Relax into Year ‘Round Schooling - With Fall swiftly arriving and calling us out of indoors and into routine, it is a joyful release to know that the required 180 day academic year is beginning with its rhythm and anchoring. But, if you are like us and enjoy the ‘anchorage’ of daily worthwhile accomplishment year ’round. We use our summers as […]
Counting the Days or Making the Days Count? - Sometimes, especially in the beginning, meeting homeschooling requirements feels daunting. Oftentimes, much of this angst comes down to believing we must do more and be better than a traditional school teacher, and our child must grind through material with perfect understanding. It’s almost like we feel we have to “prove ourselves” to be adequate teachers. […]
Teach at Academic Level - In our daily Faithful Scholar’s posts and emails, it is wonderfully clear how much we love the sweetness of our children, awakening their wonder of learning, and homeschooling them toward a lives of brilliance. I read the honor and amazement of all that we get to do in a day. It tickles me...
Homeschooling Olders alongside Littles - The key is knowing that they want to do what the ‘big kids’ and parents are doing. Allow them to begin practicing (through play) your future plans for how you want them to approach lessons beyond tracing their name with a colored crayon. Children play school until around the age of 7. When I hear […]
Gauging Success - Revised and Updated May, 2023 If you gauge your elementary student against public schooled students you will feel that he/she is behind, but if you teach at home at least through 3rd grade you will find that your child will zoom right ahead of his public schooled peers. Public school pushes too hard in the […]
Balancing Learning and Joy - Rest easy. You absolutely cannot academically ruin an elementary level student. These little guys are made to bounce in all ways. Their resiliency and absorption ranks right up there with Elasta-Girl. The most typical mistake we over-excited, eager, fun-loving parents do is to do too much (academic sit down work). We just can’t wait to […]
Dylexia, A Gift - We always have several gifted children in our family. I consider dyslexia a gift, and am an ever-reaching, ever-growing, ever-succeeding dyslexic myself. At least one of our children has this same gift, another is gifted with a processing disorder, and a third is gifted with developmental delays. The rest are Run of the Mill Every […]Beginning at Age Three - You have made the biggest decision already which is to homeschool. Doing so ‘from the beginning’ is a lovely way to build your home culture to weave fully with a culture of education, building a library in your home as you collect books, and blend learning with life throughout the day. However, we are […]
Success in Our Day to Day - Parent: I feel like I have hit a brick wall with homeschooling 4 of my kids: 7 years old, 8 years, 10, and 12 years old. I have a 1 year old as well. I feel as though I am failing them. It kills me to think of putting them in public school I want […]
End of Year Fizzles - What leads to burn out at this time of year? How can we instead be encouraged, or at least enjoy a motivated push toward the finish line? We have had lovely Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, perhaps a Winter Break and a Spring Break, yet April and May are the times that, while life renews within […]Take a Leap of Faith for your Child - MAMA L: I was watching the video about midterm reports and you mentioned something about having a defiant child who needed to unschool possibly. (remember Faithful Scholars’ members, you have accesss to our Video Library- the link was sent with your Welcome or Response email) I feel that would fit us. I have a […]
Why Do You Home School? - Reason Number 5024… …Okay, so maybe we should begin with reason one as that is what got each of us to take this leap of faith plunging our families into these inexplicably, unexpectedly beautiful waters of the perfect IEP (Individualized Educational Plan). Define your Why, (you homeschool) to create the most amazing day-to-day How (you […]
Immediate VS Lasting Education - Every homeschool parent is positive she is going to miss something along the way, and she is correct. The teacher across the school hall is also missing something as is the college professor. No one person can cover it all, but one person can know what is needed by their children. Why, when our children […]
The Power of Being Feminine - –by a brilliant and beautiful friend who wishes to remain nameless Six little letters follow my name—B.A., M.A., J.D.—and two precede it—Ms. So it appears that the feminists have won out. I am my own person. Each night when I come home, I have no frets over what to cook that man who hangs around […]
Eager and Early Learners - …Eager and Early Learners I can remember my husband buying a book on our honeymoon entitled, “Teach Your Baby to Read.” We had already planned to homeschool our children, when they came, but this was not what I had in mind. A year later our first child was born and that book sat on the […]Attachment Parenting Coming Back in Style - Attachment parenting began to be poo-pooed when women in the workforce began to be celebrated. From the top down the definition of success was redefined and did not include family unity, family time, family health. Instead, it was an economic advance, economic prosperity, and economic results which led sweet mamas left standing on shaky unappreciated […]
Considering Teaching a High Schooler ?! - The thought of teaching a high school aged teenager at home can be daunting if sprung upon you unawares. If it has naturally occurred year by year as a committed (as in we are all a bit crazy who do this— crazy cool and crazy joyful and sometimes just crazy!) K-12 homeschooling family you have […]New Year’s Resolution for Peace - The new year is about to begin and we are halfway through our academic year. Thus far it may have been smooth sailing or bumpier than a toads back. Either way the sound of adding more peace to one’s day appeals to each of us. We want it. How do we get it? You know […]
Unexpected Times - Almost 2 years ago few of us would have imagined a world slowed down to the pace of horse and carriage (for a lovely 3 weeks!), however this is where we strangely find ourselves. This pandemic is only abnormal in that it is being lived out under a micro-scope where we hear […]
Anxiety and Depression - Anxiety begins with a thought and can end with a thought taken captive; but, if given free rein to niggle and run around our brains long enough, it creeps into our hearts to squeeze and constrict and proceeds to run rampant through our actions in unhealthy tendencies. How do we teach ourselves and our children […]
