Raising a family on a single income is tough. When you're a homeschooling family, it may seem like another added cost. But that doesn't have to be the case. This list is for homeschoolers to get together and discuss ways to cut the cost of homeschooling without cutting on the educational and learning experience for our children. This is the place to share all kinds of ideas and tips on budgeting homeschooling costs.
I don't have any sisters or brothers, so I can identify with those who are homeschooling an only child. Growing up, well meaning friends and strangers encouraged my single mother to "give" me a brother or sister, saying that I was surely lonely, or destined to become spoiled rotten.
The La-am website was created by a team living in Israel. The learning games of the La-am website teach Hebrew reading and writing since these are two of the subjects learnt in first grade in Israel. However, one can learn far more Hebrew from the La-am website, because Hebrew is also used for math and for "everyday life" too. Therefore, while playing on the Hebrew site, both at the math and the other learning games, you will be learning lots of Hebrew!
Surprisingly, many families that homeschool year round experience homeschool burnout far less than those that take the summer off. The pressure to finish the year's curriculum within a specific time frame can become quite stressful. Take advantage of the summer months to finish up on formal schooling and fill in gaps while adding fun, hands-on learning. When we strive to develop a lifelong love of learning within the family, year-round homeschooling becomes the norm.
It's mid-morning and Erin and Noah are playing with Duplo. They have built something they are calling a "mooseum" which has incorporated almost every block we own. Each doorway serves a specific imaginary purpose. A windmill apparently supplies the museum with power. There is a large parking lot for cars and trains. The museum is popular and very busy today. The "less fierce" animals, those with soft fur, reside in a special area where they are looked after by the Red Guy. The Blue Guy is feeding meat and bones to the fiercer animals in another area. A monkey is balancing on the fridge but keeps falling off. Erin and Noah laugh every time this happens. The train is leaving on a tour of the museum grounds. The Green Guy, who drives the train, gives a running commentary of the exhibits, by way of Erin. The tour encircles the play room, winding under the legs of the piano bench, over to the computer desk where am sitting with the baby, around the couch and back to the museum.
Chabad Shluchim living in remote places or cities where there is no Jewish school, have long contended with schooling their children at home or parting with them at young ages, so they can get a traditional education. A newly developed online school now gives these children the benefit of a classroom situation where they daily interact with classmates--children of other shluchim, and a teacher, at home.