Online Election Resources For Students

September 9, 2020 by Meryl van der Merwe Leave a Comment

99: Online Election Resources For Students

With the upcoming election, this seems to be a good time to talk about online election resources for students.

iCivics
Lots of teacher resources
Also games – Win the White House, Cast your Vote

Scholastic
Race to 270 – simulation that teaches about the electoral college
The Issues – choose reading levels for explanations on what different parties believe about different issues
Kid Reporters – articles about the election written by students
Quizzes

Redistricting Game
5 missions that teach what gerrymandering is

Balletopedia – who is running
List of all candidates by state running in 2020

Isidewith
Take a quiz on different issues to see which party and candidates your beliefs align best with

Fanschool
Listen to we did with the creator of this game, Eric Nelson
In October, a game specific to the 2020 election will be added
Fanschool Politics allows students to draft “teams” of states or Congress representatatives and track how “well” they do. Visit the website to read all about it

Electing a President web-based unit study
This 4 module self-paced unit study from show sponsor, FundaFunda, uses many engaging resources to teach about US elections and the office of the president. Listen before the end of September 2020 to get a coupon for a 75% discount.

You can find show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy’s online classes and web-based unit studies here

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool. If you know of other online stock market resources please share them with the other listeners there.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

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Filed Under: Homeschooling with Technology Tagged With: election, homeschool, Meryl van der Merwe, podcast, Technology

Special Replay: Tax Exempt Q&A with Homeschool Leaders

August 27, 2020 by Carol Topp Leave a Comment

This episode is an excerpt from the Indiana Homeschool Leaders Retreat. Carol Topp discusses tax exempt status and answers questions about self-declaring tax exempt status for your homeschool support group.

Visit Carol’s website here

The IRS and Your Homeschool Organization

Does your homeschool group need to pay taxes? Could they avoid paying taxes by being a 501c3 tax exempt organization? Do you know the pros and cons of 501c3 status? Do you know what 501c3 status could mean for your homeschool group?

I have the answers for you in my book The IRS and Your Homeschool Organization. The information I share in my book has been helpful to homeschool support groups, co-ops, music and sports groups and will help you understand:

The benefits of 501c3 status
The disadvantages too!
What it takes to make the IRS happy
What your state requires
Why your organization should consider becoming a nonprofit corporation
What is the difference between nonprofit incorporation and tax exemption
IRS requirements after you are tax exempt

Click Here for more information!

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Filed Under: Dollars & Sense Tagged With: Carol Topp, co-op, Dollars and Sense, homeschool, Homeschool CPA, homeschool leaders, podcast, Tax Exempt Status, tax-exempt

Online Forensic Science Resources

August 19, 2020 by Meryl van der Merwe Leave a Comment

96: Online Forensic Science Resources

Our guest in this episode is Emily Boyle and she shares with us online forensic science resources. Emily coaches Crime Busters and Forensics for a homeschool Science Olympiad team and she teaches Forensic Science to high schoolers at FundaFunda Academy.

These are the resources Emily mentions:

Science News has a section for students and there are articles on Forensic Science
Forensic Technology Center of Excellence has a Just Science Podcast. For resources by topic use this link
National Institute of Justice
FBI has a kids page
GA Virtual Academy
Virtual autopsy
American Chemical Society

Emily mentions that one can use TV crime series as a discussion point for Forensics Science, even though they are often not true-to-life. It gives students the opportunity to use critical thinking skills.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

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Filed Under: Homeschooling with Technology Tagged With: forensic science, homeschool, Meryl van der Merwe, podcast, Technology

Special Replay: Churches and Homeschool Groups

July 30, 2020 by Carol Topp Leave a Comment

Some homeschool groups find it difficult to find a church host. Why is that? This episode is an excerpt from a homeschool leaders retreat held in Indiana. Carol Topp discusses the relationship homeschool groups have with churches who host their programs.

Visit Carol’s website here!

Money Management in a Homeschool Organization

Does your homeschool group manage their money well? Do you have a budget and know where the money is spent? Do you know how to prevent fraud? This 115 page book will help you to open a checking account, establish a budget, prevent mistakes and fraud, use software to keep the books, prepare a financial statement and hire workers. Sample forms and examples of financial statements in clear English are provided.

Click Here to request more information!

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Filed Under: Dollars & Sense Tagged With: Carol Topp, churches, co-op, Dollars and Sense, homeschool, homeschool groups

Wild Florida Spotlight: Key West

May 21, 2020 by Sharon Rice Leave a Comment

Key West – Episode 86

Travel Florida’s overseas highways to one of the most unique cities in the US. We highlight some of the interesting facts and history of Key West, FL.

