We homeschool, and it's really awesome. I was so worried. Basically this whole last year I tried to get things in order/i.e. get more organized (it only sort of worked), and I read everything I could on homeschool. But telling Levi's charter school he would not be coming back was super hard. In fact, they didn't even respond to my email! (I know what they were thinking...). Anyway, but once I did that, things have been awesome, and I can't believe I was so nervous. It just feels so natural to homeschool (for us). I'm sure I will have frustrating days. But so far I have been grateful every day Levi is home.
Every day we 1. practice piano (so important), 2. do math, 3. do writing and spelling 4. do reading. Some days we do history, and I haven't even ordered our science stuff, yet (but I will). It takes us about 3-4 hours a day (since 1 hour is piano, that's not bad at all), and less if we don't do history. (I picked some curriculum that needs minimal help, so me actually sitting there is really not long at all. Today I folded laundry while the kids did math and spelling, and asked some questions). So by the time I take Levi to soccer on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I don't worry at all that I'm sending him away and keeping him too busy. By that time his responsibilities are all finished and he's had at least a good 5-6 hours or so of play time (and more after soccer). It really is a sweet deal.
I'm still tweaking my educational philosophy. One advantage of homeschool is you can do whatever you want. I mean, as a mom I can think, "what do I want my kids to learn, and how is the best/most natural way for them to learn it?" rather than, "The state requires this, we need to show that they've mastered a skill by doing this, etc." I have so many thoughts on this, and I have been on the swinging pendulum for a while now. (If you aren't one to research educational philosophies, the rest of this paragraph won't make much sense, so you can skip). The idea of unschooling is intriguing to me, but not quite convincing. So far I do a lot of The Well Trained Mind, except, I believe in taking a somewhat softer approach (I think I'll be adding in some Montessori and even some Waldorf as well), and some other views that really respect childhood, and the child's need to explore and have freedom. Right now I kind of view learning as either 1. a skill that needs practice (i.e. reading, writing, early math, piano), or 2. knowledge that can be acquired. You don't need to practice history. You can just enjoy it for what it is (unless you are worried about that quiz at the end, then all you think about is what the quiz will be on - hence we will NOT be doing tests/quizzes for many years, and then ONLY to train my kids to play the school game. I digress). Anyway, you can enjoy history and science for what they are now. But to really enjoy writing (or piano or reading), you need to be somewhat fluent. If you have to "draw" every letter (little kids have to really concentrate on the formation of letters) it is exhausting, and not fun. But if you are good/fast at it, it is therapeutic. So basically what I think I will do is require my kids to do these skill tasks of reading, writing/spelling, math, piano whether or not they want to (of course I try to make it as painless as I can) and the other stuff we will learn it as it seems natural and fun. No pressure. I do believe The Well Trained Mind in that little children are sponges and they LIKE to memorize. So I will capitalize on that. We have been memorizing things at meal time (they learned Fifty Nifty United States song, and we're working on United States geography as well the order of the presidents. I'm excited to add in poetry. I think this is natural. My kids like doing this. And there are no tests (have I said that, yet?) That's my current philosophy, but I will try to stay impartial, because I'm sure things will change as I move forward. And it is so important for me that my kids have lots of time to dig in the dirt. That is as important as anything. Reading is also super important. We read together, I read to them, and he reads alone. Literature, good literature, is amazing, and I didn't even know it until I'd graduated from college.
I want everyone to know that I completely respect your decisions to send your kids to public schools. I absolutely loved Levi's charter school. I think there is a sense of judgment when people hear someone is homeschooling. Either the judgment is they think the homschoolers are weird, or they think the homeschooler must think they are bad parents for not doing it. In all honesty, I am a person who really needs validation. I ask people's opinions, and I worry if they don't agree. If they don't agree, I question myself, or try to justify things. But I feel God has really been trying to teach me as of late that it's okay if we are different. It really is. There is no one perfect way to educate; this is just what I have chosen for my family. So I hope no one feels bad or threatened if I talk about why I love it. It's totally cool for people to talk about why they/their kids love school, and I hope it's cool for me, too. Also, homeschooling/reading about homeschooling has given me a different view on life. Everything we do is homeschool. So if I refer to things (like piano, cooking, chores) as homeschool, and you think, "Well, I do that with my kids, too, and they public school," just know I know homeschoolers don't have a monopoly on teaching their children. But I don't distinguish too much between school and life. I just wanted to clear the air on those issues. We can all be friends, right?
