{yes, we really store our books like this. }
Can I be honest and say that this is awesome? To receive a message from someone that’s like this is pretty amazing. And flattering. I don’t generally talk much around here about the fact that we homeschool our two boys, but it’s a pretty big part of our life, of course.
To be clear, we’re not diehard people when it comes to homeschooling. I hate to disappoint you if you’re looking for a diatribe of the evils of, I don’t know, public school? You won’t find it here. My husband graduated from public school, and even did those crazy advanced placement classes that led to him taking a nuclear physics test in the 12th grade. Brainiac. I on the other hand, was homeschooled. And yes, I attended college. He claims I’m smarter than him, but I don’t believe it for a minute. I think he has ulterior motives. Maybe. We DO believe that you need to do what best fits the needs of your kids and your family, and what’s going to give your children the best possible education you can offer them. For us right now, that means homeschooling. Private school is cost prohibitive. We tried it. And public schools aren’t a great option where we live. One thing we both believe in very strongly is that the evidence suggests that no matter what avenue you choose for your child’s education, the pivotal ingredient for success is parental involvement.
Dear Leah,
My husband and I are considering homeschooling the girls for kindergarten and are looking over a lot of research and information as we make our decision. I was wondering if you might be open to answering a few questions about your homeschool experience. Please feel free to answer as little or as much as you want.
1) Did you homeschool from the beginning or send your child(ren) to public school and then pull them out to homeschool? We did both. Our oldest son started in private school for preschool and kindergarten, and our youngest started out homeschooling.
2) What are some of your reasons for choosing to homeschool? (I’m also curious as to how much food allergies factored into your decision?) As mentioned above, private school became cost prohibitive, especially when you factor in the cost of a twice daily commute to drop off and pick up in addition to tuition costs. And yes, for our youngest, who has a severe peanut allergy, allergies did factor into our decision. We’ve found that though things are getting much better, people are very uneducated on how dangerous anaphilactic reactions are and don’t really understand that a peanut butter sandwich really can kill him. It’s not a joke, or us being paranoid. In fact, we see news reports every couple of months related to children being given foods they can’t have, and yes, dying. Even when epinephrine is administered. When he was younger, it was tougher for him to explain this to adults without feeling really self conscious. Thankfully, that’s changed.
3) What are some ideas that have helped you to have a successful homeschool experience? Anything that did/didn’t work and you wished you would have done differently? I would say the biggest thing that has contributed to our success is discipline. I know. It’s not fun, but it gets stressful for us only is we haven’t been disciplined in keeping up with our studies. This usually only happens when the kids have had to take more sick days than we planned. See further into the post for more details.
4) What curriculum(s) do you recommend? Or not recommend?
First of all, this has to be something that you’ll have to do leg work on for yourself. Needs of every kid are different, and you have to choose according to your child’s needs, and that’s actually a perk of homeschooling. We love Bob Jones University Press for all of our subjects except for math. They tie together concepts over multiple subjects to give the kids a more complete understanding. They are advanced across the board in all subject areas (except for math), and with their constant updates to the curriculum, they keep up with the times. They also have a strong emphasis on deductive reasoning and logic that focuses on interpreting data and information. Which is a totally important life skill. For example: our sixth grader just read an excerpt from Swiss Family Robinson, and has had a strong emphasis on character and story/plot development analysis this year. For history, he’s studying ancient civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Chinese cultures so far. Spelling has had an emphasis on etymology starting to identify roots from Greek and Latin that are common in the English language. For English, his current assignment is a research paper on a geographic landmark using sources found on the internet. Pretty cool stuff, honestly. And it even has me excited to help him out on the daily.
For Math, we choose to use Saxon Homeschool. Unlike many math curriculums that choose to introduce a concept, have you do a ton of work on that one thing, then move on to the next, Saxon uses a “spiral” approach. They introduce a new concept, and will have, maybe ten problems related to the lesson. Then, thirty problems that cherry pick from all of the concepts you’ve covered this year so far. You’re constantly going back and readdressing the new concepts so they become easier all the time and stay fresh in your memory. The younger kids have a manipulatives set and a lot less work problems. I totally recommend investing in the set, because they use it through grade 3. And the kids love it. And that’s the whole goal of homeschooling. Great education, lifelong love of learning.
