Join Amy Roberts as she shares her tips and ideas about homeschooling and large family living.

An artist, blogger, painter, and mother of six (that's right, six) kids from ages 5 to 13, Denise is the queen of multitasking. In addition to managing a household of eight, the Southern California mom homeschools her three oldest boys – Noah, 13, Diego, 12, and Solomon, 10 – teaches art, and does duty as a baseball mom. There's no such thing as a set-in-stone schedule in the Cortes family. But within the swirl of noise, chaos, laundry, and huge grocery bills, this 38-year-old mom is obviously doing something very right.

Making Math Meaningful is a wonderful beginning. It lays the strong foundation for understanding math. Every concept is introduced with a simple conversation (which is provided for you) using math manipulatives. You are spending quality time with your children talking about each math concept. The conversations are simple. The activities are easy to do. The lesson plans tell you exactly what you are to do and what you are to say. Perfect for the busy mom. There are no seminars to attend and no videos to watch! Simply pull the book from the shelf and start teaching. Each child has his own student workbook. Levels K through 4 give you a written script to teach each concept and skill. Levels 5 and 6 and Algebra are written directly to your child. Your child will simply pull the book from the shelf and teach himself. There is no easier math manipulative program for mom.

According to widely-repeated estimates, as many as two million American children are schooled at home, with the number growing as much as 15 to 20 percent per year. At the same time, however, home schooling has received little attention compared with other recent changes in the educational system, such as the growth of charter schools. It could be argued that home schooling may have a much larger impact on educational system, both in the short and long run. This report uses the 1994 October CPS, and the National Household Education Survey of 1996 and 1999 to determine the extent of home schooling. It presents social, demographic and geographic characteristics of households that engage in home schooling and examines the potential for future growth. It is found that home schooling is less prevalent than shown in earlier estimates, but that the potential for growth is large.

SchoolExpress features over 17,000 free worksheets, weekly activity pages, online games, and eWorkbooks.

The mission of ArtChallenge is to motivate individuals to take action, have a positive art experience, and to develop the "can do" spirit, which soon becomes a way of life, benefiting mental health and human achievement. Entrants come up with a stained glass design on paper.

As a community partner, the public library can assist this growing population’s needs. The best scenario is one in which the library staff works with the local homeschool community. 

Can anyone with the means and the will teach their own child academics? Can anyone can teach their own child at home? For most Americans, if you have the means and the will, you can successfully homeschool your children.

The West Virginia Home Educators Association has compiled statistics provided by the West Virginia Department of Education on the number of homeschoolers in each county by grade level for the school year 2006-2007.

A homeschooling mom shares her struggles with burnout and explains some coping strategies that have worked for her.