Homeschool Help

There is not a day that goes by in our home when we are not learning.  Even Saturday and Sunday offer a chance to learn, grow and experience.  I’ve tried keeping up with days that we do school, but it is so much easier to keep up with the days that we DON’T do school – and takes up less time.

Each child does keep several spiral notebooks where they can add paperwork, artwork and other tasks that they have completed.  The rule is always to date the papers but like many rules it is not always followed.  We have periods where every day is accounted for and some where there are just lots of nice projects piled together.

The great thing about the notebooks is that it gives the children a chance to show off their work to grandparents and others.  It also gives them a chance to look back at what they have accomplished over the years.

But I’m thinking it is time for more.

This year our family began using the ACE curriculum for all of our school work.  We were just shy of signing up for the actually accredited program, but decided to give the material a chance first.  The boys don’t LOVE it but they are tolerating it well.  Now there is something more concrete to stick in the notebooks.

Some people I know keep a grade book where grades from all papers, projects and tests are recorded – just like in school.  I can understand the need for this method to some extent, but I think it is a little overkill.  Just having a record of what has been done (in the form of completed work) and what is being done are enough records for our house to worry about.

What do you think about records?  And how do you keep them?

The thing to remember is that part of homeschooling is learning as you go.  This year might be different from next year and this child might be different from the next.  Work out what you are comfortable doing (and what is acceptable through your cover school or local laws) and you will be much more satisfied with your homeschool experience.

One child is in the dining room, one is in the family room and the youngest is in the hall shouting “fire in the hole” as he shoots his toy car off  – they are each doing something different and seem to have to tell me about it all the time or at least making some type of noise to accompany the work.  Add to that the noise from the washer and dryer and my poor husband trying to focus amid the noise and it is almost comical.

This is my day – most every day (except for the laundry, we have that scheduled for Monday and Thursday).  Some people would walk in and consider it chaotic.  My husband, who left a public school position last year, is one of those.  It is hard to see the method for the madness!

If you ask the boys what they are learning, they might say nothing.  Sometimes something will interest them enough that they will share, but usually they just do their work and go on.  But I know they are learning.  I can tell when they use the information from their lessons in ordinary life without realizing it.  Their Sunday school teachers tell me how the boys share information that goes along with the lesson.

The chaos is not always bad.  Most days I can still focus enough to get through a couple of blog posts or articles.  Some days I am just happy to get through.  But I wouldn’t trade it for the world – on those days when I get something done .

My friend, Mara, and I are in charge of activities and field trips in our region for our cover school.  We have been kicking around different ideas of things that we want to do, and it is taking us a little time to figure out the best way to plan and organize the trips.

1.      Don’t over plan.  It will be frustrating if only a few people show up for the events that you plan.  Start small and you will have less stress and probably a better turn out.

2.      Get a buddy.  There is no way to plan for the unexpected, but having a partner that helps set up and plan the activities will help.  If one person can’t make it then there is another person that knows the in’s and out’s of the plans.

3.      Watch the dollar signs.  It may be tough financially for the country today but it is tough for homeschoolers all the time.  The more free activities that you can plan for field trips then the happier the homeschool parents will be.

4.      Talk to your community.  Visit the town hall, the local paper, the police station or fire station or any of the businesses or offices that might be of interest to the homeschool group.  We’ve been to the paper, the radio station and the fire station.  It is always amazing at the number of people that have never experienced any of these before.

5.      Be on time.  Even if no one else shows up on time the coordinator should – and be early if possible.  It gives you a chance to confirm your plans and also lets you great any new homeschoolers that may participate.

Planning field trips is not as difficult as it may seem.  Find something that you and your family want to do and then invite other families to join you.  Before you know it you will be a field trip pro.

There are moments in the day when I panic and start to think that I am ruining the lives of my children.  Is it possible that I am actually qualified to teach them all the lessons they need to know to succeed in life?  Having family members that question the amount of work that the children do and also how we do our school does not help my panic attacks.

This morning I received a wonderful breath of fresh air in the form of an email.  It contained an article called “What’s Your Platform” by Karen Lange.  She talks about finding your own way of doing school at home and not being forced into a mindset by others.  The article reminded me that things will be okay and that each child will be different and that YES I am qualified to help prepare my children for life.

