How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

Have you seen this?
http://www.topmastersineducation.com/homeschooled/

(Not that we ever doubted!)

Crystal Lake Park District Classes now open!

My Math & Science Club for ages 8-11 is back on Thursday afternoons and my
Biology Pt 1 (Microscopic Life and Biochemistry) will be on Monday afternoons starting the first week of September. You can register for these two and more at  
You can register by clicking HERE.

Classes to be offered:
Karate (2 levels!),
Phonics, Read, Write, & Fun
Art/Paint/Clay
Pen and Mouse Club House Artist
Art - MultiMedia
Cooking
Math & Science Club
Biology Pt. 1: Microscopic Life

Looking for some decent, educational apps?

Check out Common Sense Media's wonderful list of apps!


Common Sense Media's back-to-school-guide

Response from the Dept. of Education Regarding College Admissions

I am not the originator of this information. I am forwarding it with permission though and encourage you share it as well! 


From: StudentAid@ed.gov
Subject: 81 RE: Form submission from: Contact Us
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:09:11 +0000

Thank you for your inquiry about federal student aid.

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that a school award federal student aid only to students who are sufficiently prepared. Effective July 1, 2012, a student is considered sufficiently prepared if he or she has

     * has a high school diploma,

     * the recognized equivalent of a high school diploma (such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate), or

     * has completed a home-schooling program approved by the student's state.

Though homeschooled students are not considered to have a high school diploma or equivalent, they are eligible to receive federal student aid funds if their secondary school education was in a homeschool that state law treats as a home or private school. Some states issue a secondary school completion credential
to homeschoolers. If this is the case in the state where the student was homeschooled, the student must obtain this credential in order to be eligible for federal student aid.

For homeschooled students in states where secondary school completion credentials are not provided, the student submits to the postsecondary school a transcript or the equivalent signed by the parent or guardian that lists the secondary school courses completed by the applicant and documents the successful completion of a secondary school education.

The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for administering federal laws that apply to education. The Department does not determine what provisions are included in the law or how language is used in the law. Changes to the current provisions or language used in the law would require Congress to pass additional legislation. However, the Department is prohibited from lobbying Congress, and it does not recommend or provide lists of lobbying groups.

We hope this information is helpful.


E-Mail Unit
StudentAid.gov
Federal Student Aid

Let us know how we are doing. Please take a moment to respond to a survey regarding the response you received in this e-mail. Your answers will help us to improve our service. You may either click on the following link or copy the Web address into your browser:

https://fafsalivehelp01.ed.gov/FSAICWebAPI-EN/ESSurvey/ed_survey.jsp?rs=e&rt=w

-----Original Message-----
From: studentaid@ed.gov [mailto:studentaid@ed.gov]
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 2:59 PM
To: StudentAid
Subject: Form submission from: Contact Us

Submitted on Mon, 07/22/2013 - 15:58
Submitted by anonymous user: [131.103.137.124] Submitted values are:


Email Address:
    --Question Type--
    Question Type: General Question


Message:
The language regarding the eligibility of home schoolers for financial aid is rather odd and is creating some unusual (and impossible to fulfill) requests by colleges and universities for documentation from home schoolers. Home schooling law is different in every state and what might be done in one state is not necessarily done in 49 others.  For example, states do not "approve"
home schooling -- they may, or may not, require notification that a student will be home schooled, but they do not "approve" that notification; they may, or may not, require some sort of occasional review, testing, or demonstration of compliance, but the states are all over the board on that issue and many require nothing at all, even notification.  States certainly do not approve "a homeschool setting."  Taken together, this makes the phrase "completing a high school education in a homeschool setting approved under state law"
curious and confusing.

How could the language be amended to strike "setting approved under" and replaced with "in compliance with"?

How Am I Smart? Free Download!

