Posted on 08/13/2003 1:13:58 PM PDT by Diva Betsy Ross
It is that time of the year again to decided if you are going to send your child off to public school, or if you are going to take the leap and homeschool. I wanted to start a thread to offer you support and perhaps answer some of your questions about homeschooling by freepers who do homeschool.
Post questions , answers and links helpful to new homeschoolers or curious parents who just want more info about homeschooling.
Best of Luck to all parents and children as we get ready for a new school year!
Chris Davis was at our convention this year. I had some long chats with him. Did you know two of their boys have Cystic Fibrosis? God has really blessed that family and continues to bless them. They could use some prayers. They are all going to Israel in the Fall.
Mr. Davis was a sweet, godly man. He looks like he would be dry and "geeky" almost, but his spirit is so kind and gentle....he has a great sense of humor too.
Then I'd get a math workbook and start to teach him some simple math in order to figure out what his learning style was in math.
Can he learn math by simple instruction, does he need manipulatives to understand the concept, does repetition really help him, is he a visual learner, etc.
Once I got a handle on how he learns math, then I'd find a curriculum that suits his learning style.
We are Catholic homeschoolers--using a "boxed" curriculum - Seton - for most of those years - throwing in some other eclectic-types of methods here and there. Also - the boys have taken "cottage-school" classes outside of the home for a number of years. Some of the classes they have taken outside are Latin, Classical Studies, Chemistry, Logic, and Rhetoric - just to name a few. We are blessed in this area to have a "cottage school" which offers an outstanding Classical Curriculum.
As far as "socialization" goes - well-- our sons have been very involved in many extracurricular activites. To name a few - baseball, tennis, orchestra, scouts, Catholic Youth Groups, KY Youth Right to Life, and several others.No problem in that area--definitely.
Again - it has been a wonderful blessing to be able to homeschool our three sons!!
2-- Your favorite Christmas gift was a gift certificate to a book store.
3-- Your kids think that reading history is best accomplished while lying on the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog.
4-- The principal can give the teacher a pat on the behind and it’s not harassment.
5-- Your kids will actually talk to grown ups at a family gathering and are actually patient with kids half their age.
6-- Your husband can walk in at the end of a long day and tell how the science experiment went just by looking at the house.
7-- Your neighbors think you are insane!
8-- You can take the time to look at a tiny spider on a log.
9-- You can listen to your child’s favorite hilarious passage from Hank the cowdog 47 times.
10-- Your daughter, who is practically a vegetarian, is begging her dad to shoot some starlings so she can pluck them and clean them up to make a “blackbird” pie just like the Ingalls family.
11-- Your kids learn new vocabulary from their extensive collection of Calvin & Hobbes books.
12-- Your formal dining room now has a computer, copy machine and many book shelves and there are educational posters and maps all over the walls.
13-- You have meal worms growing in a container ...on purpose.
14-- You’re almost afraid to put your hand in your purse because you not sure if your 6yo has put something that’s alive (or possibly not alive, but once was) to take home to view under the microscope.
15-- Talking out loud to yourself is a parent/teacher conference.
16-- You have a line item in your budget for overdue book fines.
17-- You take off for a teacher in-service day because the principal needs clean underwear.
18-- You have to add the words: “homeschool, homeschooler, and homeschooling” to your computer’s spell checker so it will stop marking them as wrong.
19--Your house in on the Parade of Homes List - for educational merchandisers.
20--You can’t make it through a movie without pointing out all the historical anachronisms.
21--You step on math manipulatives in your pre-dawn stumble to the bathroom.
22--Your children refer to the neighborhood kids as “government school inmates.” Bahahahaha.....I love this one.
23--You can’t make it through the grocery produce department without asking your pre-schooler the name and color of every eggplant, tomato and carrot.
24--You can’t put your produce in the cart without asking your older student to estimate its weight and verify accuracy.
25--Your closet contains more than three jumpers -
26--When visiting a strange town you see a parking lot full of mini-vans and station wagons and wonder if it’s a homeschooling conference.
27--Your friends don’t want to help you move because you have so many books.
28--Your school clothes have more holes in the knees than your play clothes.
29-- You live in a one-house schoolroom.
This is run by a homeschooling family and are very friendly and helpful. Their inventory runs from Christian to secular institutional textbooks.
My father in law is against homeschooling . I do not care. I told him calmly that my husband and I have decided what is best for our family. I will answer any questions he has and I will listen to any concerns, but bottom line I decide.
Some of the best advice I had was to know exactly why I have decided to homeschool, so when I am confronted by those negative people , not only will it NOT effect me, but I will know what to say.
Not everyone is going to like it or support it. I view myself as a revolutionary, and I am proud of what I am doing. This gives me strength, also knowing I am doing the best for my child. My father in law knows little about putting a child's needs above his own
Here is a quote for you: Just because something is popular does not make it right. Just because something is right does not make it popular. Best of luck to you... freep mail if I can help. You are smart enough, brave enough and entitled to homeschool your own child! You can do it.
National Association of Christian Educators
but my mother-in-law will throw a crying fit! How do you deal with those attitudes?
Learning at Home Home education is the fastest growing alternative to public schooling-and a good one at that.
Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research - Published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford and the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard. A forum on education policy and school reform that includes evidence-based original research, critiques of other research projects, and book reviews. Full text free online.
Education Policy Analysis Archives - A peer-reviewed scholarly electronic journal publishing education policy analysis since 1993.
Dad's are, IMHO, an essential part of the picture: many friends homeschool without dad's help, but it gets hard for the moms when junior approaches teen-hood.
Suggestion: get dad to share his favorite childhood book--shared oral reading--with the lad. Nothing overwhelming. Sit back and watch what happens. Hubbs might become addicted. That's what happened to me, and the homeschooling was very successful....especially because I was involved: there's a discipline/testosteronie thing that kicks in if needed....and it occasionally is.
Finally, just committ to a single year. It's easier to handle at first if you see an escape. (You probably won't want to escape after a couple month's doing the schoolin'.)
Love this site. They have reference books, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry online.
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