By Terri Johnson, co-author of Homeschooling ABCs, an online class starting this month for brand new homeschoolers.

We’ve all seen it or, at least, heard about it: the homeschooled child who wins the geography bee, or the one who graduates at the age of 15, or the one who excels in musical accomplishments.

Now, obviously, a student does not have to be homeschooled in order to accomplish one of the feats above, nor does every homeschooled child excel in such notable ways.  However, every homeschooling parent desires for success in teaching their children at home and launching them into the world to become all that God has intended for them to be.

The flip side to this statement is that no one wants to fail when it comes to teaching their children at home.  So, what are the five necessary ingredients to homeschooling success? Read more »

We all have to do things we don’t really want to do. So why do we do them? Our answers can help us find ideas for motivating our teens. Like most adults, teens need to know that something is worth their time and effort. Telling them they must get good grades is only motivating to students who have already decided they want to continue education beyond high school.

For instance, I knew I wanted to be a teacher, which would require college and, so, was willing to work hard for good grades. But many teen-agers don’t know what they want to do. If grades can’t be used to urge them on, what can? Read more »

What do we do when kids don’t want to learn what we’ve set before them? Threaten them? Punish them? That seems to be the traditional approach. If we negotiate a trade-do this for me and then you can [fill in with something they want to do] or I’ll help you do [ditto] is it a bribe? If we adjust the lesson, covering the same goals with a different and more appealing assignment, is that a bribe, as well? If we plan lessons around a child’s interests, is it a form of bribery? And if it is, is that wrong? Read more »

When kids make money, what role does experience play? Often as parents we tend to have a soft spot in our hearts for our children and we cover for a lot of mistakes they make. Is this the best method when it comes to learning about money? I say probably not but the question is why?  Read more »

Teaching your children financial skills is imperative for their future. 80% of parents believe that their children are being taught private money matters at college, yet 90% of high school students and 87% of students say that whatever they know about money they learn from their oldsters. Among oldsters with children five and older, only 26% feel well enough prepared to teach their kids about personal finances. Jump$tart Coalition for private money Literacy measured 12th graders’ information of personal finance basics and found that only 10% of high school graduates could satisfactorily answer questions about personal finance.  Read more »

Photography is one of the most accessible art forms and children really get a kick out of using camera equipment. These days it’s especially fun for kids because digital cameras let them see what they are taking pictures of immediately. If you want to help your child explore the world of photography, there are many ways you can do it based on their age and skill level. Here’s what you need to know to get started.  Read more »

As a parent, you should promote learning to your child. Since he is at an early age, it is not recommended to force him to learn. The keyword here is encouragement. Your child should be encouraged to learn in subtle and fun ways. For one, you must identify which place is more conducive to learning. Definitely, not the living room, where most of the family members and visitors are present. Not the entertainment room either, because of the existence of television. The most strategic place to promote learning to your child is his bedroom. Why? This is where he stays. This is his territory. You can do anything to his room just so you can effectively promote learning. But how is this possible? Read more »

The most common question asked by students seeking to obtain their first job is “How do I get a first job when I have little or no work experience?” In this article I point out five tips to help you land your first position.  Read more »

Winter is on its way and if you are feeling the cold then spare a thought for our garden birds.   Attracting birds in to your garden through providing food and water offers a constant source of delight and is a wonderful way to introduce children to wildlife.  Read more »

Preschool provides your child with a fun, safe environment to learn about school and to prepare for kindergarten. Here are some fun learning activities you can do at home with your preschooler or toddler: Read more »

ABC Fun & 1-2-3 is a practical preschool curriculum for teaching the alphabet and numbers to kindergarten children. The author, who has home schooled her five kids for nearly 10 years, knows how important it is for children to enjoy the freedom of childhood, yet not miss out on opportunities to lay the solid foundation that they will need when formal learning begins.

ABC Fun & 1-2-3 combines both of the above in an adult-and-child-friendly weekly program that introduces children to the letters and sounds of the alphabet.

Click here to read about how to get a printed copy.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more about the downloadable book!

Read more »

You may be surprised to learn what is going through your child’s mind! Here are just some of the amazing secrets, tips & techniques this e-book will teach you: Learn how you can communicate with your baby much earlier than you would if you simply wait for him to learn how to talk.

Find out how you can greatly reduce your child’s frustrations and tantrums! Learn how sign language develops the brain and has actually been linked to a higher IQ in children! Dispel any fears that sign language may delay speech development and find out why the opposite is actually true! Discover the best time to start signing to your baby. Learn the advantages of learning American Sign Language rather than inventing your own signs. Learn how children make the transitions from gestures to signs to speech. This book is written by Wendy Jensen, the author of Positive Parenting (seen on the Parenting page).

Click here or on the book cover to learn more! Read more »

Babies Can (and did!) Read reveals how to teach your baby to read and write before age two!

In this book you learn the secrets of how to stimulate your child’s intelligence and creativity at an early age.

