So annoyed by homeschool magazines.

[MeghanL]

Do you think there will ever be a publication that doesn't need to count the number of times lightening appears in the Bible before being able to write an article about lightening?

[MinivanMom]

Amen.

 

I would pay good money for a homeschooling magazine that was about . . . homeschooling. If it's a magazine about education then it should talk about education. I don't need religious instruction or advice on homesteading & raising sheep from a homeschool magazine.

[Mergath]

No kidding. I wish they'd stop trying to make homeschooling an entire culture and just write about homeschooling. I don't make cheese with raw milk from my own cows, I don't own a denim jumper, and I don't really care what the bible says about education, or child-bearing, or whatever. If anyone ever does come up with a hsing mag that doesn't try to integrate all these things, I'd love to subscribe.

[momma2three]

There was a secular magazine for a while, but I think it went under. I subscribed because I wanted it to succeed. I'd love a decent magazine too. It wouldn't even have to be fully secular, just mainly about homeschooling.

 

There's a UK magazine called Nursery World that I buy sometimes. It's about early childhood education (goes through early elementary) and is designed for teachers but there are really interesting articles about teaching various different things, and child development, and research about teaching and teachers. There are ideas for games and activities too. It's out of the UK but Borders used to have it, and sometimes I see it in big newstands with a large international section.

[*Michelle*]

There are only four issues, but Classical Homeschooling has a lot of information. It's free and each article has its own link. There's some Catholic content, but you can skip over those links if that's not your thing.

[briansmama]

This is a great topic! I've wondered the same thing after subscribing to Home Ed Magazine and others over the years. They were great when we were first investigating home education, but now I'd like to read more about education and less about lifestyle too.

[Rebel Yell]

:iagree:

 

We ARE religious... young-earth creationists, my youngest child will get her AWANA Timothy award next week.

 

But we use a mix of secular and Christian-based books. I really hate it when a book or magazine is more of a beating about Christianity than actually helpful or educational.

 

I certainly enjoy having church history integrated with our world history. But not everything has to have a cross slapped on it, KwIM?

[airforcefamily]

I hear you! I've never subscribed to a homeschool magazine because they're either very religious or give lifestyle advice. Families can homeschool and do things like eat store bought frozen pizza!

[Ameena]

I hear you! I've never subscribed to a homeschool magazine because they're either very religious or give lifestyle advice. Families can homeschool and do things like eat store bought frozen pizza!

 

 

This.

 

And don't even get me started on all the fatherhood articles & emphasis! Not all homeschoolers have a father in the house. Shockingly - some don't have a Mother!

[charcat13]

Another Christian here that agrees. Sometimes I just want an article on how to teach something. I can get my worldview stuff elsewhere.

[Katy]

This is probably something we could change ourselves. A magazine might be prohibitively expensive, but a secular, education-focused non-personal homeschooling blog might be totally doable.

 

This is something I could probably pull together. Anyone interested in writing articles?

[Katy]

Or topic ideas?

[violamama]

There are hs'ing magazines? Of course there are... running off to google...

[momma2three]

I agree that a blog is probably more realistic, but I've been intrigued by this service for a few years now, ever since there was a NYT article about them that made it all sound so easy. :)

[violamama]

Or topic ideas?

 

I would! I'd write about music stuff and maybe travel stuff. We could ask people to write travel tips for hs'ers roadschooling around their area.

 

Couldn't there be a Hive online mag? Have people write articles about their areas of expertise? I would love that. I've got a word doc where I copy/paste some of the longer awesome posts here, but it would be fun to solicit some from-the-trenches articles.

[MeghanL]

I've actually done a Homeschool 101: Meeting State Requirements presentation for my area in Ohio. I would be willing to put the powerpoint into a video and have that available on the blog.

I also love talking about organization and lesson planning.

[Sammish]

I'm a newbie, so no particular advice/expertise, but might I put in a request for articles on teaching science from lewelma? You know, in her spare time? :)

[Mandylubug]

You know. I have DREAMED of creating a Home School magazine. I even have Magazine name options running through my head. My family has a publishing background and I even have a publishing company I know I could work with... It is just the start up of finding advertisers, setting up the magazine, finding freelance writers, etc. that has made me hesitate. The hard part is printing a high quality magazine that people would want on their coffee table, but still be able to afford the printing costs at the start up while making it affordable for the consumer. Also, integrating your paper published magazine into e-formats that would accommodate most customers and their electronic and smart devices...

