In the animal kingdom 50% of the animals are “right paw dominant” and 50% are “left paw dominant.” This has been observed when animals press a lever to get more food or water. Human beings are 50% right brain dominant and 50% left brain dominant, regardless of hand dominance.

As we know, the majority of school curriculum and teaching methods are taught in a left brain manner. This is particularly true of math curriculum. Left brain dominant children learn their math facts easily by repeating them orally, practicing them in timed tests, and working with flash cards. This is the sequential way that works for the left brain learner.  The right brain dominant child, however, likes and often requires a different approach both to memorizing facts and performing calculation procedures.

Let’s look at a model of the brain with its specialization of hemispheres:

LEFT BRAIN - AUDITORY
Details
Black & white
Data only
Repetition
Sequential

RIGHT BRAIN - VISUAL
Whole picture
Colors
Rhythm, pictures
...

Joseph was an unhappy baby.  He didn't sleep for very long periods and seemed to cry all the time.  He did best when he was held and rocked or walked. He spit up after feeding much more than the other babies in the family had.  His parents called him their "high maintenance child."  He developed some ear infections which were treated with antibiotics.  With the second antibiotic he received, he developed a rash.  The doctor said he was allergic to amoxicillin and placed him on another antibiotic.  He got over the ear infection, but continued to be whiny and had diarrhea.  After one more antibiotic he developed a white coating on his tongue, which the doctor called thrush. 

As he grew, it became increasingly evident that he was intolerant to some foods.  Milk gave him a stomachache and oranges gave him a rash around his mouth.  In his preschool years he was loving and sweet one moment but easily flew off the handle if he didn't get his own way.  In fact, sometimes his temper tantrums were a sight to behold.  As he grew, he continued to be plagued with difficulty falling asleep, stomachaches...

Does your child have good hearing but listen poorly?

Some parents refer to this as selective hearing, but your child may actually have trouble listening. While hearing is the ability to detect sound, listening is how the brain processes auditory information.

Children with poor auditory processing skills tend to exhibit the following problems:

• Trouble hearing or easily distracted in noisy environments.


• Hard time following a conversation or following directions.


• Disorganized and forgetful.


• Problems with reading, comprehension, spelling and/or writing.


• Trouble recalling a story in proper sequence.


• Difficulty understanding verbal math problems.

Auditory Processing problems closely mimic AD/HD symptoms, and children are often misdiagnosed. If a child is having trouble processing auditory information, he or she will often appear to be inattentive. It is similar to a bad cell phone connection. The child does not get all of...

Snow days. Even if our children went to school we don’t get those here in the Arizona desert, so we decided to create our own—using shaving cream!

Aside from the 3R’s, I usually teach to the oldest and let the younger ones pick up what they pick up (which is usually a surprising amount).  But sometimes I like to take the day off from our normal routine and just have some good ol’ open-ended play specifically geared towards my youngest! 

Open-ended play is where there are no expectations, no specific problems to solve, no rules to follow, and no pressure to produce a finished product. This kind of play helps children build knowledge, skills, and creativity at their own pace! It fosters critical thinking instead of merely imitating. 

So, after piling on the couch and reading the classic children’s book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, we made our way to the dining room table to play with shaving cream.  I let the kids pick out toys that they wanted to bring to our “snow play” and I turned them loose. 

What your child brings to the play will spur the creative process. Will they...

With the increasing challenge for students to afford a college degree, families are searching for options.  There are several ways students can earn college credit while in high school, reducing their college costs.  Most of these programs are free to the student.

Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) allows Minnesota high school juniors and seniors to take courses at a college, on campus or online, at no cost (includes textbooks).  The Advanced Placement® exams (AP) and International Baccalaureate® (IB) are two well-known Credit-by-Exam programs (CBE) that also allow juniors and seniors to earn college credit.  But perhaps you’ve never heard of CLEP® and DSST®, two other credit-by-exam programs.  These exams were developed to enable colleges to award students credit for demonstrating knowledge equivalent to that...

We were home schooling when nobody was homeschooling. We started with our firstborn son in his kindergarten year, 1980--81. It started out as a matter of convenience (we didn't like public school but lived a half-hour commute from our church's Christian school) but soon grew into a conviction.

