I read alot of blogs from other homeschooling parents. Most, not all, seem to homeschool for moral/religious reasons. I'm a passive rebel and believe I homeschool for other reasons, more academic. But as I thought through my pride-issue I found morality was pretty near the top for my reasons. I thought it might be helpful/fun to list MY reasons for homeschooling.
1. We are not morning people. Getting up at 6am is not a fun idea. We enjoy a leisurely morning. We sometimes begin school at 9am, sometimes 10.
2. I enjoy have a morning Bible study/prayer time with Emma and Aidan. We have great discussions trying to get to the meat of Scripture - do away with the trite ("Pray", "Jesus died for my sins") answers. Selfishly having the kids with me insures I am reading scripture every morning.
3. I enjoy having them around. I enjoy their humor, their curiousity, their skills - they help around the house (hey, I believe that's part of school - cooking, laundry, raking, etc.)
4. I am re-learning what I forgot, what I didn't get in public school. Aidan is studying Eastern Cultures. I didn't study China or India until I hit college. How many fifth graders read Around the World in 80 Days and can locate where Fogg and Passepartout are on their journey?
5. I know what they are getting for lunch. Public school lunches - is there anything more disgusting! Homeschoolers get a hot meal, leisurely (there's that word again) consumed and then a half hour of play time with their siblings.
6. Liam (he's 2 1/2) loves playing with Emma and Aidan. And I truly believe Emma and Aidan mature doubly by learning to care responsibly for their younger brother.
7. Music lessons aren't rushed. It's easy to set up appointments with teachers during public school hours. The same goes for orthodontist appointments.
8. We can study what interests them. Aidan took an interest in Tae Kwan Doe recently. And we happened to be in the middle of our Korea studies. I had him make a chart comparing the varieties of martial arts. What fun!
9. They can go at their own pace. If they're struggling in a subject, we take it slow. If math lessons are easy, we speed through.
10. They have my full attention. In a public class room, 20-25 other students (some cooperative, some disruptive) are struggling to gain the teacher's eyes and ears. Emma and Aidan have mine.
That's 1-10. I'll be coming up with another list of 10 in a few days. Then the kids will add their own list.
P.S. Re: the photo, we are in a witness protection program, hence the concealed faces.
2 comments:
you're funny (the witness protection program) :)
do you guys use a ciriculum? if so, what?
it's early for us obviously, but when i worked at IDEAS i supported people overseas and those preparing to go and home schooling was always a discussion...so i think about it a lot. MOST days I think i will homeschool my kids if we live in the US, but some days I wonder if I'm up to the challenge....
You, of all people, are up to the challenge. You love your kids, you love to teach, you're fun.
We use Sonlight, just down the road from you. We've used it 7 out of our 8 years hschooling (our last year in Canada I made up stuff - because we wanted to study canadian history - but I modeled it off of sonlight).
You're first few years of hschooling are basically instilling a love for learning - reading, playing, having fun. Don't stress, you're already doing alot of hschooling. Get a sonlight catalog and you will be captivated.
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