New Mentor Groups

Our support group started offering Mentor Groups this fall , and so far, they are quite successful.   The key, I think, is using the Home Education 101 manual, by Vicki Bentley.  Right now we have 3 groups meeting and another about to get started, with an experienced homeschool mom hosting 4-6 new homeschool moms at her home for eight sessions, approximately every other week. ( each mentor has set up her own schedule ) . The manual provides the outline of topics, and is full of information that the mentor can read through and then add her own experiences, suggestions, and comments. So all the mentor groups are covering the same topics and the newbies are getting a solid foundation of information.  The topics in the manual include Setting Goals, Choosing Curriculum, Setting Priorities & Making a Schedule, Record Keeping, lesson planning,  Teaching & Learning Styles,  Household organization, Testing.  There is a companion parent workbook, which contains most of the content of the Mentor manual with blank space to write in notes, but the ladies in my group have opted to simply bring their own notebooks and take notes.  Our support group purchased 3 copies of the Mentor Manual for mentors to share, but if you are a veteran homeschooler who finds yourself serving often as "mentor", it would be worth owning a copy.