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Fresh Homeschool Week 1: A Fresh Approach (Part 1 of 24)

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Over then next few months I hope to devote more attention to adding fresh resources to this Homeschooling website, which I have always intended to be a collection of helpful resources and guides aimed at helping and supporting Christian Home schoolers all around the globe.

Like most parents everywhere, I don’t have much free time and I am consumed by the trials and distractions which all parents face daily, and so I shall be writing from that point of view. That the world is broken, and all that really counts in life is loving God and man.

37 Jesus said to him, "’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

At this point in my life I am increasingly aware that there are some things I am not going to be able to change, for example Television and Media are quite simply very big influences of the lives of our children (both directly and indirectly) so let’s look at Film and TV from a christian and educational perspective and work out how we can accommodate learning into every day movies, with a bit of luck we might even be re-assess both old and contemporary movies in ways which facilitate a well-rounded education.

An ever-present issue for young people everywhere is money, as they face they are forced challenge their understanding of who they are and who they want to be, and so I hope to continue looking into the area of sound financial management, and helping us all gain some value of financial independence, or at the very least to be better informed. Whichever way we look at this problem, money is a very important part of our lives.

So how do I imagine I will achieve this Goal? Quite simply, I hope to research and write one good article each week on one of the subjects highlighted in this post. I, unfortunately am not a very good parent, so I can’t write from the experience of being a good parent, I can however write from the perspective of the ever learning parent.

Vaccination. The vaccination war is raging,and there appears to lean increasing towards loss of freedom in our society. I shall focus some of the newer articles towards the issue of vaccination.

Our world is a broken world but St Paul said: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. Romans 8:8

While I’m not disputing the fact that occasionally, some of us, if only for a short time, manage to get some glimpse of the ‘good life’. I am speaking from the perspective of a father who had to struggle up to the city of London and home again, with a good paying comfortable job, I am speaking from the perspective of how a husband has to make life changes to adjust to a life ‘down under’ – yes I live in Australia. I’m speaking from the perspective of a man who has made his own life difficult with poor planning and for whom the world has abounded on opportunities with few significant, and an array of mostly self-inflicted hurdles in between.

Life is what happens when we are making our plans.

Call this ‘sour grapes’ if you will, but there is a great amount of satisfaction to be gained from living a simple life. Scripture – live a quiet life and so I will be writing a little more from the perspective of less is more.

I hope you will join me, and there are a number of things you can do if you feel in any way moved by reading to this point.

You can submit an article of your own, I welcome guest posts although I do get an awful lot of junk sent to me, so please read the submission requirements carefully.

You can comment on any of the articles you find on this website or you can share these articles on your social media outlets.

You can become a part of our following on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

Unfortunately over the course of a few years I have allowed my website to become a little conformist , this will work towards changing this as I steer this vessel towards a more authentic approach to life, living and home education. (be not conformed to the world but be transformed)

As a Dad I will begin writing more about Dads, (I am not a good Dad) but if the world is broken and half of all parents are fathers then me focusing on making better Dads could potentially impact half of human life and make the world a happier place.

Unfortunately we have all (women and men) gone astray and have allowed ourselves to believe what the media has ‘sold’ us about our roles and responsibilities and we now generally require two working incomes to support the ‘American dream’ and as such we are going to be looking at alternate new sources for our mainstream viewpoints.

Solomon was correct when he wrote that this is no end to the writing of books and the pursuit of knowledge, and there are awfully useful websites and resources available for us to tap into and I will be pointing to some of these and valid examples of good living and useful pursuits.

Setting Goals is important as Paul wrote we are in a race and so it’s important to do whatever we do well, and so I will be pointing where applicable from the perspective that it is good to do well, and include the ‘Wow Factor’ since boys particularly younger boys are all about the ‘Wow’.

So if my goal is to write one valid article each week (valid = useful to myself and others), how will I stay focused, the best way I feel for me to stay focused will be to lable each post uniquely. This might be labelled Editorial 1 of 24 and if by Christmas 2015 there are less than 24 I will have missed my goal.

The Love of Reading, I think is a lot easier to encourage in the UK than it is in Australia where the challenge is to instill the love of reading into young minds. Where applicable I am going to write about books and reading and the acquisition of knowledge.

I went to a school whose motto was ‘may i not shrink from my purpose, ‘incepto ne desistam’ and looking back at life from the advantage of age (51), I realise that everything that I have ever done might have been improved or enhanced or made more palatable with the inclusion of a little more gentlemanly behaviour and so I shall be writing a little on raising sons and maturing boys into men. By this I mean mostly good, gentle thinking men.

Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. – Romans 12 v 2

The Disadvantages Of Distance Learning

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The Disadvantages Of Distance Learning

Although distance learning offers many people the opportunity to attain higher education without having to be part of the daily classroom setting, it is not all pros, benefits and advantages. Distance Education has its own costs and requires significant compromise it to be a success. Significant self motivation is required from the student. In this article, we take a look at some of the major disadvantages of distance learning which include but are not limited to the following;

Distance learning requires a lot of self motivation. To make distance learning successful a student requires extraordinary planning, good organization and plenty of hard work. Students need to be self disciplined in order to successfully complete their distance learning or online courses. Though you do not come face to face with your course instructor, you still have to accomplish your courseworks and other assignments on time and exams are timed as well. This therefore means that the student must be highly self motivated and students who need that extra effort from an instructor to get things going may find it hard.

Distance learning denies the student direct access to their instructors. Though students can contact instructors through email, they still do not feel that closeness to their instructors that students in the classroom setting feel. With distance learning, you can not physically or direct contact your instructor and getting immediate solutions to some of your queries may be difficult since the instructor may not reply your email there and then unlike in a classroom setting where you can simply ask the question in class or consult the instructor after the lecture.

Distance learning students may feel lonely and isolated. Though you are in a virtual classroom with all these other students, you actually do not get the chance to physically interact with other students, make new friends or consult your other classmates. Online group discussions and message boards popular with distance learning do not compare to the discussions and interactions that take place in the traditional classroom setting.

Distance learning does not offer immediate feedback. In the normal classroom setting, an instructor can assess the performance of a student by simply asking a couple of questions and informal testing and have the results immediately. When it comes to distance learning, a student has to wait for sometime for the instructor to review their work before they can get any feedback making it a more lengthy process.

Limited number of courses available. Apart from having a limited number of courses, some of the available courses may also require you to attend physical class lessons. Practical courses for example are hard to be completed online therefore can not be offered online. For arts related courses, distance learning could work but for science courses like medicine and nursing, distance learning would never be ideal.

Most employers acknowledge distance education although some believe that it does not fully equip students with all the necessary skills required for workplace success. This therefore means that online education could result in you being shunned by some of your potential employers in the future. It is therefore wise to find out if the companies you intend to work with in future accept online degrees and certificates.

Distance learning does not give students the opportunity to work on their oral communication skills. Because students pursuing distance learning courses do not get to interact verbally with fellow students and their instructors, their oral skills are improved one bit. This in turn may affect the way such students interact with fellow workmates in future. For students who have attended higher education in a classroom setting and are simply upgrading through distance learning, this may not be much of a problem but for those who start high school through distance learning, the effects may be felt more.

Requires constant and reliable access to technology. Distance learning programs especially those that are online based require constant internet access and in some cases, course material has to be downloaded for study by the student during their free time. If you are therefore not comfortable with this medium of education, the whole process may turn out to be more difficult than you initially thought it would be and classroom learning may turn out to be the better option.

MOOCs and Homeschooling

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So, What Is a MOOC?

MOOC, the acronym for Massive Open Online Courses, is an inexpensive online education offered by some of the most prominent universities of the world. The system empowers students to register to any course of their interest, acquire online materials related to the course, study audio/video lectures and complete a computer-based assessment test. In fact, some particular courses offered by MOOCs also facilitate online collaboration and conversation.

Upon completing the course and passing the assessment, students are granted a certificate of completion. Although, the certificate itself doesn’t possess any recognition from any leading university, the certificate does act like a proof that the pupil has demonstrated tremendous performance in a particular course.

Criticism Against MOOCs

Ever since its advent, MOOC has been subject to many criticisms. The prevailing criticism against MOOCs is that the drop-out rate is higher in this type of online education. For instance, over 125k students enrolled for a subject out of whom only 38,000 gained the completion certificate. Also, students cannot use their completion letter as an addition to their credentials.

Another major criticism related to the course offered by edX is that they do not offer an inexpensive course as most people believe. For instance, edX charges around $250k for each course along with $50k for additional time. In addition to that they also take a little commission for the revenue the course generates.

