The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling is just out in print!

It's the expanded version of the eBook of the same name, with twice as much homeschooling info and encouragement. Here's what reviewers are saying:

 "…(T)hough there is obviously no one, perfect, homeschooling book, The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling comes close."

Larissa McKay, Eclectic Homeschool Online, http://eclectichomeschool.org

"It’s neither dryly theoretical nor boastfully self-congratulating. It’s practical, encouraging, and unintimidating, without underestimating all that homeschooling involves."

Carol Goudie, Otherways Magazine, Australia

"(A)n excellent resource for those starting out and the rest of us that need some good old-fashioned encouragement and empowerment."

Kathy Davis, Homeschoolbuzz.com

LEARN MORE HERE.

Woohoo! I was able to log in here tonight to share some good news!

Many of you know that I no longer blog here because of all the technical difficulties. Now I have a new blog, and I've decided to give away five copies of my eBook The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling ($11.95 retail) to email subscribers of my new blog during the month of April.

It's easy to get in on this contest. All you have to do is go to my new blog and subscribe using the form on the upper right. On May 1, we'll draw five names at random from the pool of subscribers; all five will receive a free copy of The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling.

On my new blog, I post articles and info about homeschooling, plus other topics of interest including Motherhood, Teens, College, Down Syndrome and Modern Life. Hope to see you there soon!

Just a reminder that I am moving this blog to a new location because of the technical problems I am having here. Please don't subscribe to this one....there's a form you can fill out at my new blog.

Thank you!

Barb

PS To comment at my new blog, just click on the "X comments' link at the bottom of the post. A form will pop up that you can fill out. It will say to sign in with your Google account, and if you don't have one, it walks you through setting it up. HTH!

Just finished up a busy week preparing for and enjoying the InHome Conference here in the Chicago suburbs. This is the fourth year I've been a vendor at this particular conference, and I enjoy it so much.

The people who run it do a top-notch job, and it just reinforces my belief that homeschool moms can handle almost anything. We arrived Thursday afternoon to set up our booth and found Susan, the vendor hall coordinator, facing a situation where she had been given a hall full of tables in the wrong sizes, and she had to reconfigure everything as vendors arrived looking to set up their booths. When someone pays for an 8-foot table, you can't just give them a 6-foot table. That's not what they paid for. Susan handled the ensuing confusion calmly and professionally; there's no way I could have dealt with it nearly as well.

I taught two workshops on Friday, "Preparing Your Teens for Life On Their Own" and "Blogging for Homeschool Moms." The first, based on my book Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers, went well, and I enjoyed meeting several of the attendees afterwards.

The second workshop was so much fun! It had been capped attendance-wise because of space limitations, but quite a few people must have come without signing up. It was a packed house, and everyone arrived ready to ask great questions and learn the basics of blogging (the why's, not the how's ---I'm no techie!) Based on the questions and comments at the workshop, I predict a new crop of talented homeschooling bloggers will burst on the scene before long.

Dd15 ran the booth on Friday while I did my workshops, so she got to enjoy the best thing about homeschool conferences--talking with the attendees. On Saturday, with no workshops left on my list of things to do, I ran the booth alone, so I had the entire day to enjoy visiting with everyone. Even though I'm pretty far along the homeschooling road, I continue to be impressed with the thoughtful intelligence of those who choose to homeschool their children. Some of these people face great odds in tackling this lifestyle (work schedules, money issues, disapproving relatives), but they persevere because they see the positive results of homeschooling in their kids' lives. Some of the people were those I've met at previous conferences: it's so much fun hearing news of their families each year.

Since I began attending this conference as a vendor, I've noticed a steady increase in the number of homeschooling parents who identify themselves as former public school teachers. I knew that a large percentage of public school teachers send their own children to private schools, but I've discovered that many are leaving the public schools altogether to homeschool. These people have been in the trenches---they know what's going on in public schools better than anyone, and they don't want their children there. Never having sent a child to school, I am often naive about what goes on there, but these former teachers are enlightening me. Some left teaching because of their own frustration with the public school system, others because of the dangers of teaching in today's schools.. It certainly is a different world than when I was young. Teachers have desks thrown at them, knives pulled on them ....the list goes on. I am often critical of the public school system, and am grateful that I don't have to send my kids there. But I rarely think about what it must be like to work in such an environment. From what these former teachers are telling me, it's very hard to establish a learning environment there. They rightly believe their kids deserve better. I really admire them for what they're doing about it.

