Maybe. Today’s homeschool student is in impressive company – from Presidents and military leaders to business leaders, famous authors, inventors and artists. And don’t forget, they also perform extremely well in spelling bees.

How well? While homeschoolers make up about 3% of the student population in the U.S., they represent about 20% of semi-finalists in national student competitions. That makes them about five times more likely to win than a public school student. In fact, in 2007 homeschoolers swept all of the major national competitions!

Homeschoolers who have achieved success share a number of similar traits:

• They have a tendency towards self-reliance
• They have a preference for self-employment
• They are generally happy in their chosen occupations and doing what they love
• Many are very talented in certain fields because they were allowed to pursue the interest as a part of their homeschooling

So who are some of these super-students, and what have they done? Homeschooler extraordinaire Abraham Lincoln may be old news…but here are six folks you’ve probably heard of more recently:

1. Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon, which is Book One in the four part Inheritance cycle. The book spent 121 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and became a major release movie.
2 & 3. Venus and Serena Williams, both of whom have held the title of the world’s #1 tennis player and continue to dominate the sport.
4. LeAnne Rimes, country music singer and songwriter who released her debut single when she was just 13 years old and went on to sell over 37 million records worldwide.
5. Todd Lodwick, considered the most successful American Nordic skier in history, competed in over 143 World Cups, became world champion in 2009 and won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
6. Elijah Wood, actor, is probably best known for his role as the main character, Frodo, in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Wood has starred in over forty movies and has been nominated for – and won – numerous awards.

All of these kids dreamed big and reached for the stars. Homeschooling plays a major role in helping children become successful by giving them the flexibility to focus more time on those things they are passionate about.

Did you know that Alexander the Great (privately taught by Aristotle) is referred to as one of the world’s first homeschooled children?

It’s that time of year again–time to create and turn in your Homeschool Portfolio.  For many parents this is a time of stress and frantic searching for all of those homeschool documents, pictures and moments that define the school year.  For others it is a time of reflection and enjoyment as they page through their already full portfolio and remember the good and the bad.

If you are one of the many homeschool parents who is searching for answers on just what to include, how much to include and how to get it all done, let me assure you, the task is not as daunting as it appears.  In fact, when you follow a step by step approach to pulling it all together, I think you will find that it is a pretty rewarding homeschool project that both you and your kids can enjoy.

A homeschool portfolio is a keepsake for you and your family that documents the educational progress of each of your students.  It contains a snapshot of your school year that includes academic progress, special projects, field trips and extra curricular activities.  It is an opportunity to showcase your child’s best work and to demonstrate how you were able to turn struggles into success.

For many, a homeschool portfolio is required by law and therefore serves as much more than a keepsake.  Be sure to check the laws in your state to ensure that you meet the requirements for homeschooling.  For some, this will mean a homeschool portfolio; for others it will mean standardized testing; and for still others it may mean a visit from a school official.

So assuming that you have discovered the need for a homeschool portfolio or simply want to create a keepsake, where do you start?

Begin by deciding how you want to present your school year.  Most parents use a three ring binder divided into sections such as subjects, writing samples, special events, field trips and extra curricular activities.  This is the easiest way to keep your records organized and to ensure that you don’t go overboard with how much you include.

Essential items to place into your homeschool portfolio include:

• The homeschool objectives you established at the beginning of the school year or a list of objectives you accomplished this year
• Any legal documents required by law in your state.
• Your homeschool log (anything from a simple calendar with school days marked inside to a lesson planner documenting what you did each day).  Check the laws in your state to learn what is required for a homeschool log.
• A list of books, magazines, audio books, and educational videos
• Sample work from each subject.  Many parents choose to include only the tests completed through the school year; others include projects, pictures of projects and sample pages of daily work as well.
• Writing samples that demonstrate your child’s accomplishments in writing.
• Pictures of art work from throughout the school year
• A letter from a music teacher, a coach, or other instructor who worked with your child
• If you have kept records of grades for your child or are enrolled in a home school program with Bridgeway Academy where records are kept for you, include those records or report cards in your portfolio.
• A list of field trips or brochures, ticket stubs, etc. that tell the story of where you have been this year.
• A list of community service opportunities in which your child participated
• A list of achievements, awards or other recognition
• If your child participated in standardized testing, you may also want to include those results in your portfolio.