[Katy]

I know there are print on demand magazine printers out there, but it seems rather cost prohibitive. Plus, having worked for a few small publishing companies, that would require a staff and funding, whereas editing a blog might only take 15-20 hours a week. I really can't commit any more time than that personally.

 

In theory for e-magazines, it wouldn't be that hard to create pdf or some such virtual magazines. It's been a while since I used Photoshop or Illustrator that extensively though, and seems like a LOT more work than updating a blog.

[KellieK]

I love this idea!! We are Christian, but not all of our beliefs mesh with others. I just want to learn about homeschooling.

 

P.S. we are one of those families that buy frozen pizza at the store too.

[AimeeM]

After my dream of creating a local homechool book store (that sells catholic and secular materials, as all we have locally is a BJU press/store), a homeschool magazine is next on that list of dreams!

[Rebel Yell]

Or topic ideas?

 

Can I make an anti-request? Let's NEVER have any articles on modesty for girls. :glare: We have had enough of those beatings, thank you very much!

 

But if a girl wants to write an article about her sewing business because she couldn't find fun clothes in her family's/her standards- GO FOR IT!

 

We dress scandalously by some people's standards, and frighteningly frumpy by others. Photos and illustrations should represent everyone- from the girl working in the garden in a long dress and turtleneck to the girl swimming in a bikini. Boys can be wearing full-body coveralls or be shirtless. Moms of all ages, families of all sizes. Don't need to show only large families with moms and dads, but also don't need to go overboard making sure that every possible definition of family is represented in every issue. KWIM?

[airforcefamily]

Can I make another request?? No reviews of things that were sent to the blogger for free. I can't count the number of times I've read a review of a book or product only to then see the little 'the company was sooooo nice to send us all these expensive things so we could write a completely unbiased review' disclaimer. I'm sure many people do write honest reviews but some might say good things about anything they get for free, even if they're trying to be impartial.

[Katy]

Well, idk about not reviewing things just because they were gifted. But then I'm the type that leaves completely honest reviews on amazon that are so bad I've had the author comment on my review. That was just this week. So maybe I don't see the problem with that.

 

I don't really see the point in too many reviews expressing an opinion anyway - what works for some families does not work for others. Maybe reviews focused on the facts of what something contains?

[airforcefamily]

Well, idk about not reviewing things just because they were gifted. But then I'm the type that leaves completely honest reviews on amazon that are so bad I've had the author comment on my review. That was just this week. So maybe I don't see the problem with that.

 

I don't really see the point in too many reviews expressing an opinion anyway - what works for some families does not work for others. Maybe reviews focused on the facts of what something contains?

 

 

Are you talking about amazon vine type reviews where people are given things in exchange for their review? To be honest, when I see a vine review it is automatically 'not helpful' because I, personally, don't feel I can trust what someone who was given something for free says about it.

[NASDAQ]

I think that the days of new print magazines are past us.

[mama27]

A lot of these reasons are why i stopped reading TOS. Every singl issue is filled with pics of women with long hair and dresses and articles about things that don't have a darn thing to do with homeschooling.

I used to read some secular magazine years ago but most of those articles were very unschooly and hippyish??? and I couldn't relate to that either.

Now, I just read here and a few other boards. For free.

[G5052]

A lot of these reasons are why i stopped reading TOS. Every singl issue is filled with pics of women with long hair and dresses and articles about things that don't have a darn thing to do with homeschooling.

I used to read some secular magazine years ago but most of those articles were very unschooly and hippyish??? and I couldn't relate to that either.

Now, I just read here and a few other boards. For free.

 

 

I've never found one that fits. My hair is short. I rarely wear a dress. I've maintained my professional career over the years. Frankly I don't define myself by homeschooling either. That is just one hat I wear. Oh, and DH says that efficiency means delegating to the right person for the job, so I handle all of the homeschooling decisions unless it is a major redirection.

 

Works for us.

[Jyniffrec]

Same here - we are Christians that school secularly for the most part. We also eat fast food and drink raw milk. :)

 

I would be willing to help with such a publication. If I may put in my two cents, what is lacking is a magazine, not a blog, so maybe this would be something that could start out as a PDF magazine and then let it evolve from there.

