CHILDREN’S BOOK COUNCIL ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF VOTING FOR THE 2012 CHILDREN’S CHOICE BOOK AWARDS

 Only a Few Weeks Left!

NEW YORK, NY, April 18, 2012 – The Children’s Book Council (CBC) in association with Every Child a Reader, hosts the fifth annual Children’s Choice Book Awards Program with the announcement of 30 finalists in six categories, including Author and Illustrator of the Year. The Children’s Choice Book Awards (CCBA) is the only national children’s book awards program where winning titles are selected by young readers of all ages. Last year a record breaking 525,000 children and teens took part in the contest. Young readers are now able to cast their votes for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, schools, libraries, and at www.BookWeekOnline.com until May 3, 2012.

“There are some familiar names on this list as well as newcomers,” said Robin Adelson, Executive Director at The Children’s Book Council. “It is exciting to see a wide range and variety of finalists. It will keep us guessing until the end!”

The Children’s Choice Book Award winners will be announced LIVE at the annual Children’s Choice Book Awards Gala on May 7 at Espace in New York City as part of Children’s Book Week (May 7-13, 2012), the oldest national literacy initiative in the United States. The awards presentation will be videotaped and available for viewing by book lovers of all ages on May 8, 2012 at www.BookWeekOnline.com.

In addition, NPR’s All Things Considered will feature one of the winners as its June pick for Backseat Book Club, NPR’s newest feature geared for kids ages 9-14, which invites young listeners, families, teachers and friends to join NPR in reading and discussing a book each month. NPR will encourage young listeners to vote throughout March and April.

The Children’s Choice Book Award categories and finalists are as follows:

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year

Bailey by Harry Bliss (Scholastic)
Dot by Patricia Intriago (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan)
Pirates Don’t Take Baths by John Segal (Philomel/Penguin)
Three Hens and a Peacock by Lester L. Laminack, illustrated by Henry Cole (Peachtree)
Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Scott Campbell (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year

Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel (Roaring Brook/Macmillan)
A Funeral in the Bathroom: And Other School Bathroom Poems by KalliDakos, illustrated by Mark Beech (Albert Whitman)
The Monstrous Book of Monsters by Libby Hamilton, illustrated by Jonny Duddle and AlekseiBitskoff (Templar/Candlewick)
Sidekicks by Dan Santat (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Squish #1: Super Amoeba by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year

Bad Island by Doug TenNapel (GRAPHIX/Scholastic)
How to Survive Anything by Rachel Buchholz,illustrated by Chris Philpot (National Geographic)
Lost & Found by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog by Garth Stein (HarperCollins)

Teen Book of the Year

Clockwork Prince: The Infernal Devices, Book Two by Cassandra Clare (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Little, Brown)
Divergent by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins)
Passion: A Fallen Novel by Lauren Kate (Delacorte/Random House)
Perfect by Ellen Hopkins (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)

Author of the Year

Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6: Cabin Fever (Amulet Books/Abrams)
Christopher Paolini for Inheritance (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)
James Patterson for Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life (Little, Brown)
Rick Riordan for The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus, Book 2) (Disney Hyperion)
Rachel Renée Russell for Dork Diaries 3: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)

Illustrator of the Year

Felicia Bond for If You Give a Dog a Donut (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)
Eric Carle for The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse (Philomel/Penguin)
Anna Dewdney for Llama Llama Home With Mama (Viking/Penguin)
Victoria Kann for Silverlicious (HarperCollins)
Brian Selznick for Wonderstruck (Scholastic)

The finalists for Book of the Year in the Kindergarten to Second Grade, Third Grade to Fourth Grade, and Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade categories are the books that received the highest number of votes in the IRA-CBC Children’s Choices program.. This joint project of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the CBC began in 1975. Teams of IRA-affiliated educators in five geographic regions receive copies of each submitted title to provide to students to read and rate in classrooms across their region. The votes from the five regions (from approximately 12,000 children) are compiled and the five titles with the highest number of votes in each category (K-2, 3-4, 5-6) become the finalists for the Children’s Choice Book Awards.

