Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

This is the month we celebrate love, watch for a groundhog's shadow, and place more focus on black history. All great things to occupy the short but dreary winter month of February. But in our homeschool, I don't like to limit the study of black history to one month of the year. It really is simple to incorporate black history (or the study of Native Americans, those of Asian descent, or any other race for that matter) into your normal homeschool routine. As a woman of Irish ethnicity, I find it important to openly and honestly discuss the good, bad, and ugly of my family history ~ even if some of the details aren't all that flattering to the Irish as a whole. And as an Irish woman who has studied the life of her people during the dark days of Queen Victoria's rule, I have found my heart to be very tender toward those who have struggled to find their place in this world, no matter their race. Whenever we study history, or read literature with a "real life" s

Homespun School is an online learning site that offers a variety of options, including literature, history and web design. My daughter, who is in the 9th grade, took their 6-week Digital Learning course. I could not be more pleased with the end result! The Digital Learning course teaches via hands-on student work. Over the course of six weeks, students create a digital portfolio (which can be improved upon if the Digi-Designs course is taken at a later time) and covers website building basics, creating bumper stickers, embed codes, Web 2.0, and a fun online shopping spree (using imaginary money, of course!) Digital Learning is described as a "foundational course to help get you the web-savvy you need" ~ and it really does live up to this promise. Classes are held in an online classroom at Edmodo, which is a safe, members-only site. No one outside the class with have contact with your child. Parents are provided with access to the classroom, with one exception; they a