What to Think About When Making your College Choice

 

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When your teen gets accepted into multiple colleges, it’s time for 

celebration.  

Then, of course, it’s also time for a major decision, and  

finances were a big part of it, but there were lots more 

factors for us to consider, too.

Once we had decided which colleges would be affordable to us, then we looked at a number of factors…and that is what I would like to share with you today.

For us, this process all started at the library, where my daughter researched each of her college options again. 

First we considered the size of the colleges...

1.  Big School or Small Campus

The main decision to be made was between a large state college, and a smaller state college, both within commuting distance of our home.  That would save a lot of money, without having to pay for dorm cost at either option.

Both colleges did have a large choice of majors. 

My teen was enticed by the excitement of the larger college, which had an especially good reputation, and a student size of more than 60,000.  

She knew that some of her friends would be going there, and she liked the architecture and the plaza on the gorgeous large campus.

But would that very large campus meet her social needs?

My daughter was used to working in small groups, and did well with those, finding her way, as she has in her high school Youth and Government activities. 

Would that kind of learning occur at the larger state college?

So, together, we researched the two colleges again.  First, we looked at what each college offered for incoming freshmen orientation and more....

2.  Freshman Intro Seminars & Social Environment 

The smaller college offered freshman seminars, where the students 

would work together in small groups. 

My teen has thrived in this kind of environment.  

Small groups, that's just like her Youth and Government!  The seminars would last all year, giving them time to build friendships, and learn together.

The larger college did not have freshmen seminars. 

They did have a first quarter freshman intro class, and nice raft trip for incoming freshmen, as a way to get to know each other.  But after that, most classes occurred in large lecture halls with over 700 students!

Then, we compared the two on the basis of support offered to the students.  When my teen struggled with a subject, what kind of support would the college offer?

3.  Academic Support

This is what we found.....

The larger college did have some tutoring on campus, but was known to have a very competitive academic environment.  

The smaller one had way more tutoring options available, with much more access to the professors.  

The larger one had many more students per professor, and the teens would usually be dealing with TA's instead of their professors.  

At the smaller college, class size was ideal with about 30 students in each class, compared to 100-600 per class.  Both colleges had solid reputations.

We talked about these issues together with my husband at dinner.  

My teen soon realized that having a smaller, more supportive environment was more important to her than the status of going to the larger college.  

Soon a decision was reached.  And I am so happy that she chose the more supportive environment at the smaller college.

So Thursday, we got out the formal papers, and my teen prepared them for mailing.  She accepted the scholarship offer at the smaller college, and sent in her college acceptance papers!

And she was thrilled!  I am so happy for her, excited, relieved to have the decision made, and a little sad at the same time! 

I decided that, since my daughter was going to college, my family needed a road trip, to celebrate!  So, on Saturday, and we all headed out, of course with our cameras!  Nice, family time was just the ticket, especially for my husband and I.

Country roads always calm me. 

Then we hung out at the local county park, and my daughter decided to pose for a picture.

After helping my homeschooled high schooler get into each of the colleges she applied to, we wrote this guide:

c

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition

on Amazon

For more helpful thoughts on making your college choice for homeschoolers from Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool, I invite you to click: How to Choose a College for Your Homeschool Graduates

High School Essay Writing

Vicki and 7 Sisters Homeschool also offer lots of great choices for the middle school and teens in your home.
                                                            To the left is one of my favorites from them, called Introductory Guide to High School Essay Writing.                                                                             She has lots more online high school curriculum offerings there, too, all written by experienced homeschooling moms who have graduated their teens from their homeschool.  

All frugally priced, and well put together as PDF downloadable courses and resources.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

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Frugal Homeschool Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum and Resources - Hands-On

Summary:  Homeschooling preschool and kindergarten can be done so easily through playful learning activities.  Here are our favorite preschool and K resources for doing just that.  Frugal or free!  I am a former preschool teacher who came home to homeschool her child. 

