As you lean on the Lord to direct your path through the homeschooling years you may find He will lead you to be a part of a support group or perhaps even a co-op.  You may ask yourself, “Well what is the difference?”  Let me first explain that the term “co-op” is a group of homeschooling families that join together for similar purpose to “cooperate” and pool their resources to meet the needs of their homeschooling community. 

I once took a field trip with my children to a pumpkin patch.  We had a very educational afternoon.  One thing I have taken with me for years is that I learned that all pumpkins are squash, but not all squash are pumpkins.  A similar comparison can be made between co-ops versus support groups.  Many co-ops offer a support group component, but support groups generally are not co-ops.  Okay, now that I have officially confused you, let me break apart these two distinct titles. 

What does a support group have to offer? 

Is a co-op right for your family? 

What are you finding you need? 

Let me try to navigate the support group and...

I. INTRODUCTION

Teaching your child with special needs is a privilege—but it is also hard. It requires from the parents much sacrifice, patience, and unconditional love.

We cannot forget to consider what the child with special needs experiences as well. Living with a handicap such as blindness, cerebral palsy, a speech impediment, autism, retardation, a disease, or one of many types of learning disabilities is difficult. It is a daily struggle emotionally, mentally, and many times physically. The child’s self-esteem is constantly put to the test. Some handicaps or learning disabilities can be overcome with consistent and focused effort. Other handicaps can only be managed and may never go away.

Living with multiple sclerosis these last few years has helped me appreciate the struggles of a physically handicapped person. Every day it is hard for me to simply walk, put my socks on, or stay in 80-degree weather for any length of time. The emotional drain is intense. The need to think and plan for logistics to achieve normal movement is a heavy burden. The quality of life from a human perspective is diminished. Hiking in the woods or...

In May I permanently handed Math and Science over to my husband, Tim. I have wanted him involved from the beginning, and now that he is it’s really hard to let go.

I had reviewed basic arithmetic with the girls for quite sometime. They had just finished turning fractions into decimals the week before. My 11 year old was really into it. She asked me if there was a way to predict how many places over the decimal would repeat just by looking at the numerator and or denominator. I didn’t know and said causally, “Ask Daddy.”

The next day she systematically came up with fractions and charted the results of turning them into decimals. My husband saw the pages and pages of it next to her piano music.

He asked where we left off and I told him. It was his big debut as the math and science guy and I was overwhelmed with a desire to tell him how to do things. I knew I should keep my mouth shut but the inner conflict was killing me. I wanted to go on about which kid is more verbal, which one is better at abstractions, their learning styles, their personalities, their quirks, which math materials were manipulatives, etc. Instead, I listened to...

I recently volunteered in our church nursery to help with an upcoming high attendance day.  However, I warned the staffing coordinator that there was only one teeny-weeny little problem.  I knew with absolute certainty that when the day arrived for me to show up and actually work in the nursery, it could be guaranteed that I will have forgotten. 

This new mom smiled, and said, “Oh I understand.  Isn’t that just awful when you know there’s something you’re supposed to be doing, and it just nags at you and nags at you ... and it takes forever for you to remember it?”   I looked back at her with what I think was a pained expression and said, “Before I homeschooled, that was my experience too.  What you just said?  That was it!  But now...it doesn’t even nag at me.  It’s just gone!” 

It’s not that my brain has become empty.  On the contrary, it’s that it has become overwhelmingly full.  And not full of lovely, high and lofty thoughts such as what powerful symbolism that oil painting is revealing to me....or just how many angels can dance...

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...

Dear Friends,

Many of you are making plans to attend homeschool conferences and curriculum fairs (or already have) where you will be deciding on curricula for your next school year. If your plan includes signing up for courses taught by others, we want to give you some ideas to think about and tools to use.

At first glance, the high school years can appear scary because of all the courses you deem necessary to offer your teens. Looking at the whole mountain range of high school subjects is enough to make you feel weary - or worse yet, inept! If you need help in certain subject areas, courses taught by others may be a lifeline for you. However, we are not advocating that you outsource all of your teen's courses. Being "old school" homeschoolers, we taught the majority of the courses our own children completed during high school and enjoyed learning right along with them. With the abundance of homeschool high school curriculum, teacher's guides, answer keys, and lots of other helpful materials, we encourage you...