This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Author Unknown.

One of my other part-time jobs that I do and enjoy, is scoring writing assessment papers for school districts. For younger students, we can't fault the spelling, if they spell more challenging words for them phonetically, even though it might not be spelled accurately. This little paragraph reminded me of those kind of students. This is really interesting to me.
Believe it or not you can read it. Have fun reading it!
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to arscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Did you ever stop to think about how long it would take to count really, I mean really big numbers? I admit, that I had not until I stumbled onto this little chart:

The number chart is listed as follows:
Name (U.S.)
Numbers (numerical)
How long it would take to count to this number from 0 ( one count per second, night & day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One
1
1 second

Thousand
1,000
17 minutes

Million
1,000,000
12 days

Billion
1,000,000,000
32 years

Trillion
1,000,000,000,000
32,000 years (longer than there has been civilization on Earth)

Quadrillion
1,000,000,000,000,000
32 million years (longer than there have been humans on Earth)

Quintillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000
32 billion years (more than the age of the universe)
Larger numbers are as follows: sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, and decillion.
There you have it.

All through the many years that we have homeschooled our children, Usborne Books has been apart of their education. The books were not textbooks, to be studied for a test, but I imagine, if I did test my kids, they could tell me more about the content of those books than the homeschool curriculum we were using. I was happy to have them, because they helped add interest to subjects we were studying like no other books we have ever used. Usborne books have a way a drawing you in to the subjects discussed there. One of the first Usborne books that we read was about taking care of small pets. It talked about budgies (parakeets), mice, rats, rabbits, and hamsters, if my memory serves me right. It talked about how long the life span of each animal was and how to care for it. I am not sure if this particular book is still available, but the reason I do mention it was because it was so compelling that it convinced us to buy our daughter a pet. We were going to get her a hamster, but the person at the pet store convinced us, much to my dismay, that a rat would make a much better pet. Needless to say, I don't think I handled that rat very much, if at all. The rat's name was Tillie and it lived in my daughter's room for about 2-3 years, until one day, we came home and it had died. It was a sad day. Later, we had a pet rabbit, several birds, and of course our dogs, which is another story.
Another book, Called Then and Now is a very interesting book comparing what it was like in say the 1800s to now and so forth. I remember my children looking at this book over and over again, it doesn't have many words on the pages.
My favorite is a book called Growing Things. You have to see the pages of this book to see how cute, but very educational this book is. This has little people demonstrating how to sow seeds, planting bulbs, make window boxes, growing herbs, tomatoes, beans, potatoes houseplants and so on. My favorite page shows how to grow potatoes, and every year I vow to grow them just like this book, but I have yet to do it. Maybe it will be this year. But just looking through the pages and looking at the pictures are so entertaining and yet gives you the desire to do the very projects so artfully laid out on these pages.
One book in particular that had my 3 older children sitting together on several occasions, was the World History book. Those pages are chock full of interesting facts on world history. I must confess that history was never really interesting to me, but it did come alive through my kids as they expressed their delight in the things that they learned through this book. As a result, my boys especially, grew to love history, even in their homeschool curriculum.
Another great book that makes history interesting is The Medieval Messenger. This book is written in a tabloid style, talking about events from that time period, which can help put a smile on your face, including historical type ads.
As my youngest son was packing up his room (to make room for his little sister), before leaving for West Point, he wanted me to make sure that we didn't get rid of one of his favorite Usborne books, Improve Your Survival Skills. You would be surprised how much information all Usborne books pack into their pages. This one is no exception. Here is an small example of the table of contents: Cold survival, Survival in wet conditions, Water survival, Finding your way, and Rescue. There are several subtitals that give further details of each catagory.
There are books for any age level, from baby to adult. What I have always loved is that they are reasonably priced. It is such a small price to pay, to enhance a child's interest and foster the love of learning.
This introduction doesn't even scratch the surface of the hundreds of books that Usborne Books offer. I wanted to give you a personal experience with our Usborne Books. Every book that I have seen is very quality and interesting. There are books for every age level. I am sure that your children will find Usborne books to peak their interests in many subjects. The books are chock full of information, quality, and have a way of drawing you in, making any subject most interesting. To see all the books that Usborne Books carry as well as the current specials, Click here.... Take it from me, it will enhance your homeschool experience!