The Teen Choice finalists are determined with the help of Teenreads.com (part of The Book Report Network). The website compiles a list of all the books they have reviewed over the year and encourages readers to write in their own picks if they aren’t listed. Teens vote for their favorite book and the top five vote-getters become the finalists for the Teen Choice Book of the Year. This year, over 7,000 teens determined the finalists.

The Author and Illustrator of the Year finalists are selected by the CBC from a review of bestseller lists with an emphasis on Bookscan. Only authors and illustrators associated with books published in the previous calendar year are considered.

About the Children’s Book Council

The Children’s Book Council is the national nonprofit trade association for children’s book publishers. The CBC offers children’s publishers the opportunity to work together on issues of importance to the industry at large, including educational programming, literacy advocacy, and collaborations with other national organizations. Our members span the spectrum from large international houses to smaller independent presses. Membership in the CBC is open to U.S. publishers of children’s trade books, as well as in some cases to industry-affiliated companies. The CBC is proud to partner with other national organizations on co-sponsored reading lists, educational programming, and literacy initiatives. Please visit www.cbcbooks.org for more information.

About Every Child a Reader

Every Child a Reader is a 501(c)(3) literacy organization, the mission of which is to instill a lifelong love of reading in children. We do this by creating, promoting and administering programs that promote the joy of reading. Every Child a Reader administers Children’s Book Week. Together with the Children’s Book Council, Every Child a Reader administers the Children’s Choice Book Awards and together with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Every Child a Reader administers the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program. Please visit www.ECARfoundation.org for more information. 

As tourists, staying in Camp Curry one November, we heard that there was a bear up in a tree in the apple orchard nearby, so being tourists, we grabbed our kids and cameras, and went over to look.

Which tree? Well, obviously, the one that was shaking like it had its own personal earthquake!

Our son, about 6 years old at that time, scooted ahead to get a good look, and planted himself right under the bear – about a 300 pound bear clinging to thin branches! – and looked up. The bear looked down. Oh oh!

Fred, my husband, raced up to rescue Scott.

Now, you know what happens when anyone eats too many green apples, right? Well, the same thing happens to bears, and the area under the tree was full of it!

Fred starts slippin’ and sliding’ and waving his arms… and goes flat down into all that bear … stuff.

That ol’ bear gave a wide-mouth, bearish grin, and was huffing and puffin’, and laughin’ as only a bear can laugh! The thin tree limbs were groaning and shakin’!

So we tourists grabbed Scott and stinkin’ Fred, and high-tailed it out of there!

Who needs no stinkin’ camera to remember a vacation like that?

In case you missed it, Aurora Lipper (Rocket Scientist-turned-mom) gave an incredible free online video class on light waves and lasers.

But, I know that not everyone could make it.  If you missed it, you’ll be glad to hear this.

She’s giving the class again tomorrow (Thursday, March 15, 2012).

But you have to register to reserve a spot (these free classes fill up with well over 1000 people).

Click here to register for the class!

I hear she’ll be giving away some free enrollments to her award-winning e-Science curriculum too.

If you missed the class (or just want to experience Aurora’s magic again), be sure to sign up for this free class.

Click here to register for the class!

I HIGHLY recommend that you register and attend this great free class.

It’s going to be a blast and a great learning experience for your kids at the same time.

Enjoy!

-  Ann

P.S. Click here to register for the class!

Just wanted to give you a quick heads up that the free Homeschool Science class with Rocket Scientist Aurora Lipper (She used to work for NASA) is starting in a few hours… Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at 3 PM ET!

She’ll be giving away free science kits and free enrollments to her award-winning e-science curriculum!

Remember, this is in ADDITION to the great free online class where Aurora will teach your kids all about light waves and laser beams.

Click here to register for the free class!

(Note: The free science kits will be given away during the class)

Aurora is committed to teaching Science in a way that is FUN, exciting, and an incredible learning experience for your kids at the same time.

I HIGHLY recommend that you register and experience this great free class… because it’s going to be a blast and an incredible learning experience for your kids at the same time.

Click the link here to register, you’ll be happy you did.

Enjoy!

- Ann

PS: If you’ve never attended one of Aurora’s classes
before, then you’re in for a real treat.

