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Announcements
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| Homeschooling Teens-a whole 'nother country - Thursday, July 24, 2008 boulderhomeschool proudly welcomes the Leafbombers-a social group exclusively for homeschooling teens and tweens-to our community. If you are homeschooling a tween or teen (kids aged 11 and up) then Leafbombers may be a great source for socialization and support for you and your family.
Homeschooling teens has a different set of demands and circumstances than homeschooling elementary and middle school aged students. When you decide to continue homeschooling your teen through high school you're going to hear questions like "what about college?" ,"what about prom?", and of course the old classic, "what about socialization?" You will also find that the services being offered to homeschooling teens are few and far between. For some reason businesses assume that teens go to high school and so don't provide programming for teens during the school year. The mission of Leafbombers is to change that, and we'd love your help and companionship.
We are currently working with the YMCA of Boulder Valley to develop health and fitness programming for homeschoolers of all ages, your participation and input are invaluable! Email Jessica at info-bhso@boulderhomesschool.org for more information or to join.
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| Got Assessment? - Thursday, June 05, 2008Colorado Homeschooling law requires assessment every other year, beginning in the year your student is registered as a third grader. So in the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades, your student will need to be assessed.
The State of Colorado gives homeschooling parents three testing options. (1) Sitting the CSAP at your local school, you have to contact your local school to set this up; they are not required to allow you to take the test. (2) A normed, all subject area standardized test, the Family Learning Organization at http://www.familylearning.org is one I have used and loved. Their rates are very good ($35 per test), and include everything you need to administer the test. When you receive your student’s results, you mail a copy of the letter to your district. (3) The third party option. This is an assessment done by a Colorado Certified teacher, a clinical psychologist, or an individual with a higher degree in education. (I have a Bachelor’s in Sociology and Psychology, with an emphasis on Contextual Human Development and a Master’s Degree in Education. I also have 7 years teaching experience, with six of those in the homeschool community). Email me to discuss your needs and options and to schedule a consultation.
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| New Section to registered users - Videos - Sunday, June 03, 2007We are starting a new section at Boulder Home School where we will be creating video content. Right now, while we are learning, the section is for registered users only. As we perfect our content and choosing hosting sites for bandwidth considerations, we will eventually post them publically. Public viewing should be in the next 3 months. In the meantime, feel free to register and see our work in progress.
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Blog_List
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Books Recommended for Homeschooling Parents
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Products you might find interesting...
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Brian's Google Reader Shared Items
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Brian's shared Google Reader Items: Typically I'll share education and homeschool related items here directly from Google Reader. I have many RSS and searches that scour the internet for educational stories. Here are just the most recent 10 shared items. If you would like to see all of my shared items, or if you have a RSS Reader, you can subscribe to my Google Reader Shared Items directly here http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/05692083500016279730/state/com.google/broadcast .
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BoulderHomeSchool Most recent blog entries
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A link to Michael Morre's SLACKERUPRISING for your viewing pleasure |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
10/13/2008 8:52 AM
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I am going to out myself right now…..I am a HUGE fan of Michael Moore’s work. I know he has nothing to do with homeschooling, on the service, but when one digs a little deeper, Michael Moore and his ideology of challenging the status quo, questioning authority and the motivations of the powers that be, is very much a key part of some homeschooling philosophies.
His latest film, Slackeruprising, deals with the issue of the power that everyday Americans have in the political arena. He has offered to share this movie for free to his fans and the curious. I have downloaded the film and am sharing it with you now. I want my kids to grow up knowing that engagement in the political process, at whatever level one is comfortable with, is not only a hard won rig ...
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Renewing that Sense of Wonder |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
10/6/2008 4:06 PM
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This morning my daughter—Julia—and I were working on an Algebra problem…x +2x=6. We worked the problem and found we had the wrong answer. I couldn’t figure out what we were missing. Of course, right at this moment, my six year old son—Corbin—decided he needed my immediate attention, so I asked Julia to look over the problem and her notes and see what she could figure out. I was sitting across the table from her, helping Corbin with borrowing when she exclaimed “I got it! We have to combine like terms!” I was thrilled that she had figured it out, proud that the work we had been doing was clicking for her, but quite bummed that I—the teacher—had missed that step ...