Key West is like no other. It is unique, rich in history and culture. Take a road trip with us as we explore this wonderful little island in Florida.

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Please visit www.fpea.com to learn more about who we are!

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Filed Under: FPEA-Connects, Uncategorized Tagged With: Florida, Florida Keys, floridahomeschool, homeschool, homeschooling, Keys, Keywest

Break New Ground: 2020 Victory Gardens

May 11, 2020 by Sharon Rice Leave a Comment

Victory Gardens – Episode 85

We are living in interesting times. Take a look a Victory Gardens with Suzanne. We talk about the history of the gardens and reasons your family should consider digging up your own garden!

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Please visit www.fpea.com to learn more about who we are!

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Filed Under: FPEA-Connects, Uncategorized Tagged With: covid, Covid-19, Florida, floridahomeschool, garden, gardening, homeschool, homeschooling, pandemic, victory garden

Secrets For Raising Kids

April 13, 2020 by mediaangels Leave a Comment

Secrets For Raising Kids Episode 399 with Denise Mira

Do you want the secrets for raising great kids? No snowflake kids allowed in our home and I’m sure you’d agree your kids have opinions, they know what they want and often tell you when you least expect it. Join Felice Gerwitz and Denise Mira for a no-nonsense podcast where we get real about raising kids. (We should know, we have ten kids between the two of us!)

Thanks to our sponsor, Reading Eggs- visit the website – Your child can learn to read in just 15 minutes a day! Reading Eggs is offering a special 30-Day FREE Trial. Sign up today and watch your child become a stronger reader! A multi-award winning learning program for children ages 2–13. Register at https://readingeggs.com/media1/
Hurry, offer ends May 16th! *Valid for new customers only.

Show Notes:

Visit my special guest DeniseMira.com

With Denise’s five boys and my three boys and two girls, we’ve raised ten kids combined. We’ve learned some things such as one-size-does-not-fit-most and that no matter your child’s gender meltdowns happen from time to time. What do you do in these situations and how do you handle the kids who are a blessing you can not handle?

Raising kids is not secret. It takes work. But raising kids with an indomitable quality called “grit” takes the know-how that comes from experienced moms. We see overindulged children everywhere we go and many are in college in need of comfort and solitude. What happened to our parenting skills? With making the hard choices? In this episode we cover the character issues that plaque many children and the secrets to raising kids that you can be proud of when they become adults.

Why is it that our children imitate or pick up our most annoying traits? We examine not only the substance of character but also a test we parents can take to analyze our own parenting techniques. (Felice: I was a threatening-repeating parent … threats the kids did not take seriously because there was no follow-through! Thankfully after a few kids I realized this didn’t work well!) We as parents have to look at our children as the blessings they are but also realize it takes work and sometimes a trial and tribulation to get through the day.

Handout from Denise Secrets For Raising Kids:

True Grit-Secrets for Raising Kids VHM EP 399

Eight Secrets for Raising Kids:

Substance of character
The test for us parents
Dopamine hits
Emotional intelligence
Trial and tribulation
Struggle
Perseverance
James 1:2-4

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Filed Under: Vintage Homeschool Moms Tagged With: @readingeggsUSCA, #readingeggs, Denise Mira, homeschool, parenting, raising great kids, raising kids, secrets to raising kids, true grit raising kids

Why Homeschooling Rocks

March 12, 2020 by mediaangels Leave a Comment

Why Homeschooling Rocks

By: Samantha Anne Moss

I’ve been homeschooled all my life and for me and my siblings sitting at a desk the whole day is not a necessity. Right now, I’m writing this article on our computer in the den, my little brother Mike is standing outside the sliding glass door giving me puppy-dog eyes that say “come play with me”. My sister is literally three feet away from me playing the piano. To other people, this kind of thing might seem distracting, but if you homeschool or are currently homeschooling you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

My family goes to daily Mass every day we can. Most kids that go to school, (even the students at Catholic Schools) don’t always have the chance to go to Mass every day. At lunchtime, we often listen to a podcast and eat leftovers, sandwiches and whatever we aren’t going to have for diner. My younger brothers and sister finish their school usually before lunch. My older sister, Emma, get done around 2 to 3 PM. I can’t imagine having to do the same thing every day, wake up early, go to school, come home just to do homework. Sure there are some perks to going to school, you get to see your friends every day and get away from all your siblings unless you’re a twin then you’re sunk. But seriously, it must be nice to have a quiet place to work…then again sitting in a classroom full of kids is probably noisier and less fun than my house! When I want a quiet place to study I go to my room.

