Homeschool Podcasts

R.A. and Geno Salvatore [ 1:00:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Rebecca Kochenderfer of Homeschool.com‘s first radio show. As well as being owner of Homeschool.com, Rebecca is a long-time homeschooler and author of several homeschooling books.

In the first half of the show, she answers questions from homeschoolers that call in.

My favorite quotes from this part of the show:

“Homeschooling is much faster than classroom learning…In the classroom there is so much time spent on roll call, passing out papers, getting books out and disciplining students that studies show that only about 10-15 minutes out of every hour is actually spent on learning, is actually on-task. When you are homeschooling, about 50 minutes each hour is spent on learning. Plus the learning materials they are using match their interests and their learning styles. So the learning is deeper and more meaningful.”

“…the average elementary aged student can get a rich education with just an hour a day of what you might call structured or book work. Have-to work.”

–Later in the show she goes into more detail on this, in response to a caller’s question on “Are they learning enough?”-in regards to her 3rd and 5th grader…

“…For your age children, remember it doesn’t really take that much…it doesn’t take 6 or 7 hours a day. At that age you could do an hour of what might be called book work. Of either handwriting or writing, and then if the rest of the time their spent doing you know, fun science experiments or reading books or doing art…Just the kind of the normal fun stuff that you would probably do with them anyway…You’d be surprised, they’re going to be doing fine.”

“Grade level expectations are all over the place. They’re really very random. For example, each state has their own grade level expectations. And Montessori schools have different expectations than do Catholic schools or Waldorf schools. So when it comes to grade level expectations, there really is no one right level that everyone agrees on.”

–In response to a homeschooler who has “a couple of dawdlers” and wants to know what type of consequences Rebecca recommends…

“…My goal, my dream is to help you set up your homeschooling so that it isn’t about have-to work and consequences. So really, my desire is to help you set up the homeschooling schedule that works with your family, because it should never be unhappy, there should never have the kids chained to the table, crying over their workbooks. So I think when it comes to that, you need to kind of take a step back. In other words, if you’re forcing it on them, they might as well be in school.(emphasis mine) So I want to help you over the course of these calls, develop the curriculum that’s based on your children’s goals…”

In the second half she interviews NY Times best selling author R.A. Salvatore and his son (and co-author) Geno Salvatore.