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The Top Five Misconceptions About Homeschooling

Isabel Shaw

Today, children’s play is often tainted with boxes to check and points to score. So often teachers will say things like, “They think they’re playing, but really they’re learning” to which I think: “What’s the difference?!” and further: “Why isn’t playing enough? Why does there have to be a quantifiable, measurable end”?

Play IS the point.

More: The Importance of Play in 21st Century Learning

Creativity Belongs to Children

When very young children start playing, with toys or with crayons, they listen to and trust themselves. They eagerly follow their instincts and their urge to explore the immense world in which they have just arrived. They seem to flow with the inner current of their creativity, and with amazing freedom. Adults love to watch the ease and enjoyment children have in inventing, and we marvel at the direct contact they have with creation.

Grades 7-9

College Planning for Gifted Kids

Seventh Grade

Facing Family Finances

Preparing for a College Interview

Some colleges, especially the larger universities, no longer require an interview as part of the application process. If your child chooses to interview, and if the school allows it as an option, make sure he prepares. It is his opportunity to become known on an individual level, and the impression he makes could be the deciding factor in competitive admissions.

Preparations

College Recommendations

Brought to you by the American School Counselor Association

Most selective colleges ask their applicants to submit two recommendations from teachers. These can have an important bearing on your chances -? particularly if they are negative. Here are some guidelines that should help you secure better recommendations:

Homeschooling Teens:
Teaching and Record Keeping

Isabel Shaw  

What Subjects Do I Teach?

The time is approaching to send your teen off to her first year of college. How did this time possibly arrive so fast? Don’t you remember getting dropped off at college yourself like it was yesterday? Though your head and heart may be spinning with questions and emotions, this summer is essentially a milestone moment for your family. Thinking through how you would like to ensure that you get in some bonding time with your teen in advance is important so you can both make the most of this special summer.

Applying to college is stressful enough—all those essays, SAT and ACT scores, and non-stop chatter in school about who’s going where...it can be overwhelming for teens and parents alike. Thankfully, (and take it from my parents who put four kids through four different colleges and tackled various loans and grant paperwork en route!) you can safely make it through the daunting application and decision process. It just takes organization, patience, and logic.

High Achievers: What Price Are They Paying?

A Harvard Interviewer's Honest Assessment
They come to me with SATs pushing 1600 and more awards than military heroes. The valedictorians. The student leaders. The super-jocks. They are applying to Harvard. They are the children you want your kids to become.

Choosing a doctor is probably one of the most critical factors of your pregnancy, but for many women, it's not an area that they want to address. It just feels too hard trying to figure out where to find a doctor and which one matches you. If you already have an OB/GYN, you're the lucky one. If not, just how do you choose the doctor who is right for you?

More: Interviewing Your Doctor

Picking the Right Music Teacher for Your Child

Brought to you by MENC: The National Association for Music Education

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the prospect of evaluating a music teacher for your child, especially if you have no music background yourself. But now you can relax -- we've taken the guesswork out of the selection process with this checklist.

To hear a lot of people talk, a high school graduate has two options: university or a life of poverty and uncertainty. Unfortunately, not every teenager wants to go to college.

Fortunately, there are more options after high school than pursuing a college degree. And many of those options can lead to secure, well-paying employment, even without that four-year degree.

Here are a few.

Leveling the Playing Field

A Break in Tradition
"Jack, Jack -- he's our man! If he can't do it...Susie can!"

Opportunities for girls and women in sports are on the rise, but leveling the playing field often means altering some old and very popular traditions.

This winter at Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch, New Jersey, the girls' basketball team ran the floor while the school's band rocked out tunes of encouragement from the stands. The players were pumped. The crowd roared.

Homeschooling Teens

The Whys, and the Must-Haves

The idea of homeschooling through high school can be scary. Parents tell me, "I could never homeschool my teen - I barely got through some of my own high school classes!" But homeschool advocates are discovering there's a better way for teens to learn, and homeschooling your high-schooler may be easier than you think.

College is a time of change and worry for every parent and teen, but if your child has a chronic illness, medical issues, or disability you have a lot more to worry about. You’ve probably been on the front lines helping your child manage his or her condition, but this will be the first time they will be flying solo on all fronts, so it’s important that you know how to support them so they can care for themselves.

Finding Your Homeschool Style

Isabel Shaw

When I was first thinking about homeschooling, I asked a homeschool mom to describe her typical day. I was puzzled when she replied that there was no such thing as a typical day.

"What type of curriculum do you use?" I asked.

"Well, we're eclectic homechoolers, so we pick and choose our resources as we go along," she replied.