Mimi Rothschild - Home School Support & Home Education News

-by Mimi Rothschild
Sometimes we homeschoolers are so quick to defend our choice that we dismiss some real concerns. One of those is loneliness.

Schoolchildren can face some terrible problems with bullying, inappropriate relationships, or peer pressure, but the child who studies at home alone may truly face loneliness. Even if there are other
children in the neighborhood, they may be closer to one another from spending time together in school, and it can be hard for the homeschooled neighbor to join in and feel like a full part of the group.

Those of us with large families may find it hard to imagine that our children could be lonely. Still, the older sibling who helps care for younger children may not feel that the little ones are friends as
much as chores, however beloved. The young child with plenty of older siblings may not have a playmate who likes the “baby games” that are age-appropriate.

Both of these challenges can be met with homeschool groups and associations, church friendships, and community groups. Yet some parents, determined to make sure that their children don’t lack for peer group interaction, set aside their own needs so much that they end up lonely themselves. A parent who stays at home to teach the children can feel isolated. Mothers of infants often feel
starved of adult companionship, but once their children are older, they return to work or community
service and find themselves making new friends. Homeschool moms, lacking the PTA or the professional organization, can find that this isolation stretches out for many more years.

Some things to think about on this subject:

• Don’t expect loneliness. Sometimes we rush to fill our children’s time with structured
activities, when they actually would enjoy time on their own, or benefit from the opportunity to learn
to entertain themselves. Many of us have found that we have gained spiritual insights and growth from time on our own, and it can encourage creativity as well. If your children feel lonely, address it, but don’t go overboard on preventive measures.
• Don’t be afraid of loneliness. Our life experience as adults tells us that there are times in our lives when we have many friends, and times when we have few.  Studying the lives of the people in the Bible shows us that God blesses people in groups and on their own. We even know that we can be in the midst of a group of people and still feel loneliness. Loneliness can be what God has planned for us at
some times in our lives.
• Don’t ignore loneliness. If loneliness is a problem for your child, or for you, talk about ways
to arrange more opportunities to be in fellowship with other people. Joining groups can be a solution.
So can inviting friends to visit, developing online friendships, or spending time in service to others.
Homeschool parents especially need to be sure not to neglect their spouses. Caring for children can
become so completely the focus of your household that your marriage takes a back seat to homeschooling, and that can easily lead to feelings of loneliness. Whether this is a time in your life – or your child’s life – when God has a plan for you that involves something you can learn from loneliness, or those feelings of loneliness are telling you to step out of your home and serve others or enjoy fellowship with others, pray for God’s guidance and follow His direction. Deuteronomy 31:8 reminds us, “And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”

-by Mimi Rothschild

Incorporating what is happening in politics today into your homeschool lessons is a critical part of developing well-rounded, balanced students who are armed to face the world as they grow older. There is no better time to do so than now, with another presidential race in progress right before our eyes.

But what is the best way to draw your children in, and make it interesting? How do we instill in them the importance and gravity of selecting a leader for our country? It can be difficult, particularly with the media bias. It is quite evident that most national news networks favor liberal parties in their reporting. So the responsibility to provide your children with a true idea of what is happening in our country lies with you. Talk to them about the presidential race, and the candidates who are running. Explain to them, on their level, the difference in the views of each party, and what they both stand for. Encourage your children to ask questions, and take part in discussions about politics. Depending on their age, ask them to define what they believe to be the most important topics that our future president (and other political leaders) should stand behind.

Discussing current politics is also a great way to tie back into the subject of U.S. History, and remind your students of how this country was founded on freedom and democracy, and most importantly, Christian principles.

Relay to them the importance of voting, when they come of age, and how critical it is that we all have a say in who leads this country. Every vote really does count, so make that clear to them at a young age. And don’t forget to make it fun. If you have two or more students, organize mock political debates so they have the opportunity to think critically and articulate. (Not to mention, this will also help with public speaking skills.)

Discussing the topic of government and politics is also a wonderful way to remind children of the importance of praying for our country, and its leaders, so be sure to include this in your devotional as well. If you make a point to work at incorporating current events into your daily lessons, your children are sure to benefit on many levels in the future. And so will our country. God bless America!

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

-by Mimi Rothschild

As autumn comes on, we love to get outdoors into the crisp fall air! You don’t have to choose between study and fresh air when you take some learning scavenger hunts to support your studies.

Just give your students paper and writing implements, maybe a digital camera or a sketch book, and a list of things to hunt for. Have a great walk, and come home with a lot of teaching points for the rest of the day.

Signs of Fall
• Birds flying south for the winter – monarch butterflies, too.
• Color in the leaves of trees and shrubs.
• Seed pods on the ground, sticking to your socks, and floating in the air (collect them and make a lapbook or labeled display).
• Chipmunks chattering.
• Ripening fruits: grapes, pumpkins, apples, more.
• Blooming flowers: Michaelmas daisies, chrysanthemum, and bittersweet.
• Cooler temperatures at night.
• Morning mists.
• Pine cones fallen on the ground, along with some nibbled acorns and nuts.
• Yellowjackets getting busy.

Architecture Walk
• A-frame
• Arch
• Casement window (a window that opens by swinging out, not sliding up)
• Columns
• Dutch door (a door divided in half, so the halves open separately)
• Eaves
• Gables
• Keystone
• Mullions (the vertical piece between windows)
• Oriel (a box-like window that sticks out from the wall)
• Shutters

Alphabet Walk
• Try to find an example of every letter before getting home.
• Decide whether you’ll include “accidental letters” – the half-circle gate that looks like a C or the O-shaped manhole cover.

You can take scavenger hunt walks at any time of year, but the fall is a particularly nice time to do it.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

-by Mimi Rothschild

If the leaves are turning color where you live, you can make use of them in your homeschool lessons. Here are some fun ideas:

• Press leaves. Just find an assortment of fall leaves and put them carefully between the pages of an old phonebook or another book you won’t need to read for a while. Lay the book flat in a dry place and set a couple more heavy books on top of it. When you return in a few weeks, you’ll have perfectly pressed leaves for your scrapbook. Label them to make a leaf identification book or leaf collection. See how many different leaves you can find in your neighborhood!
• Preserve leaves. You can buy glycerin at the drugstore. Collect freshly fallen leaves and set them into glycerin just as you would put flowers into water. Soon you’ll have beautifully preserved leaves for plant study, or for household decorating. Spraying leaves with hairspray doesn’t work quite as well, but it’ll do if you don’t have access to glycerin.
• Wax leaves. Old fashioned waxed paper makes great leaf art. Put leaves between two sheets and carefully iron them together at low heat. You can make many different designs, from simple single leaves to complicated pictures built up from leaves, and then fix the leaves in place by this method.
• Rub leaves. Put leaves down on a flat surface so that the veins show. Lay a sheet of paper over the leaf and gently rub with the flat side of a crayon or with a pencil. You’ll have a fine textured tracing.
• Pound leaves. Put leaves between pieces of white cotton (a pillowcase is perfect). Take your cloth and leaf sandwich out to the sidewalk or patio and carefully but thoroughly hammer the cloth everywhere there are leaves. The leaves will make neat patterns on the cloth. Iron them to set the color. Some leaves work better than others. Try different kinds, keep track of your results, and you have a good science experiment, too.
• Bleach leaves. Arrange leaves on the front of colored T-shirts. Put a fairly strong solution of bleach into a spray bottle and spray on the leaves and shirt. An adult should do this part, with care. You’ll be surprised by the colors that appear!

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of Learning By Grace, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.