[fairfarmhand]

I know there are print on demand magazine printers out there, but it seems rather cost prohibitive. Plus, having worked for a few small publishing companies, that would require a staff and funding, whereas editing a blog might only take 15-20 hours a week. I really can't commit any more time than that personally.

 

In theory for e-magazines, it wouldn't be that hard to create pdf or some such virtual magazines. It's been a while since I used Photoshop or Illustrator that extensively though, and seems like a LOT more work than updating a blog.

 

 

would you want to check out smashwords.com? It is a free service that you can put your stuff in Ereader format. I haven't used it personally, but I think there is a learning curve so that you can format your work correctly and they can easily make it into an ebook. But I bet after you've gotten the hang of their formatting quirks you would be okay.

[fairfarmhand]

 

Can I make an anti-request? Let's NEVER have any articles on modesty for girls. :glare: We have had enough of those beatings, thank you very much!

 

But if a girl wants to write an article about her sewing business because she couldn't find fun clothes in her family's/her standards- GO FOR IT!

 

We dress scandalously by some people's standards, and frighteningly frumpy by others. Photos and illustrations should represent everyone- from the girl working in the garden in a long dress and turtleneck to the girl swimming in a bikini. Boys can be wearing full-body coveralls or be shirtless. Moms of all ages, families of all sizes. Don't need to show only large families with moms and dads, but also don't need to go overboard making sure that every possible definition of family is represented in every issue. KWIM?

 

oh. you mean you want "real" people who homeschool?

[shawthorne44]

Rather than a glossy magazine with colorful ads, what about a newsletter and all black and white? The Tightwad Gazette comes to mind. (Showing my age) It could be available either in an e-book format, or a black and white newsletter sent by post. Newsletter version with the postage price added. I personally get ticked when the e-book version of anything is the same price.

[Ellie]

My earliest exposure to homeschooling was John Holt--his books and his newsletter, Growing Without Schooling. When he was alive, GWS mostly consisted of letters from readers sharing their experiences. They were SO inspiring! After his death, the new editors began to include articles about learning and whatnot, written by people I'd never heard of (not that I have to know all the authors, but only that they seemed to think mighty big of themselves and I'm like...who the heck are you??).

 

I subscribed to The Teaching Home for awhile, but I was never really on board with the editors' POV on learning and whatnot. :-p Someone (and in my head I keep thinking that it was Cyndy Shearer of Greenleaf Press?) wrote lyrics to the tune of "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone," and called it "On the Cover of the Teaching Home," about why she'd never be on the cover. :lol: Alas, I can't find it.

 

I liked Mary Pride's Practical Homeschooling.

 

Although the idea of a homeschooling magazine that focuses on, you know, homeschooling is a great idea, I'm not sure that people would be wiling to pay for a print magazine in today's world of free Internet stuff, KWIM? I published a homeschooling newsletter for about 10 years so I'm all about that stuff :D But you'd have to charge a small subscription fee--probably no more than $10, which means you'd have to sell advertising space, which means...well, you know what that means.

[stripe]

Are you talking about amazon vine type reviews where people are given things in exchange for their review? To be honest, when I see a vine review it is automatically 'not helpful' because I, personally, don't feel I can trust what someone who was given something for free says about it.

 

I don't think it's fair to punish the reviewer because you don't like Amazon's program. I think that's just wrong. Most vine reviewers do NOT just give everything five stars. There are plenty of mediocre and bad reviews of books and other items by vine reviewers. Is a bad review more trustworthy than a good review?

[bethben]

I got a homeschooling magazine that looked interesting and had a very cheap price point. I have yet to read an article about homeschooling in the homeschooling magazine. It bugs me. The only time homeschooling is mention is a "oh, and this wonderful family with 5 children whose parents volunteer at 10 different places are homeschoolers!" The last issue was about adoption - no how to teach, how to motivate, etc. I would like something that had special focus subjects. Right now, I would LOVE to have a whole bunch of articles on options for science in the junior high and high school years. I also don't read reviews by the TOS people because they're always positive with nothing negative to say. It makes me suspicious that everything they review is wonderful.

 

Beth

[Merry]

I also recommend Practical Homeschooling.

