When I was a new homeschooling parent, I would take trips to the Library with an agenda like a research student. I had this fantasy that I would sit with a wise Librarian who would know just the right books I would need for every subject I was teaching. The reality was, it was more like a guy standing behind a counter looking through key word searches online in the Library system... just like I could do at home!

Soon after we started homeschooling, a new building went in next to our local Library. The parking lot was cut down to five spaces, two of which were marked Handicapped. So, we were forced out. We took our first trip to the neighborhood brand close to our home. I had previously written this branch off because of it's small size. I figured it wouldn't have as much to offer. I'm happy to say that I was proved wrong.

As soon as we walked in, a kind woman asked what we were looking for. We told her and she proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes sitting with us, talking and asking questions, searching and mulling over just the right books to put on hold. It turns out she was a research Librarian for a University in her previous job and she LOVES research.

This wonderful Librarian asked me if I had an Educator's card. A what? It turns out, that if you show written proof that you homeschool, you can apply for a special Library account that offers all kinds of great benefits. In our county, my Educator's card allows me to have no late fees, longer check outs, and endless holds from other Libraries. Every county is different, so I recommend asking your local branch.

The other thing this amazing Librarian introduced me to, are all of the great online learning resources that are offered to us for free through my account. Here are just a few:

InfoTrac Student Edition
This periodical database is designed for high school students, with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books.

Novelist Plus
Novelist will help you find a good book. The database provides readers’ advisory, read-alikes, and "What to Read Next?" information covering over 100,000 titles.

Pronunciator
Pronunciator is a language-learning service with 80 languages and 4,000 available courses. Learn how to speak a foreign language with the help of a variety of interactive techniques.

Science in Context
An in-depth, curriculum-oriented science database that provides a one-stop resource for all science-related research needs.

The lesson to be learned? Search around for a great Librarian, not just a great Library, register for an Educator's Card, and start using all the FREE educational resources the Library offers. Oh, did I mention free Cultural Passes to Museums and Resources Centers?

Okay, we're off to the Library now to pick up our books on the History of France. Later we'll do our French Lessons using the Pronunciator.

As always, for homeschooling ideas go to Blossom Learning. Happy homeschooling!

Four Lessons in Learning to the Homeschooling Parent of a Special Needs Child.

1.   Focus on your child’s strengths and interests.
As parents of children with Special Needs or Learning Disabilities, we hear a lot about what our children can’t do. Although it is important that we are aware of their difficulties, it is essential that we not dwell in the “problem.” Children with Special Needs are not the problem: the problem is that traditional education is not flexible enough to embrace the strengths of these children to allow them to flourish. With homeschooling you have the luxury of customizing your child’s curriculum to their exact needs and interests. If your child loves learning about Space and is obsessed with NASA, center their subjects around that topic. Reading, Math, Spelling, Writing, and History can all revolve around the topic of Space and not just Science. If you have a child with a learning challenge that makes it difficult to read; use videos, games, documentaries, audiobooks, and field trips to bring subjects to life. You do not have to recreate the traditional school structure at home. Leave that behind, think out of the box… because I would bet, that’s what your child is doing!
  
2.   Show your child’s progress, not their progress compared to other children.
School is set up to judge children’s progress based on their grade and how they compare to each other. Homeschooling is all about your child and their progress, alone. When setting academic goals, try to erase what you know of traditional school. Really focus on your child and the goals that are meaningful to your family. Each skill can be treated as a discreate object. For example: your child may be an avid reader and fly through a novel in one day, but at the same time can struggle with the most basic math skills. Progress in reading could be to take basic technical reading to the next level and focus on comprehending complex themes and expressing original ideas based on the material. For Math it may be a real accomplishment to learn how to use a calculator as a useful tool instead of drilling memorization. Or for your child: progress might be getting through one afternoon without an outburst or setting a record by sitting for 20 minutes at the table for school. The most important thing to remember is your child should only be compared to themselves, NOT others.

3.   Give your child the tools they will need to be successful.
If they can’t hold math facts, don’t keep hitting them over the head with flashcards: hand them a calculator. Parents worry how their children with special needs will function well in the world as adults. We as adults function better every day with the use of computers. Make that tool your child’s friend by teaching them how to use it most effectively. If they experience anxiety or stress in social situations, safe online communities might be a great way for them to make friends remotely. Give your child the gift of life skills. Instead of stressing academic facts, engage your child with real-life activities that will help prepare them for their future. Think about starting a local Facebook group to attract other homeschoolers that would like to participate in some fun life skills meet-ups. Get a group of kids together to plan a meal. Give them a budget and have them make shopping lists. Taking a group of kids to the grocery store and then making a meal together can be a great learning experience and a wonderful opportunity to make new friends.

4.   When in conflict, choose the relationship over academic gains.
Trust is the key! Reach out to your child by entering their world. I had a client whose son was Autistic and struggling with sensory over-load from a recent school experience. During his de-schooling phase, he retreated to a large refrigerator box where he had created a small, safe world for himself. I suggested his mom get into his box with him and just hang out. The results were amazing. He made a special comfy space for her to snuggle with him in his box. They spent time in it together chatting and laughing. Soon he was telling her stories from his time at school and sharing some hurts he had experienced. After that, he trusted her enough to enter her world a bit. A safe learning space she was creating just for him. He learned that his mom was a kind and patient teacher who would listen to his needs and bring lessons to him in a way that worked just for him. I can’t say enough about the value of the relationship between parent and homeschooling child. It’s the difference between constant arguments and successful, joyful learning. At the end of a long homeschooling day the true accomplishment is the love between you and your child.

Blossom Learning -coaching for the homeschooling parent and child.

If you'd like to explore ideas for creative lessons designed just for your child and their interests, come visit me at www.blossomlearning.weebly.com.

My daughter and I are reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by, Maya Angelou together. We're loving it so much I though I'd throw in some poetry by Maya as well. I love A Brave and Startling Truth for it's anthem-like call. It reveals the ugly truths of human kind but then cushions the blows with the beauty and love that people can show to each other. Even though it was written in 1995 it's amazing how absolutely relevant it is today!

Here is a wonderful recording of Angelou reciting A Brave and Startling Truth to the United Nations.

A Brave and Startling Truth - Poem by Maya Angelou

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth

And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil

When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze

When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse

When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world

When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

If you'd like to explore ideas for creative lessons designed just for your child and their interests, come visit me at www.blossomlearning.weebly.com.