But guess what? Everyone has different needs, and chooses differently for their family. I’m sorry there’s not an easy answer for this. Our state even offers online classes through their public school system now…
5) Are you part of a homeschool co-op? What do you like/dislike about this experience? No. We have chosen not to become involved in a local co-op. But I know people who are and they love them.
6) Do you have your child(ren) dual enrolled in the public school? No. Though this is something to consider depending on the area you live in, especially for upper grades, and how cool your district superintendent is with homeschooling. It could totally be an awesome experience.
7) Do you have your children involved in activities outside of homeschooling? Extracurricular, enrichment classes, etc.? Yes. Right now our kids attend a certified PE program one afternoon per week. They love hanging out with the other kids, and mom gets an afternoon off. They do all kinds of cool things like a track and field meet that they train for each year. They’re also involved in AWANA. Our oldest even trained for and participated in their Bible Quiz team for a couple of years. We generally stick with “one sport, one academic” for extra curricular stuff. There are so many options around here, we’d be constantly running in circles trying to keep up with it all if we didn’t set limits. Drama classes, cooking classes, art classes (we pick these up occasionally for fun), geography bees, etc. It’s over the top.
8) What ideas do you have for keeping yourself on task, improving yourself as a teacher, etc.?
~ Set a schedule. But not a strict one. Yes, each morning we start at 8am. BUT, they’re allowed to sit down and choose which subject they want to start with. I really don’t care what order they do their studies in for the day, as long as they get done. This gives them a little bit of control and flexibility. We have adjusted our schedule this year to reflect the oldest doing tougher subjects and needing more one on one time. We work through lessons for 1 – 1-1/2 hours together, and then he works independently on the assignments for the lessons while I do the lesson work with our youngest.
~ Lesson planning is easier than people make it out to be. Core subjects like math, reading and English have to be done every day. Spelling and handwriting are done each day, but usually only require a few minutes. Science and history are usually 2-3 times per week. We rotate the days that we do those on: two days science, two days history. At the end of the year, everything is done, generally on a 36 week schedule.
~ During school hours when the boys were little, we talked about putting on our “student and teacher caps” respectively. During school hours, I’m not your mommy. I’m your teacher. And you are to listen and be respectful, or you face consequences, like loss of privileges or having a chat with dad (our principle). I don’t have to talk about “caps” any more, but every once in a while, they might need a reminder that I’m not mom, I’m their teacher during school hours, and they can be sent to the principle.
~ Follow the three school rules:
1.) Work hard and focus.
2.) Have a good attitude.
3.) Do your best.
We don’t expect them to understand everything the first time we talk about it in a lesson, or there wouldn’t be a need for school. Learning is a process. But they are expected to keep a good attitude. Sometimes, if they’re struggling with something we try to approach the idea from different angles, or just take a break. The important thing is to work hard and keep talking. And sometimes dad chips in if they need help in subjects like science and math. Because he’s stronger in those subjects and can also offer a fresh perspective. As a teacher, it’s just important to stay patient.
When they were little, we kept a chart, and if they met all three rules, they earned a star for the day. A certain number of stars meant that they earned their allotted video game time. They are currently allowed two hours, two days per week, but it is a privilege and has to be earned by working hard on their studies. Sounds harsh, but honestly, they’ve gotten into some really awesome things because we encourage creative play. Like computer programming, story writing, and movie making.
9) Especially for the early years, what does your schedule look like each day? How do manage your business at the same as homeschooling? I admire you so much! Well, gosh. Thanks! I think the fact that we homeschool actually helps with being able to juggle both.
Typically, studies only take a few hours per day. Now that the oldest is in 6th grade, he typically takes 4-5 hours per day and is usually done around 1pm or so. We put a lot of emphasis on independence around here. When the boys were smaller, we made sure they knew that we, as parents, are not their primary playmate, even though we love playing with them. Now that they’re older, we work together for several hours per day on studies, and then they are free for the day. Well, almost. They are required to do 30 minutes of independent reading, their chores, check in on work they need to do for their activities, and engage in some type of creative play. This gives me afternoons free to work on business related work.