Over three decades later, we have never experienced a moment of doubt as to our choice. That little boy in kindergarten is now a college graduate, a lawyer and a married man with three children, all of whom he and his wife plan on teaching at home. He is also the eldest of our fourteen sons and daughters. His younger siblings, some of whom are also the parents of our 11 grandchildren, are homeschooling as well. Obviously, our children are as pleased as their parents are with the method of education we chose.

Over the years, of course curious people have asked us why we made the decision to begin and continue homeschooling our children. There are many reasons we love it, but for the sake of brevity I'll share a few here.

First, we love having so much time with our children. It hurts us to hear parents talk about how glad they will be when the kids go back...

Homeschool AFTER High School?

Why do we send our children to college?  It’s an interesting question from a number of different angles.  Why, for example, have we spent the last 12 “academic” years teaching them at home to ensure a biblical foundation and a fulfillment of Deuteronomy 6, only to send them off to a secular university to have all that subtly attacked by serpents far wiser than our doves?  Why have we spent those last 12 years using non-classroom methods of education which statistically have produced more well-rounded, more biblically socialized, and more academically astute learners, only to put them into an institutional classroom construct that forces teaching to the “weakest link” at worst or “C-level” at best?  Why, after mentoring them by living with them as they learn do we believe that at age 17, 18, or 19 they are supposed to leave home and independently learn from teachers whom we don’t know?

These and other questions led Jim Bartlett to start the Biblical Concourse of Home Universities™, a concept that brings together home, church, and community in a unique way. ...

Homeschoolers are often “non-traditional,” aren’t they? Homeschoolers are known for avoiding the government schools’ “factory mentality” and carving their own way, based on what’s best for their lives.

So you probably won’t be surprised to know that I did college the non-traditional way. I have completed a BA in History – and that with never having set foot in a real college classroom. It turned out to be far less expensive than the traditional route, as well as a lot quicker. Non-traditional college options are becoming more and more easily available to college students. If you’re interested in customizing your college experience, here are some thoughts to consider.

College off-site is less expensive. Some degrees can be earned for as little as $5,000-$10,000. This is a far cry from the $50,000-$100,000 (or more) of many traditional college routes.

College off-site allows your still-young 18-19 year-olds to spend another year or two at home. College life is not necessarily known for its maturing effects on young people’s minds and hearts, to say the least. Home is generally a safer...

We are excited about our new store!  

Please take time to visit our new store and see what is there. Simply click on the store tab at the top of the page or on any of the sub-menu items under the tab.  We also provide links for you throughout this article. The store contains over 750 products, including over 2,800 audio files. In addition to some great search tools to help you find what you want, audio samples have been provided with each product. If you are curious about a particular recording, just listen to the sample. The playback controls will be clearly visible next to the product. Click on the play button and position the playback indicator anywhere in the sample.  

Past MÂCHÉ conferences: There are over 250 workshop presentations from past MÂCHÉ conferences that have been added to our store. Listen to material from particular speakers you enjoy or receive help for specific needs you might have: encouragement, curriculum guidance, teaching and learning styles, readiness skills, special needs, high school transcripts, organization, and much more. The various "filters" displayed in the left column of...

Okay, I’ll admit up front that I am unmarried and have no children. What could I possibly know about mistakes new homeschoolers make? I’m just a pipsqueak!

My list of credentials is short but Very Weighty. (Every pipsqueak thinks their credentials are Very Weighty.) I was homeschooled my entire life. My parents have helped run support groups and state homeschooling organizations in several states. I’ve watched many homeschooling families and seen some run very successful homeschools and others crash and burn. By dint of keeping my eyes and ears open and using my Acute and Intuitive Perception (pipsqueaks always think they have Acute and Intuitive Perception), I have compiled a reasonable list of common errors that trap new homeschoolers. Kindly be impressed!

Error #1:

Viewing academics as primary. Actually, homeschooling is first and foremost about character education. Raising an intellectual genius is pointless if he is lazy, rebellious, thinks humanistically, and lacks integrity, right? Some of the world’s wickedest men were very smart. But so what? They were evil. You are not just training...