No Place Like Home - Suggestions to Add Breath and Depth to Your Home School Courses

Home schooling allows parents and familygive a lecture on a specific subject or allow your
members to deliver content that they considerkids to sit in on a course.
appropriate and important for their kids. Still, there3. Use the information superhighway. The Internet
is the reality that many home school students willoffers a host of resources than can make home
enter the workforce and compete againstschooling a breeze. From home school networks
students who attended larger institutions withto online courses, there are many sites that can
more resources. How can families who havemake your lessons more interactive and
decided to home school add more breath andeffective. For general home schooling resources,
depth to courses at minimal cost? Below are fivevisit The Home School Mom's website. For
suggestions that can help make your home schoollanguage study, consider purchasing a 1-year online
courses more substantial and engaging.subscription to Rosetta Stone. For beginning and
1. Organize learning trips. To supplement the studyintermediate math study, check out the resources
of core subjects, organize exploratory trips toon For lesson plans and other teaching resources,
teach your kids real-world skills. For middle andcheck out Laura Candler's website. (Search names
high school students, organize trips to the bank.to find websites).
On these trips, have students open accounts,4. Explore your community. Keep abreast of
make basic transitions, and inquire about bankspeakers, performances, and exhibits by signing
services and fees. Banking trips can work wellup for newsletters from local colleges, universities,
with other math lessons. For elementary schooland museums. You can organize a unit of study in
students, organize trips to different food markets.preparation for an upcoming exhibit. Conversely,
Consider a chain grocery store, the farmers'you can use a speaker's visit or a performance to
market, a kosher market, and a Chinese Deli.add levels of understanding to a unit of study you
These trips can compliment lessons abouthave already begun. PBS and NPR are two other
budgeting, nutrition, or cultural cuisines. As agreat places to learn about events in your
long-term goal, students can fundraise forcommunity.
out-of-state trips. These trips can be related to5. Purchase plans. There is no need to re-invent
things they are studying (e.g. a fieldtrip to Newthe wheel, or lesson plans for that matter, when
York after a unit on immigration or a road tripyou can purchase them over the Internet.
through the state, chartered by your kids, after aWebsites such as Teachers Pay Teachers and
course about geography and map reading).We are Teachers offer a wide variety of lesson
2. Enroll in college. Courses at a community collegeplans and curricula for purchase. These plans are
can be an inexpensive way to add to your child'sespecially useful when you are teaching the basics,
learning. Consider enrolling your students in asuch as paragraph writing or long division, or when
community college for subjects such as literatureyou are teaching commonly read authors, such as
or language. High-school-age students wouldShakespeare or Toni Morrison.
especially benefit from such courses. AttendingHome schooling allows families a greater level of
college courses will add texture to the school day.control over the content and the chronology of
Additionally, attending these courses will offerstudy. At the same time, families who choose to
accelerated study and it will give studentshome school have the job of preparing students
exposure to a college environment. If communityfor a larger world context. To add texture and to
college is not an option, check within yourgive more breath and depth to your home school
network of family and friends for collegecourses, use the suggestions listed above.
professors. These professionals may be willing to