Back to the conference....it's fun to meet other vendors, particularly those I've heard of or corresponded with but never met in person. Alison McKee was there again this year...a neat lady whose unschooled kids are now adults and doing very well. I got to meet Jim Hodges in person..his audiobooks booth was right across from mine. We both belong to an online group of Christian self-publishers, and it was nice to put a friendly face to the name I'd seen online. In the next booth was homeschool graduate Peter Groth, now a college graduate, private tutor and proprietor of Adventure French. It was interesting to hear his stories of working as a substitute teacher, coming as they were from someone who was homeschooled right up until college. Around the corner was Dale Bartlett, author of Have Kids-Will Travel, a book which details how his family of six enjoys world travel on a frugal budget.

Since homeschool conference season is just beginning, you might want to prepare by taking my free 4-day e-course, "Keys to a Successful Homeschool Convention Experience."

Simulposted at my new blog.

Thanks to the current glut of imported goods, we now live in a disposable society, Most of the goods we buy are made cheaply;  we use something up and throw it out and buy another when necessary. After all, today these goods are at bargain prices, so why not?

Take hand mixers, for example. At one time, a good hand mixer cost $40-50. If it broke, you had it repaired because you had put a lot of money into the purchase of it and you wanted it to last. But now, thanks to technological advances (and mass production in countries with a much lower standard of living and therefore lower rate of pay than ours), you can buy a hand mixer for $8-10. With such a minimal investment, when it breaks (and it will), you can just buy another. It’s not worth putting money into repairing it. You can try buying a more expensive model (I have done so several times), but even if you spend $50 on a new hand mixer, it will break. You might as well buy the $10 model and plan to replace it on a regular basis.

For those of us who care about being good stewards, this is a tough call. It makes no sense to have something that inexpensive repaired at a cost equal to or greater than its worth. On the other hand, to keep replacing these poorly made hand mixers seems wasteful. We’re not being good stewards when we put more money into something than it’s worth, yet we’re not being good stewards by tossing electronic equipment into landfills on a regular basis.

This conundrum will be solved eventually, as the countries where such products are manufactured so cheaply get a tiny taste of the affluence their new-found income brings, and want more. Writing about the new affluence of former third-world countries in Fortune magazine, Justin Fox reports:

"Indian call-center workers may make a lot less money than Americans (salaries start at about $2,000 a year), but they make a lot more money than fresh-out-of-college Indians who aren’t computer geniuses have ever made before."

Fox goes on to describe the lifestyle one Indian call-center employee, Anshul Pathak, age 23, now has thanks to his new job:

"Along with his Maruti Suzuki 800 subcompact, he has a Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle. His mobile phone is a Sony Ericsson T610 with a built-in camera. He banks with Citibank. On nights off he hangs out with friends in bars where he favors the local beer, Kingfisher, but others go for foreign concoctions like Bacardi mixed with Sprite. Or they go to Starbucks-like coffee shops where a cappuccino costs $1---an absurdly large sum to older Indians. Pathak watches American movies, That ‘70s Show, MTV. He brushes his teeth with Colgate. He owns a pair of Nikes and a pair of Reeboks."

As more jobs go to the people in such countries as India, their standard of living will rise. As we’ve seen in the United States, the increased affluence will lead those people to expect higher wages to finance an ever-increasing standard of living, which will bring up the price of the products they produce and sell to us. The more we pay for those products, the less we will be inclined to pitch and replace them as soon as they stop working properly. We’ll be more likely to have them repaired.

Or not. Some people get into that pitch-and-replace groove, and it becomes the natural thing to do. But that is an expensive way to live. For those of us who try to keep a lid on our expenses for whatever reason (to live on one income, to survive on a modest income, to be a good steward), it is not even an option.

But there is another option, one that allows us to be good stewards of what we are given. If we learn to recognize quality in the items we buy, we can slow the rate of speed at which we fill the landfills. We can give things we no longer need to others for their use. We can make our money last longer because we won’t need to replace things so often.

