Christine Alcott's Blog

Posted by Christine Alcott

The new school year is creeping around the corner at our house. In just a few weeks, we plan to be back into the full swing of things. Scary and exciting. Scary, as I am still cleaning out and organizing the school room, and exciting to be again adventuring into the land of learning.

I made one mistake this weekend: I looked at some homeschooling moms' blog sites. Now, these are all very neat things, but the problem is, when I see how creative, inventive, organized, and smart these women are, I get intimidated out of my mind! My school room does not look that orderly. My lesson plans are not as fun and creative. I am not that smart or prepared.

This is a huge mistake. It is good to glean ideas from others. However, comparing ourselves to others is invariably a bad idea. It leads to doubt, confusion, and despair. The fact of the matter it, I will do the best job I can, with what I have, be that materials for learning or the personality I have cultivated all my life. I can always find others doing "better" than me. But at the same time, someone else is probably looking at me and thinking, "I wish I did things like that".

So, the best advice I can give you as we head towards September, is listen and learn, but do not doubt yourself or allow yourself to feel intimidated. Be confident, even if you don't feel it! We are our children's first and best teachers!

Have fun!

Posted by Christine Alcott

I am the first to admit that science is not my best subject. Chemistry, in particular, stumped me as a teenager. It took a lot of hoping, praying, and luck just to pass the class, in addition to a great deal of hard work. Since then, I have just assumed that chemistry, and science in general, is not for me.

Until, that is, I became a homeschooling mom. I knew then that I had to find a way to teach my children this crucial subject. Since the day I stumbled across the website, I have thanked my lucky stars for Teresa Bondora and her How to Teach Science site. Through a series of "workshops" done in free newsletter form, Teresa, a science-teacher-turned-homeschool-mom, helped me to understand science as I have never seen it before. If only I had been taught this way as a child, my whole experience of science would be a different story.

Teresa is now offering a new set of lessons on the elements of the periodic table. Please see her site for her passionate reasoning towards exposing our children to the periodic table from preschool on. (I now have a table of elements hanging in our schoolroom thanks to her!) These lessons are intended for all ages, and will arrive in a newsletter twice a month. Each lesson focuses on one element, including facts, history, jokes, links, info for parents, and information for advanced learners.

Best of all - these qulaity lessons from an excellent teacher are FREE!

Go to How to Teach Science to sign up!

Posted by Christine Alcott

The end of July means a new school year is not far away. Where I live, summer weather is just getting warmed up, and the hottest is yet to come. However, every store around us has replaced swimsuits and shorts with warm sweaters, backpacks, and jackets. It seems almost inconceivable to think of wearing the clothing they display at the moment. But no matter what store buying policy or regional weather dictates, school is coming.

In our house, new books are popping up. Workbooks ready to be used, new textbooks with untold information, and a fresh supply of pencils ready to be sharpened litter our school area.

One thing I want to do is clean the school room and organize for the new year. For the first time since our homeschooling career began, I will not have a preschooler to teach. My youngest is Kindergarten age, which is hard for me to believe. However, as he has always insisted on learning with his brothers, it really does not make much of a difference to our school routine - just his mother's heart!

A new year usually calls for new supplies. However, most homeschoolers are operating on a significantly smaller budget than their public school counterparts. Be sure to watch for the new article on good places to look for homeschooling supplies to help you get started.

Enjoy the summer!

Posted by Christine Alcott

Science was never my best subject. Let me just say a big thank you to Mrs. Alfiieri in 10th grade for allowing me to clean lab equipment for extra credit in chemistry so I could pass. I honestly tried; I studied very hard, but I just could not master the basics.

Let it suffice to say that the prospect of teaching my own children science is something I have tried hard to ignore. However, the subject must be covered at some point. I made the brave leap into science. Deciding to teach a homeschool coop class for elementary children on physics has made me look at the subject matter in a new and different light.

Science surrounds us every day. Physics,being basically the science of how things move, literally effects most of what we do every single day. For example, my boys were at a workshop where they built simple wooden trucks. I noticed their attempts to hammer the small nails into the wooden pieces were not suceeding for one reason - they were holding the pieces in their hands away from the table. In other words, every time the hammer hit the nail and the wooden piece, it caused each boy's arm to rock up and down. The energy from the hammer blow was being absoerbed and transfered to their arms, taking away from the energy distributed to the nail. I explained this simply, and we tried holding the pieces against the table. Now their arms did not rock and the nails went right in!

Even if science was never "your thing", you can still teach your child this subject. After all, science is all around us! Try Homeschooling for the Younger Years for some ideas. Or visit retired-science-teacher-turned-homeschool-mom Teresa Bondora's site - How to Teach Science. This site, and Teresa's philosophy, is the reason I am braving the world of science with 12 elementary school kids this fall. And what is more, I can't wait!

Posted by Christine Alcott

Summer is almost half-way over, and it seems it has barely begun. We usually start our homeschool year about the same time as the public schools around us. This year they are being forced to start later (Aug 27 vs around Aug 6), so we have more time off to enjoy than normal.

However, while my kids can sit around and play all day, I am planning for our next year. What books will we need? What curriculums am I using? What extra activities will we enroll in? How much is that going to cost?!

For homeschooling parents, summer is often the time to research new curriculums, scope out who has the best prices, and decide who is learning what. My home is littered with pieces of paper bearing sample schedules for each one of the kids. I love planning - the new year seems full of endless possibilities! How exciting!

I hope you are enjoying your summer. Look for an article this week on how to start homeschooling, for all the first-timers out there.

Enjoy the summer!