Homeschooling Resources in Helendale, California

If you’re one of the thousands of families looking for an alternative to the liberal Helendale public schools you’re at the right website! GreatHomeschoolConventions.Com is a trustworthy resource of Homeschooling in Helendale, California. Wwe are proud to provide accredited Home Schooling Curriculum, Programs, Textbooks, Materials, Lesson Plans, Resources, and some of the best conventions you will ever go to! If you are new homeschooling, we will come see you with open arms. If you currently live in Helendale, CA or are moving to the area and are interested in homeschooling, you probably have a lot questions about how homeschooling works here.

The top question we get asked is What homeschool laws does Helendale, California have? It is hard to believe that the state of California allows homeschooling. However, given the amount of regulation we can interpret that the state of California is not a homeschool friendly place. With that said individuals who seek the best education environment for their kids are today choosing homeschooling more than ever! Several California-based publications have acused GreatHomeschoolConventions.Com of pushing the homeschool agenda, as with all fake news, we have never said that homeschool is better but if this what you want we want to make certain you have the best resources available.

Best Homeschooling Curriculum in Helendale, California

Finding high-quality homeschool curriculum, programs, textbooks, materials, lesson plans, and resources in Helendale, California is not as easy as one may think. Possibly this is why Great Homeschool Conventions conferences have grown to become an annual most go to the event. At our events you’ll be able to socialize from renowned experts like Judy Sarden, Lesli Richards, and Dr. Tom Kemnitz as well as top vendors of homeschool curriculum, programs, textbooks, and lesson plans. After putting all the negative objections aside our mission is that your kids get the most complete education possible. Children that grow up in the US have more choices than their counterparts in South America and the UK. These are public school, private school, and home school. But, given that the US ranks 28th on average in education many families are looking for alternative solutions. For the majority of stay-at-home parents private school is out of their reach making homeschooling the obvious choice. For additional details on how we can help you get started with home schooling for your kids, please take a look out our blog.

Helendale Homeschooling Resources Blog Post

Mud Pies as Soul Food

I like having time to be wild and messy and dirty and be someplace else in my mind. Because then eventually I want to come back home where I belong. Where I can be clean and warm and safe and loved and feel peace in my heart. After I have felt all those things for a while then I’m ready to be messy and wild again. That’s the kind of circle I love for growing up.
—age 8

There is something about mud that is strangely satisfying to children. Mud is a substance that has survived the test of time like few other man-made playthings. I remember once when I was a child, I told my godmother that I had nothing to do. She looked at me and said “Have you ever made mud pies?” She took me out to the wooden circle bench around the big sprawling oak tree and set up a makeshift kitchen under the shady branches. With the sun peeking through on our work, we mixed and poured and giggled, using old pie tins, pots and pans, and wooden spoons. When the day was done, I do believe that my dear old godmother was as dirty as I was. She had enjoyed reliving her childhood, remembering making mud pies along with her best friend, my grandmother. To this day, I can recall the feeling of the cool mud, its musty smell, and the strange stiffness on my sun-dried skin. Anthony Esolen describes memories of this type of deep play as one of the only things that an old man can look back on without regret, and with complete satisfaction. I agree.

Fast-forward forty years, and I watch my six-year-old discover several large mud puddles on our driveway. She is bent over them, in a tutu and sparkly boots…carefully scooping the mud into Inca-like structures in the middle of the water. She has no idea I am watching her, so immersed in deep imaginary play and sensory satisfaction. Such a strange elemental play thing is the earth beneath our feet. It is a marvelous gift that God gives us to entertain our children with. I love to give children natural God-made materials to play with, because scripture tells us that He communicates His invisible attributes to us through the things He has made. I think our children sense this deep in their souls.

making mud pies — photo taken by Elsie Iudicello

It’s hard though, living in our screen-riddled hand-sanitized world, to remember that mud is so good for us in so many ways. Playing with mud offers a perfectly-balanced sensory experience. It inspires our creativity and helps us learn to solve problems and take risks. It provides excellent sensory feedback, which results in an integrated, calm child who is ready to take on challenges. This type of sensory-free play with no rulebooks actually changes the connections of the neurons in your frontal cortex. It may look messy, but there is some serious construction work going on inside those little brains as they get elbows deep in mud. And germ-a-phobic mothers, take heart: studies have shown that children who grow up on farms and play in dirt regularly have less incidents of asthma and allergies and are least likely to have auto-immune disorders.

This week, as our weather starts to cool, mix your child up a big batch of the good stuff. Let him have some old pots and pans and wooden spoons. Get out there with him and enjoy the feeling of the sun on your back. And someday, he’ll show your grandchildren how to make mud pies.

Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education.
—Luther Burbank

Activity to Use

rom A Year of Playing Skillfully by Kathy Lee and Lesli Richards

Muddy Buggy Creek: Fill the bottom of a sensory bin with dirt. Next, bury some plastic bugs and worms in the dirt. Fill the bin with water, covering the dirt completely. Invite your learner to dig for bugs. Hopefully they will be inspired to create a mud pie or two!

Muddy Buggy Creek

For a glimpse into the life of a homeschooling mom who does mud really well and uses A Year of Playing Skillfully with her boys, check out Elsie’s blog Farmhouse Schoolhouse.