These are really phenomenal classes, and it’s rare to be able to participate in something like this at no cost.

You must experience it for yourself and see how your kids will love to learn Science, because they will be having a blast while they learn.

Remember to register here.

You may know about Aurora Lipper (from Supercharged Science) and the incredible free science classes she gives.  I heard that a few months ago, she had over 2000 people register for one.

So, the good news is that she’s doing another live video tele-class this week, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at 3 PM ET!

You can reserve a free spot by clicking here.

This class is about light waves and lasers.  Kids will learn about everything from what lasers actually are to how to make rainbow shadows (have you ever made a shadow that wasn’t just grey or black?).

Plus, during the class, kids will build an actual working microscope!

Register for free here.

Get this… The class will actually be led by a REAL Rocket Scientist!

Not only did Aurora complete her Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a 4.0 GPA and go on to do Ph.D. work at Stanford University, and work for NASA, but…

…She is also an EXPERT at teaching Science in a way that is FUN, exciting, and an incredible learning experience for your kids…

Click here to register for the class.

I HIGHLY recommend that you register and attend this great free class.

It’s going to be a blast and a great learning experience for your kids at the same time.

Enjoy!

- Ann

Don’t miss out on this, remember to register here!

If your kids remember the joy or pain of getting around 30 Valentine cards from their former classmates and a big class party with lots of sugary items, how do you adjust to celebrating Valentines Day at home – or do you just pretend it isn’t happening?

Our big deal was to have as many red-colored foods for dinner as we could think of. We’re not vegetarians, so a nice juicy steak was usually called for. Then I loved canned sliced beets, so I’d cut off little bits of each slice to make them heart shaped. Red potatoes are easy. Sliced tomatoes with a red vinaigrette dressing.

A red jam on homemade heart-shaped biscuits.

Tomato juice for a drink. Or maybe cranberry-apple juice or pomegranate juice.

Strawberries on strawberry ice cream for dessert. Slice each strawberry once from stem to point to make each heart shaped.

A neat photo of red fruits and vegetables

I am not responsible for the color of pee the next day!

From Helen Hegener, encouraging others to pass along the following:

Many friends are wondering about the lawsuit now that it’s coming to an end, and asking questions on discussion groups, Internet forums, blogs, and privately. Long story short, the good news is we won in every important aspect. The bad news is it was a philosophical and moral win, not a material or financial one. It literally cost me everything I own and more; it cost my attorneys almost a year they could have been putting toward more important and constructive efforts; it cost my family dearly… But we won.”

I’ll share information about what happened during the hearings when I can, but I am not going to write anything substantial about the lawsuit without my attorney’s approval, and we’re still working on the resolution details. I deeply appreciate your patience and understanding; it’s taken us almost a year to reach this point of resolution, a few more days won’t make much difference.”

Here’s what I can share from PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records:”

Order of October 14: “ORDERED that the above action is DISMISSED with prejudice, pursuant to agreement of counsel without costs.”

My attorneys and I are still working on the agreement referenced above, so I can’t say anything about it.”

Order of October 13:”

AND NOW, this 12th day of October, 2011, following oral argument, it is ORDERED the Motion for Leave to Withdraw as Counsel for Plaintiffs filed by Richard Hans Maurer (Document 45) is GRANTED.”

It is further ORDERED Defendant Heather Idoni’s Bill of Costs (Document 71) will be GRANTED. Plaintiff shall pay the bill of costs in the amount of $3,725.30 within ten days of this Order.”

It is further ORDERED Defendant Helen Hegener’s Bill of Costs (Document 72) will be GRANTED. Plaintiff shall pay the bill of costs in the amount of $2,988.00 within ten days of this Order.”

People have been asking if they could share this news. Yes, please feel free to share it anywhere, via discussion groups, forums, blogs, newsletters, anyplace where people who’ve been wondering about this lawsuit will find that it’s over and we’re moving on now. But there’s a little more I’d also like to have widely shared:”

A friend wrote to ask about the costs involved; they’d heard that Mimi had to pay our attorney fees, but that is not so. The costs are enormous, almost a quarter of a million dollars now, and Mimi and her lawyer do NOT have to pay all our expenses. She will pay only my attorney’s costs and travel expenses from the Oct. 7th hearing Mimi didn’t attend, and they’re pretty minimal, under $3,000. Still, it’s an important victory in the sense that she’s paying us, and we are not paying her a dime.”

