Homeschoolers Excel in Social Skills

I found this on The HomeScholar:

A little story for the next time you’re asked about socialization…

April 22, 2008

In 2006, my boys were two of 108 top applicants invited to compete for ten full-tuition scholarships at Seattle Pacific University. All 108 invitees had great SAT scores. All had compelling personal stories. Between them they had thousands of hours of community service. Indeed, there was very little – on paper – to distinguish one from the other. That is why, I suppose, SPU used a full day competition to make their decision.

When they were on campus that day, they were evaluated in all types of settings: class room observation, panel discussions, faculty interviews, dining table conversations, walking between classes. For eight hours, they were under a microscope. When they got back, both boys agreed it was the most exciting and invigorating day of their lives.

Only ten full-tuition scholarships were given that year and my homeschoolers got two of them! What made the difference? In addition the normal stuff (GPA, SAT, community service), we were told that the winners were chosen based on things like:

• intereaction with their peers,
• engagement with the faculty,
• self confidence,
• maturity,
• courtesy, and
• a well developed sense of who they were.

In a nutshell, they were chosen based on socialization. Now isn’t that the most ironic thing you’ve ever heard!!

Remember: we did nothing special. We were just ordinary homeschool family struggling our way through high school. The only difference was we taught our kids at home, independently.

Eventually, the world will recognize the superior socialization provided by homeschooling. Do not be discouraged when you are asked for the thousandth time “what about socialization?” Just smile and tell them our story and think about the story you will be able to tell in a few years!

Do you have a favorite socialization story? I’d love to hear it!

Hey, Did I Mention...

I got a new camera!!! Ok, so I got it about 3 weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting about it. :-) It's a Canon Rebel XSi. I still have lots to learn about it, but I'm coming along, and I LOVE it! It's so nice to be able to get nice shots indoors without having to use the flash. And even when I do use the flash, it doesn't look half as bad as it did with my other camera. So, all you photography friends out there...if you had to pick ONE favorite lens, what would it be?

Five Little Ducks Went Out One Day...

I got all the duckie finger puppets done, and their mother too! And heeeeeere they are...

1st Grade: Week 13 Highlights

History: This week we learned about the early civilizations of Ancient China. The people there (much like the people in Mesopotamia and India) settled near a river so they could use the readily available water for drinking and farming. In China, this area was between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River and was called the Yellow River Valley.

We learned about the first Ancient Chinese writing, pictograms, and "Rupert" had a lot of fun trying his hand at drawing some.

We also read about the Shang dynasty, the farming of rice, and the discovery of silkworm cocoons which led to the invention of silk fabric.

We're currently in the middle of making a Ming bowl. Here's what we've done so far:

This week we said good-bye to our dearly departed Chicken Mummy. We made a non-traditional sarcophagus out of a shoe box and buried him.

Science: This week we learned about penguins and chickens. We found and tried a couple of science projects relating to chicken eggs. In one, we learned about how the weight of the hen is spread over the surface of the egg so that it will not break when she sits on it. "Rupert" squeezed an egg in his hand as hard as he could to see how strong the shell is.

We also cracked an egg open to see the parts that are inside and talked about how each of these parts helps the baby chick to grow and hatch.

We made a bird feeder this week to go along with our bird studies. It'll be interesting to see if we get any visitors.

Math: This week we practiced double and triple digit addition and carrying, greater than and less than, and introduced the skip counting by 4s song.

Kung Fu: We worked mostly on his new forms and grab arts this week, but also practiced all his old stuff in an attempt to keep him from forgetting it. There really is quite a bit that he knows now.

Spelling: We finally ran up against a challenging list this week, and we will continue to work on this list next week. His lists are usually only 6 words, which I think is a good amount for a beginner. It won't burn him out, but he's still learning new things. This week we worked on words like: going, seeing, feeling, and keeping.

Grammar: I originally scheduled grammar twice a week, but "Rupert" seems to really like it and is requesting that we do it daily. I just may honor his request. Then, if he wants to slow it down later, we can do that too. This week we finished up our discussion on nouns and introduced pronouns.