In my heart of hearts I knew all along that the choices we have made for our family, our children and their education are the right ones.  The memories that the children are forming and the lessons that they are learning go well beyond any thing that can be learned in a book.

My Sister-in-law keeps a family blog so the relatives on the other side of the country can keep up to date with their lives.  It’s a very sweet gesture, and I love seeing my niece and nephew (and even their parents) even if it is only pictures.

The latest photos have been of my niece going to preschool.  It puts that same knot in my stomach that I get when the kids on the sports teams all know each other from school and my boys are the odd men out.

Is something missing in their lives because I’m choosing to homeschool them?

If you were to ask me this question on most any day at any time, I would say no!   In fact, they gain so much from being home schooled that there is really no comparison.  How many kids got up at the crack of dawn to watch the space station fly over?  How many get to spend the morning working in the garden with their grandfather?  There really is nothing better for any child (or parent) than homeschooling.  I firmly believe that.

But there is a moment when I can’t help but wonder if it really is fair to the boys.  Are they missing out on life time friendships because I have kept them out of classes with the same people for 12 years?  Seeing pictures of my niece and how much fun she is having does make me wonder – even if only for a second.

Deciding to homeschool can be a hard choice for the parents.  It is completely sacrificial to give up all of your free time to be with the children.  But the truth is that there may be some sacrifice for the children as well.  Granted, the best friendships I had growing up were mostly made outside of the school (with kids in the neighborhood), but even those friends are rarely seen or heard from these days.

There are pros and cons to every decision that we make in life.  As for homeschooling, there is no doubt that the pros of positive instruction, family bonding, and spiritual and emotional lessons far outweigh anything the “organized” educational system can offer.

The next time my SIL posts on the blog, I’ll be sure to stop in this blog and remind myself of where we are and where we are going as a family.

My children love sports and I love to let them participate.  Right now they are young enough that the only team sports available are through the local recreation departments.  But they are growing up fast.  In just a few more years, the only sports that will be open will be through the local schools.

Currently, there is a move in Alabama to allow homeschooled children to participate in extracurricular activities through the public school system.  Tim Tebow has helped this cause because he was homeschooled but participated in public sports.  Still, I can’t help but wonder is this is the answer we are looking for.

1.      Technically there is no homeschooling in Alabama.  We are “church schooled.”  There for our activities should come through our school system.

2.      There are more than enough homeschool students in any community to form organized teams if we would all just quit hiding in the bushes.

3.      Public school kids are exposed to different attitudes, elements, and ideas than most homeschooled kids and they WILL out number the homeschoolers on a given team.

Instead of looking to the government to fit our needs, there has to be a way that we can do that as a group.  Maybe a church in each district could sponsor a homeschool cover and that cover could sponsor sports teams, debate teams, and even drama teams.

There is a lot out there that homeschoolers are missing because we aren’t coming together.  Although I still have a few years before a decision has to be made, it is something that I think about almost every day.

There are times when I worry that maybe I’m not teaching my children enough.  The parents around me talk about the hours they spend “doing school” while our family is through before many of them get up.  It doesn’t help when I read about children getting college degrees at the ripe ole age of 10 (my oldest is 11).

The easy way out of this is to send them to real school and let the teachers and administrators figure it all out.  The social acceptable thing to do is to give the power to someone else.  The RIGHT thing for our family is to trust my instincts and not be concerned about what “they” are doing.

All of my children are learning.  Could they be learning more and faster?  They certainly could.  Would they be able to play outside, make up brier clubs, and build weed forts?  There probably wouldn’t be time for all of that non-sense. 

Which way is best?  It all comes back to personal needs and desires.  If the child wants to push and study and graduate college at 10 then more power to her.  If the child wants to learn a little and play a lot then there is nothing wrong with that.

I will continue to give my children a small amount of “school work” and instead focus on the life lessons.  We do our reading, writing, and math first thing in the morning and spend the rest of the day planting a garden, clearing the land, and doing puzzles.