Choosing a curriculum can be a very ominous and overwhelming decision. There are so many choices. Besides that, which one is right for my children? And how do I know whether to order from a catalog or online? These questions are not easy to answer, I hope I can give you some ways to sort this all out. The advice that I give to first time homeschool parents to help them through this process of choosing curriculum is to go with a full - line curriculum, one that is published from the same publisher, rather than choosing curriculum from various publishers, as I have become accustomed to do. Getting a full - line curriculum helps to take a lot of the sweat out of this big decision. Most new homeschool parents lack the first hand knowledge of what is out there, what is good and what works for their children. Having all that is needed in one package gives one the confidence needed for starting out.. By the end of the year, after using their curriculum, they will then be able to evaluate whether or not they want to go with the same package or venture out into a different kind of curriculum or a different publisher. I have to admit, that my curriculum decisions, were made by trial and error. It is important that new homeschool parents get connected with their local support group. One of the most common things discussed is one another's curriculum recommendations and why they like it or dislike it. But that still doesn't answer the question as to whether or not any particular curriculum is right for your child. You will never know unless you actually try it with your child to get that first hand experience. But it is good information to hear what other people have to say. Some things may strike a chord and perhaps it might just work well with your children. Other information will give you red flags because it just doesn't sound like the right thing for your family for one reason or another. As people email me with questions about curriculum recommendations, I usually go with what I have used personally, or have read in reviews. I can't tell a person for certain, whether or not, what I recommend is the exact right thing for them, but I hope I can give them some things to consider as they make this important decision. Another criteria to consider is the child's learning styles. Whether the parent realizes this or not, when they pull their child out of public school because the child is not doing well, it is because they are not being taught the way the child can learn best. For those parents, it's important to get a curriculum that can match the child's learning style as close as possible. One of the beauties of homeschooling is to be able to tailor the curriculum for the child's learning needs. For example, I am currently homeschooling my youngest daughter, who has just turned 6. According to the public schools, she should be only in kindergarten because of her late birthday. But since I did kindergarten with her last year, I have put her right into 1st grade curriculum. She is doing well, but I am considering her young age and attention span. So when her spelling book says to write her weekly list of words everyday 2 times a day, I just have her go through them orally instead, with me overseeing . I don't want to overload her and cause her to feel burnt out with school at this time. I really want her to enjoy the learning process. So we try to accomplish what the book wants, without a lot of tedious writing for now. I am sure my methods will change, as she grows older. My expectations of her standards of excellence rise, as she matures. You don't have to go by the book (pardon the pun), doing everything according to the curriculum, but you can make changes according to the child's needs. Many times I will skip a concept if I know my child already knows it well. It is pointless to take the time to go through a lesson they already know. Many times I will do a quick review, just to make sure she still understands the concept and then move on. Not to belabor my point about getting the right curriculum, I was talking with my sister - in - law about the possibility of her homeschooling her two girls. She is apprehensive about starting, because she is afraid she won't be able to do it. Math is very intimidating to her. I told her that getting a good curriculum that has everything spelled out for them and with teacher's keys is really important. This was new information to her since she doesn't know anything about what is available. Some parents need hands on curriculum with plenty of interesting projects to do, so doing extra preparation doesn't bother them. Some need a balance of both, a well planned out curriculum and some hands on curriculum thrown in to keep things interesting. But it is not just the child's curriculum needs that need consideration; it is also the parents teaching needs that are just as important. My child may want hands on curriculum. But if this is too burdensome for me to fulfill, I may see the need to expose my child to a different type of curriculum that meets my teaching abilities better and also expand my child's learning style. This has to be weighed out very carefully. Maybe a balance of them both could be a consideration to make both child and parent satisfied. I know this is a lot to think about, especially if you are new to homeschooling, but try not to think about everything at once. Just take one idea at a time. I hope this helps and brings encouragement to your homeschool endeavors.

Sherri Jones Homeschool Advisor

We hear alot about freedom. The war in Iraq, the First Amendment, choice , etc. all have freedom in view. But have you ever thought of homeschool as an expression of freedom? There is much freedom mentally (academically) and socially within the homeschool world.
Academically the sky is the limit for the homeschool family. There are many curriculums available to choose from. Just look in this site's bookstore as a start. In addition to this there is the local library. My family uses the library on a regular basis. Then there is the internet with an endless supply of information. These are obvious resources but there are also support groups in most areas around the country as well as community events, classes, etc. All these give ways for the homeschool to express freedom.
Another way freedom is expressed academacally is in the flexibility of time. You can do the books in the morning and the activities in the afternoon or visa versa. You can take in that music lesson or team sport any time of the day they are provided. You are not locked into 6 hours every day. Monday can be different than Tuesday, no need to clone every day after any particular day or someone elses idea, just let life flow!
Socially your children have an advantage over institutionalized kids. As a base they have you, the parents and siblings. This is a great place to learn proper communication, values, and respect for self and others. At home children are less likely to become peer dependant and generational lines which divide parents from teenagers are eliminated.
With home as the base children can take their social experiences and apply them to all of life. They can take it with them as they visit the elderly and needy. They demonstrate their social skills on the sports field, ice arena, dojo, Church, and the list goes on.
In public and private schools there is more group interaction than one on one. In my view this developes inbalances in the social life of a person. Most people can be good leaders but they need quality one on one , day in day out experiences to attain to it. My chidren are living proof of this. All four of them are socially friendly and un-afraid. They communicate well with young and old alike and they did not inherit it from their parents by birth. I and my wife both are by nature shy, we had to relearn social skills after we grew up. What a distinct advantage our offspring have over us; they learned positive social skills growing up! Now they are experiencing great success in life. You can provide the same for your children.
Freedom, what a beautiful word! Homeschool what a great opportunity to pass freedom on to your children!