I love being homeschooled because I can watch and play with my little siblings and have more time to read as my mom says “My fun books”. I also like having the opportunity to see my friends, and finish subjects early, it’s March and I have already finished my history textbook. I feel like I have a big advantage when it comes to the specific curriculum that my mom uses. My mom is able to choose math, science, history, writing, and all the other subjects I do. I love not having to worry about whether my science and history fit with our beliefs. One of my favorite things to do is go to co-op. I get to hang out with my friends, and this year learn about art and composers.

So where am I going with all this? Am I trying to brag about how much better I am than kids that go to school? Of course not, I just think it’s important that I try to explain how amazing it is to be part of a big family and be homeschooled. When I meet someone for the first time they usually ask me what school I go to, I answer with “I’m homeschooled”. I typically get one of two reactions, either they give me a “what-the-heck-look” or a bright smile and a “That’s so cool I wish I was homeschooled too”. I can’t lie and say that I don’t sometimes get bored and wonder what it would be like to go to school, but at the end of the day, I love homeschooling!

To see another article by Samantha Moss visit here.

About the author:

Samantha Anne Moss is a twelve-year-old homeschooler who lives in southwest Florida with her family. She enjoys reading, photography, and playing the piano. Samantha is the second oldest in a family of eight children.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: homeschool, homeschooling, why homeschool

7 Steps to Create High School Classes with Living Books

February 17, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

7 Steps to Create Your Own High School Classes with Living Books

In “7 Steps to Create Your Own High School Classes with Living Books” episode #107, Meredith Curtis shares how she created all of her children’s high school classes. She began the process by listing all the books she wanted her daughter to read. From there, she went on to think about life skills, academic skills, and virtues she longed to see in her son and daughters. Finally, she packaged everything in an easy way where teens could keep their own records.

Powerline Productions, Inc.

Being World Changers, Raising World Changers!

Show Notes

It was time for high school and up to that point we had enjoyed a lot of freedom and creativity in our home school. Living books were at the center of our curriculum. When we used textbooks, we read them aloud together.

Could we carry on to high school?

Yes!

Here’s what I did starting when my oldest daughter was in 7^th grade. I thought ahead.

Step #1: Creating High School Classes Begins with Prayer

Surrender my children and their high school education to the Lord.

Ask for wisdom and His plan in course creation.

Step #2: Creating High School Classes Requires Book Lists

I made a list of all the books I wanted my teens to write in high school

Classic Literature: Tale of Two Cities, Count of Monte Cristo

Great Works: Mere Christianity, Wealth of the Nations

Inspirational: God’s Smuggler, Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life

Step#3: Crossing the Finish Line Lists

I also took time to prayerfully consider what virtues, values, habits, academic skills, workforce skills, and spiritual disciplines I wanted to see in their lives

Virtues/Habits/Values: hard work, kindness, servant’s heart,

Academic Skills: essays, research, reading at college level, analysis, advanced mathematics,

Practical/Work/Community/Church Skills: leadership, interview, resume, work with a team

Spiritual Disciplines: Quiet Times, serving at church, evangelize, defend the faith

Relational Wisdom: Purpose dating or courtship, honoring parents, building wholesome friendships.

Step #4: Dividing up Books

I divided my books into different categories which became classes.

Wealth of the Nations, Larry Burkett’s economic books, and Communist Manifesto went into the economics class.

Pride and Prejudice, Tale of Two Cities, and The Mysterious Affair at Styles went into British Literature.

Bondage Breaker, Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life, and From Prison to Praise became part of a Christianity Basics course (God’s Girls 101: Grow in Christ and Real Men 101: Godly Manhood).

The Hidden Art of Homemaking became the foundation of my homemaking course.

Understanding the Times was the main book in our worldview class.

Soon all my books were divided up.

Step #5: Creating High School Classes Requires Creating Assignments

Next, I created assignments that were practical and cultivating academic and life skills.

Essays
Life Prep e.g. Apartment Project, Mother’s Helper, Change the Oil
Interviews to Articles
Book Club
Speeches

Step #6: Laying It Out for Quick Read & Check Off

Then I laid out the course for over a year and produced handy-dandy check-off sheets.