Are you looking for hands-on curriculum and resources for your little learners?

How about some that are frugal or free?

As a former preschool teacher, I recommend using playful and hands-on approaches for the preschool, PreK, and Kindergarten. 

I used many of the early academic activities discussed below in my own preschool for many years.  

Here are my favorites for the preschool and the kindergarten years, which are easy to use and are frugal,too.  

Choose from these ideas and activities, with regards to how preschoolers learn, which is in short spurts of learning activities. They have very short attention spans.

What about attention span issues?  

For preschool, we only worked for 15 minutes at a time.  Our focused learning time in kindergarten was about 1/2 hour to an hour at most.  Little ones really don't have more attention span than that on the average.

This level of work in the early years prepared my daughter well for the elementary years.  She is a homeschool grad now, who also graduated college.  

So be encouraged that hands-on learning works!

Let's start with:

• math play, then
• early language arts
• fine motor activities and handwriting
• arts and crafts
• early science
• the fun of easy field trips.

Again, all of these subject areas do not need to be addressed at the same time.  It all depends on the needs of your child.

1.  MATH PLAY

 Preschool/K - Early Math

We didn't use a complete math program, but preferred doing our early math, with our own hands-on activities, card games were great, too.  

Click the link to reach more of my article on early math activities:

 Preschool/K - Early Math...for hands-on learning fun with numbers, sets, etc, and also how to make a Math Manipulatives Kit, without spending any money.  

This post shares how we went about making our kit and learning early math concepts using our manipulatives.  

2.  EARLY LANGUAGE ARTS

There are many ways to introduce the ABC's to your child. We enjoyed introducing the letters of the alphabet with simple ABC crafts projects and a little book called  the Big Book of Alpha Tales.   

Not every homeschool family does phonics but we found that phonics was key to the development of reading skills for our daughter. 

To read about Explode the Code and all about early language arts, phonics and more you will find links and more here -Preschool/K - Early Language Arts.

Next, let's talk about resources for fine motor activities for handwriting....

3.  FINE MOTOR and HANDWRITING

I am a former Occupational Therapist and I share lots of developmentally appropriate handwriting activities on my blog here - Handwriting.  

Playful activities are the best way to get your child ready to write their letters.  

To develop hand coordination and wrist strength for handwriting, we did LOTS of crafts, enjoying sidewalk chalk art, etc.  

Sometimes we tore paper into small pieces to make a design with glue, which helped to strengthen the finger muscles.  

Click here to reach my fine motor article on: Small Muscle Games.

My friend, Penny has Free Fall Cutting Practice activities that you might like, too.

There's always benefit for small muscle development from playing with legos, small blocks, small cars, etc. 

This photo shows one of the special ways to help your child with fine motor skills and grasp.  

Click here for my article on 9 Ways to a Mature Grasp - Games and Fun! 

For frugal ways to teach handwriting, I invite you to click here for my article on Teach Your Kids to Write.  

It has lots of ideas for beginning handwriting, if your little ones are ready for that.  It doesn't matter when your kids learn to write, as they will likely get it when it is the right time for them. 

4.  ARTS AND CRAFT ACTIVITIES

Arts and crafts are, of course, great for developing fine motor skills, but they also are super for learning direction following, attention to task, and let's not forget, creativity.

Coloring, painting, playing with clay were popular at our house.  A favorite was painting with pudding!

My daughter enjoyed drawing, then sometimes she would dictate a few words about her picture, which I would write down for her to copy.  When she chose the words herself, her copywork was very meaningful to her. 

We also had fun making simple books using her own words.  It is so wonderful to watch your child create their own story.  Tips for how to do that is in this link below:

Click here for my article on The Art of Simple Book Making - Your Child is an Author

When your child is making their own very, very simple book and using their own words, they are learning great pre-reading skills at the same time.  

They are learning what words are used for, as they see you copy their words down for them, then later read them back to them.  The thrill of seeing and hearing their own words is something that makes reading real for them.

