From Shepherdstown, West Virginia - Home school enthusiasts learn together at conference.  The Journal interviewed several families at a small homeschool conference who shared their experiences and joy in meeting kindred experiences.

Conference sessions coordinator Denise Beaty, a former teacher who is home schooling four children, readily acknowledged that sacrifices are often necessary to do this successfully.

“But they are my children, so it is definitely a labor of love,”Beaty said.

Beaty said she enjoyed helping with the conference because it is a resource for other home schooling parents.

“Getting started can be a little intimidating, so it is good to know that others are here for you and they’ve been where you are now. They know what has – and hasn’t – worked for them and what they might suggest doing differently. It’s all about the best educational experience for our kids,” she said.

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The Unschooling Blog Carnival is hosting a Spring Carnival.  Deadline is April 20.  Here’s the guidelines:

✸ Submit unschooling blog posts that YOU find most inspiring! Sharing these posts may be just what some struggling unschooler needs to read.

✸These Unschooling Favorites should be fairly recent – but if you stumble across something wonderful, that the blogger wrote within the last 6 months, that will work too!

✸ Unschooling Bloggers can still submit their own blogposts – just pick a post that you think is your best writing/most thought-provoking or encouraging.

Don’t miss the parents discussing the Sleep Study in Pioneer Woman comments.

The Coloradoan cited the National Jewish Health Teen Sleep Study and interviewed a homeschooling mom and an assistant school superintendent.

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National Jewish Health posted a press release on their latest sleep study.  Maybe the school powers-that-be will pay attention.

Study: Homeschool Students Sleep Better

Research supports later start times for high school

The Press Release says:

DENVER, CO – March 6, 2013 — In the first study of its kind, researchers have determined that teens who are homeschooled benefit from healthier sleep habits than those who go to most private and public schools. The findings provide additional evidence of teens’ altered biological clocks and support an argument for starting traditional high school later in the morning.

“We have a school system that is set up so that the youngest children, who are awake very early in the morning, start school latest, and our adolescents, who need sleep the most, are being asked to wake up and go to school at a time when their brains should physiologically be asleep,” said Lisa Meltzer, PhD, a sleep psychologist at National Jewish Health in Denver, and lead author of the study.

“Adolescents need nine hours of sleep a night and if they’re only getting seven hours, on average, by the end of the week they are a full ten hours of sleep behind schedule,” said Meltzer, “and that impacts every aspect of functioning.”

This isn’t the first time the obvious reality of teens’ physiological clock not agreeing with school hours was laid out.

A 2000 article in High School Magazine by Kyla Wahlstrom

Sleep studies have shown that teenagers’ internal clocks are not compatible with the hours of most high schools. Recent research indicates that starting the school day later can benefit teens and everyone around them.

The question of when high schools should start classes in the morning is at the center of a great debate in comunities across the United States.  During the past four years, hundreds of school districts discussed later starting times for the high school day because of recent findings from sleep laboratories doing research on teen sleep patterns.

The Mayo Clinic points this out, despite the use of the word “notorious” regarding a teen’s physical necessities:

Teens are notorious for staying up late and being hard to awaken in the morning. If your teen is no exception, it’s not necessarily because he or she is pushing the limits or fighting the rules. This behavior pattern actually has a physical cause — and can be modified to improve your teen’s sleep schedule.

With all these studies and facts laying out the notion tradtional high school hours are hard on a teen body and mind, we still have this from New Jersey Newsroom:

Arne Duncan pushes for longer school years in 5-state pilot program

The three-year pilot program, funded through a mix of federal, state and district monies, is expected to be implemented in five states, beginning in 2013. It requires an additional 300 hours of school learning. Participating districts will work with school leaders, teachers and parents to determine whether the school day should be made longer or if the school year should be longer or a combination of the two, according to the Associated Press.

Mandated under federal regulations, public education in the United States is categorized under a six-hour school day for a 180-day school year. This program, also funded in part by the Ford Foundation and the National Center for Time and Learning, seeks to increase school hours in Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee next year.

Logic is not prevailing.  You’d think they would find an easier way for kids to stay home in their own private space.  Guess that’s why homeschooling is growing and public schools have some success issues.  The people who could make a positive change don’t seem to be ‘listening’.

The John Brown University Threefold Advocate reports on History Professor and homeschooler, Preston Jones.

Professor teaches homeschool on the side By Laura Roller

“To me, the central motivating force in my life is education, and I don’t really care whether it’s with little kids or graduate students,” he said.

An “ideal week” for Jones would be four various classes, one each with fourth or fifth grade, 11th grade, undergraduate students and graduate students.

“It’s fun. I like the challenge of pitching things to different levels and age groups,” Jones said.

Professor Jones seems to love teaching, advancing the love of learning and discussion.

“Often the challenge a professor faces is you ask a question and are met with a tsunami of silence. That’s not the problem with these kids. You ask them a question, and the challenge becomes letting them all say what they want to say, while also moving on,” Jones said.

Logan LaPlante explains hackschooling by hacking physics, skiing, weather, and other useful activities.

Pulled out of traditional schooling to homeschool at 9 years of age, he’s determined his life will be happy and is following a contented, educated and healthy path.  He’s on his way.

The Miami News Record - Powered by the News Record and You! posted an article from a mom who started home educating her kids six months ago. Kristen Hoover offered her experiences getting started, along with the results so far.

