Who better to teach about unschooling?
An unschooler named Andi wrote this comprehensive how-to on unschooling aka"worldschooling." It's fairly balanced and informative for anyone who's considering homeschooling or unschooling. You can even add to parts of it.
Hi, I'm Andi. I wrote this lens. (In case you don't know, a 'lens' is Squidoo's name for a user-made page about a topic.)
From the time I was six, I was homeschooled. From the time I was twelve, I was worldschooled. Then, this spring, I graduated.
So I've been through the whole thing - all the way until I was accepted into my top choice college and awarded 60% tuition in grants.
And you know what? You can do it too. You can follow your interests during your teens years and have an incredible launch into your adult life.
That's what this lens is about. Read more...
Labels: College, homeschool, unschool, web
Google maps the sky
Most of us have seen Google maps of the earth. Less have heard of Google Moon and Google Mars. Now Google has mapped the sky with Google Sky.
Nice for budding astronomers during daylight hours or on a cloudy day. Just don't forget to go outside once in a while. Go there...
Labels: homeschool, science, web
Does Facebook Discriminate Against Homeschoolers?
From the "OFF/beat Real, Strange News" section of the Washington Post today:
Like a lot of people his age, Teran McKinney wanted an account on Facebook. But when the 15-year-old from Hendersonville, N.C., began filling out the online application, he hit a roadblock. Facebook requires all people under 18 to give the name of the school they attend, but McKinney is homeschooled. And without a school affiliation, minors can't join.
So McKinney did what thousands of kids in his position have already done. He selected a nearby school, in his case Hendersonville High, as his school. "After joining Facebook, I became fairly fascinated with it," he wrote Read more...
Labels: homeschool, web
10 Geeky websites
GeekParenting has this list of 10 websites for geeky kids. (HT: Wired: GeekDad)
Though my kids have yet to do anything with my computer other than rip off the shift keys, I do try to keep my eye out for coolhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif sites for children. I actually write for a few, so I make a mental note whenever I see something interesting.
Mind you, this list is far from exhaustive and I urge you to suggest more below, but these are my picks for the top 10 Websites for geeky kids. Read more...
Labels: Blogs, homeschool, web
Homeschooled teen runs cookie business
See her site at: www.homemadecookiesbyemily.com.
When most 15-year-olds go to school, they write English papers, run around in gym shorts and play on computers.
When Emily Savine goes to school, she writes content for a Web site, runs a business and plays the stock market. Read more...
Labels: business, homeschool, web
Free trial: the Quiz Hub
I just got this email from Dyann Schmidel of Quiz Hub. I thought I'd pass it on.
The Quiz Hub is a fun online interactive learning center that features educational quiz games for language arts, mathematics, geography, history, and science.
All HomeSchoolBuzz readers can preview the Quiz Hub through January 1, 2008 via the following account.
account: buzz
password: home Read more...
Labels: free, homeschool, web
Homeschool Search now actually works
I assumed because my new homeschool flavored search worked in Firefox, it would work in Internet Explorer. Thanks to Henry Cate's patient emails explaining it wouldn't work for him, I discovered the problem and fixed it.
My apologies to the majority of you who use IE as your browser. Please give me a second chance and try out homeschool search.
Labels: homeschool, web
New Homeschool flavored search engine
HomeschoolBuzz.com is launching a Homeschool flavored, Google custom search engine. What is homeschool flavor? Some say it tastes like chicken but it's actually a Google custom search limited to only homeschooling related sites and pages. You can search hundreds of homeschool sites, blogs, articles, vendors and resources to get search results with a homeschool focus.

If I left out some of your favorite sites, it was unintentional. I can only add a site if I know about it. I want them ALL! That's where you come in...
Leave a comment to tell me about the homeschool sites I missed. Better yet, you can also Volunteer to contribute and add to the list of sites yourself. I'm sure there are hundreds of them. The only requirement is that the site is homeschool focused or an educational resource that could be used by homeschoolers. The list is not limited by politics, religion or educational philosophy, only topic. (Search for the site's name to see if it's included.)

I also implemented a search plug-in for Firefox or ie7.
Google provides a way you can put the search box on your blog or site or add it to your Google homepage (iGoogle).
Try it out. Tell me what you think.
Labels: Blogs, homeschool, web
Site Problems
Sorry if this site is a little... strange. It had been moved to a new server, not without some problems. I don't have time to fully fix everything until later today. Bear with me. - Gary
Labels: web
Future's channel: Free Career Videos online
We got an email recently from Jenna, the head of distribution at the Future's channel telling us about their website.
She writes,
We make "micro-documentary" videos that explore different careers that are both interesting and innovative to find how they use math and science.This is a really cool educational website Be sure to check them out.Visit the site...
Our website has more than 70 of these different videos, and they're completely free to access. The subjects of the videos cover a wide variety of professions including a backpack designer, a landscape architect and a robotics engineer. They can really help kids think about what they can do with the math and science they're learning. All are welcome and we'd like to let the homeschool community know that this resource is out there for them.
Labels: web
Free teacher workshops online
Matt Navitsky contacted us on behalf of Motorola and its recent Chicago teacher workshop event co-hosted by the Department of Education. The workshop focused on science and math education. (They also have other educational initiatives.) All of the presentations from the workshop are online and free. You might find some useful nuggets for your own homeschools. Below are links to just a few of the presentations. There are many more:
- Analogical Reasoning: Real-World Examples for Scientific Concepts
- Force Me to Move
- Creating a College-Going Culture
- The Color of Science
- Balancing Math and Science
- Why Ben Franklin Didn't Fry: Discover Concepts of Electricity the Way
History Did
More presentations are available at the Motorola site. Read more...
Labels: web
Homeschooler's anti-war Web site draw 2 million a month
Turns out the new world looks a lot like the old one: a white house in a leafy neighborhood of a Southern milltown; a soccer decal stuck to the trunk of a car parked in the driveway; a pink bicycle with training wheels in the backyard.
Even inside, there's nothing that hints this is ground zero for a 16-year-old home schooled redhead whose videos on her anti-war Web site have lit up the blogosphere with as many as 2 million visitors a month. Read more...