Keith Jones

by Teresa Bondora

I've been without power for a week since we were hit by Hurricane Ivan. While we had it good compared to most, being without power wasn't fun. But as a scientist, I couldn't help but love the experience. And it got me to thinking about nature's awesome power and destructive forces and why they're so necessary and the wonderful benefits of these destructive events.
Just like humans spring clean (well, some of us anyway) Mother Nature cleans out as well. From the microscopic to the global, what seems like destruction is actually a healthy cleaning process necessary for growth and rejuvenation.

So as I drove around looking at the damage and destruction I couldn't help but see the cleaning work that had been done and the process that was unfolding. The typical hurricane teaching that is done at this time of year is usually plotting hurricanes, learning how they form off the coast of Africa, El Nino, etc. But I wanted to cover the topic of destruction and why it happens. This can be a discussion or you can make worksheets for your kids. I like to do discussions while we are in the car and I can ask questions and we can talk.

So ask your children to name some destructive forces in nature. I think of forest fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, avalanches. Take one of them and ask your child what damage happens. For that damage ask them what benefits could come of that damage.

Hurricanes
After a hurricane you'll see large tree limbs down, dead limbs down, whole trees down. As you probably already see, this is necessary to clear out dead limbs that can tax a tree's energy, remove dead trees from the forest population and remove dying or weak trees. This opens up the forest for more sunlight for smaller new trees, gets the debris to the floor of the forest where bacteria, worms, insects and other decomposers can have more work and food and returns the nutrients to the soil. Flooding, beach erosion, sand hundreds of feet into the beach and onto the streets is a common aftermath of a hurricane. This helps to renew the beach, move the landscape and create more homes for the sand crabs, sandpiper birds and other animals that depend on the beach for homes and food. It's not so good for human homeowners on the beach but it's a fact of nature that our landscape is in constant flux and movement. Placement of beaches moves, sand dunes are destroyed and rebuilt in other locations, our crust is taken up at earthquake faults and recreated by volcanoes, mountains climb higher, rivers dry up and lakes are created by flood. Where I live, in Mobile, AL, USA, we had a fresh water lake that sat about half a mile from the beach. The hurricane washed out a channel from the beach and merged the lake with the ocean. Now the lake's trees and fish are dying and the water will become an inlet of ocean water. New life will flourish here and the fauna will change.

Forest Fires
Many of you are aware of our country's struggle to learn our lessons about forest fires. Before the 1990's our National Parks had a policy of watching for and preventing or putting out forest fires. This policy prevented fires and caused a large build-up of forest floor litter (leaves, pine straw, dead trees). When the great Yellowstone Fire of 1988 occurred, it confounded all attempts to control it or stop it. The result was devastating destruction. What we learned from that event resulted in a "let it burn" policy for our national parks and taught us even more about Mother Nature's reasons for the things she does. We have learned that forest fires help clean out undergrowth and forest floor litter. Lightning is going to cause fires and if they are allowed to burn, they keep the flammable material to a minimum. When not allowed to burn, the buildup causes unrelenting fires that burn for months. We also learned about seeds that need intense heat to open and depend on fires for their population's survival. Fires also return to the earth, the necessary nutrients the soil supplies for growth. After years of growing seasons, nutrients are depleted. Fires rejuvenate the soil.

Avalanches
While an avalanche may look unnecessary and an accidental slip of too much snow meeting gravity, avalanches are also necessary. The movement of water on our planet may look slow in some areas whereas, in others water comes down as snow, freezes for the winter then moves rapidly down from the mountains as water in the spring. This cycle is well-known to those who live in mountain areas. When snow seasons begin early, as they are in Utah now, in September, more snow is allowed to accumulate, freeze and be stored up as ice until the spring thaw. This thaw will then cause widespread flooding. Avalanches are nature's way of removing large amounts of water (as snow) from the higher points and taking them to lower points where they will thaw sooner and reduce the amount of flooding in the spring. It reduces pack ice and thins the snow. Animals who must live in the snow find it much easier to subsist in thinner snow.

I find this fascinating and it's one of the reasons I know that science isn't hard. It makes sense. The natural world isn't much different from us. What works for us, works for nature too. And what works on the microscopic level works on a human level and works on a global level too. From the microscopic to the universal, radiation slowly kills an atom, our immune system kills our own cells when they become weak, hurricanes kill trees, land is destroyed in earthquakes, stars implode and it's all for the greater good.