Free Download from GHC: How Am I Smart? Posted: 21 Jul 2013 11:00 PM PDT This post is sponsored by Great Homeschool Conventions. Beginning today through July 31, Great Homeschool Conventions is giving away a digital copy of Dr. Kathy Koch’s book,  How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences. How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences is an important tool to help children and adults recognize and value a treasure trove of giftedness that may lie unrecognized and underutilized. Released by Moody Publishing in February 2007, Dr. Koch’s book turns the theory of multiple intelligences into a readable, understandable, and useful tool to help children and adults make the most of their “smarts.” –from the GHC website Every homeschool parent can benefit from reading this insightful book. Be sure to sign up for your FREE download before July 31! Free Download from GHC: How Am I Smart? is an article from Contented at Home.

A free online Algebra text? You bet!

Here is another free resource!

This post by Henri Picciotto has not only good information about why students often find traditional Algebra textbooks to be lacking, but also offers links to a free textbook (which he wrote) that attempts to make Algebra accessible to more by adding in manipulatives. Yeah manipulatives! 

http://blog.mathedpage.org/2013/07/a-new-algebra.html

Homeschool High School for Free? Sure!

You can homeschool for free by using materials from the public library and on the Internet. You can, of course, spend thousands on a bunch of curriculum too. My family, typically, went the free route. 

Check out the following sites for amazingly good quality free courses: 

https://www.khanacademy.org/

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

http://www.learner.org/

Escape from Childhood Free Download!

Just forwarding on a terrific offer: 

Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:37 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Pat Farenga" tmonk132001

I just want to let you know about a free Kindle download today and tomorrow
of John Holt's book Escape From Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children.
You can find the link to the download, and an article Holt wrote for
Psychology Today about the ideas in this book, at www.patfarenga.com. You
can read Kindle books on your Mac, PC, tablet, or smartphone with these free
apps: http://tiny.cc/5w1grw.

Best wishes,
Pat

Winter Session classes at the Crystal Lake Park District begin soon!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and healthy start to the new year! As we think about the coming year it is time to get registered for upcoming classes!

At the Crystal Lake Park District I am offering a 6 week Junior High and High School Genetics class on Monday afternoons and Math & Science Club classes for the younger set on Thursday afternoons. The winter session's Math and Science Club "over view" topics will be oceanography and decimals.

To register for these classes and many more (including Cooking, Art, and Karate) please visit the Crystal Lake Park District  web page.

Late Fall Crystal Lake Park District classes start this week!

So many classes to choose from!

4243-1	Home School Enrichment Karate	Session 021	34	1	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	12:00pm to 1:00pm	Rotary Building	3-8 years	$ 50.00	$ 57.00			11/22
4243-2	Home School Enrichment Art		33	2	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	11:00am to 12:00pm	Rotary Building	4-7 years	$ 40.00	$ 46.00
4243-3	Home School Math and Science Club	Session 033	8	2	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	2:15pm to 3:15pm	Rotary Building	8-11 years	$ 45.00	$ 51.00			11/22
4243-4	Pen and Mouse Club House Artist	Session 036	9	1	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	2:00pm to 3:00pm	Rotary Building	6-16 years	$ 75.00	$ 85.00			11/22
4243-5	Home School Enrichment Karate II		9	6	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	1:00pm to 2:00pm	Rotary Building	8-99 years	$ 50.00	$ 57.00			11/22
4243-6	Home School Science: Chemistry	Session 037	18	2	0	10/29/12	12/03/12	MO	2:15pm to 4:00pm	Rotary Building	14-18 years	$ 80.00	$ 90.00			11/22
4243-7	Home School-Girls Club	Session 035	15	5	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	3:15pm to 4:30pm	Rotary Building	6-99 years	$ 10.00	$ 15.00			11/22
4243-8	Home School Enrichment Art	Session 030	35	0	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	10:00am to 11:00am	Rotary Building	7-99 years	$ 34.00	$ 40.00
4243-9	Home School Enrichment Cooking	Session 029	33	2	0	10/25/12	12/06/12	TH	11:15am to 12:15pm	Rotary Building	7-12 years	$ 43.00	$ 49.00			11/22
4442-1

http://inet-reg.crystallakeparks.org/