MTHEA Offering a Free Intro to Homeschooling in Tennessee Webinar

LOTS of new families are considering homeschooling, so MTHEA has put together a webinar to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.

WHEN: Friday, July 24th, at 11:00 am (CT)

WHERE: Online on MTHEA's Facebook Page and Facebook Group

They will cover topics including:
-The legal routes to homeschool in Tennessee (independent vs umbrella school vs online accredited)
-Does my homeschool need to be accredited?
-Tools for choosing curriculum
-Resources for getting connected
-Online, co-ops, tutorials, and pods
-And more!

We also will have free resources for starting homeschooling in Tennessee that you will be able to access after the webinar, so make sure to attend and invite your friends!

Hosted by Middle Tennessee Home Education Association (MTHEA) president Matthew Bullington.

Nolensville Homeschool Mom Danielle Romero Offers Consulting Service

Suddenly homeschooling? Overwhelmed and need a roadmap? Let’s do it together.

My name is Danielle Romero and I am a homeschooling mom of three (6,4,1) from Nolensville, TN. I have my M. Ed from Vanderbilt University and spent many years teaching in and out of the classroom.

Homeschooling in Williamson County is Being Updated

I’m Keely, a Franklin homeschool mom, and I love connecting people. While searching for Williamson County (TN) homeschool related websites, all I found were a few stagnant Yahoo groups and an activities listing site that was pay-to-play.

As I talked to other homeschool moms, we agreed there needed to be a free website with all the local homeschool info and events listed and a way to subscribe so busy moms could have the posts emailed to them. I did a little research and found out Williamson County has over 2,500 registered homeschool students—the highest per capital number of homeschoolers of any other county in Tennessee. That’s a big audience!

So in January 2015, I launched HomeschoolingWC.com to meet the need. HomeschoolingWC is a website with posts written by and for homeschool families in the Williamson County area of Middle Tennessee. The goal of this site is to provide resource listings and event information, to promote local homeschool-supporting businesses, and to pass along encouragement, tips and ideas written by homeschooling parents and educators.

After taking a few months off, we’re getting HomeschoolingWC spruced up and ready for the new school year. Are you a homeschool parent, teacher, or student and would like to write a blog post? Or are you a business owner and would like to support Homeschooling in Williamson County? Contact me through the Contact Form on the upper left sidebar to learn more.

Be sure to subscribe here (and confirm your subscription!) or through the gadget in the upper right sidebar so you won’t miss a beat in the homeschool community.

Happy homeschooling!
Keely

Homeschooling and Special Needs

Many parents become stymied by the concept of “normal”, especially when referenced to their child. Normal, as a word, sounds bland, flavorless without expression or meaning. Yet, when your child is defined as being less than the standard homogeneous criteria, it can equate a deep well of sadness that your child is different. It was only when I realized, not even my “typical” children are “normal” in their attributes, personality, and educational pursuits, that I came to accept that labels are merely oppressive identifiers. These classifications could never encompass the vastness that we all inhabit.

Aesop’s tortoise won the race, by ultimately crossing the finish line before the hare; the morale clearly states that speed doesn’t equate success. This concept that a prescribed age equates a predetermined grade level is becoming a more fluid concept, even within mainstream schooling. Parents are electing to hold back their children and not just for intellectual abilities. Post high school graduates are

Using The Books of the Gardener in the Classroom by Lauren Brandenburg

What started out as a novel about an ordinary boy growing up in a small Kentucky town, quickly escalated into a ten book series about a world hidden below the earth—a place where goodness grows in unique garden communities, and evil fights to walk among them. I wanted to provide a clean read with spiritual allegory that was not only appropriate for tweens, but also exciting, relevant, and an alternative to some of the more popular contemporary titles. It shouldn’t have surprised me when I received the following from a parent in Nebraska:  Lauren, my family loved your first book, and are looking forward to the second! We are a homeschooling family and chose to use it as a read aloud.

From High School Teacher to Homeschooling Mom by Joni Nichols

My mother used to get choked up when she saw a yellow school bus. She started off teaching in the inner-city--children for whom her classroom was a refuge. I went on to become a public school teacher, too, though the yellow school bus always seemed like a nightmare to me.

Both of my parents were public-school teachers. I never intended to become one, but the bug passed on to me, when in college, I wanted to help kids discover the joy of writing that I had discovered.

Rest, My Warfare by Lauren Brandenburg

I was overwhelmed, under prepared, in need of a break, and about to lose a battle that I didn’t even know I was fighting. I had come to the point where the components of my life that I once enjoyed were at war with one another making me mentally and physically ill—top that off with my daughter’s September 11^th diagnoses of a brain tumor—and it was no wonder my survival mode was shutting down.

Fifteen days after the successful removal of the mass, we were home and back to normal . . . no kidding! Except for what we like to call her unfortunate haircut, it was as if nothing had happened. I homeschooled, I wrote, I cleaned, and I cooked, but I couldn’t focus. My body felt like

Welcome to Homeschooling in Williamson County

Hi there! I'm Keely, a Franklin homeschool mom, and I love connecting with other homeschooling families. While searching for Williamson County (TN) homeschool related blogs and websites, all I found were a couple of Yahoo groups that seemed stagnant and an activities listing site that is pay-to-play.

Where are all the homeschooling mommy bloggers of Williamson County? I know you're out there and I want to connect.

Would you like to write a homeschool related post for Homeschooling in Williamson County? Would your homeschool student (I feel an assignment coming on!) like to write a post? Do you sell a product or run a side business to help support your homeschool? Tell us about it! Got an event or fundraiser coming up that involves or would interest the homeschool community? Let's hear it!

Sound like fun? I think so too!

Be sure to subscribe using the Follow by Email form on the right sidebar so you never miss a post.

Keely