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Building a Bridge |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
9/23/2008 3:36 PM
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I just a saw a short story on www.CNN.com about Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, which has a 58% drop out rate. In response to this catastrophe the school is working with local law enforcement agencies to enforce attendance, the district is also hiring new teachers, keeping students in “pod cohorts”—where students stay in small groups with the same teachers and classmates for the whole 4 years they are in high school—and hiring a psychiatric social worker, but the young woman they interviewed still isn’t sure she’ll stay in school. The news piece is clear that these students are poor, ethnic minorities that have to negotiate tough and dangerous neighborhoods in order to get to school, and that the school has had issues with ...
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Polar Palooza |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
9/18/2008 9:43 PM
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My kids and I are planning a fantasy trip across the country, saving our pennies and hoping, but this slide show could change everything, so I wanted to share the slide show with you. It covers the top 15 endangered locations in the U.S. Colorado and it’s vanishing grassland’s are featured at spot 11 as well as the beaches of Oahu, Hawaii, Old Growth Forests, the Pacific coast Highway, and close to my heart—Route 66.
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Homeschool Registration Age for Colorado |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
9/16/2008 2:46 PM
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Lately, I have seen a number of questions regarding the age at which one must register their homeschooling child, and I’ll admit it can seem confusing, especially if you are new to homeschooling in general or just new to homeschooling in Colorado. Here is what the state law says:
(e) Any parent establishing a nonpublic home-based educational program shall provide written notification of the establishment of said program to a school district within the state fourteen days prior to the establishment of said program and each year thereafter if the program is maint ...
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Homeschool Growing Pains |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
9/15/2008 9:58 PM
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My eldest son and I have been struggling to get along for some time. He wants more freedom, but doesn’t want to live by the rules his father and I have devised…the age old tale of the teen years, I know. Another issue we are facing is that to a certain extent, I think he has outgrown homeschooling in its current format. I don’t want to recreate the wheel as we work through this and find an educational format that works for Gavin, but I have found little helpful information in the handful of secular books for homeschooling teens.
&am ...
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Volunteer Opportunities for Youth |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
9/10/2008 9:48 PM
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I have found that volunteer opportunities are a very important tool for home and unschooling. Volunteering in the community is good on so many levels, for kids and their grownups. It gets kids out of the house, away from siblings and parents, and gives students a chance to move through the adult world on their own in a path of their own choosing. Furthermore, as I finish rereading Reviving Ophelia, I am convinced that community and volunteer service are invaluable to the sense of self worth and empowerment of teens, giving young people a chance to see their impact on the world around them and that they are valuable members of their society. Up till now, our volunteer and community service has been limited to our housing community and our synagogue. I was ...
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End of an era |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
8/12/2008 4:17 PM
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I feel like I am living a lie. Here I am a homeschooling advocate and activist and my eldest child is leaving homeschooling. We have been experiencing growing pains and conflicting over structural and curricular issues for some time now, and Gavin has decided that homeschooling can no longer provide him with what he needs and he is unwilling to do the work of Community College. He wants to coast. He wants someone to tell him what to do and when to do it. The irony of that is that he is leaving homeschooling because he thinks I want to control him. I feel as though I have failed; failed my family, my son, myself and my homeschooling community.
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Perks of Being a Wallflower--book review |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
8/7/2008 4:04 PM
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I have just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Pocket Books, 1999) and really must recommend it for those13 and up, although I plan to read it this year with my older kids who are 12 and 15.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower could be best described as one boy’s journey of self discovery. Fifteen year old Charlie is writing letters to a friend, explaining and exploring his world of high school, experimentation, and love. Through Charlie’s honest and articulate letters, we get a look into the world of someone trying to participate, trying to be present in his own life and world, but because he is different, because he is sensitive and just a touch “crazy” he is rejected by those who do not want to see the beauty in Charlie. Deep w ...
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Academic Redshirting |
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Jessa's Homeschooling Rants
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By Jessica.Coulson on
8/6/2008 3:59 PM
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Every morning, I watch a CNN News feed, this morning there was a very interesting and perplexing story about “redshirting” kindergartners and a new study out of Harvard that claims that holding children out of kindergarten an extra year has no benefits later in the child’s educational “career”, rather that it delays other major lifecycle events like marriage and child rearing, which could have a detrimental effect on society and the individual. A big stretch I know, but when I consider the age issues as discussed in the homeschooling movement I have to stop and think about it for a minute.
Now, the term redshirting is actually a sports term. It refers to the delay of an athlete’s entrance to college sports to give them an extra year to bond with their team members and grow ...
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