Homeschool Fiction

Yes, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on this website. It’s all good though! Fantastic in fact! It’s been a whirlwind of excitement in my household for months now: 2 books published, several trips, activities galore, and much more!
I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving day!  Here are [...]

The very best advice any parent can be given is: BE ACTIVE IN YOUR CHILD’S LIFE.
Really, it’s that simple.  That’s all you have to do in order to be a great parent.  Be there.
The more time you spend with your children, the more you will know them.  The more “issues” you are having with them, [...]

Read my interview about homeschooling and its role in children learning to read on Shari Lyle Soffe’s very nice blog. She regularly writes children’s book reviews and has interesting topics, not to mention that she is a fun children’s book illustrator and writer herself.
Here is the direct link:
A Homeschool View with Lisa Bentley
Please [...]

There are many misconceptions about unschooling.  Through my talking with people unfamiliar with the concept, I see the same incorrect ideas popping up again and again.  Let’s get the facts clear.

Unschooling is NOT permissive parenting.
Unschooling is NOT leaving children alone to their own devices.
Unschooling is NOT having a “no boundaries” home.
Unschooling is NOT taking the [...]

Have you had the chance to browse through the HUGE list of citizen recommendations on Change.org yet?  I love their question:  What do You want to Change in the World?
There are a variety of worthy ideas to support on that site, but only the top 10 (as of midnight tonight - December 31, 2008) will [...]

Continuing on the theme of thankfulness, here are my top 10 reasons (in no particular order) why I am thankful my family is vegan:

No worries about animal product illnesses (Mad Cow, Bird Flu, etc.).  If you do eat meat, make sure yours is never undercooked!
No worries about more serious diet-induced diseases such as cancer, diabetes, [...]

I’ve been asked the above question (or similar) hundreds of times since I started telling people that we were a homeschooling family.  Just about every kind grandmother at stores or check-out personnel ask me this when I go out shopping with my kids in the middle of a school day.  Very few are rude about [...]

Should elementary school children be sent home with over an hour’s worth of homework every night? Should that work count for something? Is an elementary school child’s opinion worthy of respect? Is “green”ness an issue we are forcing schooled children to think is not real and worthy? Are school administrators and [...]

After a recent Disneyland trip, my family and I checked out the Discovery Science Center (nicknamed “The Cube”) just a few miles away.  We immediately knew we’d found it when we spotted a large upended three dimensional black cube on the road.  The cube is mostly decorative, but also has solar panels and fiber optics [...]

There is something about the “new school year” that seems to bring out the worst in schooled parent-child relationships. Everywhere I go, I’m hearing really mean comments to kids. Sure I haven’t seen or heard the whole story, but I often have seen the set-up to the rude comments and in almost every [...]