire on his algebra class. March 13, 1996 Dunblane, Scotland 16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.
Feb. 19, 1997 Principal and one student killed, Bethel, Alaska two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16. Eight people (six students and two March 1997 Sanaa, Yemen others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.
Oct. 1, 1997 Pearl, Miss.
Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan. Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School. Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot. Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
Dec. 1, 1997 West Paducah, Ky.
Dec. 15, 1997 Stamps, Ark.
March 24, 1998 Jonesboro, Ark.
April 24, 1998 One teacher, John Gillette, killed, Edinboro, Pa. two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
May 19, 1998 Fayetteville, Tenn.
One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18year-old honor student Jacob Davis. Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-yearold Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
May 21, 1998 Springfield, Ore.
June 15, 1998 One teacher and one guidance Richmond, Va. counselor wounded by a 14-yearold boy in the school hallway. April 20, 1999 14 students (including killers) and Littleton, Colo. one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
April 28, 1999 One student killed, one wounded Taber, Alberta, at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates. May 20, 1999 Conyers, Ga. Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School. One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant
Nov. 19, 1999 Deming, N.M.
Dec. 6, 1999 Fort Gibson, Okla.
Dec. 7, 1999 Veghel, Netherlands Feb. 29, 2000 Mount Morris Township,
Mich.
was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun. One teacher killed by a 15-yearold student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.
March 2000 Branneburg, Germany
Two students killed by Darrell March 10, Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance 2000 Savannah, Ga. sponsored by Beach High School. May 26, 2000 Lake Worth, Fla. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.
Sept. 26, 2000 Two students wounded with the New Orleans, same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School. La. Jan. 17, 2001 One student shot and killed in Baltimore, Md. front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School. Jan. 18, 2001 Jan, Sweden One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.
March 5, 2001 Two killed and 13 wounded by Santee, Calif. Charles Andrew Williams, 15,
firing from a bathroom at Santana High School. March 7, 2001 Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, student Kimberly Williamsport, wounded Marchese in the cafeteria of Pa. Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased. March 22, 2001 Granite Hills, Calif. One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman. One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself. A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had
March 30, 2001 Gary, Ind.
Nov. 12, 2001 Caro, Mich.
Jan. 15, 2002 New York, N.Y. Feb. 19, 2002 Freising,
Germany
been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.
April 26, 2002 13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten Erfurt, wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, Germany 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself. April 29, 2002 One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who Vlasenica, then killed himself. BosniaHerzegovina October 28, 2002 Tucson, Ariz. Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.
April 14, 2003 One 15-year-old killed, and three New Orleans, students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire La. from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
April 24, 2003 James Sheets, 14, killed principal Red Lion, Pa. Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself. Sept. 24, 2003 Two students are killed at Rocori Cold Spring, High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15. Minn. Sept. 28, 2004 Carmen de Patagones, Argentina March 21, 2005 Red Lake, Minn. Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires. Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead. One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators. Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to
Nov. 8, 2005 Jacksboro, Tenn.
Aug. 24, 2006 Essex, Vt.
the school, he had killed the exgirlfriend's mother. Sept. 13, 2006 Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with Montreal, a semiautomatic weapon at Canada Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself. Sept. 27, 2006 Adult male held six students Bailey, Colo. hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself. Sept. 29, 2006 A 15-year-old student shot and Cazenovia, killed Weston School principal Wis. John Klang. Oct. 3, 2006 Nickel Mines, Pa. 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.
Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot Jan. 3, 2007 Tacoma, Wash. fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.
April 16, 2007 A 23-year-old Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Va. student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded. Sept. 21, 2007 A Delaware State Univesity Dover, Del. Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge. Oct. 10, 2007 Cleveland, Ohio A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not lifethreatening. An 18-year-old student in southern Finland shot and killed five boys, two girls, and the
Nov. 7, 2007 Tuusula, Finland
female principal at Jokela High School. At least 10 others were injured. The gunman shot himself and died from his wounds in the hospital. Feb. 8, 2008 Baton Rouge, Louisiana A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class. A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead.
Feb. 11, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee Feb. 12, 2008 Oxnard, California
Feb. 14, 2008 Gunman killed five students and DeKalb, Illinois then himself, and wounded 17 more when he opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007.
Sept. 23, 2008 A 20-year-old male student shot Kauhajoki, and killed at least nine students Finland and himself at a vocational college in Kauhajok, 330km (205 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki. Nov. 12, 2008 Fort Lauderdale, Florida March 11, 2009 Winnenden, Germany A 15-year-old female student was shot and killed by a classmate at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Fifteen people were shot and killed at Albertville Technical High School in southwestern Germany by a 17-year-old boy who attended the same school.
(Read more: Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html#ixzz17 uxkfPcA)
Besides the hyped and dramatic school shooting scenario, smaller problems which are just as deadly and destructive seem to occur at an alarming rate in public schools. Drug use is common in public
schools, partly because there are so few adults that it is easy to get away with wrong behavior, and partly because many children come to school bearing so many wounds that they are looking for relief. Drug abuse is frighteningly common among children and teenagers. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: Since 1975 the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students
nationwide. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month; for some drugs, daily use is also reported.1 Initially, the survey included 12thgraders only, but in 1991 it was expanded to include 8th- and 10th-graders. The MTF survey is funded by NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan's
Institute for Social Research. The 35th annual study was conducted during 2009. Positive Findings: Cigarette smoking is at its lowest point in the history of the survey on all measures among students in grades 8, 10, and 12. These findings are particularly noteworthy since tobacco addiction is one of the leading preventable contributors to many of our Nation's health problems. Between 2004 and 2009, a drop in past-year use of methamphetamine was reported for all grades, and lifetime use dropped significantly among 8th-graders, from 2.3 to 1.6 percent. Among 10th- and 12thgraders, 5-year declines were reported for past-year use of amphetamines and cocaine. Among 12thgraders, past-year use of cocaine decreased
significantly, from 4.4 to 3.4 percent. From 2004 to 2009, decreases were observed in lifetime, past-year, past-month, and binge use of alcohol across the three grades surveyed.
In 2009, 12th-graders reported declines in use across several survey measures of hallucinogens: past-year use of hallucinogens and LSD fell significantly, from 5.9 to 4.7 percent and from 2.7 to 1.9 percent, respectively; and past-year use of hallucinogens other than LSD decreased from 5.0 to 4.2 percent among. Attitudes toward substance abuse, often seen as harbingers of change in use, showed many favorable changes. harmfulness Among of 12th-graders, LSD, perceived
amphetamines,
sedatives/barbiturates, heroin, and cocaine increased. Across the three grades, perceived availability of several drugs decreased. Areas of Concern: Marijuana use across the three grades has shown a consistent decline since the mid-1990s. The trend has stalled, however, with prevalence rates remaining steady over the last 5 years. Past-year use was reported by 11.8 percent of 8th-graders, 26.7 percent of 10th-graders, and 32.8 percent of 12thgraders. Also, perceived risk of regular use of marijuana decreased among 8th- and 10th-graders, www.superchargehomeschooling.com
although perceived availability decreased among 12th-graders. From 2008 to 2009, lifetime, past-month, and daily use of smokeless tobacco increased significantly among 10th-graders. Past-year nonmedical use of Vicodin and OxyContin increased during the last 5 years among 10th-graders and remained unchanged among 8th- and 12thgraders. Nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors reported nonmedical use of Vicodin; 1 in 20 reported abuse of OxyContin. When asked how prescription narcotics were obtained for nonmedical use, about 52 percent of 12th-graders said they were given the drugs or bought them from a friend or relative. Additionally, 30 percent reported receiving a prescription for them, and a negligible number of 12th-graders reported purchasing the narcotics over the Internet. http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html
Sexual activity in schools has also become rampant. Homeschooling parents, as human beings,
understand that life is dangerous and that by simply keeping their child at home and out of school does not guarantee their safety. But they understand and
accept their duty to care for and protect their child for as long as is needed and to the best of their ability. Middle school youth as young as 12 years is at risk of engaging in sexual activities. ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2009) Middle school youth are engaging in sexual intercourse as early as age 12, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health.
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/09040 8145354.htm) According to a research, it has been seen that by the age of 12 youth has gotten in to different kinds of sex activities such as vaginal, sex, oral or anal sex. These statistics are threatening because such youth who start having sex before age 14 are much more likely to have multiple sex partners, they also use drugs, alcohol and unprotected sex and because of that they
are at a greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases or become pregnant.
3. Individualized Education
For example, a family may homeschool because a child has trouble keeping up in school or is slow learning to read. It is extremely common for some children, especially boys, to take more time learning to read than the public school allows. A little boy may be hesitant about reading until age nine or ten, then all of a sudden make gigantic leaps in their reading abilities. Later on, that same child who struggled to read at age six, may suddenly leap to a high school reading level at age ten. A homeschooling family has the ability to nurture that slow reading capacity, then accelerate when the child does and begin to provide much more challenging reading materials as needed. When a child is schooled at home, they are fortunate enough to have a completely individualized education and all of the one on one help they need. No one is more invested in that child than their parents. One of the downfalls of public school is the lack of individualized instruction. The public system touts it, talks about it, yearns for it, yet cant do it. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Homeschoolers have the market cornered on it. The homeschooling family is a nearly perfect example of the natural progression of a childs education. In fact, almost everyone homeschools for a short period of time whether they know it or not. A mother teaching her son to talk is homeschooling. A father teaching his daughter to walk is homeschooling.
Homeschooling is just a term for anything people teach their own children. In that respect, it is a natural instinct in almost all parents, and, like breastfeeding, the healthiest choice for a precious child. The
individual nutrients in a mothers milk are created especially for her child, and the nutritional benefits are numerous, just like the individualized education of a homeschooler. It is important for parents to know that each parent is uniquely qualified to raise, and teach, their own child. A mass education where one size supposedly fits all is rarely successful, and is sometimes damaging in the early years. When
children are very young, they need personal, positive, one on one interaction more than anything else. A homeschooling parent can provide that. Children naturally want to learn. An individualized
education means that the activities are geared toward www.superchargehomeschooling.com
the childs interests and abilities.
One of the joys of
homeschooling is seeing what interests the child, and then following their lead wholeheartedly. All of the important basics can be covered on a path toward the interests of the child. For example, for a young child who is extremely interested in animals, may learn to count animals, learn about digestion from learning about what animals eat, will be inclined to learn to read by being read books about animals, and learn to write by the parent asking them to write about animals. The parent may give strict instruction about what constitutes a letter, but gearing the lesson toward the childs love of animals makes the lesson part of the childs life and love, not a lesson per se. The child begins to learn important basics in a context which they love, which in turn produces a lifelong love of learning.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright only attended a traditional classroom for 4 years (between the ages of 11 and 15) because he started attending the University of Wisconsin as a "special student" when he turned 15years-old. Prior to this time he was homeschooled. While at the University of Wisconsin, he majored in engineering since there were no architecture courses available, at the time. Nevertheless, he still went on to become a very famous architect.
The homeschool environment is able to nurture the individual and set a pattern associating learning with joy. As a child grows older and begins to face
situations where they must learn something which may not be exactly what they want to study, the love of learning instinct and the web of knowledge pathways which have been created allow the student to access something in that subject which is of value to them. The individualized education of the
homeschooler better prepares the child for tackling new and difficult subjects. An individualized education also paves the way for a child to actively and aggressively pursue their talents and passions. In a homeschool environment, a
student who discovers they are good at something or a certain topic is intriguing to them, they have the freedom to pursue it wholeheartedly. A
homeschooling family has the freedom to seek out specific and unconventional educational opportunities for a child who shows specific talent and interest in any area. Through homeschooling, parents have the ability to tailor the childs education to fit the specific needs in order to enhance the true abilities of their child. A very artistic child may need only a little time www.superchargehomeschooling.com
devoted to reading, writing, and mathematics, while needing many hours each day to explore their artistic nature. A child who craves math will need to know how to read, but more than anything else needs time and freedom to explore the yearning for a has
mathematical
reality.
The
student
who
discovered a passion and a dream who has the freedom and time to chase that dream has a remarkable opportunity to flourish and excel.
4. Socialization
Socialization is a big issue among the homeschooling community. Time and time again the issue of
socialization rears its ugly head when opponents of homeschooling try to degrade the idea by saying that homeschoolers lack socialization. What is
socialization anyway? Socialization is the process by which a child learns the social norms of their culture; socialization includes learning morals, values, social expectations, proper public behaviors, etiquette, manners, and the skills needed to function effectively in society.