So how do you put your homeschool portfolio together?

I always recommend that parents begin the school year with either an accordion file or a binder with tab dividers and even plastic sleeve protectors.  Then as a student completes a project, test or other activity in a particular subject, simply insert it into the file or binder.

In addition, Bridgeway Academy students should be sure to place all notes and feedback sent from your advisor as well as honor roll ribbons or other recognition received throughout the school year into your binder (that is of course after you have showcased it on the fridge for a time).

This makes it so easy when you reach the end of the year and have to finalize your portfolio.  Rather than searching for what to include, you end up weeding out what you don’t need.

Tips to remember:

1. You don’t need to include everything you accomplished throughout the year.  A good rule of thumb is to select a variety of assignments in each subject from the beginning, middle and end of the school year.
2. Be sure to end up with a portfolio that shows your progress. This means you will not only include your student’s best work but also those assignments that led to more focused instruction and progress.
3. Allow yourself some freedom with your portfolio.  Be creative and put it together in a way that works for you.  I have reviewed all kinds of portfolios from binders to accordion files, to digital portfolios to scrapbooks and photo montages.
4. Don’t stress about your evaluation. Most evaluators are committed to helping homeschoolers, to providing tips to help address weaknesses and encouragement for student success.  When you put your portfolio together in an organized fashion and include items that demonstrate progress, you make it easy on your evaluator and ensure a smooth and easy evaluation.

If you are scrambling to pull it all together this year, head out and buy your accordion file or binder or whatever you plan to use to create your portfolio.   Then set aside a full school day to work together with your children to review the year and determine what you want to include.  It will certainly be a great learning experience as they review what they have learned and will allow you to take it slow and enjoy the project.

And when you go to purchase your portfolio, you may want to pick up an extra one for next year!  :-)

The other common question I hear in reaction to homeschooling is “how do you socialize your child? Doesn’t she need friends and activities and sports to be ‘normal’?”

Of course, children need friends. And sports. And activities. Actually, it’s surprisingly easy for homeschoolers to take part in extracurricular activities. In fact, most homeschoolers have more activities available to them than the average public school student.

What most people don’t know is that many states have equal access laws. These laws require public school districts to allow homeschoolers access to the district’s extracurricular activities, such as sports, music, drama, debate team and other programs. Usually, parents “dual enroll” a child, which gives them access to many of the public school’s programs and facilities while maintaining responsibility for their education at home. You are, after all, paying taxes- and you may as well get something back! The Home School Legal Defense Association has a great rundown on each state’s laws and restrictions.

Here are some additional options available to homeschoolers looking for after-school activities:

1. The Local Parks and Recreation Department
Your local Parks Department may offer youth sports and clubs, and a quick web search can help you identify other local youth groups, organizations and clubs that offer activities your child may be interested in. For example, the local YMCA generally has sports leagues your child can join.

2. Homeschool Leagues
Homeschool sports leagues are beginning to crop up around the country. Because travel distances may be greater, practices and games are generally held just once a week and parents are encouraged to be involved.

3. Civic Organizations
Open to all kids, groups such as 4H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and community theater, arts & music groups offer homeschooled children tons of options for activities and socialization.

4. Private Organizations
The local ice skating rink, gym and dance studio probably have classes available during the day, and they may be geared toward homeschool students. Check with a local home school support group to find out which private organizations cater to homeschoolers.

5. Churches
Don’t forget the local church! Many churches, temples and religious organizations offer activities designed specifically for kids, and membership in the church may not even be required.

