By Camille Rodriquez

Building a student’s character should be a primary focus of all that you do as a parent, and certainly as a homeschool parent. As homeschool families find, students who are homeschooled have an incredible opportunity to become future leaders, strong adults, and participatory citizens – if the foundation of integrity and character is solidly built.

If you homeschool, your students will have eyes and ears on all that you do, all the time. That includes your telephone conversations, your interactions with service technicians, and your relationships with business owners around you. Have you ever yelled at someone on the phone or been rude, and then tried to teach your children to be patient and kind? There is a “disconnect” there and believe me, your children will notice it. Consistency counts – all the time. You must be modeling the virtues and character of the type of person that you want your children to become, because they will become what you model.

Your character affects your children, but it also affects your example as a homeschool family. What you do will help those in your neighborhood to affirm or tear down homeschooling. Adding credibility to your homeschool program by being a person who can be counted on, is reliable, is fun to spending time with, and is true to their word will be an invaluable set of character traits to develop. Your character impacts all that you do, especially as a homeschool parent, because you are modeling your values, priorities, and moral fiber constantly.

Here’s a challenge for you. Select one character trait that you would like to develop more fully. Look for that trait in others and model that in yourself. Take notes on people who demonstrate that characteristic. Note times that you show this characteristic in your own life so that you have a record of how you model the characteristic. Then, continually ask yourself, “Is this the person I want my children to become?” Ask yourself this question during all your actions and activities.

Developing a habit or a routine takes time and character development should never stop – you must do it over and over again to be the person that you strive to be and desire for your children.

Announcement

1. Our Scholarship Sweepstakes is off and running. If you have a family or two in mind that you feel would be a great fit for our program please have them contact me at delder@newcollegeprep.com  and I will be happy to speak with them and answer all of their questions. When they enroll, you will earn a ticket in the sweepstakes drawing. 

Daily Affirmation:

I have the ability to direct my own thoughts.

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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Daily Affirmation:

At the heart of every desire is the desire to feel good!

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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Daily Affirmation:

By choosing different thoughts I can change my condition.

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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Daily Affirmation:

The greatest gift to give is my happiness.

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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Daily Announcements:

1. Keep those referrals coming. Let your child homeschool free with us next year! If you are the parent of a site school student you could save $250 EACH month off your tuition. Need more details – email me at delder@newcollegeprep.com.

Daily Affirmation:

If I can imagine it — i can have it!

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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Daily Affirmation:

All is well in my world.

Daily Exercises and Bible Reading:

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By Camille Rodriquez

Syntopical reading is a great tool to use to increase reading knowledge and comprehension for the serious learner. It involves reading and comparing multiple texts on the same topic. This allows readers to take cross sections from each source, summarize them, analyze them, compare them to others, and form independent perspectives on the truth or validity of the reading material, thereby digging much deeper into the learning process.

Syntopical reading allows authors to evaluate a variety of sources based on asking key questions. One example might be, “How are these similar?” It is helpful to set up a chart or table and outline major tenets of each source and note the various authors’ perspectives on each major principle or concept. Once the similarities are outlined, then student should address the question, “How are these the same?” Notice the variance in the two questions. Similarities point out places where the authors take a different approach but arrive at nearly the same end result. “Sameness,” however, indicates perfect agreement on points of view. This analytical step may take some time, but it is well worth the effort. Each point or foundational “truth” the reader identifies should be compared across the spectrum of authors.

Next, readers should do the same thing with the following question – “How are these different?” By looking at differences, students will stretch out deeper meanings and implications. That will lead to the fourth column – “How are these distinctive?” That final question leads the reader into a dissection of the content at its most unique level. Only after reviewing the finer points, however, will the distinctiveness of any one work begin to stand out.

The final step in syntopical reading is to review, compare, “dissect,” and critique the various points each author makes for the purpose of giving their agreement or disagreement to the opinions. This is the point where the deepest level of learning occurs as students begin to make informed decisions as to the spectrum of opinions. Perhaps one of the authors introduced a concept that none of the others did. A serious student may want to include new authors at this point. Ultimately, however, the student will have an in-depth study in the topic and will be far more prepared to form conclusions and opinions.

By Debbie Elder

Take some time to decide what character traits, values, skills, tools, and success strategies your child needs to be equipped with when they leave your care. Then, devise your plan is to achieve this vision. When I did this exercise I came up with the following. I wanted to raise children who were:

Appreciative

I wanted to raise daughters who were appreciative of what they had and what was given to them. I had my daughters keep a Gratitude Journal where they wrote down five specific things they were grateful for each day. This approach allowed us to avoid the epidemic of Entitlementitis - ‘I breathe – therefore I deserve!’

Thinkers

I also wanted my daughters to think for themselves – to have their own opinions and thoughts. I wanted them to hear what others had to say and run that through their filter of what they knew to be true based on their values and faith. This encouraged great listening skills and an opportunity to explore their feelings on a variety of topics.

Self-taught

It was important to me that my children had the training necessary to teach themselves everything they want to learn. I solicited help from Dr. Kuni Michael Beasley and Mr. Howard Berg of the NEW College Preparatory Academy who taught my daughters how to be self-taught, and the investment has paid off  as they sail through college!

Self-confident

Self-confidence comes from within. When you do things successfully, you develop self-confidence. My job was to help them find things they were good at to develop their self-esteem. One way we approached this was to keep a Victory Journal of their achievements. So on those bad days, they can refer to their list of successes and renew their feeling of confidence.

Self-disciplined

Self-discipline is the ability to reject instant gratification in favor of something better. It gives you power to follow your decisions, stick to them and not change your mind too often, and therefore be able to reach your goals. With self-discipline, you can accomplish anything!

Go ahead and get started on your list, because once the big decisions have been made the little decisions are easy! Does it get me to what I want for my children, or not?

By Camille Rodriquez

For the homeschool family it is important to think about the choice of curricula in your program. If you offer your services to others, you will want to ensure that your curriculum teaches solid skills in all of the primary core subject areas including learning skills. You want to have identifiable tracking systems in place to document where each student is in their course work, where their assignments are kept, and the standards for grading, testing, and moving forward. If you plan to charge tuition, you will want to do a market survey to determine the value of your program in your local market. Related to this, you will want to identify what is “unique” about you, your homeschool program, and your niche in that market. Finally, you will need to verify local codes for homeschooling in your area to guarantee that you are meeting all state and local regulations with both the curricula you are using and the space you are offering.

For the family seeking a homeschool family to work with their child, they should consider a few questions as well. Beyond the obvious school hours and tuition schedule, these questions would include such things as space for your student to work, activities that might be available to your student, and ages of other children in the homeschool program. Remember there is so much more to be gained from a variety of ages in a school setting. A mixed age school group is much more like the “real world” of offices and businesses, and it is important for students to learn to find common ground in spite of age differences. The age of your students, both for the homeschooling family and the homeschool-seeker, will dictate some of the other pertinent questions, but these few will get the conversation started.

Certainly there are other unique factors to consider if you plan to create a homeschool program in your home that benefits other families too. But consideration of this option can make a difference for you, as a homeschooler, and for others in your community who could benefit from a specialized program unlike anything they could receive in the public school system. Not only this, but the financial options can become an empowering source of income for the homeschooling family.