We are getting ready to leap into the new school year. Here are 3 tips to help this year be successful: 1) Make a schedule Students who make and follow a schedule tend to do better than those who don’t. Schedules help you pace yourself- not over work and not over play. 2) Make friends [...]
Life is full of ups and downs. We’ve all seen days when the sky is gray, the birds aren’t singing, and the car won’t start. Just because you love homeschooling doesn’t mean it will always be fun or easy. Sometimes it’s just plain lousy. Does your life feel like a roller coaster? Maybe neither you nor [...]
Nestled in the hills near Media, Pa., there is a small gem of a school: The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades (williamson.edu). Williamson was founded in the 1800s by a wealthy Quaker, Isaiah Williamson, who created an endowment fund to help worthy young men learn a trade. The school’s board and administration have continued [...]
In May 2011, Mike Rowe, creator and host of “Dirty Jobs,” testified before Congress about the “skills gap” in America. He said, “We’ve elevated the importance of ‘higher education’ to such a lofty perch that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled ‘alternative.’ Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as [...]
Who is your homeschooler? If I ran into you in an elevator and asked you to describe your homeschooler(s), could you give me a one-minute answer? (This by the way, is called an elevator pitch.) If you don’t have an elevator pitch about your kids, maybe your mission has become fuzzy? Why are you homeschooling? [...]
Most of the families at Mt. Sophia are Christian families. Most of the families attend church regularly. So why should your teens have specific Bible courses on their transcripts? 1. Spiritual development should be pervasive. The more input from various wise and Godly sources, the deeper the roots will be when our kids must move [...]
This guest post is by Wayne Thorp (Allison’s husband). Wayne has been a teacher for many years. Many educators today have a written Philosophy of Education. I’d like you to think today about your philosophy of teaching. How do you teach your children and why? I find that most fall into two main [...]
Matt O’Sullivan, one of Mount Sophia’s 2010-11 valedictorians, delivered a fine address to students and families at commencement on June 4. Here is the text of his speech: Well—we made it. We have reached the summit—graduation is here. As we stand atop the peak of our journey, we remember the chapters thus lived—the friends and [...]
Monday will be — or was (depending on when you read this) — the 4th of July. We Americans will be — or were — celebrating our independence. From what? you might ask. From our oppressors, we would respond. The English? you ask. (Poor English people. Can you imagine them watching us celebrate being independent [...]
One of the special moments of the year was the annual Honor Society Banquet. Mt. Sophia’s Honor Society is for high schoolers 10th grade and up who have been in the school for over one year. They must have a GPA of 3.5, show at least 25 hours of service over the last year, and [...]