The next time someone asks you how you go about socializing a child who learns at home, you can explain that the really hard part is avoiding over-scheduling them. Just make sure they don’t see you smile when you act sympathetic about their child’s limited options for after school activities in public school!

What extracurricular activities do your kids participate in and enjoy?

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, the diagnosis is easy.  You have homeschooler’s spring fever.

Interestingly enough, spring fever is actually a real condition.   Our body goes through both hormonal and chemical changes as the season changes.  And in the spring those changes mean more energy, a positive spirit, a feeling of well-being and even a restlessness that is difficult to tame.

So if you are going through those symptoms, imagine what your children are experiencing.  If your homeschool is like mine, they are more energetic, a bit more argumentative, less motivated to open a book and more passionate about finding the next adventure.

So, how do make sure that what you are teaching is actually sinking in?  How do you ensure that this season’s homeschool lessons are long lasting?

Homeschoolers, it is time to get creative!  Spring is a terrific time to take learning outdoors, to be innovative and to re-inspire learning.  And when you do it right, it can be the best time of your homeschooling year!

Let me share with you some of the fun things we do in our homeschool to use spring fever to our advantage and keep our kids learning.

1. Head outdoors. There is nothing better than homeschooling in the park, along a creek or right there in the backyard.  And when you combine homeschooling with the kind of activity that the outdoors makes possible, you give your kids the opportunity to work off some of that pent up energy while learning at the same time.  And I think you will find that creativity really kicks in, so grab some art supplies, a writing journal, and whatever you can find to let imagination take root.
2. Get Moving. I have combined movement with our lessons by reviewing math problems on the trampoline, by digging in the garden while discussing history and science, and by just enjoying the opportunity to get out and move!  And most of the time, that ability to get moving clears the mind and makes learning easier.
3. Organize fun activities with other homeschoolers.  Now is the perfect time to schedule that homeschool get-together you’ve been meaning to make happen all year.  You can center it around a theme (such as a historical period, a novel, or some element of science), or you can just have fun.  It is amazing how a gathering of homeschool kids can spark incredible creativity.

4. Change things up. If you tend to get cracking at homeschooling first thing in the morning, give them a chance to sleep in and schedule your day in the afternoon.  Or, stop the core curriculum for a week and set out on a unit study that sparks their interest.  By building in some writing activities, reading fiction that is relevant to the unit study you selected and finding ways that the main characters affected history and science, you engage your kids without sacrificing the academics.

5. Don’t be afraid to ease up. It may be time to just ease up a bit on the requirements.  Sometimes, we homeschoolers get so caught up in finishing the textbook that we push and push and push and end up squelching all interest in learning.  So take a few days to reassess your expectations and see if there is some wiggle room in there.   But do be careful not to ease up so much that homeschooling becomes the last priority each day.

Spring Fever can create many challenges for both teachers and homeschool parents.  But when you roll with it and adapt to the newly found energy and enthusiasm, you end up with a super charged learning environment that everyone enjoys.

Between the bullying, the teasing, the constant competition, and those classmates who seem to switch from friend to hater overnight, the pressure can be overwhelming. And it can hurt — a lot.

You aren’t alone. In fact, many middle- and high school students report feeling depressed and anxious because of school. The stress of learning is bad enough…who deserves to be picked on too?

Have you ever considered homeschooling? Forget whatever it is you think homeschooling is all about. Homeschoolers aren’t the weird kids that everyone picks on…they’re just like you and me (but maybe a lot more confident and happy).

Homeschoolers tend to excel in school because they learn using the methods that work best for them, instead of how students are forced to learn in public school. Some people prefer to learn by reading while others do better with a hands-on approach. With homeschooling, you don’t have to deal with the stress of struggling to keep up or doubting yourself in front of everyone else in the classroom.

Here are a few of the self-esteem building advantages of homeschooling you may have never thought of!