We did not receive any compensation for the loss of business from losing our web site and our ordering systems at the height of what is normally the best time of year for us. We not only lost the HEM site because of Mimi’s harassment, but ALL our other web sites, even those not related to homeschooling. But perhaps the biggest and potentially most significant loss was my ability to communicate in my normal manner and volume. I’ve had a long-running problem with carpal tunnel syndrome, but I’ve kept the situation under control for many years by moderating the use of my hands. The extreme volume of typing with all the filing and emailing and communications which this lawsuit has necessitated has my hand almost crippled. I shouldn’t be typing this, but hopefully it will help get the word out that this is over, and we’re ready to set about the difficult task of rebuilding almost 30 years of work.”

We need help. If you’ve ever considered becoming involved with this publication, please contact me at helenhegener@homeedmag.com and explain what you’d be interested in doing. If you have no idea but just like the idea of helping, I’ll be putting together a list of what we need and will post it at our HEM Networking discussion group on YahooGroups sometime in the next few days: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HEM-Networking/”

And if you can help financially, even a tiny little bit, you can send it via PayPal to orders@homeedmag.com or via check to Helen Hegener, PO Box 759, Palmer, Alaska 99645 (yes, that’s my personal address). I’m working on a ‘Friends of HEM’ web site, and I’ll share more on that soon.
Thank you, everyone, for your support,
Helen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Helen Hegener, Publisher
Home Education Magazine
http://homeedmag.com

You can also help by subscribing to Home Education Magazine:
If you are not a current subscriber, please consider subscribing to Home Education Magazine.
http://homeedmag.com/ord/order.html
If you are a current subscriber, consider renewing at this time.
http://homeedmag.com/ord/renewal.html
If you live outside the US you can still subscribe:
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By Barbara Frank

Sometimes, we find ourselves in circumstances that make homeschooling more difficult than it would be otherwise. Often, these situations are not of our own making, or can’t be helped, but they shouldn’t keep us from homeschooling if that’s what we really want to do. Some are serious, others more annoying or just plain time-consuming, but all of them require us to do some extra thinking about how we can successfully homeschool in the midst of the specific situation.

Financial Difficulties

Money is tight for many single-income families these days, but if the breadwinner (usually Dad) loses his job, that can be a real emergency. While he searches for a new job, Mom may want to find work to bring in some money. If she starts working, does that mean the end of homeschooling?
Not necessarily. If you’re committed to homeschooling, you’ll want to find ways to bring in money that allow you to keep homeschooling. Some ways others have done this include:

• telecommuting
• in-home daycare
• selling goods via home parties (books, cooking utensils, candles, etc.)
• working retail in the evenings and on weekends
• starting a family business so the kids can help
• delivering newspapers in the wee hours

If none of these options work out, you can always get a day job and let Dad do the homeschooling. He won’t do it the same way as you do, but a little change will be good for the kids, and Dad will develop further (or new) appreciation for what you do all day. Once he finds another job, you can quit yours and go back to homeschooling, most likely with renewed vigor.

Whether you’re dealing with unemployment or some other kind of financial setback, another option is to cut back drastically on what you spend. A penny saved is not only a penny earned, but a penny earned without paying taxes on it. Until your money situation improves, dedicate yourself and your family to cutting back everywhere you can. Make your children the Utility Police, so that they’ll be on the lookout for lights burning in unoccupied rooms, and showers that take too long and waste water. Challenge yourself to see how low you can get that food bill while keeping everyone fed and healthy. Check out some frugal Web sites (www.stretcher.com is a great one) and educate yourself on saving money.

While you’re at it, save money on your homeschooling. Use the books and resources you already have instead of buying more just now. If it isn’t already your favorite place, make the public library your choice for books, software, and educational DVDs. Organize a swap meet in your support group so that everyone can try some new things at no cost. Find out if your local museums offer “free days,” and if so, visit only on those days.