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Teresa Bondora is an ex-science teacher turned homeschool mom of two. She hosts an on-line workshop on teaching science, is writing a book on the same and has developed educational products to help introduce chemistry to children. You can find her on-line at http://www.steelcreek.com/.

by David Russell, PhD.

I come from a long line of history conscious Russells and I have to say that growing up in Ken Russell's house was a daily journey down our family's memory lane as well as journeys into historical facts. My father remembers more historical facts than most people have forgotten. He can tell you the exact number of years from the death of, let's say, Abraham Lincoln to the birth of Richard Nixon. He knows facts, dates, and names that will boggle your mind. I credit him to a large degree for my own love of history, and also to my pursuit of graduate level studies in history.

That being said, however, I began to look at history in a much more scientific and deeper level. It wasn't until my second year in college that I noticed the importance in studying history was found in looking at the cause and effect process through the walls of time. Names, dates, and place are important to know as the foundation for a deeper study of the events of history. If you're studying the Civil War, you should know the time frame and context of all the events that took place. The danger in merely memorizing names, dates, and places is that you'll never understand the hows and whys of those events. Memorization of names, dates, and places is great if you're planning to be the next Jeopardy champion, but that alone isn't going to help you understand it.

Now I'm not attempting to pick on public education, but I have to say that in my research and study of public educational institutions, I am dismayed at how ill prepared most children are in the area of history. In all the years thatI taught first and second year college history courses, I can count on my right hand the number of students who actually expressed any enthusiasm about history methodology. Most of what I heard was to the effect of, "I find history boring, but it's a required course". Or, "Who cares about this stuff? Where does this attitude come from, by the way? It's not only reinforced in the schools, but in a society that has plunged into an ahistorical mindset with the help of a post-modern spirit of the age. Unfortunately, it's too often reinforced by parents who fail to possess an historical conscience.

Let me use an example from a conversation I had with my son, Weston. He is an inquisitive boy and not much gets by him when it comes to current events. He was eight years old when the terrorists attacked our country on 9/11/01 and quickly began asking questions about "Why these people would do such a thing?" He began to ask questions about the history of the Islamic religion, and what happened to make some of them terrorists. I took him on a journey back to the Old Testament and the story of Isaac and Ishmael, and the bitterness that resulted from this family squabble. In a simple way, I attempted to explain that the events of history need to be viewed as a series of causes and effects. I told him that history is important not for nostalgia sake, but for understanding the causes behind the events. This is how we learn (hopefully) not to repeat past mistakes, and to get a better picture of what molds and shapes people and societies. Teaching children merely names dates, and places will in no way help them to truly understand history. They need to understand that ideas have consequences and that history is shaped by philosophy whether it's good or bad. I like to say that studying history is like performing autopsies on culture. As we teach our children about history we need to show them the connective tissue that links events together, how ideas shape history. Discussing historical events, and how they came about, will help our children gain wisdom, and teach how to keep their fingers on the pulse of society.

I love to discuss the importance of history with my children, and one way I have helped them to see its values is through the use of timelines. When they were homeschooled, we used to put timelines on the wall in the basement and then let them put their picture and personal information on the timeline with all the other events in history. It's amazing to see how a child takes an interest in the subject once they see themselves written into the story. You cannot get too deep with younger children simply because they haven't lived long enough to have a developed frame of reference, but we can still teach them the importance of "understanding history as opposed to merely knowing facts. An oft quoted line by the Historian Santayana that "Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it" should be drilled into our children. But more importantly, we need to continue to teach them history from thestandpoint of God's revelation through His word. The Old Testament is filled with story after story of God's hand in shaping the history of His people, and the results of wrong headed, sinful decisions. What better examples can you find of historical cause and effect? The New Testament with the revelation of Jesus Christ and the development of His Church serves as an example of God's continued involement in human history.

I invite your comments and questions if you would like to share them with me. I wish you all continued success in educating your children, and pray that all our children come to understand the value of history.


All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 - David L. Russell, PhD.

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David Russell completed his advanced studies in History, Religion and Philosophy at the Michigan State University. He currently serves as the CEO of Westvon Publishing, dedicated to providing redemptive educational products primarily to home educators through their website, TheHomeschoolShop.com. He is the editor of ournalingLife.com, a site dedicated to teaching everyone the importance of journaling and is an accomplished bluegrass musician, playing banjo with the Mike Adams Band in Michigan.

Westvon Publishing
P.O.Box 501 - Maumee OH 435317
Phone: (419) 250-5096
E-mail: David@Westvon.com
URL: http://www.TheHomeschoolShop.com