The ABCs of homeschooling: laughter, learning, bonding and togetherness

When we remodeled one end of our house into a classroom, our son learned how to hang sheetrock and lay laminate flooring. Our daughters are becoming quite the seamstresses, and that 11-year-old can make a mean pan of brownies. All of us are greatly enjoying our latest quest to find the perfect bread recipe. We’re already obsessing over seed catalogs and planning our garden. We used after-Christmas sales shopping to teach percentages. A trip to the hardware or grocery store is most likely going to involve a math lesson. I ran into a friend in Sears a few months ago who told me she had just seen my kids in the shoe department, and the oldest was quizzing her siblings on how to calculate the price of a pair of shoes that were 30 percent off. Of course, we are studying the curriculum required to graduate, but more importantly, our kids are learning how to function in this big ol’ world — most of the time, without a calculator.
As far as the socialization that the masses seem so concerned about, well, most importantly, we’re not concerned about it at all. Our kids are very involved in their youth and children’s groups at church, we have friends who homeschool, and we are also part of a homeschool group in Miami (MAPLE: www.facebook.com/groups/maplehomeschool/) that meets once a week. The kids still hang out with their public-school friends, and our oldest, contrary to the thinking of the total stranger who told our 16-year-old daughter that homeschooled kids won’t ever marry, is dating a wonderful young man (public-schooled, no less) and goes on dates and everything. Our kids can carry on conversations with adults, are polite and well-mannered, and seem to function just fine in society.

One family’s example of living and learning.

Open minded and seeking answers, Jessica Smock, a Boston University doctoral candidate in education policy. has been discussing and learning about homeschooling since she posted her mid-January blog question: 10 Thoughts about Homeschooling by an Educator (And Why I’m Still Worried)

Please let me know what else I should know to understand the homeschooling experience.  What do educators and scholars not understand about why families choose homeschooling and about their experiences?

She received numerous, thoughtful responses to that post, did some more research and followed up with another blog post, noting this on the Getting Smart website.

What an Educator Learned From Home Schooling Parents

However, we — as researchers, writers, observers, and reformers of education — cannot ignore the implications of their basic message that schools must respond to their children’s individual needs.  In the minds of thousands of the most impassioned, capable, and knowledgeable parents about education — those who could have the most impact as partners in the educational systems as parents — the educational system is no longer acceptable for their child, and they are choosing to leave.  Those voices are worth paying attention to.

What I found refreshing was Jessica Smock wasn’t telling homeschoolers what we should do, as many others attempt.  Rather, she seems to be trying to unlock the education system’s barriers by observing what works for homeschoolers. She is an educational innovator.  There seem to be more and more educators exploring these successes outside the classroom.  Welcome to our world!

KUAR reporter, Nathan Vandiver, updates about House Bill 1076 : Bill To Let Districts Count Home Schooled Dies In House Committee

Dana Higdon, superintendent of the Mulberry-Plainview School District said her schools can serve home schooled students if they choose, so they should be counted.

“We are prepared to provide any classes or services to the students who are home schooled in our district, and if we were allowed to count those home school students toward the required 350, it would help our district to be able to aid students to become productive citizens,” Higdon said.

This is certainly a new twist to the public school funding issue.  If passed, the Attorney General’s office predicted the bill would be struck down in the court system.  That premise is duly noted when other attempts occur using homeschools to fund public schools.  Consolidation of small public schools is a sad situation, but the answer would likely be satisfying the educational needs of public school students, not trying to pull in a larger quantity for the dollar amount.

The Kellogg family of 14 now follows kayak trails and events across the country with the use of a 35 foot RV on the road.  The video below makes me smile and brings back mom memories deciphering the chaotic levels of children’s voices and cries.

The Kellogg Show/Family documents their adventures.  There is plenty of coverage across the country too.

From the Denver Post in October:
Colorado family of 14 kayaking throughout the U.S. By Jason Blevins

“Everything we have done comes from wanting to be free,” says Susie, who started home-schooling the kids a few years ago when a rigid schedule began pinching family playtime.

They’ve been kayaking only a few years, but Grady, 16, and Brody, 15, closed the season ranked third and fourth in the junior freestyle kayaking World Cup point series, and Kenny, 12, won the cadet class in the national freestyle championship in Idaho.

From Denver’s KDVR Fox 31 in November:

Family of 14 selling Colorado home, will live on the road and pursue dreams By Jon Bowman

All of the kids buy into this ‘simpler way of life’ their parents are moving toward. All but one of the children, 18-year-old Kerry, the oldest daughter, are being home-schooled. Kerry graduated from Glenwood Springs High School last spring.

“I am so ready for this,” said Kerry. “I am over Glenwood, I just want to enjoy new adventures and see new places.”

From the UK Mail Online
Kellogg family children to be home schooled as mom and dad drive them across the United States
By James Nye

The Kelloggs claim to have set off for the same reason the pioneers did:  Freedom — from ordinary lives.By James Nye

‘This is what freedom is,’ Dan said, waving his hand at the open road. ‘You go after it.’

Last summer, the family spent two months testing the waters of the RV life, touring 22 states and competing in nearly every junior kayaking competition in the country.

Good wishes for the kayaking competitions and I am sure this family will have loads of fun getting there.

Another family is also planning a road trip this year.  Pioneer Woman‘s website asked a good question about the legalities of
Homeschooling on the Road?

I’m sure more feedback for this family would be appreciated. (Ree Drummond’s recipe for the Perfect Iced Coffee is appealing too.)

Gotta love these families following their passions.