[Jyniffrec]

My earliest exposure to homeschooling was John Holt--his books and his newsletter, Growing Without Schooling. When he was alive, GWS mostly consisted of letters from readers sharing their experiences. They were SO inspiring! After his death, the new editors began to include articles about learning and whatnot, written by people I'd never heard of (not that I have to know all the authors, but only that they seemed to think mighty big of themselves and I'm like...who the heck are you??).

 

I subscribed to The Teaching Home for awhile, but I was never really on board with the editors' POV on learning and whatnot. :-p Someone (and in my head I keep thinking that it was Cyndy Shearer of Greenleaf Press?) wrote lyrics to the tune of "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone," and called it "On the Cover of the Teaching Home," about why she'd never be on the cover. :lol: Alas, I can't find it.

 

I liked Mary Pride's Practical Homeschooling.

 

Although the idea of a homeschooling magazine that focuses on, you know, homeschooling is a great idea, I'm not sure that people would be wiling to pay for a print magazine in today's world of free Internet stuff, KWIM? I published a homeschooling newsletter for about 10 years so I'm all about that stuff :D But you'd have to charge a small subscription fee--probably no more than $10, which means you'd have to sell advertising space, which means...well, you know what that means.

 

I had pictured a magazine that would be in a PDF format that people could print of they wanted to. It wouldn't need to be all that slick.

 

Also, what if it had editorial pages with different perspectives on home educating? It might be a good idea if the goal is to be all things to all people. For instance, if a person came from the unschooling perspective and everyone knew it, then it would target the right audience and those who don't like that perspective could skip over it to find the articles/editorials that they would like. Likewise for the other perspectives.

[funmamacita]

I actually DID start a local secular magazine last year for many of the same reasons you've mentioned here. I LOVE magazines, and the homeschool ones were so unattractive and uninspiring. We've had decent success for the first year, so there's definitely an audience out there. If anybody else does decide to go for it, I'd love to have someone to share ideas and resources with!

[airforcefamily]

I don't think it's fair to punish the reviewer because you don't like Amazon's program. I think that's just wrong. Most vine reviewers do NOT just give everything five stars. There are plenty of mediocre and bad reviews of books and other items by vine reviewers. Is a bad review more trustworthy than a good review?

 

 

Saying a review is not helpful has nothing to do with 'punishing' the person who wrote it. Amazon's website asks, after every review, 'was this review helpful to you?. Next to the question there are two options - yes or no. I answer honestly by clicking 'no' since that particular review was not helpful to me. All reviews by people who were given the item are rated 'not helpful' by me as I don't think any of them are helpful. It's not my intent but I do think it would be great if amazon sees vine reviews as consistently 'not helpful' and stops the program. I like amazon for it's customer reviews - those who were given an item in exchange for reviewing it are not customers (a customer, by definition, is someone who has purchased goods or services and is not simply a recipient of goods or services).

[twoxcell]

I got a homeschooling magazine that looked interesting and had a very cheap price point. I have yet to read an article about homeschooling in the homeschooling magazine. It bugs me. The only time homeschooling is mention is a "oh, and this wonderful family with 5 children whose parents volunteer at 10 different places are homeschoolers!" The last issue was about adoption - no how to teach, how to motivate, etc. I would like something that had special focus subjects. Right now, I would LOVE to have a whole bunch of articles on options for science in the junior high and high school years. I also don't read reviews by the TOS people because they're always positive with nothing negative to say. It makes me suspicious that everything they review is wonderful.

 

I did blog reviews for TOS for 2 years and believe me I had negative things to say at times. I even argued with the creator of an online reading program that was anti phonics. ;) I always tried to be gracious though. I understand what you are all talking about. Most of the magazines I received were pretty useless to me. This forum has been the best place to find out about all things homeschool as well as cupcakes. :lol:

[PrairieSong]

My earliest exposure to homeschooling was John Holt--his books and his newsletter, Growing Without Schooling. When he was alive, GWS mostly consisted of letters from readers sharing their experiences. They were SO inspiring! After his death, the new editors began to include articles about learning and whatnot, written by people I'd never heard of (not that I have to know all the authors, but only that they seemed to think mighty big of themselves and I'm like...who the heck are you??).

