I think the internet is a wonderful place to learn and grow as homeschooling families. So many have paved the way and have gone before us, and I am thankful for all of the trial-and-error that has happened so that I can learn from these pioneers. Once such person is Angie McFerran. She started homeschooling two years after I did, but she has created a wonderful support network for new homeschoolers called H.O.P.E. Home School Consulting. She offers a crash course, monthly newsletter, phone support and a wealth of tips and info for newer homeschoolers. Click on the logo above and go check out her site. It's chock full of goodies and her newsletter is great!
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July 07, 2012 - So Ya Wanna Homeschool, Eh?
When I took my first step as a homeschooler I was shaking in my boots. I was adamantly against the idea and we started homeschooling out of necessity vs. want. Our son, then in Pre-K at the public school, was being "diagnosed" by his teacher as having ADHD. Now mind you, I know that teachers can't make those kinds of diagnoses, but this Pre-K teacher who did her Master's thesis on kids with ADD/ADHD thought she had it pegged. What she really had was a 4yo little boy who was bored and had OCD/Anxiety disorder, along with some dyslexia and dyscalcula sprinkled on top. Our pediatrician at the time did all the ADHD testing and found our son to be "normal." I can tell you that he's anything but "normal" under school standards, but he's my smart, inquisitive, and highly sensitive son who just wanted to make friends, not be forced to stand in a lunch line and color outside of the big black lines. Our eldest daughter was ending the 2nd grade at the same school and came home with a "B" on her report card for math. When we attended our final parent/teacher conference to pick up that report card, her teacher gravely informed us that our daughter didn't yet know how to add or subtract and it was our job to teach her over the summer before 3rd grade so that she can start multiplication with the other students in the fall. When I asked why the "B" grade she informed me that our daughter was good at memorizing the timed tests she took every day. I was not a happy camper. So our homeschooling journey began.
In no particular order:
1). You can do this! I am not a certified teacher, nor do I hold a degree in any subject that remotely qualifies me to teach my children the 3Rs. If I can do this, you can do this. It does take patience (your children will know how to push all the right buttons at all the wrong times) and it does take discipline (for the same reasons), but you can accomplish this. Just know ahead of time that there very well may be lots of wailing, foot stomping and gnashing of teeth at various times throughout the school year. It's normal. My best way to diffuse a "school strike" is to laugh when they start doing it and wait for the storm to pass. Laughing usually catches them off-guard and they know I'm not paying attention to them. If you need encouragement along the way, find a local homeschooling support group or another mom that you can chat with. Another great resource is finding homeschool blogs (sort of like this one :) ) or online groups where you can ask questions and find others who have gone before you. Yahoo has some great groups and so do many of the big-box curriculum vendors.
2). Socialization. Ok, I'm kind of a rebel when it comes to this issue because I hate nosy people. For the first 5 years of homeschooling, every time I would take my children out in public during school hours I would get the same two questions asked:
a) "Oh, you are homeschooled? So what's 12x12?" or "Who was the first president of the US?"
- How freakin' ridiculous is it to ask my child what 12x12 is? They know the answer is 144 and they knew it long before most public school kids did. We have also covered the presidents and they can answer that one too. What a stupid way to evaluate if Mom is doing her job! Ugh.
- The response to this question took time for me to develop, as it was something that I worried about at first too. My standard response is said in a very calm, loving voice and goes something like this: "My children are very well adjusted socially. They are involved in sports, scouts, art classes, karate classes, and belong to many clubs. My older children work with the younger children and have formed great relationships with children in our co-op, working across many age levels. They are responsible, have excellent manners (mostly) and they respect authority. You really can't say that about most kids who are not homeschooled.
3). Choose your curriculum wisely. Ten years ago our choices were somewhat limited, but today the marketplace has been swamped with curriculum companies and choices for families in every subject matter. Don't let it overwhelm you! I made the costly mistake of choosing the curriculum that looked the best to me when we first started out. It was literature rich and came with a ton of wonderful "living books." I still love the curriculum to this day and would highly endorse it to anyone who has children who would excel with this type of learning, but what I didn't know was that I was buying for my tastes and not the learning style of my kids. It took me a long time to realize that, although my eldest loved to read and devoured each book, her younger brother didn't want anything to do with all of those books and would rather spend his time being read to and drawing or playing with Legos. Here is a great, quick, free survey to see which learning style fits your child. Once you know your child's method of learning you can find materials that would enhance his or her schooling.
Curriculum comes in all shapes in sizes. There is secular curriculum (for example, the major textbook companies that supply the schools), Christian-based curriculum, Catholic curriculum, Muslim curriculum, free curriculum online or through the library and everything in-between. Choose what will work best for your child and your family. One teenie, tiny piece of advice - DO NOT GO TO A CURRICULUM FAIR if you don't know what you're looking for. Sorry for shouting there - you just have to trust me on this. You will spend WAAAAAYYYYYY more money than you need to and it probably won't be what you really want/need anyway. Just sayin'....
4). Make Children Responsible. Most kids want to do a good job and feel useful. They want to please us, their parents, and they want to be active members of our families. Do not be afraid to give them chores and make them responsible for their school work. Whether you do unit studies, self-directed unschooling, follow a pre-written plan or make up your lessons on your own, there is no reason why a child can't be given direction and then be expected to get it done in a timely manner. This is a life skill. We don't go to work and have our bosses nag us to get the job done, do we? We would lose our jobs if we did.
5). Have fun and make mistakes! I have learned more in the past 12 years of schooling my kids than I ever did. Go with the flow. Don't worry about getting messy or screwing things up. Let the kids make mistakes and let them figure out the answers. In this fast paced world there is no feasible way that we can teach them everything they need to know, but we can teach them to try and to learn and to figure out how to find the answers to their questions. We can give them the tools to teach them how to learn. As they get older, teach them about Google and the internet, give them an email account (helps with spelling too!) and let them learn how to function in our world. They won't be in our nests as long as you think and our time with them is precious.
I'm sure I have more to share, but my coffee is nearly gone and it's time to wrap up. Feel free to post any questions or (nice)comments you may have. Thanks -- God Bless!