What is this option? It’s the recognition of and insistence on quality. Once you educate yourself about quality, you can make wise decisions and not have to replace things so often, thus keeping down expenses while increasing your satisfaction with what you have.

That’s the practical advantage of quality. But there’s another advantage, one that can’t be measured, and that’s the pleasure that something of high quality can give us. The aesthetic value of a beautifully made set of oak bookshelves cannot be measured in mere dollars, and can’t be replicated by an assemble-it-yourself fiberboard set of bookshelves. The set of oak bookshelves will look better and hold together much longer, so that not only will you not have to replace it, but you’ll be able to hand it down to your children.

Of course, in order to appreciate oak bookshelves (so said shelves don’t end up in the garage holding paint cans someday), our children should be taught to recognize and appreciate quality. That ability is becoming rarer these days, but it will be necessary for our children, because as we become more inundated by cheaply made goods from other countries, it is very likely there will be a backlash that will cause people to want quality goods again.

"Life Prep covers a multitude of practical and essential skills. Whether your teen has a few years left at home, or is on the verge of graduation, you will find this curriculum a great help in preparing your child for life. Highly recommended!"

That's how the good folks at homeschoolbuzz.com ended their just-posted review of my book, Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers. Click here for the full review. We'll have to add that quote to the list of other review quotes on the Life Prep page :)

(Click here for a free project from the book!)

No, we haven't sold our house yet. I'm talking about my new blogging home!

I've loved it here at HSB, and I'm grateful to TOS for providing my blog since I signed on to HSB nearly two years ago. But it has become so difficult to get HSB to load, to post, and to post comments that I need to try something else, something that won't eat up so much valuable writing time with technical difficulties. That's why I've begun a new blog at:

http://barbaramfrank.blogspot.com/

It's still a work in progress, so keep watching for new features. My new blog will differ from this one in that it won't be just about homeschooling, but I will continue to post all homeschooling-related posts here as well as there for the time being.

To all of my friends here at HSB, I apologize for not visiting and leaving comments more often---it takes so long to post at your blogs, and it often times out before my comment is posted. So please come visit me at the new blog and bookmark it, or subscribe (once I get that link up)....I look forward to hearing from you  :)

A post over at Beckie's blog reminded me how much my children and I loved Rod and Staff books, and especially the Millers' series. Wisdom and the Millers, Prudence and the Millers.....I highly recommend these books to those of you looking for some great stories with morals in them, based on Biblical principles.  You can find them here.

The announcement that, according to a recent Pew telephone survey, over 80% of today’s American young people consider being rich and famous one of their top life goals garnered a lot of attention. This particular article about the survey  suggests that one cause of young people’s desire for stardom is the “omnipresence” of their parents’ video cameras while they were growing up.

I can’t speak to the cause, but I know where this concept of stardom is being perpetuated, and that’s in the classroom. I recently received the latest edition of our local school district’s P.R. piece, er…magazine, which describes one local school where “learning about health and well-being is fun.” A program called “Staying Well” is the second grade science and health curriculum there, and it includes songs for the kids to sing, including this one (note: I’m sharing it just the way it’s printed in the mailing, sans punctuation.):

I am the star of my body,

The star of my mind

I am the star of my life yeah

I’m doin’ just fine

I take good care of myself

‘Cause I know that I should

I’m feelin’ good

good good good good

Feelin’ good

OK, so not every lyricist is the next Ira Gershwin. But my point is that kids in my town are taught that the key to well-being is reminding yourself of your stardom. You won’t find that kind of nonsense in our homeschooling house. Anybody who starts claiming stardom around here will find themselves the star of a new reality series called “Extra Chores.”

The February issue of "The Imperfect Homeschooler" is now out. If you didn't find one in your email box, that means you're not a subscriber  :(

You can fix that by subscribing here. If you want to check it out first, you can access the entire issue here---it includes several new articles PLUS the official announcement of my new eBook, "Homeschooling Teenagers,"  ($7.95, or free with the purchase of the second edition of Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers." 

(Oops, I forgot to mention that one of this month's newsletter articles includes a downloadable recipe for the giant Valentine's Day cookie I make for my family every year. It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without it!)

