The elections are only a few weeks away. In many states
important races and ballot measures will have a
significant impact on issues important to Christian
home educators. Find information below:
•
Election updates for
17
states (AZ, CA, CO, FL, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN,
MO, MT, NV, OH, PA, TN, and WI;
OR;
and
WA.
•
Election 2006:
Candidates
& Information, plus register to vote.
•
Voting
Records and
Congressional
Directory.
Help to Register Voters
This election will enable Americans to make
decisions that will affect the direction of our
country for years to come. But many Christians feel
their vote does not count. In 2004, about 25 million
evangelicals failed to vote. Now is the time to
reverse the trend. There is still time to register
many new voters. (Are your voting-age children
registered?)
Generation
Joshua and the National Center for Home
Education have designated September 10th
and 17th as "National Voter Registration Sundays."
Please consider joining this effort to help sign up
new voters at your church.
Focus
on the Family is working with several
state-based family policy councils to register
voters. County coordinators and church coordinators
are needed in eight states: PA, MD, MI, OH, NJ, MN,
MT, and TN.
____________________________________________
7 Ways To Make Your Home School
Run More Smoothly
1. Catch Up on Basic Preparation
Organization is the key to a smooth-running and
successful home-school experience.
•
Organize your home by finding a place for everything
and dealing with clutter. See
Newsletter
#128.
•
Organize your home school by determining yearly
goals, assembling your curriculum, and setting up
your class arrangements and schedules. See
Newsletter
#129.
____________________________________________
2. School Time, Interruptions, and Emergencies
•
Set a daily starting time for your school work and
stick to it.
•
Limit away-from-home activities (other than Sunday)
to one day a week, if possible.
•
Do not answer the phone during study; use an
answering machine or voice mail.
•
Sign up for the "National Do Not Call Registry" for
telemarketing. It's fast and simple to do
online -- and
it works!
•
Find a workable solution for repeated avoidable
interruptions.
•
Accept uncontrollable or unavoidable interruptions
and use them for learning opportunities.
•
Prioritize your plans and devise an alternative plan
for accomplishing the most important things on days
when your time is limited by unexpected
developments, emergencies, late starts, etc.
____________________________________________
3. Simplify Meals
•
Plan five or ten simple, healthy menus for school
days (save special menus and cooking for non-school
days).
•
Serve meals at regular times.
•
Cook and freeze meats for casseroles or stews for
quick meal preparation later.
•
Shop once each week for seven days of
menus.
•
Start dinner early, use a
crockpot,
or try
once-a-month
cooking.
____________________________________________
4. Regular Weekly Planning
After your year's planning and goals are done, arrange
your weekly schedule to include plans for each
upcoming week in detail.
•
Make lists of phone calls to be made, errands to be
run, details to be tended to, and a goal or two from
your ongoing master to-do list.
•
Evaluate anything that is bothering you and consider
how you can fix it.
•
Coordinate your week with your husband.
____________________________________________
5. School Planning
•
Once a week, take an hour to plan the next week's
lessons in detail.
•
Consult plans you made for the year and month,
adjust as necessary, and write out assignments with
page numbers and any individual instructions for
each student.
•
Collect all the library books and other materials
you will need for your lessons at least one week in
advance.
•
Each day, spend a few minutes the night before or in
the morning looking over the plans for the day and
gathering materials for the day's lessons.
____________________________________________
6. Record Keeping
•
Choose and use a record keeping system that meets
your needs and/or your state requirements (e.g., a
checked-off plan book, a journal, or a grade book).
•
Have a routine for handling papers. Do they need to
be filed for documentation, or a few saved for a
yearbook and the rest tossed?
____________________________________________
7. Get Started and Keep Going
•
Be prepared to handle opposition or lack of
immediate success through prayer, adjustment, and
perseverance.
•
Make adjustments as needed.
•
Make a daily quiet time with God top priority.
•
Pray for wisdom, guidance, and strength (Prov. 3:5-6).
•
Enjoy this privilege of investing your life
moment-by-moment in the lives of your children!
____________________________________________
Help! I Don't Have My Curriculum Yet.
If you have not ordered, received, or purchased
curriculum for this school year yet, you can get
started with these emergency resources.
•
For the 3Rs you can use pencil and paper to
write words or math facts for your child to read,
copy, and learn.
•
Purchase drill flashcards.
•
You can buy inexpensive workbooks with answer keys
at a local teacher's supply or learning store.
•
For history, science, and literature, you can borrow
books or videos from your public, church, or
home-school library; then read and discuss them
together.
•
For geography, you can practice locating on maps or
globes all the places you hear or read about each day.
•
Add a geography research project using the Internet
or library to learn more about unknown places (or to
follow up interests related to your history,
science, or literature studies).
•
Play educational games. Many are available at
thrift stores.
•
Print
free
worksheets by grade and subject.
•
Look through The Teaching Home's
e-mail
newsletter archive for free online resources to
teach everything from the three R's to
history, science, language, literature, and geography.
____________________________________________
Home Schooling Your Struggling Learner
Hundreds of families home school children whose
special needs range from attention deficit disorder
to severe multiple handicaps. Parents often find
that by educating these children at home, they can
offer them the individualized education,
flexibility, encouragement, and support they need.
•
For learning disabled children who function best
with "real-life problems" rather than artificial
worksheet tasks, home schooling may be ideal.
•
For medically sensitive children, learning at home
provides the opportunity for careful monitoring.
•
For attention deficit children who function best
with uniquely structured time and fewer
distractions, home schooling usually proves to be
the answer.
Membership in
Home School Legal Defense Association
HSLDA’s attorneys help families protect their right
to home school their special needs children. HSLDA’s
Special Needs Coordinators, Betty Statnick and
Dianne Craft are available for consultation, and
HSLDA supplies their members with a list of
resources and names of professionals qualified to
assist in testing and/or setting up a plan for
teaching.
National
Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network
Online and print resources to equip parents to raise
their children with special needs or disabilities
confidently.