10) Do you give yourself some grace in times of illness, weather, etc.? Yes. Part of the awesome thing about homeschooling is flexibility. We periodically check in on where we’re at in our studies vs. where we need to be (most of the time this involves checking how many lessons are in the subject total, and figuring out our halfway point. Then we see how this corresponds to our time during the year.) We take sick days, but generally not for weather. We’re home so it doesn’t matter what the weather is like outside. We do take time for travel, though! We have family in the Midwest that we travel to see twice per year, and we take time off for that. Generally, we’re not taking the same days off that the public schools are for quarterly teacher’s conferences and breaks, so it all works out. Occasionally we will double up on a lesson here and there to catch up a bit if we need to!
11) Any other comments, advice, etc? Be sure to check in with your state as to what their laws are regarding homeschooling. This is important because it will affect how you do things. Our current state of residence is very flexible, but some states are stricter. We have absolutely nothing to hide as homeschoolers, and it’s important to us that we comply with all of the laws of our state. That may mean that you’re required to do quarterly or annual evaluations with a teacher, turn in lesson plans, or take standardized tests.
Both of our boys are registered with the school district as homeschoolers, and each year we meet with a supervising teacher that evaluates their progress one of two ways: either by administering a standardized test with a large group of other homeschoolers (starting in third grade), or looking over a portfolio of their work for the year and chatting with them about what they’ve learned. All of this is in compliance with our state’s laws, but as parents, we’re totally awesome with this. Because we understand that it’s important for outside, qualified people that we trust to evaluate our boys’ progress and offer us honest feedback. Our supervising teacher rocks. And she’s a great source for resources like curriculum, activities, events, and general critique on their progress. So, yeah – check in with people on a supervising teacher if your state requires that and be sure that he or she is someone that you connect with and agree with on as far as goals and direction.
My other advice is to try not to over-think things. Hey, try it. It doesn’t work for everyone. Be ok with making changes and adjustments. If your child doesn’t vibe with a certain curriculum, try switching. The books we use are too intense for some, and others say they’re not enough.
Oh, and we don’t really get into the overachiever thing. You’ll find it everywhere, so it’s important to not compare yourself to others. You know. The mom who hosts the geography bee at her local co-op/homeschool group and has her kids involved in every possible activity under the sun. Nope. That’s not us. If our kids are getting a good education (as determined by an outside source that’s evaluating them on progress), are happy, growing, learning life skills, etc., um, we’re good.
And no, our kids aren’t socially stunted. Ha! They play well with other kids their age, stand up to bullies, and are awesomely open to multicultural backgrounds and ideas. In some ways, I’m happy that they’ve missed out on some of the social pressures that kids face from their peers these days. And I love that we have fostered a place where, when our kids run into weird stuff like that (and yes, it’s actually cool that they think that’s weird and NOT normal), they actually come to us and talk about it. Yeah, you heard me. Our son has told me about cliques, and losing friends, feeling left out, and standing up for other kids that are different. And we talk about it. And I can assure him that it’s not always easy, but it’s important to be open to making new friends, and we can reassure him that we went through the same things and it’s ok.
So, we’re pretty normal. Our kids are pretty normal. They love sports and video games, movies and hanging out. And oh, yeah, we homeschool.
If you have questions that I can maybe help you answer, please feel free to comment. Or even if you just found this helpful, I’d love to know, so I can continue to offer writing here that helps you and others out.
Irma says
Thanks for an informative article Leah! We public school both of our boys, and then I supplement daily 1 hr. homework. I’m too undisciplined, have difficulty sticking to a schedule as to not let other matters take precedence to make home-schooling a reality. I’m in awe of families that are able to accomplish this.
My kids act completely different in school than at home (more quiet and receptive to listening), so no ‘teacher hat’ or ‘mommy hat’ persuasion would change that π
You hit the nail on the head that no matter what your decision: home-schooling or public schools, what matters most is parental involvement! Yes!
admin says
I’m so glad you found it informative! ^_^
Jill says
Leah – thank you so much for your thoughtful, insightful responses! I love what you had to say about your kids missing out on social pressures = good stuff! Thank you for explaining what you love about your curriculum choices.
admin says
You’re so welcome!! I’m happy to help out if I can! π
admin says
Also, I know I didn’t go in to morning routine much, but seriously, when they’re young I only had to do a couple of hours of work with them. π