With some ingenuity and a good attitude, you can get through financial difficulties without giving up homeschooling. Think of what your example will teach your children about perseverance, and what the entire family will learn by working together.

Disapproval of Family and Friends

When someone first learns about homeschooling, and then considers the possibility for her children, enthusiasm begins to develop. The more she reads about homeschooling’s advantages, the more excited she gets. Then she brings up the subject around some relatives or friends. Many times, they don’t share her excitement. In fact, they may be totally opposed to the idea.

When people you care about are against homeschooling, you have some tough decisions to make. How you make those decisions depends on who’s against it.

If your parents, in-laws or other relatives don’t like the idea, you have to decide whether their disapproval is something that would stop you from homeschooling. If you have a very close relationship with them, talk to them and find out exactly what worries them. The older generation has a picture in its collective consciousness of school the way it was back in the mid-1900s. Have you ever read the list of teachers’ complaints from the early 1960s? It includes such behavior as talking in class and chewing gum. Nowadays, that list includes physical assaults on teachers and gang activities in the schools. But many members of the older generation don’t realize that the schools in their areas have such problems. They still picture Miss Smith in her shirtwaist and pearls leading a class in reciting the multiplication tables.

Of course, their memories are tinged in the golden glow of time passed and difficulties forgotten, so they may not understand how you can deny your children the wonderful education they got (or believe they got). Maybe you can calm their fears by citing information you’ve found, or introducing them to some veteran homeschoolers you know with older homeschooled children. These days, the newspapers are filled with stories of homeschoolers winning spelling and geography bees, and other honors. Clip those stories and pass them on to the naysayers.

Eventually, as they see how well your children are doing, your relatives should relax somewhat. If not, they need to be reminded that you are in charge of your children, and that you are doing what’s best for them.

If the dissenters are your children’s grandparents, bring them into your homeschooling. Are there subjects they could teach their grandchildren? Perhaps Grandpa is a woodworker, or Grandma loves to play tennis. These are things they could share with your children. The children learn something new, and the grandparents learn that these are smart children you’re raising.

As time passes, be sure to keep them up to date on the children’s accomplishments. If your children score high on achievement tests, send copies of those test reports as soon as possible. When your support group has a project night, invite the relatives. Let them see for themselves how well homeschoolers are doing.
What about friends and neighbors? They have no clout when it comes to how you raise your children, but it can be difficult to accept that they don’t like what you’re doing. As for your neighbors, do you realize that by homeschooling your children, you’re saying, “I won’t put my kids in the school your kids go to, even though I’ve already paid for it through my taxes.” In other words, it’s like looking at your neighbor’s car or furniture and telling them, “I wouldn’t take that if it were free.”

So these people may not be all that thrilled with your decision to homeschool. But if you’re motivated to homeschool, you’ll have to develop a thick skin and continue on your course. You need to do what’s right for your family.

(Excerpted from

The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling: A 20-Year Homeschool Veteran Reveals How to Teach Your Kids, Run Your Home and Overcome the Inevitable Challenges of the Homeschooling Life
by Barbara Frank.)

Copyright 2011 Barbara Frank/ Cardamom Publishers

Barbara Frank has been homeschooling for 25 years. Her latest book is

Thriving in the 21st Century: Preparing Our Children for the New Economic Reality
(Cardamom Publishers, 2011). You’ll find her on the Web at www.thrivinginthe21stcentury.com and http://barbarafrankonline.com/blog.php

Growing Without Schooling Magazine: You Don’t Have to Go to Grow

Medford, MA, Sept. 14, 2011: Holt Associates Inc. announced today that all issues of its historic magazine, Growing Without Schooling (GWS), are now available for free public access at its website. Growing Without Schooling is the nation’s first magazine about homeschooling, unschooling, and learning outside of school, founded by the late author/teacher John Holt in 1977.

