SEVEN THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE HOMESCHOOLING YOUR KIDS

Homeschooling offers families a unique and personalized education experience. While this can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience, it's important to consider your decision before embarking on this educational journey. Various factors can impact the success of homeschooling, so it's necessary to think through them before deciding on homeschooling This way, you can determine if homeschooling is the right choice for you and your family and will set you up for success. Here are a few you should consider. 

1. Family goals and values 

One of the key benefits of homeschooling is that it allows you to tailor your children's education to your distinctive goals and values. Before beginning homeschooling, it's vital to think about what you want to achieve through this educational experience. For instance, some families prioritize academics, while others focus on instilling religious or moral values. Understanding your family's priorities will help you create a homeschooling curriculum that aligns with your goals, so feel free to consider this. 

2. Your financial situation 

Homeschooling can be a cost-effective option for families, but it's essential to assess the financial implications of this choice. Homeschooling often requires an initial investment in educational materials and supplies and ongoing costs for field trips, co-op classes, and extracurricular activities. Additionally, if one parent plans to stay home to homeschool, you will need to evaluate the impact of this decision on the family's household income. 

3. Time and scheduling needs 

To homeschool successfully, parents and children must make time and commit. Parents must be available to create lesson plans, teach classes, and oversee homework, while children must be willing to spend their days on academic pursuits. Before beginning homeschooling, ponder how this will impact your family's daily schedule and routines. Also, families with multiple children may need to consider the logistics of homeschooling multiple students at once, so keep this in mind. 

4. Your educational and teaching experience 

Homeschooling requires parents to assume the role of teacher, which can be a significant challenge for those without a background in education. Before you start homeschooling, assessing your educational and teaching experience and your willingness to invest time and effort into learning the required skills is necessary. Many homeschooling families find it helpful to take courses or attend workshops to develop their teaching skills. Others also rely on online educational resources that teach specific subjects. You can click here for more information to make the best decision. 

5. Support system 

Teaching your children at home can be a lonely experience if you lack a supportive community. You will need to consider how you will stay connected with other homeschooling families and how you will provide social opportunities for your children. Homeschooling co-ops, support groups, and extracurricular activities can help families stay connected and build a supportive community. 

6. Child's feelings 

The decision to homeschool can have a significant impact on your child's emotional well-being. This is because homeschooling can be a highly isolating experience, especially for children who are used to spending time with peers in a traditional school setting. If your child is introverted or struggles with social anxiety, homeschooling may not be the best choice. On the other hand, homeschooling may be a great fit if your child is highly independent and enjoys working independently. Also, evaluating how your child feels about being homeschooled is crucial, and if they are on board with this choice is crucial. Involving your child in the decision-making process and ensuring that they feel heard and valued can help mitigate negative emotions and increase the likelihood of success. 

7. Reward system 

A reward system can motivate and engage your child in their education. It can also help create a positive and encouraging environment that promotes learning and growth. Children are more likely to stay engaged and motivated when incentivized to work hard and make progress. Further, a reward system can foster a sense of accomplishment and pride in their work, boosting their self-esteem and confidence. When contemplating a reward system for homeschooling, it's significant to choose meaningful and relevant incentives for your child, such as special privileges, educational experiences, or material rewards. This way, you can help create a positive and supportive learning environment that prepares your child for success, so keep this in mind. 

In conclusion, homeschooling is a big decision that requires careful reflection on multiple factors. By evaluating your family's goals and values, financial situation, time and scheduling needs, educational and teaching experience, and support system, you'll be better equipped to make an informed decision about homeschooling.

EMPEROR

We live in one of the most diverse cities within Michigan. African-Americans live to one side of us, Hispanics to the other, an Indian family is behind us, an Asian household is a few doors down. I regularly see my son and daughter running around the neighborhood carefree with kids from a range of ethnicities, nationalities and religions. We don't see these people as different from us because of how they look but rather just view them as our neighbors.

My kids really didn't grasp the racial inequalities within our country and how ununited people can be throughout the States including here in Michigan. So when Universal Pictures Home Entertainment offered to send us a complimentary DVD of the movie EMPEROR to view, I thought in this time of Black Lives Matter and home schooling it was an opportunity for my children to take a look back at a time where people where treated as property and to think about how that history has resulted in social and economic disparities that still linger today. We departed from our normal family movie nights that tend to be science fiction and superhero adventures and instead watched a film inspired by a true freedom fighter.



EMPEROR is based on the life of Shields "Emperor" Green, a descendant of African kings who was a slave in the pre-Civil War South. Wanting to free his family from slavery, Green escapes north and joins in the daring Harpers Ferry raid by abolitionist John Brown of a military arsenal seeking to gain weapons for a slave revolution. While the raid is defeated by a contingent of federal troops led by then-Colonial Robert E. Lee it further stirs up tensions that eventually lead to North and South into civil war.