 

I subscribed to The Teaching Home for awhile, but I was never really on board with the editors' POV on learning and whatnot. :-p Someone (and in my head I keep thinking that it was Cyndy Shearer of Greenleaf Press?) wrote lyrics to the tune of "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone," and called it "On the Cover of the Teaching Home," about why she'd never be on the cover. :lol: Alas, I can't find it.

 

 

Google is your friend, Ellie!

 

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/forums/1/thread.aspx?id=29901

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I would! I'd write about music stuff and maybe travel stuff. We could ask people to write travel tips for hs'ers roadschooling around their area.

 

Couldn't there be a Hive online mag? Have people write articles about their areas of expertise? I would love that. I've got a word doc where I copy/paste some of the longer awesome posts here, but it would be fun to solicit some from-the-trenches articles.

 

 

The various homeschooling blog carnivals can be pretty good. I used to read Carnival of Homeschooling regularly. There is a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Carnival and one for Nature Study.

[TXMary2]

Can I make another request?? No reviews of things that were sent to the blogger for free. I can't count the number of times I've read a review of a book or product only to then see the little 'the company was sooooo nice to send us all these expensive things so we could write a completely unbiased review' disclaimer. I'm sure many people do write honest reviews but some might say good things about anything they get for free, even if they're trying to be impartial.

 

I am a reviewer who receives things for free and I am not obligated in any way to say I like something when I don't. I give honest reviews and I say what I like and don't like. I don't need to bash a company if I don't like something, I just nicely say it didn't work for us and explain why. Just because I don't like something or it didn't suit us, doesn't mean it is that way for everyone. That said, most of the things I review, we enjoy.

[momma2three]

I think that most reviewers of anything get their stuff for free. Restaurant reviewers are comped by their company, movies have special screenings for reviewers, publishers send out copies of their books to reviewers. A trustworthy reviewer is one that will look past the fact that it's free, and write an honest opinion about it. I think some bloggers, particularly ones who just sort of dabble in blogging and doing reviews, are sidetracked by the honor of being selected as a reviewer, instead of thinking of it as a "job," and so want to please the company/person who sent the items, and already look at the product favorable.

 

If you ignore reviews where the reviewer got the thing for free, that's pretty much going to cut out 99.9% of reviews of anything. It's important to read critically, be aware of the author's body of work, and respect that the author will be honest.

[Heather in WI]

A trustworthy reviewer is one that will look past the fact that it's free, and write an honest opinion about it. I think some bloggers, particularly ones who just sort of dabble in blogging and doing reviews, are sidetracked by the honor of being selected as a reviewer, instead of thinking of it as a "job," and so want to please the company/person who sent the items, and already look at the product favorable.

 

 

I got to the point where I started looking for negative reviews & haven't come across a single product reviewed negatively yet in a homeschooling magazine! How is that even possible?!?!

[stripe]

I got to the point where I started looking for negative reviews & haven't come across a single product reviewed negatively yet in a homeschooling magazine! How is that even possible?!?!

I don't know much about homeschool magazines, but some publications ONLY post positive reviews. Booklist, which is published by the American Library Association and is directed at librarians who purchase for their collections, is an example of such. They concentrate on material to recommend, rather than warning people off of something.

 

But you know, it's worth noting that negative reviews can help the "buzz" of new items.

 

Probably homeschool magazines are afraid of making people angry.

 

It's worth noting that having all reviews be positive, is not the same as giving every item submitted for review a positive write-up. In the first case, the reviewer might just quietly throw the bad item away without a mention, whereas in the second, it's all just rubber stamped with a "great!"

 

This is an interesting article/interview about reviews

http://www.edrants.com/interview-with-keir-graff/

And this one too

http://www.themillions.com/2011/02/on-bad-reviews.html

[Audrey]

In addition to keeping bible/religious junk out of it, I would love to see a homeschooling magazine that wrote actual reviews that were not just schills for their paid advertisers. :sneaky2:

[ProudGrandma]

I am a Christian, but none of my curriculums are Christian based. I feel like I want to be the one to bring in our own personal beliefs to our family (one of the reasons we homeschool)....so I don't want to read about your beliefs in a homeschooling magazine.

 

so that being said, I would LOVE a homeschooling magaine about homeschooling too. I wouldn't mind reviews...espeically if it was from the people on this forum.

 

I also would like a PHF form.

[duckens]

http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/

 

I don't know if Deborah is planning any more issues. There may be back issues for purchase.