1. Dress the way you want – there’s no peer pressure to wear the latest (and let’s be honest, sometimes ridiculous) fashion!
2. No bullying or teasing during school (unless your horrible brother is acting mean again).
3. You’ve still got your friends…and you can still take part in after-school activities and sports, without the stress. You’ll also meet new friends doing activities that you are interested in. There’s nothing better than having friends who share your interests!

When you do well in school and don’t have to deal with the bullying, peer pressure and stress, your self-esteem soars! Homeschooling happens in the real world, where you can forget about fitting in or being the butt of jokes. You can concentrate on living your life and becoming the person you want to be.

What do you think hurts your self-esteem most at school?

Numbers on how many children are homeschooled in the U.S. each year can be difficult to nail down precisely, due to inconsistent reporting by individual states. Experts agree that between 1.5 and 2.5 million kids are homeschooled. This represents about 3% of the overall U.S. student population, and the number of homeschooled children is growing by about 10% each year. So, yes, there is a growing trend toward homeschooling. And it isn’t just an American phenomenon: Canada, the UK, Japan, Australia and many other countries report increases in homeschooling among their populations.

One reason the trend toward homeschooling is picking up steam is the rapidly fading stigma attached to it. What was once seen as a curious way to educate your child is now widely accepted, especially by other kids. Most of us in the homeschooling field agree that the growth trend will continue – at least for the foreseeable future – largely due to technology. The internet provides parents like us with significant resources- giving us access to support groups and invaluable information. Technology also makes homeschooling a more realistic option for families in the military or ex-pats working abroad.

So why do parents opt to homeschool their children? Well, there is a variety of reasons. For some, the decision is faith-based. Others choose to homeschool because of intense frustration with the local schools. It could be a feeling that a child wasn’t being challenged enough or the need to care for a special-needs child. Safety concerns, scheduling flexibility, and the opportunities for more family time are also strong reasons to choose homeschooling.

And if all of that wasn’t enough – we’re finding that adults who have been homeschooled are more likely to vote, get involved in community service, attend and graduate college, and share their parents’ values and belief systems.

Here are a couple of interesting facts about homeschool trends:

• Ten years ago, minorities accounted for fewer than 10% of all homeschooled students, but minorities now make up about 15% of homeschooling families.
• Homeschooled kids tend to score 15-30 % higher than public school students on standardized tests, and a study conducted by the National Home Education Research Institute found that the average homeschooled student generally performed 30-37% better than public school students across all subjects.

There’s no doubt that homeschooling is growing in popularity and in fact, may be the fastest growing trend in education these days. With recent state cutbacks in education, the ranks of homeschooling families may soon swell even further.

If you’ve never considered homeschooling your children, why not?

Ever since NCLB was signed into law, there has been a public outcry about its value. The objections have become deafening as we rapidly approach the 2014 deadline. From where we sit now, unfortunately, it looks like our national public school system could very well be headed for a 100% failure rate in just three years.

So what happened? Why did No Child Left Behind end up leaving so many children behind? Well, here are three reasons:

1. “Show Me the Money”
NCLB was chronically underfunded from the get-go. Each year it was in effect, the program generally received at least $6 or $7 billion less than requested. During some years, NCLB received as much as $20 billion less than was needed to run the program effectively. Fast forward to 2011: with states slashing educational funding to make up for budget shortfalls, our public schools are hurting…and there’s no end in sight to the crisis.

2. “Teaching to the Test”
NCLB’s “test-and-punish” policy has led to a school system in which education takes a back seat to test scores. Schools no longer have a vested interest in helping educate kids. Rather, those children whose scores are bringing down a school’s test score average are encouraged to go elsewhere in order to raise the school’s overall average.

