Reasons Why You Should Not Homeschool

I have given this alot of thought and I realize that homeschooling is NOT for everyone. As much as I believe that most people could homeschool the hell out of their beloved family I realize that it is not the right choice for some people for some very important reasons.

Here are the reasons that I have come up with.  PLEASE FEEL FREE to add to my list.

1. If you simply adore the selling of the pizza, gift wrap, nuts, cookies, posters, holiday cards, and other fund raisers, you should not homeschool.  If going door-to-door, taking the order form to work, and delivering in the dead of winter is a bright part of your year, I would hate for you to miss out!
2. If you enjoy making the same lunch look different each morning, you might miss that if you homeschool. I mean, who doesn't want to make smiley faces with apple slices, raisins, and peanut butter sandwiches?!
3. If you whole heartedly agree with recent decision that pizza is, in fact, a vegetable, then please don't homeschool! We like to lump VEGETABLES in the vegetable group.
4. If your children love the school breakfasts too, yum.
5. If you sincerely love the morning round-up of the carpool,
6. If  your children love the fun of the school bus, including the kids at the back of the bus,
7. If you and your children love the rules of the school system that guide your every move, you should not homeschool.
8. If you enjoy handing the reins of your child over to a teacher who is holding 29 other sets of reins...for over six hours a day,
9. If you love that early morning WAKE UP routine,
10. If you enjoy the parent/teacher conferences where your child's teacher shares successes and goals with you and decides what is important in your child's learning career,
11. If it is OK with you that  your teacher knows more about your child's day than you do,
12. If your child enjoys being a "Wallflower", "Bully", "Brain", or any other label, 
13. If you think that being bullied prepares a child for life,
14. If you think a classroom full of 26 other ten-year-olds is "an environment conducive to learning",
15. If you don't mind paying for school pictures, supplies, new clothes, books, Kleenex for the teacher, valentines, art fee, 
16. If you don't mind your son coming home telling you that Josh's brother told Josh where babies come from that Josh shared that nugget with your son,
17. If you think your child will learn best from his seat,
18. If you have a problem with books on your kitchen table, under the bed, on wall-spanning bookshelves, and every other level space in the house,
19. If you enjoy the past-bedtime freak out of not having the project done for tomorrow,
20. Or the two hours of homework each night,
21. Or if you enjoy your kids having to check with their friends before they can make up their own minds,
22. If you enjoy drilling a sobbing child in multiplication tables,
23. If you don't mind your child being around "the seven deadly words" each day,
24. Or the depression of the Friday spelling test,
25. If you have a problem with the grocery story lady asking "are the kids off of school today?",
26. If you prefer having your kids SOMEWHERE ELSE,
27. If you don't mind the forgotten lunch, back pack, permission slip,
28. If you dislike rainy days in pajamas and reading books together,
29. or if you simply don't like them then you probably shouldn't homeschool.

Look, I admit that a bit of this is tongue-in-cheek and I have many public schooled kids that I ADORE.
But don't miss my point:

YOU CAN DO IT! 

It will be different and it will not look like school

and you CAN do it!

In Retrospect...Considering Homeschool

considering homeschool

I was just about to read a blog post by another homeschooling parent, a post called Beginning Homeschooling:  What I Wish I Had  Done Differently. I love the idea of that post. So, I didn't read it. Instead I came here to post my own thoughts on the matter before reading her thoughts. 

We have homeschooled from almost the beginning. My 14 year old daughter had a year of preschool and half a year of kindergarten. She also has had a few sporadic forays into public education for a variety of reasons, all of which lasted very brief periods of time. My 11 year old son has never been in school at all. He has never expressed the slightest interest in going to school.
So we have homeschooled from the start; we had no transitional time from public school to homeschool. Not really.

It's a difficult concept to consider and I'm not even sure how useful the thought is to another family. Homeschooling experiences are so unique and so diverse.
What would I change, having started homeschooling from the first?

• I'm not sure it is actually possible, but I wish I could have relaxed in that first year. I was a nervous wreck, though I was certain we were on the right road.
• I would have been less defensive with people in the beginning.  But, again, you live and you learn. Maybe I had to earn the wisdom that comes from years of homeschooling.
• I would have spent less money. I am a book lover so I probably would still spend money on my library, but, probably, far less on texts and workbooks that were never used. Also, less on stuff I thought I needed to do.
• I would worry less about written work. The type of work whose sole purpose is to determine if my child comprehended the work or not. I would trust in the learning process without the constant need for testing it. Again, I probably needed to learn that one too.
•  I like to think I would have felt more confident about my instincts. I often have these feelings that I need to try one thing and to let go of another. I can think of a time or two where it took me a fairly long time to trust that instinct. It has to do with trusting myself, trusting my children, and trusting the learning process. Maybe, again, I had to experience those times in order to learn from them.

