Home Schooling Challenges: An Examination

Home schooling is becoming a happy tradition in this nation. With all the advantages

it brings to the table, you can certainly see why – the freedom to teach your own

morals & religious viewpoints to your children. And the ability to organize the classroom

in a way that is most beneficial to your kids. Product Details

If you have a child who is physically challenged, for instance, you are able to make

adaptations to the classroom which suit him or her; and likewise, if your child needs

certain supplies (for example, books in larger print or in Braille) you can supply these

and tailor them specifically. And if you’ve a gifted child, you will be able to challenge

your student to the extent you see fit.

Perhaps the flexibility is something which many homeschooling families appreciate –for it

allows them sufficient interaction with their child or children. If you feel there are

many challenges to homeschooling, then you need to explore the details of this topic

more extensively. Then, and only then, will you finally know if you are up to the task of

home schooling your kids.

You will have to go through home school accreditation (check your state’s requirements).

Plus you’ll have the daunting task of preparing your child for college (including doing

practice exams, so that your child will be confident for the college entry exams).

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In order to get a head start looking at home schooling resources, make a visit to our other

homeschooling post.

Home Schooling: Grading Homework

Many parents consulted wondered why they should even bother grading their kid’s

homework. I think the best answer is not only so you can see how well your kids are faring

for their age group – but also to have a record, and a reference point. For example, say your

child wants to study “Art History” at some later point, but feels less than confident in the

area of history. Now you can help !

Grading Homework – A Future Point of Reference

You can go back and look over some of his homework assignments, or quizzes/exams, and

demonstrate that he did well on some of his history exams (so while you may have a child

who struggles with his self-esteem, it can be worthwhile to keep these graded homework

assignments, after all).

Now, there are different ways that you can ascertain if your child’s progress in his or her lessons

is substantial. For example, you can:

Utilize exercises in your child’s workbook
Administer an online standardized test
Administer a standard test with a recommendation from a school official

Standardized tests come as subject-specific tests, and testing your kids with these exams can

HELP you discover which subjects need more time and attention

If you have a gifted child, you of course will be doing a lot of testing – as a guide. You will

be pressed to keep up with him, and will be on a constant search for new material. There is an

excellent book to help you out – it is rated 5 stars over at Amazon The book is “Living with Intensity“

Finding out HOW your kid is faring with respect to his/her Age Group is not the only reason to do tests. Another

is to get the child ready for college – “used to testing”, in other words, and the pressure which accompanies exams.

If you discover that your kids don’t cope well with time pressure, then you can make an effort to work on this during

your homeschooling hours. Make it a priority.

Grading Homework: One More Reason

Another reason is to find out if your children are learning from their mistakes. Then you can be sure that they are

in fact progressing along, and learning. So put in the time grading homework.

Other than the book, Living with Intensity, I urge you to check out the book, “Special Kids Need Special Parents: A Resource for Parents” – it has input from many parents and professionals (not just a “one point of view” book)

Resources: HSLDA: Special Needs Children and Homeschooling for Today’s Children