The movie's cast is led Dayo Okeniyi (Terminator Genisys / "Shades of Blue") accompanied by Academy Award nominee James Cromwell (The Green Mile), Kat Graham ("The Vampire Diaries'), Mykelti Williamson (Forest Gump), Ben Robson ("Vikings") and Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern (Hateful Eight). The movie is produced by Academy Award nominated filmmaker Reginald Hudlin (Django Unchained) and directed by Mark Amin (Eve's Bayou) from a script by Pat Charles ("Sons of Anarchy").



EMPEROR is available on DVD from Best Buy. If you purchase the movie through a Geek Daddy affiliate link this dad blogger will receive a small commission at no additional expense to your bill. Your support is appreciated!

MICHIGAN SCIENCE CENTER ECHO LIVE

For their days science lesson today, the teachers at my kids school had all the 5th Graders log onto Facebook Live to witness a presentation from the Michigan Science Center. With the school building closed due to the pandemic, the teachers have been teaching online via live Zoom sessions, recorded YouTube videos and having the kids participate in different activities like this. The Michigan Science Center ECHO Live! presentations let students participate in a different experiment each day asking questions and interact with the host through the Facebook Live chat feature.

These free 1/2 hour video presentations will take place every weekday at 2:30 pm ET for what would have been the remainder of the school year. If you miss a live experiment and chat session, the videos are posted later on the Michigan Science Center YouTube channel. I watched along with my son and daughter and have to say the presenter did a very nice job of conducting the experiments in a relatable way to children as well as interacting with the viewers through the Facebook Live chat feature as if she was doing the presentation with the kids sitting right in front of her at the science center. I give her a Geek Daddy nod of approval for a job well done!



The presentation we saw today involved experiments with electricity and showing how a circuit works. Viewers learned how to turn a potato or lemon into a battery. While moms may tell kids to never play with their food, I think it is ok for science experiments. I know my kids would much rather do experiments with carrots than eat them! My son and daughter both want us to do some science experiments with the fruits and vegetables in our kitchen pantry now.



If you are home schooling children, these videos provide some nice science curriculum that is both educational and entertaining. They'll be covering different topics so tune in each day to see what new experiment is taking place. Check out these great Michigan Science Center ECHO Live sessions while staying home and staying safe.

Viewing the world through a bug's eyes

This week's home work assignments for my kids involved learning about bugs.  Beyond being our family's resident bug killer when it comes to squashing the pesky ones we find lurking around our home, I didn't know a whole lot on the topic.  So we turned to makemegenius.com which provides free videos that explains scientific concepts to children in ways that are easy for them to comprehend.  Many of the videos like the one we viewed on bugs are portrayed as cartoons with an animated boy and girl explaining the topic so viewers appear to be learning from peers rather than being lectured to by an adult.  My children learned about the different types of bugs, the difference between arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks) and insects (ants, bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, praying mantis, true bugs and wasps) allowing them to easily answer their homework questions after we watched this seven minute video.



Other topics that makemegenius.com covers include astronomy, biology, chemistry, geography, and physics.  Videos can be sorted by age range (Kindergarten through 8th Grade) or by topic.  The animated sequences attempt to take concepts that my befuddle a student at school and explain them at the child's level to help him or her get a grasp on the information.  Videos range from being as simple as explaining why there is day and night to more complex subjects such as how does friction work, what are parallels of latitude, or understanding the digestive system.  The focus for all of these free videos which can be viewed either at makemegenius.com or on their youtube channel is to make science easy for kids.  If you have a child in elementary school or junior high this is a resource you should definitely check out!

Once my kids wrapped up answering their homework questions, we took a walk over to the neighborhood park to check out how the world looks through a bug's eyes.  Thanks to our Educational Insight's Animal Eye Viewers my twins were able to explore the playground through a pixelated bug's-eye view.  My son pretended he was flying like a bee soaring up and down on a swing while my daughter jumped all around the playground equipment like a giant grasshopper.

Unlike human eyes which are one big pupil, insects are made up of lots of little lenses.  Their eyes are too small to see as clearly as we see but they still provide a wide range of vision.  An insect's many little lenses help detect quick movements, which explains why flies can be so difficult to swat.  Also insects can see a broader spectrum of colors than human beings can which for example helps honeybees find nectar when examining flowers.  Using our insect viewer from our set of GeoSafari Jr. Animal Eye Viewers from Educational Insights, my kids were able to get a first hand perspective on how a bug views the world.

Educational Insights' GeoSafari Jr. Animal Eye Viewers comes as a three piece set that allows children to view the world around them as an insect, chameleon or shark.  Next week's homework  involves reptiles so we'll also be doing some exploring as well with their chameleon eye viewer to help make that assignment fun and interesting for them.  Hmm their teachers haven't given us enough advance notice to know if sharks is a topic that is coming up but I'm sure we'll have some fun with that version of the Animal Eye Viewers as well soon.

FTC Disclaimer:  A Geek Daddy was provided a complimentary Animal Eye Viewers set to review from Educational Insights.  Opinions are honest and my own.