Overall, my experience seems to be that I needed to learn how beautiful and natural the process of learning actually is. It took me quite a long time to get out of my "school-y" head and to not apply that same method of study to our homeschool life together. Many times I have gone back on past subjects and tested the kids and they have looked at me like I have lost my mind. They can't possibly know the fear the comes from being a parent! Anyway, it turns out that they always know and they always remember and they have often made connections between seemingly divergent points. They don't keep subject matter compartmentalized as I did:  this is Science, this is Math, this is History, this is Art. Instead, they see the world as a complex and interconnected place. I love seeing that they truly ARE learning daily and making sense of the world as we go.

I am happy that we have often taken lots of time "off" and gone out to play, explore, experience the world. We have done many projects, games, and activities together. We have created our own things to play with and have used them in many ways. We have spent hours on board games, puzzles, putting on shows, dressing up, pretending, and just hanging out and laughing. I think we got that part RIGHT!

That's a good question: what else have we gotten right?

I have changed materials fairly quickly when we didn't care for them. I have responded to the kids' suggestions for areas of study or exploration. I have encouraged the kids to follow their bliss with activities. I have gone out of my way again and again in following their bliss. Perfection is unnecessary. Mistakes are wonderful ways to learn. We appreciate the flexibility. We take vacations on "off" times. We travel as much as possible. I have stayed up late with one child and gotten up early with the other one in order to have excellent and extensive one-on-one time with each child. Times I cherish so much. We have put aside the books and learned from many other sources, people, websites, locations, events, and points of view. We have made friends from as many different strata as possible, with wonderful results! We have not lingered in painful friendships unnecessarily. We have worked on cold and rainy days and taken breathtakingly beautiful days OFF. We have rushed forward in textbooks when the interest and ability were there and we have lagged behind in others when the interest and ability were not there. We have valued quality over quantity. We have made efforts to create learning experiences for our friends and co-homeschoolers by sharing our talents and interests. We have worked on character and ethics and citizenship frequently and continually. And we have studied hard whenever we were able to buckle down and focus.

I think we have done great. And we continue to revisit our methodology and subject matter regularly to make sure we are still on the right track and doing what makes sense in the ways that work. Homeschooling my children is one of the greatest joys of my life.

So, if you are thinking about starting homeschooling soon, or if you are researching, maybe these thoughts will help you.

My main advice:  

TRUST IN THE LEARNING INSTINCT 

TRUST YOURSELF

TRUST YOUR CHILDREN!

What advice would you give to someone considering homeschooling?

English 1

Getting a special book as a gift

One day my daughter, The Doctor, and I were reading a novel together and talking about the book. You know, analyzing it and whatnot. It occurred to me that this would be alot more fun if other people were in the discussion too.
Our homeschool co op class English 1 was born.

I offered it as a class to our co op and it went over well! We are reading novels, plays, poetry, Shakespeare, and prose. We are writing poetry, paragraphs, five-paragraph essays, journal entries, personal blog posts, and, eventually, the two-page essay. The class has become a wonderful part of each week.
 
On Wednesdays, the kids tromp over and hang out. When class begins, we have a short writing prompt for our journals. Then we have a lesson in grammar, writing, analysis, or other types of lessons. We read poetry in class, public speaking, and reading our journals.

We have also had "film nights" when we have read books that have been made into movies. These are pretty fun and include alot of hanging out, loud laughter, interested comments, and a more full understanding of the story. Our first film night was the Franco Zerrirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet.

AND WE TALK ABOUT LITERATURE!
It is a great group of kids who are, mostly, involved, prepared, and engaged.

One neat thing we did was this. Everyone in the class went to www.blogger.com and started their own blogs for middle-of-the-week lessons. The blogs are each unique and express each person in their own distinctive way. One girl designed her blog to look like pie! Another boy has penguins all over his blog, including sound! Some of the titles are extremely clever and the designs are ingenious!  Hockey, writing, horse riding, playgrounds, funny titles, pictures, captions.  It's fantastic to see their creativity!

Using this venue, I can comment on assigned work and offer personalized suggestions for further skills work or just work for the fun of it. The blog idea is a cool one because the kids have become better at organizing their writing as well as designing their own personal writing space. The blog is, at this point, private, between each student, their parents, and me.


