1. In public schools kids spend the majority of their actual learning time being taught how to pass standardized tests that do not accurately measure their learning. In homeschool test taking is optional. While it can be helpful to see some type of grade it is not required. Some parents may be more comfortable with a more traditional homeschool set up that does reflect some type of grading scale but for the most part parents can accurately gauge when their children have learned the necessary material.
2. Values can be more easily taught and better yet they can be taught by example. In a more traditional school situation parents have a very limited amount of time to influence their children’s behavior and often start to loose control when their children start school. In a homeschool situation values can be integrated into every day life and into the lessons.
3. School often teaches kids to dislike learning or look at it as drudgery. Homeschool kids are often able to devote much of their studies to subjects that they find interesting and will be motivated to learn more. This will eventually lead kids to see the value of learning and develop a life long love of learning.
4. Homeschool kids learn how to be individuals. They are not subjects to the group mentality that often develops in schools. Sure they may experience this in other situations but for the most part they will be spared the drama of the social magnifying glass that makes school a misery for many people.
5. Homeschool kids can start life now. They don’t have to wait until they are finished with school to start. I know homeschool kids that have started businesses, written books, undertaken scientific experiments, and travelled the world before most of their public school counterparts have graduated.
6. Public schools often tend to graze the top of many required subjects but go into depth on very few. This tends to lead to short term learning which often does not stick past the first standardized test. Home school kids often study subjects in much more depth and develop a much more full understanding of issues. This is partly due to the amount of quality time that can be spent learning as well as the lack of other distractions.
7. Homeschool parents are not subject to the same rules and regulations as the school system. They can teach their children what they believe is important. This is a double edged sword because the truth is that some parents are not qualified to homeschool their children and end up doing more harm than good. But for the majority of homeschool parents this level of freedom is an important aspect of homeschooling.
8. Home school families have a degree of flexibility that is unprecedented in any other school setting. Parents can base schedules around what works for them and what works for their children. Parents can set the year up how they like whether is be year round of summers off. Travel at any time is possible and travel can be integrated into teaching. Homeschool families are able to take advantage of off peak time periods for museums, travel, and many other outings.
9. Community service and giving back are very important aspects of being good citizens and are largely left out of the public school model. In a homeschool setting you can integrate volunteer work and community service into your regular school schedule. This will teach your kids to be compassionate and humble and have a profound impact on their formative years.

You get to know your kids. Many parents of kids in traditional school don’t know their children. They may only see them for a few minute per day and this short visits are often kids are barely awake or bone tired from a long day. Your kids will be grown and gone before you know it, if you send them away when they hit school age you are sacrificing much of your possible relationship. Homeschooling creates an important bond and level of appreciation between many children and parents.

I could continue on for ages. Homeschool has been instrumental in bringing my family closer together and building strong bonds and relationships. To be honest I was hesitant about homeschool at first but as the years pass my appreciation grows and as my family learns more tricks about how to effectively homeschool our experience continues to improve.

Task software is important. If you expect your child to grow up and have to deal with a computer for their future vocation they will probably use some type of task generating software. There are dozens of excellent options out there, so I hesitate to choose one. This could be something designed with a homeshcooler or other student in mind or it could be something that is more of a professional application that is tweaked to fit your child’s needs. Whatever the case, task software is very helpful in saving you time.

Foreign language programs will often utilize software. Old programs relied on books and tapes, software has the ability to be much more focused and offer a wider range of learning applications. Many parents may also find it difficult to teach a child a foreign language not knowing one themselves. This is a great reason to utilize the homeschool software application of foreign language software.

Interactive websites that teach your child to read, do multiplication, or bring history to life can be homeschool software. These can also be great ways to make learning fun and not make it feel like learning. The funny part is that many of these websites take the place of boring old flash cards but manage to make flash cards fun.

Video games can be considered homeschool software. This may seem crazy to some but it is actually a proven fact that kids learn better after playing video games. Many video games can also help them in the learning process. Video games deal with all sorts of complex subjects that requirer higher thinking. Tread in this area lightly and don’t overdo it, but recognize the potential.