“Now, when teachers and tests are getting all the attention in education reform, the complete issue archive of GWS is more evidence for the public to consider that learning is a result of the activity of learners; it is not necessarily a result of teaching,” says Patrick Farenga, president of Holt Associates Inc.

www.holtgws.com also contains significant amounts of new information about John Holt and his work, including never-before-released video footage of Holt, photographs, and newly digitized audio files of interviews and lectures by Holt where he discusses how schools could be improved.

At a time of conformity and standardization in school, unschooling proves that there are many different schedules and ways to individualize education for children. GWS also shows how it is things like good health, good food, solid relationships, caring adults, and freedom to explore the world that make a positive difference to the lives and learning of children, not expensive school technologies.

“GWS documents 24 years of personal stories, news articles, research, books and the strong flowering of the homeschooling movement from 1977 to 2001. In 1977 there were perhaps 10 to 20 thousand homeschoolers and in 2001 it was estimated there were about 1.2 million homeschooled children. In 2011, estimates put that number over two million,” says Farenga.

HoltGWS.com presents many resources for helping school-age children, from teens to kindergartners, learn in their own ways, including getting into college or finding work worth doing without a conventional school background. Holt Associates is an education consulting company committed to freedom for learning.

For more information contact:
Patrick Farenga
Holt Associates/Growing Without Schooling
13 Hume Avenue
Medford, MA 02155
781-395-8508
patfarenga@holtgws.com
www.holtgws.com

By Barbara Frank

Ultimately, schools have enough on their plates teaching children the three R’s; adding a requirement for insuring that children become computer-literate can often overwhelm even the best schools. So if children don’t learn to use computers in school, where can they learn this vital skill?

My experience has been that children are very capable of teaching themselves to use a computer at home. We bought our first computer when our older children were 11 and 9. My husband used it each evening after work, learning the design software that would eventually allow him to start his own business. That’s why our children were only allowed on the computer during the day. I quickly learned that they would stay on there all day if I let them, so we established the 45-minutes-per-day rule, enforced by a kitchen timer on top of the monitor.

Before long, our older children had taught themselves all about how to use the computer. Once we began accessing the Internet, they designed their own Web sites. They soon needed more computer time than they were allowed, so each saved up and bought their own computer. Our daughter started a Web zine about music, attracting a following of kids who shared her interest. Our son ran a Web site about his favorite major league baseball player; his site was later written up in Baseball Weekly. They achieved this level of proficiency after only a few years of using the computer, and each was entirely self-taught. (They later took a few online courses to hone their computer skills.)

They (and, a few years later, their younger sister) quickly became more proficient in computer basics than I have yet to become after many years of computer use. Our fourth child, who has developmental disabilities, is not as computer-literate as the others were at his age (that is partly due to his limited reading ability), but he can find and start different educational games on our computer without assistance. My point here is that all four were given access to a basic computer and the time to experiment with it. Based on their success, I believe it’s up to parents and the kids themselves, not the schools, to produce computer-literate children. Parents should provide the computer and the time. Given that opportunity, the children will take over from there.

One reason children pick up the computer so quickly is that they’re more willing to explore the computer and press keys without worrying that they’ll mess up something. We adults are often hampered by that fear, so it may take us longer to learn how to use a computer. While we sit flipping through a tutorial book plotting our next move, they’ve already clicked back and forth between screens and figured out what to do (and what not to do).

Of course, they do make mistakes in the process, and sometimes lose information they had painstakingly put in there. But once they become more proficient than their parents, they realize that it’s up to them to solve the problem, and they learn to do so.

I think the fact that I couldn’t come running to my children’s rescue each time the computer “ate” something important forced them to figure things out for themselves; they learned pretty early on that I wasn’t going to be much help, no matter how good my intentions. They became fearless when it came to using the computer, which helped them become computer troubleshooters for the rest of the family.

(excerpted with permission from Thriving in the 21st Century: Preparing Our Children for the New Economic Reality)

Copyright 2011 Barbara Frank/ Cardamom Publishers

Barbara Frank has been homeschooling for 25 years. Her latest book is Thriving in the 21st Century: Preparing Our Children for the New Economic Reality (Cardamom Publishers, April 2011). You’ll find her on the Web at http://www.thrivinginthe21stcentury.com and http://barbarafrankonline.com