I give activities for reading and writing during the week and they post this work on their blog. From these posts, the kids get very individualized critique from me AND a pretty neat way to express themselves in their own unique ways! Using the blog, I can give extra work through the week and each student can work on writing ideas unique to their own goals. Also, many of the kids write extra stuff on their own and offer it to me to read on their blogs. It's a real honor to have such work shared with me.

Coming in a few weeks, I'm offering a writing workshop for kids from this group and other teens or adults as well. We will do some fun writing activities and games.


Because the common wisdom is:  If you want to learn how to write, you have to WRITE!

This class is one of those activities that give our homeschool experience such meaning. We created it, carried it out, and offered it to others. I enjoy having the kids grow, try their wings, and offer glimpses of their genius!

The kids enjoy it so much, they have added a second part to the class that begins in February. They have added One Acts, as an activity class where the participants will write, produce, and put on their own one act(s)! The kids will be working out how the class goes, will find sets, costumes, and props, and will put on the show for our homeschool group.

Talk about seeing GROWTH happen!!!

January, We Start the Year off Fine

It's January, half way through the "school year" and, after looking at where we are in are textbooks and realizing we are "behind" in most of them, we decided to take January OFF!  Yes, Folks, off.

We are calling it "A January of New Experiences" and we've decided that each day, rain or shine, we have to do something different, go someplace we have never gone before, or eat a new food.  We also decided that, since we HATE rules, that this is a guideline rather than a rule.  *grin*

So, today we went to a part of town, accessed our GPS, and went to a new park.  It was 70 degrees in January (!!!) so we played there for a couple of hours.  It was a beautiful day and everyone was in fine form.
We proceeded to try a new restaurant and have fun together this evening at home.  All in all, a wonderful day.
I was just sitting and talking with Dr. Who, who is happy and smiling, and she went on and on about how happy she is.

Yes, Folks, taking time OFF!

Nap Time 2012

From our home to yours

NAPPY NEW YEAR

Top Ten Things I Wish I Would Have Said in 2011

...but that I only THOUGHT ten minutes or ten hours later...probably losing HOURS of sleep...

1. I took my daughter and several of her friends out to an event across the state. At the last moment, I was asked by a person I know to include one of their children in our visit. I gladly agreed to take this child with us. Let me preface this with a bit of information, this child has frequently been heard to call my children "weird". As in "they're sooo weird." But I took this child anyway. We made this long trip in order to meet more homeschoolers and to, hopefully, forge some new friendships.  But what do I hear??????? This child is at this cool event telling all of the kids there that...you guessed it, my kids are "WEIRD".  I DID say, "Wow, you accept my courtesy and kindness, you are friendly with us the entire way out there, and they you sabotage our ability to make friendships with that group of kids by calling us names...  I honestly think you owe us an apology." What I wish I would have said:  WHY YOU LITTLE SHIT!
2. We did some home decorating this year, as you might know if you are friends with my husband. My husband did some gorgeous woodwork and decorating in our bathroom. So, it's time to order the tile. In my odd KAREN way of "figurin'", I said that we needed X amount of the main color of wall tile. The two math geniuses (my husband and the designer) look at me with this withering LOOK as thought to say "Poor you, you just don't get it..." So we used their figures and ordered Y amount of tile. You guessed it...I WAS RIGHT. The tile we received was not the correct design we were hoping for and it was too late to correct it. I totally regret not standing up for myself with the math whizzes, and insisting on ordering X amount of tile. What I wish I would have said:  ORDER MORE YELLOW TILE!
3. When I was asked to do some extra work for a group that we participate it, I said "sure". What I wish I would have said:  NO, Sorry.
4. When someone invited them self over to our home, we said "Sure!" What I wish I would have said:  LEAVE YOUR DOG AT HOME.
5.  When a friend made sport of me on Facebook, I wish I would have said, 'Ha ha ha, funny." Instead what I said was something like:  Why are you so mean, you need to think of my feelings for once because you have hurt them.  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice.  Seriously, kindness is so important in friendship and you have not exhibited kindness today.  Blah, Blah, Blah...You have hurt me and made my friends think you are an ass.  Next time, please keep your comments to your self.  I'm not kidding. Have I ever talked to you like that?  No, because I wouldn't hurt you in that way Not everyone is fond of your sense of humor and I am among that group.  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice.  Seriously, kindness is so important in friendship and you have not exhibited kindness today.  Why are you so mean, you need to think of my feelings for once because you have hurt them.  Blah, blah, blah.  And, what's more,  you are not being nice.  No you're not!  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice. You have hurt me and made my friends think you are an ass.  Next time, please keep your comments to your self.  Blah, blah, blah.  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice.  Seriously, kindness is so important in friendship and you have not exhibited kindness today.  You have hurt me and made my friends think you are an ass.  Next time, please keep your comments to your self.  I'm not kidding. Have I ever talked to you like that?  No, because I wouldn't hurt you in that way I'm not kidding. Why are you so mean, you need to think of my feelings for once because you have hurt them.  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice. Blah, blah, blah.  Have I ever talked to you like that?  No, because I wouldn't hurt you in that way.  Never.  I feel upset and don't know how to handle it.   I'm angry and hurt and blah blah blah.Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice.  Seriously, kindness is so important in friendship and you have not exhibited kindness today.  You have hurt me and made my friends think you are an ass.  Next time, please keep your comments to your self.  I'm not kidding. Have I ever talked to you like that?  No, because I wouldn't hurt you in that way I'm not kidding. Why are you so mean, you need to think of my feelings for once because you have hurt them.  Please refrain from commenting on my posts if you can't be nice. Have I ever talked to you like that?  No, because I wouldn't hurt you in that way.  Never.  I feel upset and don't know how to handle it.   I'm angry and hurt and blah blah blah.
6.  When Jerry asked me to go camping with him, to a week-long star party (an astronomy event), I said, "SURE, Honey." What I wish I would have said:  HELL NO!  IT'S COLD!!!!! Go and enjoy yourself!
7.  I can't think of anymore!!!!!!  LOL  If I come up with more I will update!