Online tutoring is also becoming popular as technology continues to make things possible. This can reduce expense and time requirements. It may not be real face to face interaction but it can be the next best thing. Using video and audio connections tutors can help kids with math, reading or any other subject.

The truth is that Homeschool software is what ever you want it to be. How ever you use technology in the class room is your own application. I personally believe that we should be using it extensively because that is the way the world is going and to make our young people competitive they need the right skills. Numerous different applications of homeschool software are the way to make them successful.

Online schools must offer more than just a read and recite type environment. They need to be interactive and they need to go above and beyond what should be expected. Taking away the human touch that is important for learning is a gamble and to make up for it there must be other aspects to the curriculum.

There must be some form of interaction. Whether this simple question and answer type of material or something more complex like email correspondence with a teacher. There needs be some give and take.

The online school must employ a couple different types of learning. Some students are great at reading material and internalizing it, others hate this avenue and would be much happier watching some type of video presentation. Others may want to listen to the subject in an audio format. The great thing about online school is that it is possible to utilize many different learning styles in the same lesson. If you are at all familiar with different types of learning styles then this approach will be familiar.

Some type of bench mark must be visible and some type of progress tracker is important. I am not necessarily talking about grades here, but it is important for kids to see how they are stacking up against the whole. This can be motivational or it can let a kid know that they are not working hard enough. This can be painful, but taking away the competitive aspect of schooling has dangerous consequences. Progress tracking is also important. It lets the student know how much they have done and how much they have to do, it could be depicted with a graph, or a time line of some sort. This is an important aspect of turning a kid loose and giving them independent work. Having them chart their own progress takes a load off of the parents shoulders and teaches your child responsibility.

There are certainly other aspects to online school and there are many options to choose from. It may be just for a class or it could be for the entire year but online schooling is becoming a very important component of many homeschool classrooms. It will however never take the place of real human interaction. So, even if you decide to use online school extensively with your homeschooler make sure that they are still getting that valuable human interaction.

So, I was pretty impressed when my 11 year old expressed an interest in wanting to start an internet business. I have a budding online empire of my own and my daughter has become interested in what daddy is doing. So, we sat down and had a talk about it.

The options that I see for kids on the internet, and I am sure that there are more, are ebay, any type of freelance work, internet marketing, and blogging. I realize that there is quite a learning curve with some of these business models so lets take a closer look.

Ebay is probably the easiest way for kids to get started on the internet, but it does take some initial upfront investment, but most businesses do. Helping your child invest in a business can be one of the best investments you will ever make. Buying and selling is about as simple as it gets.

When I say freelance work I lump a lot of different things into this category. Really anything contracted out on the internet that I do not understand. This could be article marketing, coding, WordPress template design, SEO, or any other variety of different things that kids are often very good at. This business model can often be started for little more than the time it takes to learn the essentials of the trade. For many kids this knowledge is almost inherent.

Internet marketing is a pretty straight forward business model that can also be started relatively cheaply or even for nothing. What this requires is an investment of your child’s time. If you can convince a kid to invest time into their future then you will have accomplished what many other parents only dream of.

Blogging is very similar to internet marketing and it can also be a very profitable venture if it is approached with a mindset of patience. There are many successful bloggers out there that have reached stardom in a relatively short period of time. This approach takes some skills and a good head for writing but it can be a great fit for some.

Getting a homeschooler started on an entrepreneurial road can be one of the most valuable lessons you will ever teach your child.

I normally discuss how to implement different types of software into the home school class room but this time I will deviate a little and discuss something a little different. I want to talk about microscopes. They are cool pieces of equipment and often give children their first real taste of biology or real science for that matter. They allow kids to see things that they did not know exited, they make the intangible more tangible. Kids are big into seeing and believing.

