Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

"It only takes a spark to get a fire going . . ." Remember that old camp song? Homeschool mom and author Terri Camp talks with Home School Legal Defense Association Chairman and General Counsel Mike Farris about creating "sparks" to release energetic study in your homeschool, today on Home School Heartbeat.

Michael Farris:
Terri, you write about starting fresh learning fires with your children. What does that really mean and how can a parent do that with their child?


Terri Camp:
Well, sometimes you see that your children have just lost that learning feeling, and they don't want to learn anything anymore; they think learning's boring. But I say, "Just put a little spark in their life." And a spark is just a simple plan, idea, or a project that promotes in them a desire to learn more, to study more—like you could have them make a mailbox for themselves and this would encourage them to write, address envelopes, and even willingly accept a spelling assignment that's delivered in their mailbox. You could take a muffin tin and place letter sounds in each indentation and have your child toss pennies into the tin. When they say the right sound, they get the penny. Kids love money; use it to your advantage. Help your children memorize facts by writing them on felt sheets, and then have the child toss a ping pong ball covered with Velcro—that's great fun for them. You could use puppets as a spark, and your older children could use them to create a biography of somebody and then they get together and create one scene with that. Or have them create a board game based on some subject, or play Jeopardy with mom and dad as the contestants and, you know, try to stump mom and dad.