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Attachment Parenting
Is anyone planning on homeschooling
I am thinking about it. My son is supposed to start kindergarten in September and our designated school is terrible. The French school is better but we can't send him until grade one so I am thinking of teaching him at home.
Anyone else?
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Re: Is anyone planning on homeschooling
I was homeschooled, actually unschooled, and we are very excited to be doing the same with Atticus.
The ability to grow up playing and exploring the world based on my interests was such an amazing gift. I had no structured curriculum, and learned by doing. I did eventually choose to attend conventional high school. I got a wonderful education, and am so excited to begin the experience again with my son.
I highly recommend the book Growing Without Schooling by John Holt. Parts of my copy are dated, but there's a new edition which I'm sure is great.
Also, I'm happy to answer any questions! My experience from the parent end of things is obviously limited since my son is 8 weeks, but this is something I'm passionate about and love discussing.
First of all your family is GORGEOUS! I love your siggy.
We plan to home school for several reasons. First of all, our school system is terrible. One of the worst in the state. We have a decent catholic school about 35-40 minutes away but tuition is outrageous. We have a smaller Christian school that is also better but I don't really agree with what they believe and the way the operate is very unprofessional.
DH was homeschooled and knew he wanted his kids to be homeschooled. He also took classes at a public school. I went to public and private catholic school and at first was against homeschooling but we did a lot of talking, praying and researching and talking some more before we were married and I really believe it is best for us.
There is a certain level of shelter that I'd like her to have. DH and I run a program at our church for kids on Wednesdays. We bus in kids from all over town and the things we hear from even the littlest ones is alarming. I like that I will get to share the harder things in life with DD in my home, under my terms. I love the freedom homeschooling offers in regards to schedules. Kids now, at least around here and especially in the upper levels have way too much homework. They spend over 7 hours in school and then come home with hours of school work. It's too much and unnecessary IMO. I was never challenged enough in school especially in elementary school. I will make sure DD is challenged or if she has problems processing something I can slow down. My nephew is doing preschool at home and he is brilliant. The other day via skype he shared with DH and I the phases of the moon.
DH had some friends growing up that were unschooled and didn't follow a strict curriculum. They are all incredibly smart and the older ones are all leading successful, productive lives. MIL had a VERY strict curriculum and DH always had a lot more homework than the kids at public school. For me, I am going to find a good balance between the two. I am too structured to unschool. I will also have DD is take the state standardized tests yearly to make sure she is learning what she should be learning.
Since you are looking into homeschooling for kindergarten only I would find out what the routine will be like in 1st grade and base your curriculum off of that. That way when he transitions to 1st grade it should go pretty smooth. You can also find out what kind of things he'll need to know and what kid of things they will be learning in 1st grade and work towards that. I think homeschooling is a great option but I don't think it's right for everyone. I hope you can find something that will work for your family!
ETA: Sorry I wrote a novel for your to read. haha
Hi Fred! Moses was born July 15, so they are pretty close!
Kids here start jr. kindergarten at 4 then sr. kindergarten at 5.
Thanks everyone else for the compliments on our pic and for giving your input
I like the idea of homeschooling beyond just kindergarten, but for financial reasons I am hoping to find a full-time job (I currently work part time) so that would probably make it impossible.
I love the idea of doing partial unschooling and partial curriculum--I think that sound like the perfect balance. I don't want to be bent over textbooks all day, and part of the reason I would like to teach my kids at home is the ability to explore and learn in ways that you can't when you're in a classroom with 26 kids.
Other concerns--DS is a very active boy and I worry about him being required to sit for long periods of time. I had problems with that when I was in school, and I don't want him punished for that.
He also learns by DOING, he wants to touch and be involved in everything, and I would like to give him the opportunity to really dig his hands into his learning. I also would like to be able to go at his pace rather than having him be in a classroom where the teacher is "teaching to the middle" and some kids are getting left behind and others are sitting there not being challenged. I just think I could make it an amazing experience for him (and later DD).