Step #7: EZ Folder Method

Overview of class, hours chart, and check-off /syllabus went into color-coded folders. Kids now could keep their own records for me. All work went into pockets.

https://mailchi.mp/9221394dfca7/plpnewsletter

Examples: Classes I’ve Created

More Podcasts about Classes

Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #106, 7 Reasons I Teach Newspaper Reporting In Middle School with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #096, How I Teach English in High School with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #090, Book Clubs Instead of Book Reports, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Finish Well Radio Badge, Podcast #060, 7 Benefits of Reading Classics

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Filed Under: Finish Well Tagged With: classes, family, Finish Well, High School, homeschool, living books, Parent, teach, teen

7 Reasons I Teach Newspaper Reporting In Middle School

February 3, 2020 by Laura Leave a Comment

7 Reasons I Teach Newspaper Reporting In Middle School

In “7 Reasons I Teach Newspaper Reporting in Middle School,” episode #106, Meredith Curtis shares how she hones in our children’s writing before they start high school by teaching them to write like reporters. Not only do they learn to write clearly and concisely, they have fun putting together a newspaper and write with a purpose—for others to read their writing. Not only that, newspapers played a huge part in the history of the United States, so studying newspaper writing, though the newspaper industry is fading away, helps children understand our past with clarity by putting on their reporter and editor hats. Getting children ready for essays, research papers, and literary analysis doesn’t have to be boring. Writing like a reporter is super-fun and so is creating your own newspaper. Be inspired to enjoy middle school English while investing in your children’s long term growth as writers.

Powerline Productions, Inc.

Being World Changers, Raising World Changers!

Show Notes

Common questions: “How do you teach English in middle school?” and “How do you get kids ready for high school.

One thing I do in middle school is teach my children to think like reporters.

Some time in middle school we do a newspaper writing course.

We learn to write headlines, bylines, news stories, and put together a newspaper to share with others.

How a newspaper works with editor, reporters, columnists, and business side

History of newspapers

This is really fun to do with another family or two or in a co-op setting if you don’t have a big family.

Here are the Skills I Teach:

Reporters

Asking questions

Find way around newspaper

Lead

Who, what, where, and when in the first sentence. Why and/or how in second.

What is really happening?

What is important and what isn’t?

Headlines & Bylines

Bylines: who wrote it and where

Headlines: brief, eye-catching, make reader want to know more

Font

Editing

Editing matters because people will be reading your work

Grammar & spelling in a practical way

Editor marks

Supplemental grammar/spelling

Creating a Newspaper

So much involved from writing to editing to business side

Everyone gets a job

Everyone writes an article

Mom is publisher and possibly editor-in-chief too

Making and selling ads

Teamwork

History

Brief look at history of newspapers

American history—federalist and anti-federalist papers

Different Slant and honest about compared to today

Yellow Journalism

Fun!

Joy of creating something other people enjoy!

Joy of working together on a big project

Joy of growing as a writer

Joy of people reading your writing—writing has a purpose

English Courses

If you would like to use my English courses in your own homeschool, they are all available for sale in print at Amazon and as E-books from PowerineProd.com, PayHip, and TeachersPayTeachers.

You can learn about individual English courses:

Whatever path you choose for English in your own high school home school, I hope it will include lots of classic literature and writing. I think back to the basics is best!

Resources

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Filed Under: Finish Well Tagged With: family, Finish Well, homeschool, Middle School, newspaper, Parent, reporting, teach, teen, writing

99: Online Election Resources For Students

FEATURED PRODUCT from HomeschoolCPA:

The IRS and Your Homeschool Organization

96: Online Forensic Science Resources

FEATURED PRODUCT from HomeschoolCPA:

Money Management in a Homeschool Organization

Key West – Episode 86

Learn More Here

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter

Please visit www.fpea.com to learn more about who we are!

Victory Gardens – Episode 85

Learn More Here

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter

Please visit www.fpea.com to learn more about who we are!

Secrets For Raising Kids Episode 399 with Denise Mira

Show Notes:

Handout from Denise Secrets For Raising Kids:

Thank you to our Network Sponsor!

Why Homeschooling Rocks

By: Samantha Anne Moss

7 Steps to Create Your Own High School Classes with Living Books

Show Notes

Step #1: Creating High School Classes Begins with Prayer

Step #2: Creating High School Classes Requires Book Lists

Step#3: Crossing the Finish Line Lists

Step #4: Dividing up Books

Step #5: Creating High School Classes Requires Creating Assignments

Step #6: Laying It Out for Quick Read & Check Off

Step #7: EZ Folder Method

Examples: Classes I’ve Created

More Podcasts about Classes

7 Reasons I Teach Newspaper Reporting In Middle School

Show Notes

Here are the Skills I Teach:

Reporters

Lead

Headlines & Bylines

Editing

Creating a Newspaper

History

Fun!

English Courses

Resources

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