In essence, the environment where children spend most of their time, the people they are around, and the behaviors and attitudes which are rewarded in that environment are the elements that influence how a child is socialized. Many homeschooling parents
look into the inner workings of the public school system and realize that the Lord of the Flies type of environment, where children begin to create their own social structure and hierarchy, is rampant. This
occurs regularly in schools, and is not what many parents want for their children. Many parents understand that there is a proper ratio of adults to children if they are to be raised properly. That ratio lands around natural family numbers: two adults for roughly every one to six children (or more in larger families. More than a dozen children in a family is extremely rare today, but even in that scenario the adult to child ratio is still one to six in a dual parent household. Compare that to an average school
classroom, where the average fourth grade class could have twenty five children and only one supervising adult. In this situation, the other children soon become the socializing agents, not the adult. Children, in their ignorance and immaturity, begin to www.superchargehomeschooling.com
decide amongst themselves what is right and how to handle each other. At this point, bullying, sex, peer pressure, apathy, and lack of respect for the adult minority begin to run rampant. Fortunately, many parents choose to take action and be the predominant influence in their childrens lives. But parents still have to work against the outside influences affecting their children, such as their peers, teachers, television, and the internet. Through
homeschooling, those influences are minimized, and the love and respect inside the family are
emphasized. By homeschooling, parents can solidify foundations in their child before the child is faced with too many opinions and options; in this way, parents give their child the tools they will need to navigate through life.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was schooled at home until he was nine years old. He spent his childhood enjoying an idyllic life in rural Virginia on the edge of a new frontier where he gained a love of nature and the outdoors. At age nine, he began his formal education studying with classically trained tutors and was a voracious student Greek French and Latin. At age seventeen Jefferson enrolled at the college of William and Mary, graduating at age twenty with honors.
Many homeschoolers use A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille as a guide to leadership and classical education. The focus of a Thomas Jefferson inspired education is more on mentorship than professorship and classic works instead of textbooks. TJED strives to inspire greatness and leadership abilities in students.
Chapter 3
How to Homeschool
Homeschooling is first and foremost a unique and fluid endeavor. No two people homeschool quite the same way. A parent may even homeschool siblings differently depending on what is appropriate for each child and the natural tendencies of the individual child. There are some basic categories of homeschooling, but it is important to note that mixing styles, using one for a time and then switching to another, and changing styles as children grow and mature is ok. In fact, no child stays the same forever and the flexibility afforded by homeschooling is one of its great benefits. Using all of the styles and switching when appropriate is common, healthy, and should be encouraged. A common story in homeschooling is for children to start out Unschooling, very free, open, and child based. As the child grows and becomes more
mature, a tighter structure becomes useful to introduce more difficult or academic topics and to prepare a child for the discipline and rigor of college. However a parent tackles homeschooling, the ability to do whatever your child most needs at any given time is one of the beautiful parts of the decision to homeschool.
Agatha Christie
On September 15, 1890, Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, England to Frederick and Clara Christie. Frederick was very outgoing, but Clara was quite shy. While Agathas older sisters received regular schooling, Agatha was very shy like Clara, and Clara felt that Agatha should be taught at home. Her father taught her arithmetic until his death in 1901. Agatha taught herself to read at age 5, even though her mother had scheduled to teach her to read when she was 8. The Christie home was full of books and newspapers, and Clara taught Agatha history and general studies. In her teen years, Agatha delved into the stories of Sherlock Holmes.
1. Unschooling
Unschooling is a very common form of
homeschooling, especially when a family first starts to homeschool. The term Unschooling is somewhat
hard to define, because by its very nature it is completely determined by the individual. In the
homeschooling community, when a parent realizes www.superchargehomeschooling.com
that they must pull their child out of school, there is almost always a pronounced adjustment period where the child just needs to de-school, meaning that they need time to let go of what school has always meant and to be open to something new. Often parents
need to allow a period of time where they allow their child to be free to simply relax and pursue their own interests unencumbered by a strict regime. This
usually leads to Unschooling, which in its simplest terms means learning without school. Unschoolers
know that most learning happens organically without a school building, textbooks, or certified teachers. In 1964, John Holt wrote How Children Fail, and then in 1967 wrote How Children Learn. Holt was a great advocate of the idea that children will learn no matter what. He felt that the most important thing adults
could do was to be with their children, talk with them, listen to them, and follow their lead. The idea that learning only took place inside a school building was repugnant to Holt. He was a huge advocate for
including children in the lives of adults instead of separating them into age segregated groups with only each other to look to for guidance. In How Children Learn, he wrote: www.superchargehomeschooling.com
"Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all we need to do, is bring as much of the world as we can into the school and classroom (in our case, into their lives); give children as much help and guidance as they ask for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
In essence, to unschool means to be open to any and all learning possibilities. The role of the parents or adult is mainly to be available to support the child, have discussions with them which often lead to opportunities for passing on knowledge. The adults need to create a rich learning environment filled with books, art supplies, trips to the library just to browse, time to wander through museums with no agenda in mind, and time outside to explore nature.
Unschoolers see learning as life and life as learning. Education happens while living, not while set apart www.superchargehomeschooling.com
from life and sequestered inside a school building. Unschooling means to go back to our most basic inclination as humans: to learn.
2. Classical Schooling
The core of a classical educational model is the Trivium, which simply means a model which
addresses the appropriate mode of learning for the corresponding age and maturity level. The grammar stage corresponds to elementary school. This age is open to absorbing facts and memorizing. During this stage young children are building a large database of facts and skills; they are amassing a strong foundation of knowledge on which to lay higher level thinking in higher grades. The grammar stage
focuses on tools such as understanding language, numbers, and basic laws of science. Children love to learn, this phase takes advantage of that natural ability to absorb facts by filling the childs mind with important facts which will be analyzed in the next phase. A classical model includes a lot of and drilling. In recent years
memorization
memorization and drilling have been downplayed, labeled as harsh, cruel, and unnecessary. The focus www.superchargehomeschooling.com
has turned to authentic education and childcentered learning. This organic child centered
education has its place, but parents who use the classical model also understand that to be truly creative and to have the ability to really succeed, one needs tools and a certain amount of rote, automatic knowledge. It is hard to build a beautiful bridge
without excellent math skills. It is hard to move to higher level math without a firm grasp of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A student
can never do simple addition if they do not first memorize their numbers. Classical education
understands that without a firm grasp of basic skills and knowledge, a child will always be at a disadvantage. The second phase is the logic phase, where the child begins to take the knowledge they have amassed and analyze it. During this phase, the middle school
years, children naturally begin to question everything from their parents to their teacher to their textbooks. The logic phase comes alongside the student and helps them to focus their questions into logical answers and how to properly analyze information to come to logical conclusions. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
The final stage is the rhetoric stage.
In the high
school years, students learn how to take their broad base of factual knowledge and their ability to analyze and conclude logically to now form their own suppositions and learn how to express their thoughts and conclusions coherently and authentically. The
final phase of the trivium focuses on the student not only expressing themselves, but doing it eloquently in both written and verbal form. It is important to understand that although in a school setting the stages are loosely categorized by age level, the trivium is a lifelong process. When a person begins to learn a new skill at any age, he or she will start at the grammar stage, learn the basics, and move on from there. Classical homeschooling
emphasizes mastery of the facts of a subject before using those facts to ask intelligent questions and analyze the world around them. The classical education model places high emphasis on the arts, history, and literature, particularly Western civilization and ancient civilizations. classical education usually includes Latin, A and
sometimes Greek. Latin is included because it is the www.superchargehomeschooling.com
foundation for the Germanic and Teutonic languages. For the student who knows Latin, all other language study becomes easier, and exposure to Latin increases comprehension in the study of science, medicine, and law. Latin increases SAT scores,
improves logical thinking skills, and improves ordered thinking as well. Original sources are an important part of a classical education. Students use fewer textbooks and more novels and essays. Reading what Homer or
Benjamin Franklin actually wrote takes the place of reading about them in a textbook. Students learn
about time periods through the writings of the people who were there. A classical education emphasized reading classic works in their full form, not excerpts or abridged versions.
3. Eclectic Homeschooling
The eclectic homeschooler looks around and takes bits and pieces from any and all styles and curricula. The truth is that most homeschoolers are at their base eclectic. Drilling the ABCs but allowing freedom to explore whatever element of science suits the childs www.superchargehomeschooling.com
fancy is typical of eclectic homeschooling. It takes some courage on the part of the parent to boldly take responsibility for tailoring each area of a childs education and having the courage to try a new curriculum, but dump it two weeks later because it just isnt a good fit for the student. It is not uncommon for new homeschooling parents to start out with a specific curriculum to give themselves and their child some structure and guidelines. Later on the parents may see that the math in this curriculum suits their child perfectly, but they would rather generate English and writing assignments themselves to fit their child better. Sometimes a curriculum will spur a family to head off in another direction for a while before returning to the original plan. For eclectic homeschoolers, nothing is off limits and all possibilities are welcome. Eclectic homeschoolers may spend most of their time Unschooling and following the lead of their child. But when it comes to math, they realize the necessity of drilling and math fact memorization. Or a parent may bemoan their
own lack of historical knowledge and be very diligent about teaching their child important dates in history. historical facts and
Knowing when to drop
something that isnt working and knowing when to stick it out because even though its hard, the student is showing progress, does take some time to figure out. But flexibility is key in eclectic homeschooling, and in homeschooling in general. Realizing that your style is eclectic is usually just that: a realization. Along the homeschool journey, parents begin to see that they have naturally learned how to follow what works, drop what doesnt, and when to persevere. Families rarely choose a style and decide that is what they will do. Most homeschoolers end up a bit eclectic.
4. School at Home
Sometimes a family will choose to create school at home which mimics the regular school day. While
this is a more uncommon way to homeschool, it can work for different reasons. Sometime a parent will only be planning to homeschool for a specific amount of time and therefore wants to maintain a school atmosphere so that their child will be ready when they go back to school. Sometimes a family is just
naturally very structured and is very comfortable www.superchargehomeschooling.com
starting at a specific time each day, reciting the pledge of allegiance, working on specific subjects for specific times, and breaking for lunch at exactly 11:45 each day. If this style works for a family, then they should do it. Having school at home also lends itself to the use of the local schools curriculum and resources, which can make the childs re-entrance into the local school much easier. The family schedule and other personal obligations may make a strict school at home format the only way to successfully homeschool.
Maeda Hanafi
While she is just like other 13 year olds in many respects, Maeda Hanafi entered the University of New Haven in the fall of 2009. Maedas father has a marine engineering degree and degrees in computer science and her mother has training in economics. By second grade, Maeda was bored in her local elementary school, and her parents decided that she would do better at home. After five years homeschooling, Maeda was ready to attend college. She already had 15 college credits by the time she would have finished seventh grade. In school, Maeda found that she played too much and really wasnt learning very much. Homeschooling helped her to concentrate on learning. Her parents feel strongly about teaching a love of learning and also about teaching their faith and values. For them, building good character and morals is very important. Maeda is involved in her mosque and has tutored her peers in Arabic. Maeda also enjoys playing with her friends and doing all the usual things that a 13 year old does, but she also is a step ahead in planning her future and preparing for success.
Chapter 4
How to Advance While Homeschooling
Once a family decided that homeschooling is right for them, they face many questions and concerns. One concern is how to manage their time and be sure that they are moving at a proper pace. The way a family chooses to homeschool has a lot of influence on this question because unschoolers often feel that
advancement is not as important as the child developing in their own way and picking up the information they need to know on their own timeline. One thing to consider when deciding to homeschool is where do you hope to end up? While no parent
knows exactly where they are headed with their child and cannot foresee what the future holds, usually the parent and child have an idea where they want to end up. Considering where you and your child plan to be in a year or two will help you plan your advancement If you know that you will only be homeschooling for a short time and that your child will most likely be returning to school, then it may be to your advantage to plan to advance right alongside the school. Get curriculum and lesson plans from the school or other teachers. Follow the schools plan with regard to
subjects, time spent on each subject, and project www.superchargehomeschooling.com
timelines.
This will help keep you in line with the
school and help to ensure that your student has a smooth transition back into school. Most homeschoolers find themselves having no idea how long they will homeschool. They feel that
homeschooling is right for them now, but maybe their children will go to school some day. Maybe. Or
maybe not. The key to homeschooling is flexibility. But you still need to be able to manage your time and keep your student on the right track.
1. Talk to Other Homeschoolers

