Homeschool on the Run!

MassHOPE

I just came back from the MassHOPE homeschooling conference in Worcester, MA. It was held in a large convention center and buzzing with about 2000 Christian homeschooling families of various denominations. Downstairs was an extensive vending area with booths representing all areas and subjects, jam packed with rich and exciting materials. Upstairs were approximately 8 different speakers per session to choose from, giving talks pertinent to the homeschooling community or anyone desiring more information about homeschooling.

I went primarily to hang out with friends and check out the scene…and maybe pick up a few materials here and there…and get a handle on what I wanted to do next year. I wasn’t expecting to learn as much as I did and find so many fantastic materials.

What most impressed me was a talk by a homeschooling mother, Dr Rebecca Keller. She discovered that the most effective way to teach science was to teach the basic principles of physics and chemistry well in the Elementary years and to link the teaching with all other curriculum areas. For example when you teach the atom, also link it to the Latin root of the word, Dalton, the elements, exponents, Hiroshima, the sun and that Swiss halogen collider that is up and running or whatever… and then you link atom to molecule and do the same thing with molecule and then cell. What happens is that the information stored with each concept becomes very rich and well linked so that later on when a teen is understanding with the workings of fluorescent lamps or x-ray machines there will be a lot of information at her fingertips to make the new learning easier to grasp and be able to apply the knowledge in understanding or answering test questions.

Montessori elementary curriculum does not include physics and I now have impetus to design a Montessori style physcs album. Without a basic understanding of physics, it is difficult to come to understand many things we see around us such as geckoes walking up walls and how the eye works.

I also was impressed by Andrew Pudewa and his presentation of research on music and brain development. I felt compelled to invest in more classical music and dusted off my Tone Bars when I came home. Meanwhile Bach and Mozart have been playing non stop in my household to make up for lost time. Speed will start taking piano lessons again.

I also became quite excited by the Sonlight literature based history program and will invest in the US history core 3 and 4 as the books are fantastic and Chuckles is reading everything in sight right now. If she loves reading herself through history this way and choosing related activities I will continue through the program going forward. We also have some great ideas about traveling the US and visiting places we read about. I am going to get the world history readers and read aloud books too to supplement Speed’s unit studies. He is learning about Ancient Egypt right now just in time for King Tut’s exhibition arriving in NYC.

So I came home full of beans, ideas and happiness. It was so nice to have a break and hang out with some favorite people. I hope to go again next year.

April 25th, 2010 | Category: Family | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL

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