Educators have many ways of defining and describing the way people process information including learning personalities, modalities, and styles. The simplest to understand and apply involves three categories: lookers, listeners, and movers. It is helpful for a teaching parent to know his own learning style as well as the preferred learning style of each child in the family for several reasons.

Many people seem to think that homeschool kids are all socially backward and sheltered. They feel that they need to be properly socialized or they won’t be able to function in the real world. And by properly socialized, they mean exposed to large groups of children their own age for 8+ hours per day so they can learn to act like the average child their age. Their question makes be wonder “What is socialization anyway?”

Linda Dobson uses the framework of the Declaration of Independence to submit an argument for homeschooling.

Over-analysis and examination steals all the joy from the beautiful words from good poetry. Charlotte Mason’s approach is vastly different. Good poetry reaches the heart in a way few other words can. It’s amazing how deeply a well-crafted phrase from a thoughtful poem can shape our lives! As Charlotte said, “Poetry is a criticism of life; so it is, both a criticism and an inspiration; and most of us carry in our minds tags of verse which shape our conduct more than we know”. We are doing our children a great service when we nourish their minds and equip their hearts with good poetry. Here’s how.

Within ten days from receipt of notice from the secretary of the school district within which an accredited nonpublic school is conducted, the principal of the accredited nonpublic school shall, once during each school year, and at any time when requested in individual cases, furnish to the secretary of the public school district, within which the accredited nonpublic school is located, a certificate and report in duplicate on forms provided by the public school district of the names and ages of each pupil of the accredited nonpublic school who is of compulsory attendance age and the grade level of each pupil, during the preceding year and from the time of the last preceding report to the time at which a report is required. In addition, the report shall identify all students of compulsory attendance age who were truant as defined by law or school policy and the number of days of truancy for the period covered by the report, and children who dropped out, withdrew from enrollment, or transferred to another Iowa school and the date their attendance ceased at the accredited nonpublic school. The secretary shall retain one of the reports and file the other with the secretary of the area education agency.

This online swap features mainly Christian curriculum, but also many other types of books.

31.2(1) Reporting. The parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child of compulsory attendance age who does not enroll the child in a public school or Iowa accredited nonpublic school shall complete a report in duplicate on forms created by the department of education and provided by the resident public school district, indicating the parent, guardian, or custodian’s intent to provide or arrange for competent private instruction for the child for each school year. The report shall be filed with the school board secretary by the first day of school in the resident district, except as otherwise provided by these rules. a. The report shall include the following information: (1) The name and address of the parent, guardian, or custodian reporting; (2) The name and birth date of the child; (3) An indication of the number of days of instruction, which must be a minimum of 148 days per academic year; (4) The name and address of the person providing competent private instruction to the child and an indication of whether that person is the holder of a valid Iowa practitioner license or teaching certificate appropriate to the age and grade level of the child being taught; (5) An outline of the courses of study, including subjects covered, lesson plans, and time spent on the areas of study; (6) The titles and authors or publishers of the texts to be used; (7) Evidence of immunization of the child, as required by law, if the child is being placed under competent private instruction for the first time. b. The report shall also seek the following information, which may be supplied by the person filing the report: (1) An indication of whether and to what extent dual enrollment of the child in the public school is desired; (2) An indication of whether the child is currently identified as a child requiring special education pursuant to the rules of special education; (3) An indication of which form of annual assessment, if applicable, is to be administered to the child and which test, if known, is desired.
31.2(2) Late reporting. If a parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian decides, after enrolling a child of compulsory attendance age in a public or accredited nonpublic school and after the deadline for filing a report under subrule 31.2(1), that the parent wishes to provide competent private instruction to the child, the parent, guardian, legal or actual custodian shall file the report required no later than 14 calendar days after removing the child from the public or accredited nonpublic school. Days of the child’s attendance in the public or nonpublic school up to the time of removal shall be applied to the 148–day minimum compulsory attendance requirement for the school year affected.

Unschooling is trusting the learner to be in charge of his or her own learning. It is not a method of instruction we use on our children, but a process we adults go through to unlearn the lessons and undo the effects of our years of schooling.