This may be the very best advice in any area of homeschooling. Getting together with other
homeschoolers will help you see what other people are doing and how it is working for them. Most
seasoned homeschoolers will be able to help you to compare what you are doing to what others are doing and how your child is doing compared to other homeschooled children. But do not misunderstand
this thought. The idea is not to compare and make a judgment call on yourself or someone else. It is to gain valuable information about where others are, www.superchargehomeschooling.com
where you are, and to help you see that maybe you need to step things up a bit, or maybe your child is sailing along ahead of the others. Having a gauge simply helps you realize that you might want to focus more on a subject that you hadnt thought about until a fellow homeschooler mentions that they have been studying that topic. Most homeschoolers will tell you that watching and spending time with your child will be all that you need to know if they are advancing.
2. Testing
Most states require registered homeschoolers to periodically take standardized test just like their public schooled peers. These tests are useful for showing where a homeschooled student stands in relation to the other entire student their age or in their grade. Testing can be very useful for showing parents where the gaps are in their childs education. It is not
uncommon for a homeschooling parent to say Oh my! I hadnt even thought about studying that area yet. Test can also show where a child has a real weakness, such as in multiplication facts. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Testing is NOT the greatest factor in assessing your childs abilities or educational level. Mandated state tests should be seen as one measuring tool which can be useful in the total evaluation of a students progress.
3. Time Management
While each person needs to find their own personal way to manage their time, there are a few techniques which help. Just remember that when you first start homeschooling, your entire family is entering into a learning process. A large part of homeschooling is integrating learning into everyday life; homeschoolers understand that teaching and learning should be part of our everyday life, not separated from it. Embrace your own part of the process as a student of homeschooling. Dont expect that everything will go exactly as you picture it immediately. Adjusting to the new processes that are taking place in your home will take some time. Consider your and your childs
natural tendencies, then consider what you hope to accomplish. Be patient and stay flexible. Again, its very important to realize that this is a process, and the
journey is the important part, so just relax, do your best, and keep improving Purchase planners and calendars. Think about how your want to organize your household and your homeschooling schedule. It is helpful to have a large monthly calendar where you and your children record all of their activities and obligations. Teach your
children to plan ahead and to be organized. Teaching a child how to use a planner is a wonderful skill. Implementing the discipline to use a planner regularly will help them to stay organized throughout their lives. Keeping a planner will save them time and frustration and help them to reach their goals. Backward scheduling is a great tool on a long term basis and on a daily basis. Look ahead at the end of the year and think about where you want to be and what subjects or skills you want to have covered. Work backward to create a map of how you want to get there. Not only will you feel more secure that you are covering everything you need to cover, but you will be motivated daily to do what you need to do to reach your goals. It is ok to follow the local public schools schedule, or to adjust your plan to fit what www.superchargehomeschooling.com
you feel is important. Also, remember that this is a guide, but it is not set in stone. It is like using a map when you go on vacation. You have a destination in mind and a plan to get there. That doesnt mean that you wont decide to take a more scenic route for part of the trip or that you wont see an attraction that you werent aware of and decide to stop and experience it. But you will know where your destination is and how to get back on track to end up in the right place. Plan ahead for dealing with distractions. The
telephone is definitely one of the greatest distractions known to modern man. And not only do we now have our home phone, but our cell phones to manage as well. Its a good idea to turn the ringer off during
homeschool hours. There is no law saying that you have to answer the phone or that anyone who calls deserves your immediate attention. Use the vibrate setting on your cell phone so that you will be notified of important calls, but the call wont interrupt your children while they are working. Text messaging can be a benefit here, since you can quickly and quietly answer important communication with minimal
disruption to your learning environment. Also, once you have established a routine, let the people in your www.superchargehomeschooling.com
life know when you are available to talk and when you will not communicate with them because you are schooling. Be firm. If people know they can interrupt, they will. Some telephone companies offer a service which allows you to set specific times during the day when you will not be accepting phone calls. The
caller will receive a message stating that the number is not taking calls at this time. However, you will have a code that your spouse or anyone who truly may need to contact you may use which will allow their call to come through. Check with your local telephone
company to see if this is an option. It will save you a lot of time wasted to interruptions. Discipline yourself regarding e-mail and internet. These are huge distractions that usually end up sucking much more time than you plan. Give yourself a limit, or set one time each day to check e-mail. Put it in your schedule so that in your head you know you will be able to get to it, then set a timer so that you will not lose track of time. Set goals. Look ahead and make yearly goals,
weekly goals, and daily goals. Having a goal helps you remember where you are headed. Involve your www.superchargehomeschooling.com
children in setting goals for themselves. One child may want to master cursive writing by Summer. Another may plan to read the entire Seerah series by next spring. Goals can be anything, such as grasping algebra, doing household chores, flossing daily, covering the 1400 years ago, or measuring rainfall every day for a month. Assess your progress regularly. Check in on whether goals have been met and become aware of subjects which take much longer than planned or are going much faster than planned. Regular consistent
assessment of your progress will help you adjust the schedule accordingly. This also helps you see where you are losing time so that you can take action to remedy the situation. Just as importantly, you will be able to clearly see where you are meeting your deadlines and how much you and your children are accomplishing. Homeschooling can be a fairly
solitary endeavor, and seeing the strides your children are making and having a clear record of their accomplishments will inspire you to keep going. Another side benefit will be your ability to clearly state what your children have learned so far when you are confronted by naysayers and doubters. That good
feeling of accomplishment and the confidence you will have is priceless. Create a Do Not Disturb sign. It is a simple strategy, but can make a huge difference. Your sign might be as simple as black sharpie on a piece of paper; or you can have your children create an elaborately decorated sign. Stick it to your door every morning before you start working. Better yet, put a nail or
hook in the wall next to your front door to hang your sign on. Put the Do Not Disturb message on one
side, and Welcome on the other side. Neighborhood children will get the message and stop ringing your doorbell as soon as you start studying. Other stay at home moms will get the message that you arent available for coffee and chit chat until later in the day. Salesman will think twice before bothering you. The Do Not Disturb sign puts you in control of the interruptions which will show up at your door. Make your goals public. After joining a
homeschooling play group or support group, share your goals with other members of the group. Making goals public adds a sense of responsibility and also opens you up to encouragement and support. www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Homeschoolers can be a fringe group and they tend to band together to support each other. You will have no problem finding other homeschoolers who will agree to hold you accountable and will be willing to get together regularly to assess their progress. Your new homeschooling friends will also be there to help you get through difficult times. When you have
periods where you feel like you are hitting a wall or cant seem to get through a subject, your
homeschooling cohorts will help you brainstorm new ways to approach the topic. They will share their own experiences and share different strategies which they have found useful and may even share resources, such as books or curriculum they are finished with. Soon you will find yourself sharing and helping other new homeschoolers as well.
Chapter 5
Patience While Homeschooling
All parents know that having children requires patience, but when a parent considers
homeschooling, they often wonder if they will have the patience to be with their child all day every day and be able to accomplish everything they hope to accomplish. Relax. Its not as hard as it sounds. First, remember that having and raising a child is natural. Our society has programmed us to think that our tiny 5 year old should be trucked off to another building to be taught and that we as parents dont have the training to handle, teach, and raise our own children. But we do. You do. InshAllaah. (God-Willing) Just like with everything else in life, there are times when you experience smooth sailing and everything just falls into place perfectly. But there will be days when the people around you, your child included, will not cooperate and will seem to want the opposite of what you want and are determined to undermine everything you have set out to do. Realizing that
having bad days and going through difficult times with your child is NORMAL will help you remain calm and stay the course. Having a difficult child or a hard time www.superchargehomeschooling.com
sticking to a teaching schedule is ok. Having days when you think you cant do it or think you are ruining your child are NORMAL. Wondering why you decided to do this and fantasizing about all the fun stuff you could be doing if you would just stick your kid on that bus every morning is NORMAL. DO NOT let any of these thoughts or feelings deter you. Remember that what you are doing is an investment, and just like all investments, it can be painful at times. We dont
always want to exercise, but it is an investment in our health. We would rather buy something fun than put money in the bank and save it, but it is an investment. Each parent will need to find their own way to stay calm and save their patience while homeschooling, but there are a few things that will help, inshAllaah.
1. Network
The most important resource you will ever have while you homeschool is other homeschoolers. This cannot be stressed enough. As soon as you decide to
homeschool, or better yet, as soon as you start thinking about it, find other homeschoolers and get connected. These days most areas have homeschool groups and classes where homeschoolers can get to www.superchargehomeschooling.com
know each other and share their stories. The word home in homeschooling is a bit of a misnomer, because most homeschoolers spend more time out in the world than their public schooled counterparts. Dont try to homeschool in a vacuum! Feeling alone and isolated can make anyone feel depressed and anxious. Get involved, meet new people, and get
your child involved in activities outside your home. Meeting with other homeschoolers, getting involved in homeschool classes, planning trips to the zoo or local museums with other homeschoolers, and joining online forums to share information about
homeschooling will save your sanity and keep you excited. Homeschoolers in general love to share their experiences and are very supportive. Getting to know others and developing a support system is
indispensible. Every parent begins to lose patience and feel stressed out at times. Getting involved in a local homeschool class, whether it be Quraan, Arabic, martial arts, science, or any other topic, is incredibly helpful. Knowing that you have some time when you know your child will be learning something useful, at the same time and you will be able to relax and talk with other homeschooling parents about your
struggles and triumphs is incredibly helpful. You will find that a little time each week when someone else takes over and you can connect with other adults will refresh you and give you renewed patience and strength.
2. Read and Research

