Meet Frankie

Meet Frankie.  Frankie is a little teddie bear that belongs to my daughter's class.  Over the course of the year, each child has a chance to take Frankie home.  Then the child writes in Frankie's book about their adventures together and draws a picture.  This past weekend was my daughter Miriam's turn to bring Frankie home with her.

Although I have often seen activities like this done in school classrooms, this could also be an effective exercise for home schooled kids.  Miriam was really excited to have Frankie visit her and do all of her weekend activities with her.  Because she was excited to share her experiences with the other children, she was happy to write about it.  She also read the entries put in by previous children.  It didn't feel like she was working on reading and writing (literacy) because she wanted to do it and got to play with Frankie.

For most homeschool families, you can't just pass it around kids like you do in a classroom.  However, you could start a similar activity with other homeschooling families.  It could either be local (through people you meet or a homeschooling network, for example), or you could post it back and forth between homeschooling families anywhere in the world.  Children will be excited to follow Frankie's adventures and practice their literacy skills with it.

Choosing a Major

Recently I've heard a lot of discussions in homeschooling groups about homeschooled teens starting at college/university.  I won't go into all of the advantages and disadvantages of applying to a university after being homeschooled in this post. 

I was interested, though, in what people had to say about how their homeschooled children were choosing their majors.  It can be difficult for anyone to decide what to study.

My undergraduate degree is in English.  I loved my course, but I realize that it wasn't necessarily the most practical degree.  Click here to find out what I've done with a B.A. in English. 

I do think it is important for people to study something that they love.  How did any of you choose what to study, or how are your children choosing their majors?  I'd love to hear your experiences.

Twitter for Homeschoolers

After putting it off as long as possible, I joined Twitter not too long ago.  I wasn't really sure what to expect when I signed up, but I've had a lot of pleasant surprises since becoming part of the Twitter community.  I think that was the biggest shock for me; there really is a community feeling on Twitter.

On Twitter, there's a large community not only of parents, but of homeschooling parents.  There are lots of links to informative articles, notes about different homeschooling resources, and simply a constant supply of support and encouragement.  Even if you don't know other homeschooling families in your area, on Twitter you can interact with homeschooling parents around the world.  This is a great place to get and give advice and inspiration.  If you home school, I would definitely recommend trying out Twitter.

I'm sure there are many more great people that I'm missing, but here are a few of the people who tweet about homeschooling: @homeschool, @HomeschoolSue, @hmschooliguide, @HomeCurriculum, and @Homeschoolounge.

My Twitter handle is @KeriWithington.