But I don't know. I'm sure I'm romanticizing it. And DS is a very social kid and I know even if he had issues with the traditional classroom setting (ie, sitting and book learning) he would probably very much enjoy spending the day among his peers. I don't want to rob him of that.
He also really tries my patience and I don't want to end up pulling my hair out, either
I also question my abilities to really teach him everything he needs to learn, so I've thought of only homeschooling through the primary years and then putting him in school at an age when it's a little more appropriate for him to be expected to sit and learn from a book.
There is a wonderful homeschooling co-op in the city. It's too far away for us to be a part of where we're living, but if we moved (which we might, depending on where DH ends up for grad school) then I would feel much more confident pursuing homeschooling. They meet together a few times a week, the kids play sports and put on plays and they can get tutoring from other parents in subjects that their own parent is not proficient in. It sounds like the perfect solution. But I don't know.
Part of me worries that fear will stop me from doing this and I will just end up doing the "normal" thing
I have been going back and forth on this issue. There are no good public schools in Miami, and the charter schools that are really good are primarily the Jr. and Sr. high schools. I have our private school all picked out, but the frugal freddy in me just feels that it is not necessary to spend so much $ for nursery school... Then I argue with myself that the kids start to learn Mandarin (and they will need it for business later in life!) in nursery school, and I don't want my LO to be behind in Kinder or 1st... It's a toss up at this point. I really do not know what to do.
I thought about just getting the pimsleur language series for the LO, but it is not really suited to kids. Oh the joy of parental stress!
There were tons of co-op homeschooling groups where I used to live and I am bummed to not know of any out here in Miami. It is such a great way to socialize homeschooled kids, and get exposure to 'teachers' with varying skill sets. It also takes a lot of the pressure off the parents and gives them some time to compare notes. If I can find a great group out here I may indeed do homeschool until Jr. High. Or I might start one if I can get a group of like-minded parents on board. I'm glad I read your response; it has gotten my mental juices flowing!
Nope. I'm actually a certified, qualified teacher too, and no, I would not homeschool.
ETA: good schools do exactly what you guys are all saying - differentiate learning based on kids' interests - it's called emergent curriculum - stressing play over "academics". If I didn't have decent schools options, then maybe I'd consider it, but it wouldn't be my top choice.
Good schools are supposed to do that stuff. But the elementary teachers here are still teaching to a script and 90 minutes of structured language arts/reading is mandated per day. And the idea of differentiating based on student interest sounds good but it's not really feasible to let EVERY student learn to his/her interests EVERY day because there are too many students.
Absolutely true. Even great teachers have a hard time because of school regulations, budget and time limitations, etc. I think one exception is Montessori schools, which really do allow kids to move at their own pace and focus on their interests, though not all Montessori schools accomplish this.
I'm a trained and qualified Montessori teacher, and plan to homeschool my children as long as possible. I was homeschooled as a child and it just makes so much sense to me to have the children learning exactly at their own pace, from the world instead of in a limited classroom with limited resources. I also agree with a PP about a certain amount of sheltering - it shocks me the things I hear from the 2-6 year old children in my class, and I'd really prefer my child have as little exposure to these behaviors and attitudes as possible. It's actually something I'm thrilled to begin, and I hope I can find other homeschoolers in my area to get together with.
#2 3/2015
#3 3/2017
#4 10/2019
Nope, I want my kids to be around other kids. I know that it is easier to do that if you homeschool and live in a bigger place, where there are options for them to join teams, etc. .. but it's not a possibility for them to have the same interaction that they would get in school living where we do. They would be isolated in our particular situation. (There would only be 10 kids at the most in her grade... and all of them would be in school... so seriously, no interaction/opportunity to meet other kids)
We will enrich the learning and provide lots of opportunity in the summer, on the weekends etc for them to play and explore. And our daycare provider (starting in Sept) is fabulous who shares the same mentality towards play and exploration that I do. In our case, given our locale, homeschooling is not the best option.
That said, if they ever started having teacher's carry guns, that's when I would quit my job and homeschool. That scares the crap out of me!
I disagree. I do it every day. And 90 minutes of reading sounds ideal.