ASL: I'm trying to use signs as often as possible as I speak, so "Rupert" can see it more than just at ASL time during school.

Writing: This week's writing consisted of making a birthday card for "Rupert's" great uncle, and we also did two lessons in his Writing with Ease book.

Reading: We're currently listening to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on CD in the truck, and Daddy started reading The Indian in the Cupboard this week as a bedtime story.

1st Grade: Week 12 Highlights

Hey, look at me! I'm actually on time with this post! Wooohooo! We had a great week this week.

Math: This week we worked on adding triple digits, and "Rupert" did wonderfully with that, so I introduced carrying. He wasn't terribly excited about carrying, and fought it at first. But toward the end, he claimed that it was "easy". We'll see if he remembers it next week. I'm planning on slowing down and just letting it all sink in for a while.

I also introduced rounding to the nearest 10 (which he didn't really understand the point of), and greater than and less than (which he LOVED, especially after I told him that the "alligator" wants to eat the biggest number and I let him draw teeth in the "alligator's mouth"). "Rupert" also enjoyed singing the skip counting by 3s song to the tune of Jingle Bells. It was just another reminder to me that I need to find more musical learning opportunities for him. If something is put to music, he's got it down in no time!

Phonics: We learned about the soft C sound this week.

ASL: Reviewed last week's farm signs, and learned some daily routine signs.

History: We talked about the Indus Valley in India and the people who lived there. Our history project was to make a Mohenjo-Daro dwelling using clay bricks. We also completed our Chicken mummy project.

Cutting the bricks:

Constructing the Mohenjo-Daro dwelling

The finished project

Chicken Pharaoh project:

Rubbing in the spices and oil:

Wrapping the hands and feet first:

Half wrapped:

Our finished Mummy!

Science: We started on the bird section in our animal studies, and learned about parrots, eagles, and owls.

Writing: "Rupert" practiced his writing skills while writing letters to two friends this week.

Grammar: "Rupert" almost has his 4th poem memorized! Now to practice public speaking. He seems to use baby talk for some reason when he is reciting his poems. It's very strange because we have never used baby talk with him, nor he with us. I think it's part of this new feeling of embarrassment he is experiencing. I've noticed that when he gets embarrassed, he clams up, becomes less active and more quiet.

We unexpectedly had some home-ec time this week when "Rupert" cooked French toast for breakfast two days this week. He loves to cook, and I, for one, am so excited about that! :-)

Finger Puppet

Ok, so my aunt saw "the cutest little knitted finger puppets" at the children's bookstore the other day and asked if I could knit her some. I thought it would be fun to try, so I looked online for a pattern and found one for a duck. I think it came out pretty well. :-)

1st Grade: Week 11 Highlights

Sheesh! It has been so long since last week that I think I've forgotten what all we did. I think I'll just tell my story in pictures.

Here's the aftermath of our reading time on Monday:

We worked on double digit addition, which "Rupert" picked up on quite easily.

Then there was free creative time, which he LOVES! This week he was working on his life-size ninja turtle masterpiece. He made his goal and finished it by Halloween!

"Rupert" does his copywork twice a week at his little table.

A couple more things he made during free creative time. He was SO excited about Halloween this year and was really into making decorations to put all around the house.

On Friday, we went to the pumpkin patch. I was worried that there would be nothing left since it was the DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN, but it was wonderful! Plenty of pumpkins, and no crowd...perfect!!

We carved pumpkins on Friday night. This was the first year that "Rupert" didn't mind handling the pumpkin guts at all.

My ninja turtle got to go to the Halloween party/parade at our local library, then after dinner we went to the carnival at our church, and to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He brought home more candy than I ever imagined...enough to give us all a good solid start on the road to diabetes. :-)

I'm sure this didn't help matters. We found this in a Halloween cook book at the library. It WAS good. :-)

I also joined "Rupert" in his Kung Fu class and I LOVE it! I am so excited that I get another chance to train in martial arts. Doing it with my son is so cool. It has always been a dream of mine to train with my kids. Now if we could just lure Daddy into it, what fun we would have!