Stay active in your search for knowledge about homeschooling.Reading stories about other
successful homeschoolers will help keep you excited and renew your resolve. Also, while reading and
researching you may stumble upon just the right new idea that you need for your child. Or you may read a story about a homeschooler who struggled through a situation just like yours and seeing how they handled it will help you handle your own situation. You never know when a particular book or article about homeschooling will trigger an ah ha! moment and get your out of a rut or inspire you and renew your strength.
Take Time for Yourself

Homeschooling requires a lot of your time and energy. Just like the emergency instructions on an www.superchargehomeschooling.com
airplane when the flight attendant reminds you to put your own oxygen mask on before helping your children, you need to have your own well being in mind so that you are able to take on the task of homeschooling. Other parents who send their
children off to school may not truly understand the sacrifices of time and energy which you will be expending while you homeschool. Schedule a small amount of time each day if you can to be alone to do whatever you want to do. A half hour of exercise, reading, walking in the woods, napping, listening to music, or whatever feeds your mind and soul makes a huge difference in your personal well being. Whether you need to be soothed or energized, take the time and make it a priority. Do not make yourself a martyr for the needs of your children. Sacrificing too much of yourself wont do any of you any good. Many
homeschooling parents find that trading an afternoon of babysitting or play dates works great. Knowing that you will have, say, every Wednesday afternoon to yourself can help keep you in shape for the great journey of homeschooling.
Chapter 6
Socialization
Socialization seems to be the question which comes up regularly, especially from those outside the homeschooling world. In todays world most people are programmed to believe that children need to be in groups of other children to learn how to socialize. Nothing could be further from the truth. Socialization is first and foremost the responsibility of parents. Children arent born knowing how to properly socialize with others. Certainly they are born with a need to socialize and naturally want to socialize. The
question is how they socialize and who do they socialize with. When you decide to homeschool, you also are choosing to take the bulk of the responsibility for the socialization of your children and the influences which you allow and the influences you encourage in their lives. For homeschoolers, socialization takes on a true world view. Instead of sitting in a classroom full of students who are all the same age, live in the same area, and probably have a similar socioeconomic background, homeschoolers have the world at their fingertips. The freedom of homeschooling allows your children to interact regularly with people of all ages and backgrounds. Some homeschoolers take their
school on the road and travel extensively, exposing their children to a wide range of experiences and people. Even taking your children with you while you run errands expose them to the folks at the post office, your friendly bank teller, or the kindly produce manager at your favorite grocery store. Having control of your daily schedule without having to work around the public school schedule means that you can plan a morning of volunteering at the local senior center where your children can interact with elderly people. An experience like this allows your children the opportunity to not only learn from people who have a wealth of life experience and a host of interesting stories, but to feel comfortable with people of different ages. Teaching your children the
importance of spending time with elderly people and showing respect and deference to the elderly is a truly noble goal. Many homeschooled children are at ease with people of all ages, more so than their sequestered public school counterparts. Your children will need time with other children, but not nearly as much as society would have you believe. Again, YOU are the main influence in your www.superchargehomeschooling.com
childrens lives. But it doesnt take too much effort to be sure you children have time to play with other children and have the opportunity to make and have friends. This is another area where getting involved with homeschool support groups will be indispensible. Spending time with other homeschoolers will give you and your children a chance to make friends. Homeschool groups also often plan activities such as a trip to the zoo or to the local museum. Getting
together with other folks of like mind is a wonderful experience. You will have a chance to hook up with people who share your values and education philosophies. Homeschoolers always share great
classes they have found for homeschoolers, such as Quraan, Arabic, martial arts, science, sports, and art. Dont forget that your child can also participate in sports and organizations like boy scouts and girl scouts, along with Mosque groups and volunteer groups. However, as a homeschooling family, you
have the opportunity to watch other peoples children and decide whether you want to encourage those friendships your child creates. Sometimes you will
find that your child may gravitate toward other children who dont behave properly or who dont www.superchargehomeschooling.com
share your values. This is a great time to teach your children how to be discerning and particular about who they let in to their inner circle. This isnt to teach discrimination, but to practice maintaining proper space between people. For example, you may enroll your child in a martial arts class. As you watch the class, you will notice how different children behave, and a child who is out of control and has anger issues may not be the child you want to be your childs best friend. Certainly in the class setting, you want your child to be friendly to all the other children and to treat them all fairly. But you can encourage your childs friendship with children who show the qualities you want for your child. By homeschooling, you virtually eliminate the common dilemma of discovering that while at school your child has formed a strong friendship with a child who is a bad influence. While your child is at school, you have no control over how your child interacts with problem children or how much time they spend with that child. Again, please remember that you are not teaching discrimination, but discernment. Teaching your child to gravitate
toward people who are good influences and will build your child up is essential. Guiding your children as www.superchargehomeschooling.com
they choose friendships and relationships is crucial and very rewarding.
Christopher Paolini
In 2003, Christopher Palolini published his first book, Eragon. Christophers mother, Talita, stayed home to raise her son and began educating him using the Montessori Method. Due to the cost of curriculum materials, she began developing her own lessons and activities. When the time came for Christopher to attend school, his parents were concerned that he would be bored in a regular classroom, so they made a conscious decision to live a simple life so that they could devote most of their time to homeschooling their children. At the age of fifteen, Christopher graduated from high school, and had begun working seriously on his writing. He has always been fascinated by science fiction and fantasy, and was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey. In 2002, he first published Eragon. The family struggled during that first year, but in 2003 Eragon took off and became a major success, bringing in a six figure income. Christopher has also written two sequels to Eragon and the book has been made into a major motion picture. Christopher credits the support of his parents and the environment they created for him as the key to his success.
Chapter 7
Which Curriculum Should I Get?
Choosing a curriculum for homeschooling is tricky business. When a family starts thinking about
homeschooling, one of the first questions they ask is what do I use? Homeschooling requires a different mindset when it comes to gigantic questions, such as What do I teach? covering When do I teach it? While these are Am I good
everything?
questions, they arent always the most important questions. What you teach, when, and how, depend a lot on you, your child, the ages of your children, and the interests of everyone involved. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with many curricula so you know what is out there, and then consider your own needs. The best way to begin looking into curricula is while networking. Veteran homeschoolers are a wealth of knowledge regarding curriculum. As you begin to
make friends with other homeschoolers and begin to gravitate towards those who are of like mind, they can give you information about what they have tried, what worked, what didnt work, what they liked or didnt like, and how different curricula works for different kids.
Another great bonus regarding networking and curricula as you network is that you may run into people who are nearly finished with their curriculum and are willing to pass it on to you for free or a very low price. This is a great way to try out a curriculum and see if it will work for you. Networking online can also open up avenues for finding used curricula which you can try for minimal cost. As you think about the tools you will use for your homeschooling, take into consideration your own personal situation. Your child may already show that they are a very visual learner, and therefore you want to look for a curriculum which is geared in that direction. A curriculum which is mainly online or
computer based may appeal to you, or you may really want your child focusing on reading real books and writing on paper with a pencil for now. There are some good books out there which will give you an overview of what your child should learn at each age level. By reading these books before you begin, you will have a better understanding of what you need and want to cover. Using these books may also convince you that you dont need to purchase a www.superchargehomeschooling.com
curriculum and that you can find most of what you need at the library or local bookstore. Following are just a few of the excellent books available which will be very helpful throughout your homeschooling journey
Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch

