Homeschooling, anyone?

Was homeschooled my entire life. All I can say is that it's easy to screw up. My advice to parents considering it: Be prepared to either commit 100%, or not do it at all, because anything in-between will fail.

I can't really go into detail, because I've had my one all-consuming rage-of-the-day already today.

<Raises> I just joined the group a couple of weeks ago (this is my first post) and I homeschool my almost 8DS. We are unschooling with training wheels, as we live in a moderately restricted state. Nice to meet ya! :D[/i]

Hi!
Fekket - I would love to hear your experiences (if it is not too painful.) Maybe you could help me avoid some mistakes! My husband I are older parents and are both working part-time in education. While we are committed to giving our daughter a good education, we may misconstrue what that means. I would love to hear a younger person's views on this.

Aleiya - Nice to meet another homeschooler! DD was in a private school until this school year. There were a lot of reasons we decided to homeschool - finances, less stress for her, and (we hope) more learning - as well as knowing a number of terrific kids who are being homeschooled. We have been in the de-schooling mode so far, just letting her explore her own interests. She tends to read and draw for a couple of hours in the morning, attend a class or two in the afternoon, and we read together, play games, do crafts etc. in the evenings. We also spend a lot of time hiking.

She's been learning how to do those things (mostly motor skills) they didn't focus on at her school - jump rope, ride a bike (not there yet), do a jigsaw puzzle, knit, walk on a balance beam (a very tough one for her.) We're also working hard on behavior issues - getting along with other people, manners - I'm afraid school did her a disservice there.

She is enrolled in a number of dance classes, as we have an excellent program just a block from our house. She is more interested in being with the other girls than in dance, though she loves Irish dance. She is in a monthly nature studies program, weekly gymnastics, swimming, and a fun science course (we call it "learning by blowing things up.") She is also in a homeschool Girl Scouts group.

I haven't read a lot about unschooling, though we ourselves are not following any particular curriculum and our daily "lessons" only take about twenty minutes. We are working on cursive, which she wanted to learn, and math. I have been kind of letting her math slide, as she was at a school for gifted kids and far ahead of her grade level. But I do feel that as she has a gift for math it shouldn't go to waste, and we are going to give Kumon a try. She really enjoyed math in school, though she has been resisting it at home. I'm not sure whether to just let it go or really push the Kumon. We'll see how it goes.

My husband and I disagree about the amount of screen time she should have - I'm willing to throw out the TV, but he feels that there is a lot to learn from educational videos and that there is nothing wrong in watching a movie to relax (we don't get any broadcast or cable TV, just videos from our excellent library.) What do you think about TV? We've also kept her off the computer so far, but she is getting to the age where it might be a useful learning tool...

We live in California, where you can do just about anything you like in terms of schooling. I would love to hear your thoughts on unschooling.

Is your daughter an only child? I don't know any other homeschoolers with an only and would love to talk about the issues that brings up.

Thank you both for your replies!

oops - just saw you had a ds, not a dd! Sorry for the mistake.

One thing I definitely want to educate you about is high school credit. If I understand correctly, a homeschooler cannot get a high school diploma without being accredited by an official high school (whether online, through correspondence, or at an actual private/public school).

(There's the obvious option of taking the GED at a later point, which I've had to go through recently. However, I've been told that it doesn't look nearly as good on a résumé, and in my case, was degrading in that it implied that I had failed somehow. I might have been reading too much into it, though.)

There are many options for accreditation, and as far as I know, you only have to mess with it when you get to high school (grades 9-12, in America). However, you might want to ask around at your local school administration building first.

Whatever you do, don't assume anything. Even if you research the laws before getting started, know that laws change. Story time:

My dad was sure that anyone can drop out of school at age sixteen, and therefore didn't even bother to register my brother as a homeschooler (an annual requirement in an otherwise extremely liberal state) in grades eleven and twelve. As it turns out, the law had been recently changed to stop dropouts under the age of eighteen; ergo, for the past two years, my brother has been a truant. Luckily, he and Dad didn't get into any trouble because of it, but I think it's a great example of what a good idea it is to remain up-to-date on your local and federal homeschooling requirements.

So there's one facet of good homeschooling: Know the law. Next time on Fekket's Tips for Not Failing: Homeschooling Edition, I'll talk about social interaction, the one thing everybody always FREAKING brings up, as if it's the only flaw. I figure it needs to be addressed, at least in passing.

LOL....I won't tell my son about your mistake! :P

I am loving unschooling...so far. We just began a couple of months ago. This is our second year of HSing and it was causing too much stress. I was constantly researching curriculum and printing out worksheets and schedules all in an effort to "prove" that I was HSing according to the laws in our state. My DS would do each worksheet and then promptly forget what he was taught. Our home became a battleground, with no victors. I began thinking about my youth and how much I hated busy work. Here I was, doing the same to my son. I remembered how much I loved libraries....and how I could spend all day there if left on my own. I thought back on how much I learned.....without a teacher assigning me work. So, after much breathing (more like hyperventilation), I set aside his curriculum. I asked him what he wanted to learn about. His response was Everything.

So, Everything, is what we are doing. We go to the library and visit museums. We read and discuss. We are exploring the universe, one day at a time. As for the state and their requirements, I am keeping a reading list and a learning log. Once or twice a month, I print off some worksheets covering all the subjects for him to complete. I use these as our written proof for our portfolio review. I like to call what we are doing "Zen Schooling".

To answer some of your questions....DS is an only child. I was worried about him getting lonely but living on a military base it hasn't been an issue. As soon as the warm weather hits, we have boys running around our house with my hubby joining in. :D
As for the TV, I am an avid fan. We have cable and record many educational (and not so educational) shows all the time. My son is a visual learner. I don't restrict his TV or computer time. He'll turn on cartoons in the morning but will quickly loose interest and will look for something else to do. I keep a closet stocked full of educational activities. By the time I get done in the bathroom, my living room is littered with some new experiment which I have to cross like a obstacle course to get to my coffee. :roll: