You're thinking about homeschooling your child?  What a wonderful opportunity for your family!  Homeschooling, no matter what kind, can be a very rewarding experience for your child and your entire family.  It can bring the family closer as you navigate the world of learning together with your child.  Instead of asking "So, what did you do today at school?" and getting an answer of "I don’t know, stuff..." you and your child will already know the answer!

There are also many different options when it comes to homeschooling and this series of articles will help you navigate the many options you will first be introduced to. 

First of all, here are some questions to consider before you start.  This list may seem overwhelming; however it is a good exercise to think about the many options and possibilities before embarking on this wonderful journey: 

• What type of schooling/unschooling will work best for your family?  
• Does every member in your family support this?
  
• Do you have any close friends who home school?  if so, what is their experience and advice? if not, who could you talk to in order to get some advice?
  
• Those subjects you struggled with in school, are you prepared to re-learn them to help your children through?
  
• If you are unsure how to break something down into small steps, or don't have a background in a subject do you have the desire to learn or help your child find out about it on their own?
• Perhaps you could 'outsource' this to another family member?Is your family in a financial situation where you could afford variety? 
  
• Home schooling can sometimes be more affordable than traditional public school, however, there may be quite a cost in setup and materials depending on what type of program you will do with your children
• .Who will be the primary 'teacher' or 'learning guide'?
• and lastly, Are you excited and enthusiastic to spend the day learning alongside your child?First, what type of home school do you think will work best for your family?

You may have the answers to all these questions, and you may need to ask around and do some personal research on your own.  Whatever choice you make, whether to homeschool your child or not will be the right one for your family!  Good for you!  You made a great choice!

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will investigate the many options available to families in B.C.!

There has definitely been some controversy surrounding readable books being online.  As far as resources, I think this is a great idea, especially when researching a tough topic.  You are not always able to find the certain text you are looking for through the local library, or their ordering system.  As well, your budget may be flexible to include books for research or school.  So, for these purposes, I think that being able to access old or uncommon books online is a wonderful resource to anyone!

I was looking for some resources last week, and on my search came across two excellent sites.  One you might know already is Google Books, however, some of you may not know about the Advanced Search page where you can search for solely free titles.  Here, next to the heading "search" select "full view only" and your search will include complete books!  (A side note, many of the 'limited preview" books are only missing a few pages and can also be useful)

What if you cannot get to the local library?  try Open Library!!  Different ways that you can obtain books either through borrowing ebooks, borrowing real books or it gives links to major websites that carrys the book so you can purchase it!  Too many books to imagine, and well laid out too!

The last site I happened upon was the Online Books Page which uses links to other various websites that either has the book transcribed or copies of each page. For example, perhaps you want to learn more about Florence Nightingale, and read the book Florence Nightingale: War Nurse or, read about Montessori in Maria Montessori's book "The Montessori Method".  You can do this, through the Online Books website!  It has a simple setup, but ultimately its the information you're looking for!

Happy Reading!

We all know, whether we have children or not, that September brings many things: Children going back to school, young ones starting school for the first time, new routines, early mornings, scrambling for school lunches first thing in the morning, new teachers, new subjects, new friends and new knowledge!  Parents too must get used to this new routine of getting the kids off to school while balancing their work and home life.  Even college students experience a few weeks of ambiguity, as they get used to their new roommates, teachers and course expectations.  In all, September is a month of adjustments and transition.

I used to think, that after grade 12 and six years in university, coping with that dreaded excitement-nervousness-unknown, that once I was part of 'regular working society' September would come and go without a hitch and I would sail smoothly through those tumultuous back-to-school weeks. 

Near the end of August, a friend (going to college for the first time) posted that she was excited and was homesick all at once.  This immediately brought back memories of those many Septembers when I had just packed up all my belongings into the back of the car to move them to the dorm/apartment/shared-living-space for another university year.  This comment also made me realise that although I am not going back to school, and haven’t done so for many years, I too am still affected by this season.  The more I reflected, I realised that my recent feelings of being unsettled, restless and disconnected were not caused by something new, but the usual feelings around this time of the year.  These were the same feelings that many other people are experiencing, all caused by Transition. 

The dictionary showed two definitions of Transition, one applying to the regular use of the word, and one applying to music.  This certainly helps to explain why we react the way we do!

Tran·si·tion [tran-zish-uh-n]  noun

1. movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

2. Music.

a.a passing from one key to another; modulation.

b.a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing.

c.a sudden, unprepared modulation.

Check out this link to the online version of The Stew to see our feature article!