I recall the microscopes from my day as being a bit temperamental and difficult to use but for the most part if you got it adjusted just right you could kind of see what you were looking at through the eye piece when you shut one eye and squinted the other. Now I want you to imagine looking at that same image on a computer screen or better yet a 50” television monitor. Now that is cool.

There are now a number of different companies offering video microscopes that hook directly to your television or computer. They work in the same way as traditional microscopes using slides and back lighting with amplification but instead of squinting for a good view you can actually take it all in and look at things together.

This gives you the opportunity to talk about things, point out different aspects of what you are looking at and conduct whole lessons on microbiology while looking at a specimen up close and personal.

Talk about adding some depth to your classroom and bringing some life to science. This is a great way to spark interest and build skills, it is also a perfect opportunity to to bring other children into your classroom for multi family educational opportunities. Take a look, see what is out there and evaluate your priorities. This is a really cool opportunity but I also realize that it may be a bit extravagant.

So what laptops for kids are good? Well the netbook is one great choice. They typically come in sizes ranging from 7 to 10 inches and are extremely affordable. They also offer some distinct advantage over your traditional laptop which lend themselves well to children who are just getting used to using a laptop. One of those advantages is the price. Kids mini laptops can be found for as long as $229 dollars which is an incredibly low price to pay to give your child a computer. The other advantage is that a lot of netbooks come with a type of hard drive called a SSD drive. This type of drive is as the acronym suggests a solid state drive and has no moving parts. This type of drive produces no heat and has no moving parts, making it more durable for bumps and small drops.

The only other thing to take note of is the operating system that comes on the mini notebooks. I would make sure to purchase one that comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows. That way your child will be learning on the same operating system as they would at school. Make sure to teach your child that the laptop isn’t a toy and needs to be handled with care. They may already have a better idea than you think on how to handle a laptop. They imitate their parents at that age and they most likely have seen you using your laptop and will want to be sitting next to you typing on theirs as you sure the web on yours.

Computer games based on popular children’s movies or cartoons is always a hit with children. Many Disney computer games are a spin-off of different cartoons. Many of them have some educational components woven into the game. These are generally geared at children between the ages of four and ten, however, there are computer games based on such popular TV shows such as Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues that are geared for a younger audience, such as the 2-4 year old age bracket.

Other good child computer software that you might find helpful for your child is Encarta’s children’s encyclopedia. It not only has different articles presenting many topics about the world around us but it also has a few educational games and puzzles too. If you are trying to teach your child a foreign language, or help them improve in their math, or spelling, or any other school subject, you can find free child software on the Internet that you can download. On the other hand, you can simply look up different web sites that have learning aids and games on the site that will help the child with whatever they are studying.

However, getting good software for children on the computer has a distinct advantage over simply allowing a child to play something educational on the Internet. Child software on the computer itself is better because, as we all know, there are many sites and things on the internet that are not child friendly in the least. If you do not have a good child filter set up on your internet then you run the risk of your child getting on other sites that they would be better off not seeing.

A touch screen laptop offered students a way to take notes that combines the efficiency of typing into a computer with the versatility of writing on paper. The touch recognition digitizes the contact with the stylus to allow a student taking notes to draw diagrams or create hand written notes. It can transform from tablet mode to mimic the paper and pen or take the form of a traditional laptop for keyboard and touch pad use. The MS Office productivity suite was especially receptive of touch technology and for touch screen laptop computers using their software the user can create and send handwritten emails through Outlook.

One notable way to show off this device is during presentations for both student projects and professionals. Instead of wagging an extendable section you broke off your mother’s antenna TV to use as a pointer or attempt to make a point by waveringly underline key terms, you can use a stylus or your finger to draw lines, circles or highlight whatever it is you need to keep your audience awake.

For digital designers who cannot seem to grasp the dexterity of a computer mouse, being able to draw with the stylus and letting the computer digitize your creation is something like a blessing. No doubt, the ever advancing technology is rapidly improving how the touch screen renders our commands which will make such an interface ever more popular.