5.  EARLY SCIENCE FUN

 Early Science - Hands-On!

Early Science can start with exploring one's backyard, through the natural things that your child will do, like picking up leaves, touching them and feeling the texture of them, spotting spider webs, watching birds fly, etc.

My friend, Amy offers a discussion of 3 prepared preschool curriculum that you might like to read about, too.

6.  FIELD TRIPS

Some of our best memories were made when we did simple field trip, like going on a train ride with friends, fishing at a kiddo's fishing hole, or joining other homeschoolers for a park day.

Or heading exploring in our backyard, for insects, worms, even slugs....And of course birds - Our Favorite Books about Birds and Birdwatching.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled from day one.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote the book - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting. 

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Revised 2021
All Rights Reserved

Discovering the Giftedness in our 2e Child

Summary: The story of how we discovered our daughter was gifted and twice-exceptional.  Are you wondering the same thing about your child?  #2e #homeschoolgifted



My husband and I started our family when we adopted our daughter at the tender age of 11 months.  We were so blessed to fly to China to meet her, after two years of waiting. 

When my daughter was 5, she was so ready for kindergarten, but was too young to attend public school. So we started to homeschool her, and had great fun doing it. With my background as a pre-K teacher, I was comfortable setting up learning activities for K.  And she loved learning at home.  

When the next year came around, my husband and I considered the idea of kindergarten again. We visited some K classes, and talked with the teachers.  

My kiddo was way ahead of the K work that we saw there, so we decided to take the leap, and began homeschooling first grade the next year.

My daughter caught onto new ideas quickly, and we knew that she was smart.  

But being an only child, and never having been in a school setting, we did not have anyone to really compare her to. 

I loved doing 1st grade with her and she was thriving.  She had a voracious appetite for learning and was of course, always asking questions. She would take the encyclopedia to bed with her to read at night.  She had a great memory, almost photographic, but hated to be interrupted when working on something.  

She also was very intense, and quite active, always doing hand stands, loved to jump all over the couch, and spin around in her dad's desk chair.   

Our thought was just that we had a smart kid, who loved to learn and who would do well with a gymnastics class or two. We did that, and we continued homeschooling, which made it easy for us to accommodate her ADHD tendencies, and to meet her intense desire to learn. 

And, since I have a background in OT, it was natural for me to just try to adapt things for her,.....such as, buy an exercise ball for her to bounce on, or a spinner from the consignment store for her to spin in.  She just loved that spinner.  And with homeschooling's 1 on 1, it was easy to tailor her studies to her individual needs.

We continued on with our homeschooling, and she did well.  At the same time, she struggled with some learning issues, including having problems processing verbal information.  We just tried to accommodate for those needs, and strove to meet her sensory needs at home, too.

Her desire to learn was so strong....and we loved learning things together...

Then, one year, in 4th grade, we enrolled her in a part time public school program, that invited homeschoolers to join in for electives. 

Her teachers were impressed with her vocabulary and the quality of her questions in her math games class.  

They noticed that she was way ahead of her peers, and how adventurous in her hands-on science class. 

She was the first to volunteer to hold the cow's heart specimen that the teacher had brought to class.  

When they brought up the idea that she might be gifted, we began to realize that maybe it was a fit, and that her ADHD tendencies and her sensory issues, made her twice exceptional.  She was always exceptional in our eyes, but finding out she was gifted, well, that has been an unexpected joy...and a big challenge, too.

I share about our homeschooling journey, on my blog at BJ’s Homeschool, how we go about choosing our curriculum, through the years, and how we dealt with her learning issues. She is now in college, studying in an honors program.  

That is the story of how we discovered the giftedness in our daughter. 

Our GHF site is full of articles, blogs, resources, brochures and books on the topic. 

No need to feel alone.  