Because NCLB mandates punitive measures for failing schools and schools that fail to demonstrate improvement, teachers have been forced to focus classroom instruction on just English and Math skills to boost test scores. School systems are choosing to ignore science, history, the arts and humanities. Many teachers believe that this practice distorts education, and hurts our children. I agree – it leaves our children far behind in many subjects that are key to our country’s long-term success.

3. “No Solution to the Problem”
The solutions to poor school performance offered up by the NCLB legislation are one-size-fits-all fixes. And we all know that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all anything! In fact, these “solutions” may even make poor performance worse. The problems our nations’ schools face tend to be complex, with local, cultural and demographic aspects. However, the NCLB requires school districts to apply the exact same set of solutions in each school that fails to meet its goals, regardless of the school’s unique circumstances.

Far from making every American child proficient in math and reading, the NCLB and our public schools have ended up crafting an educational system that is bankrupting our school systems. All of this hurts our children’s’ education – and by extension their futures.

It isn’t all bad, however – there actually is a bright spot. What NCLB exposed was the very real achievement gaps that exist among minority and low-income students. What is frustrating for us educators is that the law doesn’t help correct the problem, it merely shines a light on it.

As educators continue sizing up the impact of NCLB in the classroom, some are looking at other indicators and trends. Private schools have seen sluggish growth, likely due to rising tuition costs. Homeschooling – on the other hand – grew 74% between 2000 and 2007, highlighting growing parental concerns with America’s school system.

How has NCLB impacted your child’s education during the past 10 years?

Homeschool parents will love Write Source’s step by step format, which approaches writing as a process that begins with brainstorming and ends with revision, proofreading and editing.  Best of all, it teaches a different form of brainstorming to complement each different form of writing.

With Write Source, the textbook does the teaching–walking students through how to choose a good topic, how to brainstorm the topic, how to get started and more.  In addition, for each form of writing, students will read and evaluate a rough draft and watch how it transforms into a strong piece of writing.  This careful instruction is ideal for the homeschool as it really does a great job of teaching writing.

As a writing instructor, one of my favorite elements of the Write Source Writing program is how it teaches the six traits of good writing (often missed in homeschool writing programs).  Each unit begins with a specific form of writing and integrates the the six traits of good writing tailored to that specific assignment.  So although the six traits of good writing are the same for every form of writing, students are challenged to evaluate each piece from the perspective that fits that form of writing.   This is important because we know that voice in a narrative will be very different than voice in a persuasive essay, which is different than voice in a comparative analysis, etc.

As stated earlier, the Write Source text walks students through each stage of the writing process in a step by step format, providing clear instruction and real-life examples that aid students as they begin to write independently.

Best of all, when combined with the Write Source Skills Book, Write Source takes writing further by weaving mechanics, usage and grammar into each lesson, challenging students to use the instruction to improve their own writing.

As they master the writing process, students will begin to develop their own writing style, to use their writing to explore their mind and to learn more about a specific topic through writing.

Write Source gets two thumbs up for homeschoolers from this writing teacher!  You can order Write Source from Curriculum Express and see specific sample pages and more information here.

A fun and quick article on why homeschooling should be outlawed.

Click here and enjoy

.

We have also heard the homeschool stereotypes, we have fought the “homeschool socialization” battle, and we have struggled with family who don’t support our efforts.

In addition, we have fielded the many questions from “Is that legal?” to “How do you do it?’ and “Don’t you think your kids should be in school with other kids?” to “What do you do all day?”

But that misguided perception of homeschooling is quickly changing.  College recruiters have long been seeking homeschoolers, more and more parents are seeing the incredible value of homeschooling and those who oppose homeschooling are losing ground.  With homeschoolers scoring significantly higher on standardized test scores, exceeding their peers in college and university, and earning greater and greater respect among college admissions officers and employers, there is little left to argue.

Combine the success of homeschoolers with the increasing decline in our education system and I think we will see homeschooling on the rise for many years to come.

So to all of you on the front lines of homeschooling, I have one thing to say . . . Keep up the awesome work!