The temperature outside is hovering right around zero, so it's a great night to stay inside and keep warm while checking out this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. Try to fight the green-eyed monster of jealousy when you find out where Anne, this week's carnival hostess, lives....sigh.

While you're here, I also want to share an email forward I got from fellow homeschooling mom Renee:

Parents Who Drugged Us

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county ,and he asked me a rhetorical question.

''Why didn't you and I have a drug problem when we were growing up?''

I replied that I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials, no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie,
brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out  to pull weeds in Mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of Dad's fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline,  or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America
would be a better place.

~author unknown~

God bless the parents who drugged us.

That story came to mind yesterday when I read the columns in The Old Schoolhouse's “The Homeschool Minute.” Don't get me wrong, I think Paul and Gena Suarez and the TOS staff do a great job with their magazine, their blogging sites (one of which hosts this blog) and their other projects, including “The Homeschool Minute.” But I can't let yesterday's messages go past without a bit of dissent.

In her column, Gena says that when she and Paul were engaged, he told her that “our future kids did NOT need to be rebellious and that if we trained them up in the Lord, we could skip all that rebellious nonsense…….Guess what. He was right. 100% correct. My older, wiser, soon-to-be husband knew the truth. He knew God's word. He blew off the world's way of thinking and insisted that I must, too.”

It’s not that I don’t believe Gena’s claim that the Suarez kids are not rebellious. When I saw them at a TOS appearance last fall, they seemed like very nice kids. What concerns me is that other people who read what Gena wrote, good Christian parents who have prayed for wisdom and strength while dealing with a sheltered, homeschooled, yet rebellious teen, will feel like failures. As I have written before, Christian parents who have given child-rearing their best effort should not automatically blame themselves when their kids rebel. After all, God Himself has plenty of rebellious children.

Another column in “The Homeschool Minute” more overtly refers to the “train them up” principle from Proverbs 22:6 as the way to prevent rebellion. It’s important to remember that this is a principle, not a promise. There can be no guarantees, because God has given us free will. (Ask evangelist Billy Graham….his son Franklin, who now leads his ministry, was quite the rebel in his youth.)

Despite my concern over those comments, I agree with the rest of what’s expressed in this week’s edition of “The Homeschool Minute.” I’m glad that the TOS staff is encouraging parents to homeschool their teens, because if parents don’t, they and their children will miss out on some wonderful years. (Homeschooling teens is a great adventure, which I talk about in my new eBook, “Homeschooling Your Teens.”)

For me, homeschooling my teens (I’m on my second pair) has been very rewarding; I treasure the time we’ve had together. My husband and I have been blessed with terrific kids, and I know lots of other homeschooled teens who have also turned out very well. But to suggest that none of them were ever rebellious would not be true. That’s why I’m worried about homeschooling parents becoming discouraged by the comments of those who might not have had enough children to “get the full experience.”     

If anyone in our family is using the microwave and dd13 is in the room, he has to be the one to program the number of seconds on the touch pad. This is a habit we got into years ago, when he was first learning his numbers, and he still likes to do it.

Repetition has been a great learning tool for him. I have no idea how many hundreds of times we sang "Red means stop, green means go, and yellow means slooowwww dooowwwwnn!" when we stopped at a stoplight on his many, many trips to therapy over the years. Even today, if we sit waiting in the car while my hubby runs into the store for a quick errand, my son insists on singing the alphabet song. Once you make something a habit with him, you're not allowed to stop! He has known his ABC's for years, but that doesn't mean he wants to stop practicing them.

I used repetition with my older children, too. Many years ago, we lived in a raised ranch. I still remember that there were six steps up to the landing, and seven more up to the living room. I know this because my preschoolers and I counted them each time we got home from somewhere. (The garage was under the living area.) Of course, they weren't still insisting on counting steps when they were 13; dd13 still does it because he has developmental disabilities and finds routine very soothing. Nevertheless, repetition has been an important part of all of my children's learning.

Are you thinking about homeschooling your infant first-born someday?

Are you a retired homeschooling parent?

Or are you somewhere in between?

No matter where you are on the exhausting yet incredibly fulfilling homeschool journey, you will find something just for you at The Thinking Mother's edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. I love the way she organized it so that anyone can find something appropriate for where they are right now.

It's the weekend....give yourself permission to check out this great carnival, and be encouraged!