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2011 was NICE for our family. The kids are busy and happy. Jer and I are busy and happy. And all are healthy. We've had some events that have caused us to reconsider our lifestyle and we have found that we are quite happy with our current lifestyle and we wouldn't change it...unless we could go to Australia!

Jerry had an opportunity at work, an opportunity that , sadly, did not fully materialize, to work in Brisbane Queensland in Australia for a year. We were thrilled with the idea and had made some very nice connections with some very nice people in the general Brisbane/Ipswich area. Sadly, the entire plan didn't work out and so we are staying in St. Louis. But a part of each of us is disappointed to miss out on such an awesome opportunity.

Sign.  Maybe someday...

Wishing you and yours a wonderful NEW YEAR.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Welcome 2012! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yule Love It

 

It was good.

Yuletide Gymnastics

The celebrating was festive, the tree was sparkly, and the holiday was totally secular.
I only had one person ask me how secular people celebrate Christmas, and it wasn't "WHY" do we.
To begin with, our tree is smashing.  Our tree is sparkly and more sparkly.  It is quite pretty.  Several evenings, as the end of the night, I have just sat with the house lights out looking at our tree with the kids.
I should mention a few of our holiday family traditions.

Onto the tree, each person puts an object or two that is NOT an ornament, but fairly well blends into the tree.  We've had many eating utensils, pieces of jewelry, computer parts, flowers, bows, etc.  This year, the best piece, in my opinion, is my daughter's teeth mold from the orthodontist!  It is joined together by a ribbon and hung front and center.  If you didn't know it was a snaggle-tooth "before" ortho mold, you would just assume it is was another ornament.

We play several fun family games on the day that we have copied, created, or changed from other forms.  I don't "hide the pickle", I hide teh beautiful glass bird ornament.  It's SOOOO pretty.  We spend at least three hours playing a variety of games we have created.  Listen, from the youngest to the oldest, we all love this time together more than the gift-opening part of the day!

And today, the coolest of the cool.  My stepson, Tim, and Jerry have been building a secret contraption for the last few days together.  In the garage, in the basement, outside.
The first light of the NET CANNON just happened...HUGE HUGE SUCCESS!
One rule for the net cannon:  No firing it at Bonobo!
Bonobo says:  AW!!!!!

And now, each day is lengthening, the nights are getting shorter, and we are headed into the dark of winter.
Let's hope this winter is a good one!

Yule Laugh

 

 www.atheistholidaycards.com
 http://www.zazzle.com/atheist+holiday+cards

Those are some of the websites the carry several different holiday cards for the skeptic in you.  From the completely irreverent (and who doesn't love that?) to the simple expression of holiday joy, these few cards represent something important to me.  They say that it's spreading.