Take the Long View - Freedom, true freedom, is grounded in doing as one ‘ought’ to do. However, today’s trends teach that freedom is being able to do what one ‘wants’ to do. The ‘Ought To’s’ are a set of very specific commandments that tell us to love and serve outward, and, in doing so, one finds true freedom and […]
When it Goes Wrong - We have all felt moments When it Goes Right. Deep in our hearts things click- satisfaction, calm, rest, joy, peace all come together in a satisfying sigh of right-ness. It is attainable. It is what keeps us seeking the ideal by bettering ourselves and our children/families one day at a time through teaching at home, […]
Bad Habits vs. Thankful Habits - Lately I have recognized a bad habit of feeling sorry for myself when my husband or children do not recognize the hard work I put forth 24/7 which results in a lack of gratitude toward and agreement with Poor Little Me. It was my husband who was brave enough to say, in the heat of […]
The One Thing - There is not time each day for more than One Thing. I know, we homeschooling mamas thrive on our super powers of accomplishing above and beyond. That is not what I am talking about. The One Thing is your most important objective for the day. It is done well, completed well, and brings soul satisfaction. […]
The Praise Habit - This is the time of year where I (try to) back down on office work and bettering and bettering and order those ‘real’ items in my life that are neglected during the wonderfully busy Helping Times that bookend my year with Faithful Scholars– helping families get started, advising on curriculum options according to the unique […]
Advanced Learners - “This year we are doing first grade, but the public school would have him starting Kindergarten. He is just too advanced to hold back.” Don’t hold him back academically, but I would encourage you to keep him in the proper grade for his ‘future self’. Don’t dumb down his work, but don’t inflate his ego. […]
Impact of our Differently Gifted Children - A Note to Parents of Special-Needs Children by Maura Roan McKeegan Earlier this month, in a story called “What I Saw on Respect Life Sunday,” I wrote about witnessing the love between parents and their special-needs children at Mass. This past weekend, by God’s grace, I had the privilege once again to see this kind of […]
Growing Alongside our Young Adults - Dear Mom and Dad, As I wrote to a friend this morning, the email touched on so many of my tender spots that many of us face but few of us share. If you are not yet at this point in growing up alongside your child, please do not be disheartened because this journey […]
Dual Enrollment in South Carolina: Remain Calm and Home School On! - Maybe this wasn’t the case for you, but I always knew my eldest would start college early and from home. However, for the past year and a half I’ve struggled to find the right option for my student. Thinking it would ease my administrative burden and provide opportunities for dual enrollment, I enrolled him in […]
Summer Days that Count as School - Each summer Faithful Scholars answers questions as to which/whether days can count toward school– CC practicum/camp, music camp, mechanics camp, car trips, vacations based around historical stops, etc. YES!!! You can, and should, count them. Value and give credit to all learning achieved toward the goal of raising lifelong learners. To learn and have it […]
9th Grade Q and A (CC Related) - Mom: I have purchased the official high school binder to keep all of M’s records organized. I have your helpful list (from previous support email) printed and highlighted in the front. etc… Last night I reread through all of the info concerning high school on the Faithful Scholars website. Thank you so much for being so […]
Going Slow is Sometimes Like Medicine - Ponder the last time you spent a day or an hour or a moment purposely going slow. A mom wrote the above title to me the other day after she had watched a box turtle meander along and fireflies dance. These are reasons to homeschool, right? How is it that we get caught up in […]
Grass is Greener - The grass is always greener when seen from a distance. My fellow homeschoolers all have it together while I still flop and flounder. Or am I just looking at things from the wrong angle? My side view shows beautiful lush green. Step into the middle of that ‘grass’ and suddenly, as you look directly down […]
Curriculum is a Tool, Not a Goal - As we excitedly plan out our learning and lessons for next year it strikes me how the butterfly-joy welling up from within is based on the journey rather than thoughts of the completion of another year. It feels like running into a dear friend who has been out of town for a while. In the […]
Harmony- She is Illusive - Finding harmony based upon routine is one of a homeschoolers core daily struggles. Even for those of us who are determined to maintain a fluid day, there must be some order. When do the children wake, what lessons are the big slimy toads and need swallowing first, who needs what nutrition at what time in […]
But…What do Colleges Prefer? - by Ashley Brookshire, Regional Director of Admissions for the West Coast It’s a question I hear often – mostly from families at college fairs who are frantically trying to absorb every available nugget of information available to them in the tight time frame of the event: “But… what do colleges prefer?” “My daughter has […]
Considering Homeschooling- education vs. being educated - Homeschool is about creating a culture of education, daily devotion to curiosity, and practice of diligence toward discipline. It is more about character and less about the completion of, or in some situations, the ‘experience’ of, material. Homeschoolers use books to grow our children in the areas of faith and diligence. An incredible academic education […]
Have Your Standards Dropped? - As the year went along did your standards go along with it? ….You may be a homeschooling mama if….. you are an idealist who cannot maintain her ideals because there are so many of them! The year begins, you have your curriculum set, your daily master plan laid out, and your energy reserves on high. […]
Academic Worship vs. Child Centered Learning - The MAIN THING is not the main lesson nor the main book although we get caught up in ever progressing while within we innately understand that our books are simply springboards toward faith and character. Homeschooling is a phenomenon of immense beauty which ever teeters on the brink of going awry through one of two […]
High School Readiness & Gaps - In answer to the common question, “How will I know I am covering “enough” with my soon-to-be 8th grader to prepare him for high school level courses?” You never will. Makes me grin each time I type this as I can envision the ‘thanks for nothing’ expression it must elicit. If your student will return […]