Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

We have five beautiful children. The three oldest are homeschooled-- Amber (16), Jessica (14) and Michael (12). Maya (5) and Alex (10) are in public school.

Homeschooling is a very personal choice. For us it works GREAT! The Jr. High and Sr. High, in our area, are a nightmare. So, we bring our kids home for homeschooling at 7th grade.

All five of the kids are constantly learning. We just put a great deal of thought into what they are learning and emphasize it. For example, twice a week the kids walk to the library (about 6 blocks away). What do they learn? Responsibility, group cooperation, time management, public relations, reading, Dewey decimal system, how to research and find information, etc. When they watch movies they write a report on it-- in fact there are lesson plans based on movies http://www.teachwithmovies.com/. They cook and do chores with intent-- learning geometry, fractions, money management, time management, work ethics, and life skills they will need as adults.

What about Reading, Writing and Arithmetic? We also use Alpha Omega Life Pack workbooks http://www.aop.com/

Homeschool is very quickly becoming a popular alternative to public schools. Don't get me wrong, there are a few good schools left and I'm not against publics schools. They just seem to be few and far between.

There are Homeschool groups all across the country and online. Parents get support and tips, kids make friends and learn in group settings. Many groups have waiting lists.

I'm blessed to be able to work from our home office, but even single working moms are finding creative ways to homeschool their children. My hat's off to them!

What about Socialization?

You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that question. It's a valid question, but I do hear it A LOT!

First of all, we have five kids and several relatives-- what our kids crave is alone time. LOL! Seriously though, they have friends they spend time with, church activities, do volunteer work and have fairly busy agendas. We also have group events, elective classes and community events (like formal dances), as well as access to all public school classes, activities and resources.

We prefer that they learn social skills and values under our instruction and supervision or from someone we know and approve of. We spend a lot of time trying to correct behaviors they have learned in public school.