The author proposes a new paradigm for education: reading practice prior to speech acquisition. The author has found that babies are, first, capable of reading and listening simultaneously. Second, they can read, listen, and write, to finally be able to read, listen, write, and speak – in this order.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more! Read more »

The Full-Year Notebook System can make your home school plans a reality. Do you organize all of your children’s school work at the beginning of each year but see your plans start to fall apart before the first month of school is over? Have you considered creating yearly home school lesson plans but don’t know how it will work with your family’s fast-paced schedule? Have you had a desire to teach your children to finish their assignments on time but don’t know what to assign today or what they did yesterday? Are you very organized or very unorganized? Do you teach children in any grades between K-12? Has the school year already started and are you already way behind schedule? Do you prefer purchasing non-consumable resources to use over and over each year for all of your children? If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, The Full-Year Notebook System is right for you!

Click here or on the book cover to learn more!

With 24-Hour Science Projects you are given immediate online access to FIVE complete science project guides. You get a list of easy to find supplies. (Most items are in your home now.) You are given easy, step by step instructions ~ Hypothesis to Conclusion! You have quick access to research materials. You see examples of charts and graphs, and have access to Excel and Microsoft Works spreadsheets ready for you to plug in data, so your charts are created like magic! YOU CAN HAVE A COMPLETE SCIENCE PROJECT IN 24 HOURS!

Click here or on the picture to learn more!

How to Write Checks is more than just a book to teach check writing. It is a complete lesson plan to teach students how to write checks or manage a simple bank account. Written by a college professor, and used by teachers all over the country, This is a complete lesson plan to teach anyone how to handle a checking account.

It shows the teacher / parent how to teach the elements of a check, how to spell out numbers, how to enter transactions into a check register, using the practice checks, how to pay invoices or bills, and how to balance a checkbook. Get the full details from the website, which also includes a video showing the plan and how it works.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more!

Do you know a child struggling with math? Parents, are you looking for a surefire way to give your child an academic edge at school? Teachers, do you want to save time and money by having professional resources ready to go at your fingertips?

Are you serious about finding a way to help children with math? We all know that math skills will be vital to every child’s future. These skills help them in school, at work, in social situations–in all areas of life. You simply cannot get along without them.

Making Math More Fun – Math Games Collection is a practical, fun-filled resource for teachers and parents. Now you can teach math basics without kids even realizing they’re learning —they’re having too much fun. These are games that teach and reinforce the basic math skills that children need to ensure their future success at school and beyond school.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more!

Send Your Child to College For Free (Or Close To It) will guide those people who have a low to moderate income to a practically free college education, even if you have excessive credit card debt and own your own home with half a million dollars equity in it. Know before you apply to any U.S. University if it will offer you a lucrative college financial aid package. Learn how to have college education loans forgiven years after you’ve applied for them.

This is not a large cumbersome book. It is an interactive guide–a kind of cookbook–with parents and students in mind so you don’t have to hire a ‘professional’ college financial aid planner and pay an exorbitant fee to tell you where to go to apply for grants for college students or find free college scholarships to supplement whatever the free grant money for college does not cover.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more!

Money Management 101: Personal Finance Basics Explained is a self-study course designed to quickly teach personal finance and money basics to young adults. Is your son or daughter prepared to handle the basic money tasks that every adult must know? The entire ebook course can easily be saved to your computer and emailed to all your loved ones.

Examples of specific items explained in the Course:

• How to open and maintain a checking account and balance a checkbook
• How to create a budget and live within your means
• How to use credit cards responsibly and protect yourself from identity theft and fraud
• And much, much more!

Click here or on the book cover above to learn more!

This is the guide you need to give your k-12, homeschool, or college student the tools they’ve been searching for to dramatically improve their test results and grades: to learn faster, to remember longer, to slash homework time in any subject at any grade or skill level.

Watch your student’s eyes light up as homework assignments become exciting and easy, tests become child’s play, and learning becomes delightful and lasting. Load up the Study and Automatic Review modules and relish the satisfaction of seeing your children master World History, Spanish, Phonics, Basic Arithmetic Facts, or Algebra and Calculus. Activate the Survey module and thrill as they quickly learn speeches like The Gettysburg Address, long poems like The Raven or important documents like the Declaration of Independence.

Click here or on the image to learn more!

Public school is not the only option! If you want your child to get the personal attention he or she needs, if you want your child to learn the values and morals that you hold sacred, and if you want the information given to your child to adhere to certain standards then home schooling is a great option.

Home schooling allows you to have a greater role in your kids’ learning. However, while the idea may seem easy at first, there’s a lot of work to be done before school officials will acknowledge that your child is getting the proper education at home. There’s paperwork to be filled out, curriculum’s to decide on, and a school committee’s to convince. But DON’T let this discourage you!Finally, there’s a guide that will effortlessly walk you through the process one step at a time.

Click here or on the book cover to learn more!