The Core Knowledge philosophy is based on the book Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch. Hirsch stresses the idea that knowledge builds on knowledge, and that every child needs a base of knowledge in order to function well in society and to pursue higher education. Reading Cultural Literacy will give you a well rounded view of what you will want to cover by the end of your homeschool journey. You may want to add or leave out topics or reading materials, but this book is an excellent guide.
The What Your ___ Grader Needs to Know series by E.D. Hirsch
This series of books also by E.D. Hirsch lays out the necessary skills and knowledge a student should know by grade level from kindergarten through eighth www.superchargehomeschooling.com
grade. These books are another excellent resource for finding gaps in knowledge which your child may have. It is a good idea to peruse the grade level both before and after the grade your child should be in. For instance, if you have a child who would be in second grade, reading What Your Child Needs to Know in First Grade, What Your Child Needs to Know in Second Grade, and What Your Child Needs to Know in Third Grade allows will for, be and very helpful.
Homeschooling
encourages,
education to be personal. You may need to address kindergarten math skills with your second grader, but find that your second grader is ready for reading materials at the third grade level. This series of books will help you find out where you need to focus your attention for your particular student.
The Educated Child: A Parents Guide from Preschool Through Eighth Grade by
William Bennett
William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, wrote this book as a guide for schools and parents to understand the basics that need to be addressed at every age. The Educated Child is another excellent www.superchargehomeschooling.com
tool which parents can use as a guide to be sure they are covering important aspects of their childs education.
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer

This is another excellent resource for finding out what you need to address while homeschooling. The WellTrained Mind is a classically based guide to what a child needs to know at each age level. Using the
Trivium, a guide to the three stages of learning, Bauer lays out what children need to know at each grade level and also how to approach the knowledge according to the stage of learning that your student is in. The Well Trained Mind is unique in that it covers topics which may not be covered in modern curricula, such as logic and rhetoric, and also focuses on using classic literature to teach important lessons.
Alex and Brett Harris
Alex and Brett Harris are the authors of Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectation which was published in 2008. The book is a battle cry calling out to teenagers to resist the temptation to accept low expectations. The Harris brothers believe strongly in the abilities of teenagers to do more than play video games and hang out. In 2005, the Harris brothers founded TheRebelution.com, a website which promotes a rebellion against the widely accepted idea that teenagers are lazy and spend their time causing trouble. The boys were homeschooled by homeschooling pioneers Gregg and Sono Harris. Brett and Alex feel that homeschooling allowed them the freedom to follow their interests and to really focus on whatever project was important to them at the time. They also feel that their parents reasons for homeschooling, a yearning for excellence and higher standards, led them to their philosophy and paved the way for their accomplishments. The Harris brothers currently attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia, and they are regular contributors to numerous magazines and speak at conferences nationwide.
Sample
Curricula
Used
by
Homeschoolers: SuperCharge Home Schooling

