This morning I’ve been abuzz planning our homeschooling year. I started going through all the e-mails I’ve saved about the various classes I think the kids would be interested in. I’m humming along, so excited, when all of a sudden – screech – I hit sticker shock!

I’ve been homeschooling one child these last four years. Now I’m looking at three! I manically reached for the calculator and just about passed out! Looks like we’re going to have to do some major economizing!

There... more

Continuing our previous discussions about homeschooling, let's talk about online resources:

You don’t need a fancy or pricey curriculum to get started in homeschooling. Usually, each year before the beginning of the term, I will go to my State Department of Education website and download a copy of their curriculum standards as well as Scope and Sequence materials. I then use things I know interest my son to meet the content standards. For example, in... more

So you’ve decided you’d like to explore homeschooling – but where to begin?

First of all, though homeschooling is a legal educational option in all 50 states, each state does have its own specific statutes. Your first order of business is to find out the laws for your particular state. A few good websites are A to Z Home’s Cool, About.com,... more

In the early years of the homeschooling movement, many parents chose this educational option for religious reasons. Fast forward a few decades, and you’ll find homeschooling is practiced by many families for a wide variety of reasons. Some choose home education to support a specific ethno-centric world view. Others homeschool due to dissatisfaction with their local school system. Yet others opt to educate at home because they feel that children learn just by living daily life. Whatever the reason, homeschooling has gained mainstream popularity... more

Here’s a photo of my 14-year-old practicing Christmas carols on his baritone in front of the fireplace while wearing his basketball referee’s uniform.

He referees third and fourth grade basketball games every weekend, in between playing on the eighth grade basketball team and going to baseball workouts (did I mention that he’s an athlete?).

When I picked him up from the games he reffed, he glanced over at the mom who was handing out snacks to the little players after their game. “I miss those days,” he sighed. “Getting the treat... more

My 10-year-old arrived home from school today and proudly announced, "A kid tried to pick on me and scratch me in the eye and I put him in a half-nelson."

"Did you get in trouble?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "But that kid didn't bother me the rest of the day."

My son has just begun learning to wrestle and he is quite enthusiastic about it. He's the tiniest kid in the fifth grade and is quite proud... more

Here’s something most people don’t know about me: I am a swimmer (here’s a photo of the very pool I swim in). I swim laps. Back and forth, back and forth, week after week, year after year.

To many people, lap swimming sounds like the most boring, mindless workout possible, but I find it relaxing. I think my love of lap swimming harkens back to my first “career” as a lifeguard and swimming instructor.

The past few weeks, the local high school P.E. classes have been sharing the lap lanes with me. Today when I was getting dressed, a crew of freshmen... more

We’ve just about made it through Week One of school (and it was really only half a week). On Wednesday, my 10-year-old was up at 6 a.m., showered, and rarin’ to go (his bus comes at 8:23).

Thursday, I woke him up at 7:15 and he was angry that I hadn’t gotten him up at 6:45 so he could take “an hour-long shower” (actually, he’s in there less than 10 minutes but it must seem like an hour to him).

Today, I woke him up at 7 and he laid in bed another 10 minutes before slouching into the shower. Then he put reinforcements on all the dividers in his... more