Atheists, generally, at this time of year, put their heads down and listen to the fingernails down the chalkboard.  We take it on the chin.  We watch with incredulity as another year of mythology blossoms to a ridiculous level.  We CRAVE to shout out to the roof tops "IT'S A SCAM!!!"  We watch as the malls fill up as Christians settle in for a long line at the cashier as they spread the love of their Lord's birthday.  We smirk and think "Seriously?"

But there are enough of us and enough momentum that we are able to support the holiday marketers out there who have our needs in mind.  Others who will gladly put the federal STAMP to the envelope and send out our true wishes to our family and friends at this time of year.  Seasons Greetings, Evolve Already.

Here are a few of the designs available from these two websites:

So, if you are STILL looking for the perfect card this year, the card that sweetly sends pagan greetings or the card that sends scathing evolving suggestions, check out these websites.  They are just what you've been looking for.

 And, by the way, in honor of Secular Thursday, I saved the best one for last:

Yule Cry

According a Huffington Post from today:  Nearly half of America's public schools didn't meet federal achievement standards this year, marking the largest failure rate since the much-criticized No Child Left Behind Law took effect a decade ago, according to a national report released Thursday.

No Child Left Behind cost the nation in the billions of dollars.  The train wreck that is No Child Left Behind is doing exactly what it is intended to avoid.  It is leaving children behind.  Entire school districts worth of children behind.  It is not capable of providing the opportunities that it was hoping to provide.

I don't claim to be an authority of the education system, and we are all aware that many factors effect the efficacy of this type of policy making, but it is still so painfully obvious that failures in the school districts of our country, in my very own city, are, in part, impacted by the No Child Left Behind Fiasco.  At face value it was marketed at a way to preserve and bolster poorly-performing schools.  In reality, schools closed, leaving families in educational failure situations.

In the meantime, I was at a holiday party this weekend for my husband's employer.  While speaking to a very nice woman who works as a teacher in a Montessori school, when she discovered that we homeschool, she leaped to the "socialization" argument, straight to the "you can't teach high school" argument, followed that up with the, "children being isolated" argument, and hit  her homer with the "taking good kids out of the school systems" argument.
Seriously?

And I sat right there, in holiday splendor, as she quietly and with certainty made her statements.
I should not have to deal with that every time I go out.
I stood there wishing that Rayven was there.
And I drank my soft drink and let her quietly rant.

According to The Atlantic this week, Study of the Day: Home-Schooled Children Score Higher on Tests.   

I fear for the children in this generation.  Global Warming, underfunded schools, poor access to health care for all families.  But I also have a certainty in my heart that these are the very kids who are going to grow up wiser, more capable, and able to make decisions with a world view.

I DO have faith...In the children!

LINK 182, Worthy Reads

I have decided to hand over the keyboard to a few good blog posts I have read lately.

Who knows how we get to some blogs!  Shopping online for good socks to wear with blue jeans (STILL need some) and I find myself on someone's blog.  Looking at the headline news and, eventually, I'll be reading a blog somewhere in the world.  Drinking a cup of hot tea and a blog spontaneously opens up on my PC...

Anyway, who knows how it happens.  But when you find something worth reading, you wanna pass it along.
So, in the spirit of lending my good paperbacks to a friend, here are a few links to a few blogs that have had my attention lately.

If you read anything you enjoy, leave a comment.  Bloggers love that!
I hope you enjoy this Secular Thursday Offering!


http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blogs/confessions-of-an-atheist
This blogger is an atheist homeschooler who created a homeschooling co op and has found the politics of "secular" difficult to stand by.  It's thought-provoking and most of us can relate to the struggle.

http://ourfreerangelife.blogspot.com/2011/08/im-coming-out.html
This blogger is "coming out" as an atheist in the great state of Creation Museum, AHEM, I mean Kentucky.

http://www.raising3thinkers.com/2011/10/one-little-spark.html
Here is another blog I click onto from time to time.  She is a mom with some little ones and she seems to be exposing them to some great activities so that she is, truly, raising freethinkers.

http://backwoodsmom.danoah.com/2011/12/the-shield-of-confidence/
This blog is one I shared on Facebook recently.  This blogger writes posts that never cease to touch me.  I'm sure, were we ever to meet, we'd be good friends!

http://dysfunctionalhomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/12/conversations-with-kids.html
This blogger, a friend of mine, managed to capture the sweetness of being a mother...those million small moments that stop us in our tracks...

http://thespectrumofbeing.blogspot.com/2011/12/thoughtless-thursday-pa-has-date-rape.html
And, if you are looking for a THINKING freethinker, look no further.  This blogger is one I go back to again and again for thought-provoking posts.