They may not graduate college before they can drive, but they will have amazing memories of the times we spent together and that’s worth more than all the college degrees in the world.

Several years ago, I called into a talk radio show to answer a question the host was asking.  During the conversation, I said that I home schooled my children.  The next caller said he felt sorry for my kids because I was stifling their imagination.

That conversation is one that I relive on a fairly regular basis.  Right now, my oldest son is using old soda boxes to fabricate a costume (Cardboard Man) and the middle child is building a domino structure complete with Lego ramps.  This is one of the days that I smile at the thought of my kids not having an imagination.

It’s not the first time that I dealt with a prejudice towards homeschooling, nor do I think it will be the last time.  People have heard the few horror stories about homeschoolers (or any group for that matter) and that’s all that they see.  The press doesn’t swarm all over the good stories.  Even the positive press that the Duggars are getting is almost in a mocking tone.

When other people are putting you down it can be easy to get discouraged or even misdirected from doing the things you know you should be doing.  That is why it is important to surround yourself with other people who will lift you up and carry you when “they” beat you down.

That talk show is now off the air – which is just fine with me.  I’m sure that the person who thought my children were deprived still prays for their release from homeschooling prison – and he can keep praying until the cows come home.  As for me, I learned long ago that going against what “they” have to say can be a fun and exciting adventure.  I’m not about to stop now.

After spending the day at a curriculum fair, I have come to the conclusion that there is no perfect curriculum available today.  There are some amazing ones on the market – some of them even come with a script so that you don’t have to think about what you are teaching – but because every child is different and every year is different then none of the curriculums will ever be perfect.

Sonlight is a nice package with lots of reading, which is one of the fundamental learning activities my husband and I want the kids to use daily.  There is a LOT of books in each program, which might be a problem for those of us with little (or no) storage space.

Alpha Omega has some pretty layouts, and its programs cover every subject under the sun.  The subjects are set up in five day periods, but it seems easy enough to adjust them if you dance to the beat of a different drummer.  It is a Christian based curriculum and the company offers print and computer based programs.

Abeka is another large, Christian based curriculum company.  It is labor intensive, so probably not the best route for the freeschooler or unschooler.  It is widely used in the Church schools and some private schools in our area.

These are just three of the major curriculum companies that were represented at the fair.  What I found was that, for the most part, the curriculum is the same.  Some of the books were colored.  Some of the books came in hard back.  Some of the books came with teacher’s manuals.  Most of what I read was similar to what I have been doing with the kids all along – only using the internet and the library for my source work.

Do you have a favorite curriculum?  Is there something that you just couldn’t live without?  Share some of your favorite items with those of us who are curriculum challenged.

In Alabama, homeschool is whispered about like the names of diseases were in your grandmother’s generation. People are afraid that they may catch it (or maybe get caught). At least, that is the way it feels most days.

Even with the inclination to hide, I am determined to draw out homeschoolers and form a real community of support, opportunities, and shared resources. Some of my ideas are tried and tested methods for forming groups. Some of them are wishful thinking. All of them will probably have to be twisted and tweaked to get the results I’m after.

1. Have a play day once a month at a near by park. I can schedule the time for my own children and then if other families don’t make it I won’t be so disappointed. I will post the times on forums, chat rooms, and yahoo groups.

2. Find a building that can be rented by or maybe given to the group for activities. While using homes is great, some people are comfortable in that situation. A neutral location would be best.

3. Meet with other parents who want to start a community. Form a “club” or organization. Put together bylaws and formulate a plan. Elect or appoint officers. This gets you just a few filed papers away from being a 501-c corporation.

4. Open a checking account to hold funds for group activities (like rental costs). This may require that you actually incorporate your group, but that is not usually that expensive.

5. Don’t wait for other people to join in before making a go of it. Just start doing things, inviting people, and making contacts. The rest will happen – EVENTUALLY. Whatever else happens, never give up and never surrender.

I may not have found success yet in forming a homeschool group in my area. Even failure can’t stop me. I’ll try something new, something different, and maybe even something completely unexpected to get me to where I want to be.

What are the best suggestions you have for getting homeschoolers together?