This curriculum is designed and done for the Muslims, but Non-Muslims may also benefit tremendously from it. The curriculum is still being completed, inshAllaah it will be from teaching your 3 year old to read to Pre K-12th grade. Right now it has The Power of By the end of 2011
Reading, Pre K, and K.
inshAllaah they are hoping to have grades 1-8 done. By the end of 2012 their hoping to have high school finished as well, inshAllaah. This curriculum is different than others because Zohra Sarwari is actually homeschooling her 3 kids, plus one more child right now. She has gone from teaching them to read to the 8th grade level right now. She is particular about how they learn, and what type of knowledge should be in books. Due to books
having so many bad themes even early on, she knew that Muslims needed a righteous curriculum. Since Muslims do not date, drink, eat pork, and do other www.superchargehomeschooling.com
unrighteous behavior, literature would have to be taught in a righteous way, not based on what a few thought was literature. This curriculum is for every parent who wants to teach their child to be righteous, pious, and obtain knowledge that will help them with those character building skills.
Calvert
The Calvert school began in 1905 when the Calvert Day schools headmaster, Virgil Hill pushed for the sale of the schools curriculum to families who were unable to send their children to the day school. Harvard trained Hillyard believed that a good education should be available to everyone and that the whole realm of knowledge is the true field of study and that school is not he preparation for life-it is life. Hillyard continued to promote the sale of the curriculum for five dollars, and found that there was a great demand for a curriculum which could be used in the home. Soon the Calvert curriculum was in use around the world. Children overseas with missionary parents were receiving Calvert lesson, as were www.superchargehomeschooling.com
children in remote areas where their lessons were delivered by boat or airplane. Calvert has also been used for many years military families around the world. Today Calvert is more popular than ever and has also kept up with technological advances, offering
computer based software. Also, each Calvert student has personalized access to valuable online resources, enrichment courses, technology support, and
educational advising.
Oak Meadow
Oak Meadow is a homeschool resource and has a physical school in Vermont. They have been in
business for 35b years, and have developed a whole child approach to education, and believe that education should speak to every aspect of the child. Lessons integrate all learning styles, encourage the use of multiple intelligences, and accommodate all types of learners, including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
Children are encouraged to express their knowledge through writing, painting, drawing, building, and creative play. Oak Meadow supports age appropriate lessons and is highly aware of each childs
developmental needs. Parents can choose to use a complete curriculum, including 36 weekly lesson plans, teacher manuals, activities, and supplementary materials, or choose only the specific books and lessons which you need. flexibility and Oak Meadow offers support to
homeschooling
homeschooling families all over the world.
Connections Academy
Connections Academy is tool which can be used by homeschoolers, but is also a fully accredited public school which is accessed from home. By enrolling in Connections, your child is technically enrolled in a public school. Connections offers a quality curriculum and utilizes certified teachers. Perhaps the best thing about Connections is that because it is actually a public school, it is free. Connections is a good choice for parents who feel comfortable with what public school offers, but are too www.superchargehomeschooling.com
far from a local school. Parents who want to maintain family togetherness and to be closely involved in their childs education may choose Connections. Families who have been homeschooling and feel prepared to take a step toward school will also find Connections a nice bridge to the structure and requirements of regular school.
Chapter 8
History
Homeschooling is an educational option which many people dont know about or dont understand. Compulsory public education is a fairly new idea which has only been around for about 150 years. From ancient times up until the 1800s, education was mainly the responsibility of the family. Children were raised by their parents and taught the necessities of surviving, whether on farms, frontiers, villages, or cities. Education began at home learning to farm,
hunt, build, and sew. Often children learned a trade from their parents. There was a time when children usually followed in their parents footsteps, becoming blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, and even leaders or their tribe or town. As the world moved closer to the Industrial age, human beings were becoming more specialized, and fewer families were one hundred percent self sufficient. People were specializing and hiring out
work more and more often. As this shift in economics came about and government was growing and branching out, the need for common knowledge for all people became a growing concern, particularly in the United States, where an unprecedented mixture of
cultures, languages, and histories were coming together to form a new country. In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to enact a compulsory attendance law requiring children to attend public school. 16 states had compulsoryattendance laws by 1885, and all states had enacted such laws by 1918. In the early years of government mandated school attendance, these laws were rarely enforced and sporadically adhered to. As the
industrial age came into being, the need for factory workers increased, and the need for people with specific and uniform skills grew. Education became less about raising children and more about creating workers. Although general education was still
important, education of the masses to create a strong workforce was the goal. The humble beginnings of public education have their basis in good intentions. The idea that all children should have access to free education is a great. However, when the idea becomes a government funded and government run operation, some changes come about which parents and educators didnt expect. As time has gone by, public school has
become more about its own business operations and less about each individual child. The places where public schools fall behind are the places where homeschoolers have decided to pick up the pieces. In fact, most homeschooling families do so from the very beginning, considering regular school only when their students are older and mature enough to handle the pressures and influences of school.
One Homeschooling Familys Story

I suppose our story began before my children were even born, when I was finishing my education degree. During my student teaching, I began to see so many issues and difficulties with the modern educational system. I found that so many of my efforts to really teach something important were stifled in the regular school. Bells interrupted important conversations.
Taking roll and keeping grades were important, but took up so much valuable learning time. The
vastness of the abilities in each classroom made it difficult to really make a difference, either for those who were behind, or those who were ahead. Real www.superchargehomeschooling.com
and true learning was often disrupted by bad behavior, and one or two students could easily kill a whole class period of learning. I loved to teach, but regular public school seemed to almost be set up in a way that extinguished even the possibility of success.
When my son was born, I was so enamored of him, that I knew he simply had to become my number one priority. I worked very part time as a substitute
teacher, and spent the rest of my time raising my son. When he was three, my daughter was born. I continued to work, but had my hands pretty full. I enjoyed watching them grow and learn. When people ask me about homeschooling and whether or not they are qualified to do it, I remind them that all parents are teachers from the beginning when we teach our children to walk, talk, and eat.
Soon I realized that kindergarten was approaching for my son. The thought made me nervous. I had now spent five years behind the scenes in public schools, and had not always been happy with what I saw in the students, teachers, and administration. So far I had been teaching my own children and all was going www.superchargehomeschooling.com
great. My son was beginning to read and could count quite well. When I thought of him leaving me for most of the day and thought about someone else taking over my position as number one teacher, I would literally feel sick. I had to laugh a bit when a neighbor asked me if I was taking my son to kindergarten round-up. When did we decide to refer to our
children with the same terms we use for cattle?
Besides my background in regular education, I began to study homeschooling. In the past, I had taught two high school students who mentioned to me that they had been homeschooled. These two students were so impressive that I began to see this as a very viable option. I started reading books and looking into
homeschooling groups. What I saw appealed to me as a teacher and as a mother.
When the first day of kindergarten came, I was still a little nervous. I admit that the decision to homeschool was pretty passive; I watched the clock that day, and when I saw that the school day was well under way without us, I thought to myself, Well, it looks like we are homeschooling. Maybe it was a big decision, but www.superchargehomeschooling.com
it was really just us continuing to live our lives. I still read to my kids every day, we colored, did puzzles, practiced math, worked on writing, and whatever else caught our attention. My son showed and obsession with insects, for example, so he spent a lot of time catching bugs and reading about bugs. I found a
book from the library which taught how to draw bugs, and he made a book of bug drawings with descriptions and information about the different bugs. We laminated it, and it is a treasure. He caught
praying mantises, and would keep them in a cage and hand feed them. My daughter showed a love of art, and spent a lot of time with crayons, paint, and glitter. Both my children, years later, are still pursuing these passions.
Those years of homeschooling were more amazing than I ever would have imagined, and I never regretted a moment of it. Then we came to a low point in our lives. My husband left us. It was an
unforeseen tragedy, and certainly turned our world upside down. I could say a lot about that, but there is no need. Life happens while we are going along,
minding our own business. But I will say that during www.superchargehomeschooling.com
that difficult time, I was more thankful than ever that I had been homeschooling. The closeness I had
cultivated between the children and I was a saving grace. I strongly believe that the time we had
together allowed us to remain stable and close; divorce can be devastating for children, and by managing to homeschool and maintaining that stability made a big difference in the lives of my children. I homeschooled for two more years after the divorce, then chose a very small local school for them to go to. The next year, my son attended a private school because I refused to send him to the local middle school. I intended to homeschool again, then my ex husband decided to pay for my son to go to the private school. The following year I took my daughter out again and homeschooled because I felt she wasnt being challenged and her teacher was too political.
Now, finally, our charter school is open, and both children attend and are happy. They are well
adjusted and excel in their classes. We have been on quite a journey. I tell people all the time that it is the right and privilege of a parent to do what they feel is www.superchargehomeschooling.com
best for their child. Homeschooling can be a saving grace in many ways. Raising a child is more than sending them to the local school all day, every day. There are many options. I strongly support parents who decided to homeschool early, late, part time, full time, or just for a period of time during a transition. It takes strength and courage, but could be the best investment you make in your family. Homeschooling is truly an exercise in educational freedom and can be a wonderful adventure.
--Marcy Andersen, Molalla, Oregon
Success after Homeschooling
In
The
Teenage
Liberation
Handbook,
Grace
Lewellyn writes that One third of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Article of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States had no more than a few months of schooling up their sleeves. Throughout most of history, people have done great things using only the education they www.superchargehomeschooling.com
received from their parents, other relatives, or through internships. The idea of twelve years of compulsory, public schooling is very new, and its effectiveness is questionable.
NOTES:
Short
List
of
Recent
Successful
homeschoolers:
In
the
academic
world,
Chelsea
Bets
Christenson won the UN High School Essay Contest in both 2003 and 2005, and has just finished her first year of college in New York City.
Yang Liu, a homeschooled graduating senior, was selected as a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Morgan Bate finished a year at St. John's in Santa Fe, a college that focuses on the works of great thinkers and discussion with peers to www.superchargehomeschooling.com
cultivate a love of learning and the skills for a lifetime
of
reflective
thought.
Yakov Vorobyev successfully graduated from George Washington University (2005), with a BA in Computer Science, and works at the IT department of one of the biggest law firms in Washington, D.C. He also continues a parallel career as a DJ.
Matthew Lifson got into 9 of the 10 colleges he applied to. He was admitted to USC and Pepperdine, UC Davis, the UC Irvine honors program, and UC Berkeley. In addition he received financial awards at the University of Dallas, Santa Clara University, Loyola, and the University of Arizona. He will be going to UC Berkeley.
Laurel
Springs'
student
Britni
Gleitsman
received a letter of acceptance from the International University of Monaco and will enroll in their Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program. The University only www.superchargehomeschooling.com
accepts 150 Freshman from all over the country
and
Britni
was
number
78!
Rachael Lambin had a 3-page article featured in "Teen Vogue" about her project HOPE (Helping Obese People through Education). She was also the winner of the Do Something BRICK Award, which is called the Academy Award of Community Services. Only 9 winners are selected each year out of thousands of applicants.
Brooke Conway, a junior at Laurel Springs Private School in Ojai, Calif., attended the National Honors Convocation on Medicine at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles and is a current member of Who's Who in America and the National Society of High School Scholars.
Kate Siegel beat out over 80,000 other students from the United States and Europe to become the national winner of the Veterans of Foreign Wars "Voice of Democracy" Speech www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Competition
in
Washington,
D.C.
This
year
Elena
Hoshizaki
has
been
participating in the YMCA Youth & Government program. At the leadership conference in Paso Robles, Elena was elected Forum Lieutenant Governor for the state of California. As Forum Lieutenant Governor she presides over the Forum Senate when it convenes in
Sacramento for the annual Model Legislature and
Court.
The National Society of High School Scholars selected 12-year-old Lars Christian Benthien of Simi Valley for membership. The society
recognizes top scholars in the nation and invites only those students who have achieved superior academic excellence.
(http://www.homeschool.com/articles/successst ories/default.asp)
List of Homeschoolers by Interest and Profession

Athletes Michelle Kwan Jason Taylor Tim Tebow Serena Williams Venus Williams
Authors Agatha Christie Alex Haley Beatrix Potter C.S. Lewis Charles Dickens George Bernard Shaw Hans Christian Anderson Louisa May Alcott Margaret Atwood Mark Twain Phillis Wheatley Pearl S. Buck www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Robert Frost Virginia Woolf
Businessmen Andrew Carnegie Colonel Harland Sanders Dave Thomas Joseph Pulitzer Ray Kroc
Explorers Davy Crockett George Rogers Clark
Inventors Alexander Graham Bell Benjamin Franklin Cyrus McCormick Eli Whitney Thomas Edison Orville Wright Wilbur Wright
Presidents Abraham Lincoln Andrew Jackson Franklin Delano Roosevelt George Washington Grover Cleveland James Garfield James Madison John Adams John Quincy Adams John Tyler Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson William Henry Harrison Woodrow Wilson
Religious Leaders Brigham Young Dwight L. Moody Joan of Arc John & Charles Wesley William Carey
Scientists Albert Einstein Blaise Pascal Booker T. Washington George Washington Carver Pierre Curie Statesman Alexander Hamilton Daniel Webster Patrick Henry William Jennings Bryan William Penn Winston Churchill United States Supreme Court Judges John Jay John Marshall John Rutledge Sandra Day O'Connor Women Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams Clara Barton, started the red cross Florence Nightingale, nurse www.superchargehomeschooling.com
Martha Washington, wife of George Washington Susan B. Anthony, women's rights leader Famous Homeschooling Parents Lisa Whelchel Kelley Preston and John Travolta Will and Jada Pinkett Smith
Have You Bought The Series Things Every Kid Should Know: Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Bullying for Your Kids By Alya Nuri
Have You Bought The Series Things Every Kid Should Know: Strangers and Fire for Your Kids By Zafar Nuri
Have You Bought The Series Things Every Kid Should Know: Hand Washing for Your Kids By Arsalon Nuri
Zohra Sarwaris 10 Books:
Zohra Sarwaris Inspirational Ebooks:

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Why Home Schooling?

Copyright 2011 Why Home schooling? by Zohra Sarwari

Thomas Edison: Inventor and Homeschooler

1. Moral and Religious Instruction

2. Safety and the School Environment

Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings

Oct. 1, 1997 Pearl, Miss.

Dec. 1, 1997 West Paducah, Ky.

Dec. 15, 1997 Stamps, Ark.

March 24, 1998 Jonesboro, Ark.

May 19, 1998 Fayetteville, Tenn.

May 21, 1998 Springfield, Ore.

Nov. 19, 1999 Deming, N.M.

Dec. 6, 1999 Fort Gibson, Okla.

March 2000 Branneburg, Germany

March 30, 2001 Gary, Ind.

Nov. 12, 2001 Caro, Mich.

Nov. 8, 2005 Jacksboro, Tenn.

Aug. 24, 2006 Essex, Vt.

Nov. 7, 2007 Tuusula, Finland

are at a greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases or become pregnant.

education means that the activities are geared toward www.superchargehomeschooling.com

the childs interests and abilities.

One of the joys of

Frank Lloyd Wright

homeschooling community, when a parent realizes www.superchargehomeschooling.com

The final stage is the rhetoric stage.

sometimes Greek. Latin is included because it is the www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Knowing when to drop

naturally very structured and is very comfortable www.superchargehomeschooling.com

subjects, time spent on each subject, and project www.superchargehomeschooling.com

This will help keep you in line with the

1. Talk to Other Homeschoolers

2. Read and Research

Take Time for Yourself

they choose friendships and relationships is crucial and very rewarding.

Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch

The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer

Alex and Brett Harris

Homeschoolers: SuperCharge Home Schooling

Reading, Pre K, and K.

homeschooling families all over the world.

One Homeschooling Familys Story

children with the same terms we use for cattle?

homeschooling groups. What I saw appealed to me as a teacher and as a mother.

--Marcy Andersen, Molalla, Oregon

Success after Homeschooling

cultivate a love of learning and the skills for a lifetime

accepts 150 Freshman from all over the country

Sacramento for the annual Model Legislature and

List of Homeschoolers by Interest and Profession

Robert Frost Virginia Woolf

Explorers Davy Crockett George Rogers Clark

Zohra Sarwaris 10 Books:

Zohra Sarwaris Inspirational Ebooks:

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