Homeschooling

Curious about homeschooling, questions

We are interested in possibly homeschooling our LO (she's only two months, so it is a ways away). I feel like the two things that we worry about with homeschooling is 1) our LO getting enough social interaction and 2) it being an overwhelming amount of work. We are homebodies and while adult friends visit, I feel like there aren't a whole lot of kids around, so I worry she won't get enough interaction if she is schooled at home. How do you make sure your LO is getting enough interaction? How time consuming is it to homeschool? Are there tricks to make it easier? Is it an all or nothing thing; can you homeschool for a few years and then have them go to a public school? Sorry if these are silly questions, we are super new to the idea of homeschooling and still researching.
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Re: Curious about homeschooling, questions

  • I don't think any of these are silly questions for someone just starting to consider HS.

    I can definitely relate to the socialization struggles. There aren't really other kids in our neighborhood. (It's less than a dozen houses.) And we live in the country, so it's not like we can just walk to another neighborhood close by.

    DH and I are definitely homebodies as well. 

    I have been taking J. to library storytime since he was about 18 months. That's currently our only scheduled activity. We do playdates with other kids from time to time. LOs will attend Sunday school at church when old enough. We are also slowly starting to get involved in a local HS group.

    I think the time commitment varies from family to family and is based on many things. Are you going to use a preplanned curriculum? Are you going to create curriculum yourself? 

    I don't think of it as an all of nothing thing. I would definitely research HS laws/regulations in your state. In WI, we can move between public school and HS as often as we'd like. We just have to file a certain form before we begin HS. 

    In fact, I rarely think "we will HS through high school." The thought of that is currently pretty overwhelming. But if I just think about preschool/kindergarten it seems more possible. And I'm sure that once we get into that, the next few years will fall into place (whether that means that continuing to HS is right for us or switching to parochial or public school). 

    Oh, welcome to the board!
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  • Thank you, both of you, those responses really helped!! We are eventually moving to the country so I'm glad to hear there's ways for the kiddo to still socialize. I never thought about things like storytime at the library. I'm not sure yet what kind of curriculum we would do. I imagine we would probably try to make our own but I didn't realize that there were preplanned curriculum available. I will check the requirements for my state, I live in Ohio. Thank you again!
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  • DH is opposed to me HS'ing K-12 (for now, maybe someday he'll have a change of heart), but as far as social interaction, our kids don't go to PK and they're usually very social.  We have a rec center near by that we're members of (it's very similar to the YMCA), and they have a blast in there playing with the kids.  DS1 is always talking about doing something there with his friends (I assume there are others that are working out on the same schedule DH and I are on so he sees the same kids several times per week).  We also go to church every Sunday morning, we go to a Baptist church so everyone has Sunday School so the kids have friends in there, and we do Awana on Wednesday nights during the school year (so more friends there).  If we were to HS the main school years we would join a HS group.  There are many kids on our street but none of them are ever out.  DS1 does great with kids of all ages, DH's friend has kids from the age of 9-6, he plays great with them.  Our twins will play with other kids but they really like to stick together, even when playing with others.

    Of course you can HS for some time and then transition them to PS.

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  • I'm in Ohio too if you have questions about how it works here.

    As the saying goes, socialization is what you do with a dog, not a child.  Children can learn how to share and interact with others without being forced to interact with the same group of children their age for an entire year.  In fact, I would say that allowing children to spend their days interacting with a diverse range of age groups creates better "socialization".  Join a homeschool group and your kid will learn to communicate with adults, teenagers, toddlers, AND kids their age. 

    As far as time goes, I'm currently homeschooling two of mine and at their young ages the book work takes no more than two hours a day.  The rest of their work can be done throughout the day by reading books here and there or going to the park - all things that are fun and that we would do even if we weren't formally homeschooling.  As the kids get older and the work load increases, they will be able to read on their own, so a lot of their study will be independent.  Most homeschool families I know are usually done with their formal table work before lunch, so it really isn't as much time as you think.

    Planning lessons can be time consuming if you are coming up with it all on your own.  Purchasing a curriculum that is pre-planned cuts back on the time.  I just set apart an hour on the weekend and I get my lesson plan for the week done and all of my materials gathered and organized.  It's not that bad at all.

    When I think about how much time I would be spending each week packing lunches and backpacks, checking homework, waking to get the kid on the bus or driving them to school, dealing with school supply shopping/getting things for projects, volunteering at school functions, etc., the amount of time I spend homeschooling actually seems much less daunting.  We get to pick and choose our schedule to fit our family's needs and aren't forced to follow someone's else's rigid routine.
        
  • As the saying goes, socialization is what you do with a dog, not a child.  Children can learn how to share and interact with others without being forced to interact with the same group of children their age for an entire year.  In fact, I would say that allowing children to spend their days interacting with a diverse range of age groups creates better "socialization".  Join a homeschool group and your kid will learn to communicate with adults, teenagers, toddlers, AND kids their age. 

    This.

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  • I plan to send LO to a YMCA after school program so that I can work a few evenings a week. Our local Y also has a gym class specifically for homeschoolers. There are homeschool groups that we will join as well. If you search you will be able to find social outlets for her
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