With all these resources available to us now, we can reach out and support each other.  As a mama of a 2e young adult, I know how important it is to connect with other moms who have so much in common with each other on this journey.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school, college, gifted/2e and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

   

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Copyright, 2016
Updated 2019

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Homeschool Elementary Science with FUN Unit Study in the Garden - Free and Frugal Resources

Get your kids involved in gardening, as that is a great way to teach early science concepts to your kids!  #handsonlearning  #homeschoolelementary #homeschoolscience  This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.

Do you homeschool kids like mine who learn best through hands-on approaches? 

How about homeschooling elementary science through simple gardening?

Growing veggies is a great way to not only teach your kids about gardening and nutrition, it is also a wonderful opportunity for them to learn the scientific method.  

And play outside at the same time!

Veggie Unit Study Activities 

Growing lettuce, onions, or carrots are easy ones and they can usually be planted early in many areas of the country.  

And if you do onions, your kids won't have to wait until the actually onions grow. They can harvest the stalks, as green onions, and enjoy them earlier.  And I, for one, love fresh green onions from the garden, in my salad.  

Young gardeners can plant their veggie seeds inside, and watch them grow there.  Cut off milk cartons make great planters. 

For outside planting, we often just used large containers that we set out on the deck.  That way they were very reachable, for a quick harvest for a salad.  

Or for doing science activities in the garden.....

- Keep a watering chart. 

- Measure growth each week, using a ruler, to practice numbers.

- Graph the growth on paper.

Older kids may want to do a complete experiment as described below called the Compost vs. Dirt Experiment:

Compost vs. Dirt 
Experiment 

Plant veggie seedlings in three different ways:

1. dirt only
2.  dirt and compost mix 
3.  compost only

Compare the results, using the scientific method, as described below:

1.  Make a hypothesis - Have each child guess which procedure will yield the tallest seedlings in x weeks. Each child, then records their predictions in writing.

2.  Test your Hypothesis by doing the experiment.  

3.  Take data - Measure the seedlings growth each week, and chart it.

4.  Analyze your Data - Do the final analysis - To easily analyze the data, check your records, and just see whose guess was right.

5.  State your Conclusion - Write a sentence stating which procedure yielded the best results.

When you follow these steps, you are teaching your kiddos the scientific method.  And that is great for building thinking skills, like executive functioning.

Extend the Learning to other Subjects:
  

Math- Measure the seedlings with a ruler.  Make a graph of the seedlings growth. 

Writing - Record the steps followed for the scientific process in a notebook.  

Art - Draw the seedlings in a nature journal.  Take photos.  


Resources and Books for Garden Science:

1. All About Plants from Evan-Moor for K/1st

This helpful hands-on workbook explained simple botany concepts, one step at a time, on K/1st grade level, with hands on learning activities to do.  

We enjoyed this book early on....To read more of my review, click here.  To explode this plant activity book, click here.

It is published by Evan-Moor, one that we used a lot because of their quality products.

2.  Plants - Super Science Activities for 2nd - 5th grades

This book is full of short lessons and 

activities to do to learn:

1.  What's inside a seed

2.  How do seeds grow

3.  How do plants grow

4.  Experiment with plants

5.  Leaf rubbings/craft activities

For more info, check out sample pages.  These resources are offered as kindle options, too.  

3. A Seed is Sleepy

The story of a seed's life told in a poetic way, with artwork.  I loved reading this with my 2e daughter.

It is by by Diana Hutts Aston, from 

a2zhomeschool.com

4. Free Plant Printables from Jump Start

This is  one of Jump Starts printables and they offer 9 more, including one on the life cycle of a plant.  

Click here to download and for more information on a number of other planting printables, too. 

My friend, Sarah has tips for How the Kids Can Help You Plan Your Spring Garden.

And lots more fun outdoor ideas for your kids here - 

24 Delightful and Enjoyable Outdoor Learning Activities.  

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her college grad, whom she homeschooled from preK through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

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Copyright, 2025
Revised 


 All Rights Reserved