The Many Benefits of MOOCs

  • As said earlier, MOOCs offer students a golden opportunity to quench their thirst of knowledge. These courses give them an opportunity to venture into new fields (of their interest) and extend their knowledge.
  • MOOCs offer high-standard education at not-so hefty prices, i.e., university-level education. Moreover, with MOOCs, students have the liberty to opt for a course that matches their intellectual-level so that they can complete it at their own pace.
  • The best advantage of these courses is that they help you develop and polish the skills that current employers want. Majority of employers, these days, want the candidate to be a skilled (if not experienced) individual. The letter of completion offered by MOOCs act as a solid proof that you have those skills that the employer seeks.
  • MOOCs also offer courses in the field of statistics or finance. If you can secure a certificate in any of these fields and display it on the job, every employer would love to hire you for the job even if you don’t have any solid credentials from a college or university.
  • MOOCs is a unique online learning trend that can be implemented in dozens of other unconventional learning methods like Homeschooling. Homeschooling is a great way to empower students to acquire better education under the direct supervision of their parents or any other guardian. With the combination of both MOOCs with Homeschooling, students can make a great example of academic excellence.

The Final Verdict

Regardless of how many criticisms are thrown at its way, MOOC has already established and proved the feasibility of online education. In fact, some major universities have already acknowledged the learning models offered by MOOCs and prefer them over the traditional models.

The Waldorf Homeschooling Method

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The Waldorf Homeschooling Method

The Waldorf Homeschooling method has been developed from the work of Rudolf Steiner. This method lays emphasis on educating the whole child.

The mind, body and soul which embody a child persona are given equal importance in this type of training. In the beginning the children are trained in various areas that sharpen their mind, improve their skills and have a positive impact on their senses, which include art and craft, dance and music and things about nature.

At higher grades the importance is given to creating self-awareness and finding reasons in things. In this method the children create there own books and don’t have to read books available in the market. Not only this, computer and television is not used in imparting education as these gadgets are considered harmful to children’s health.

This method believes that children are very sensitive from 0-7 years of age, and can grasp things faster. Therefore, children should be given maximum opportunity to explore their surroundings, especially the nature. While it is important for the children to be active, but it is important to create a balance in whatever they do. A Homeschool following Waldorf method imparts education so that outdoor activities are followed by some quiet indoor activity like creative art. Children are exposed to various types of activities and not just to the ones they are good at.

The approach to education using the Waldorf technique is quite different from the others because science and humanities are not considered different from each other but interlinked. Children are made to understand that these fields go hand in hand and are in no ay two separate aspects of life. When you admit your child in a homeschool that follows this pattern of education, you can be sure that your little one is going to grow into a better individual due to emphasis on the higher values of life like truth and morality. Your child will learn through education to appreciate beauty ad goodness in the surroundings.

Waldorf Homeschooled children are encouraged to use their early years in developing their imagination. Teachers use different tools to help children in this direction. For example children are allowed to interplay with different colors and in the process they notice development of different shades. Such experiences go a long way and help understand things like color phenomena at a later age. This method is against early intellectualism and is founded on the principle that it can deplete the child of its natural ability to observe and learn things.

The Return of the Age of Radio Stories

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The Return of the Age of Radio Stories

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s it would not be unusual for children and their parents to sit around the radio and listen to a classic story, documentary or insightful news item. Television was mainly a black and white, low quality picture with less than two channels to select from and the radio was king when providing a source of entertainment for children and adults alike.

Comedy shows based on the spoken word, quiz shows like That Was the Year That Was, The Adventures of Charlie Chan, Desert Island Discs, Inner Sanctum Mysteries and the Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore Show. Classics like these radio shows would grace our wireless sets and keep us hanging on the edge of our seats.

Listening to radio has a distinct advantage over television, movies, videos and DVDs because, like a good book, it leaves part of our imagination to fill in the gaps that are given when we watch and listen rather than just listen. Our imaginations work wonders and a very good at filling it a character you might hear on a soap opera on the radio such as The Archers or The Lives of Harry Lime (remember the famous theme tune?).

Radio is now accessible to all thanks to a combination of the internet and of course the mobile smartphone. Apps are freely available for iPhone or Android users to download and receive radio shows on their devices. You can even listen to radio programs that have been broadcast last week or last month, depending on whether they are still available on the iPlayer or On Demand services.

Radio is a great tool for educating young minds; in the 1960s many baby boomers were given a nightly 15 minutes sat beside their radios to a program called Listen with Mother. The show was often narrated by a well-known actor or children’s presenter and would be read in a slow, easy to understand voice.

It often saved the mother or father with the need to buy and read a novel for their children at bedtime and became a great way to get the kids off to bed. Parents would, “You can listen to ‘Listen with Mother’ and then it’s time for bed, OK?” Children would know their ground and limits and bedtime was always much less of a fuss than it is in many households today.

Download short stories to your computer or MP3 player