If you read "Checklist to Start Homeschooling: First I Shall.....", you know I said I would tell you why PJs are very important on our list to start homeschooling.
We didn't start out that we wore our PJs all day, it became a habit later on. We would wake up in the morning and think What's the point in getting dressed? We're going to stay home all day. Nobody's visiting us. You know what, I'm just going to stay in my PJs all day. So, like we said we would, we stayed in our PJs all day and we kept doing that 'til it eventually became a habit.
How did we come up with the name "The PJ Club"? Well, one day we were doing homeschool when I noticed we were all still in our PJs. I told my mom and she said "Yah, it's like a PJ club around here." I thought about that. If this was a PJ club, we're going to need lots of PJs. So I added them to our important list. That's one great thing about homeschoolers, they can stay in the comfort of their home and pajamas as long as they want. Or just until it's time to head to the grocery store.
P.S. The only main reason we get out of our PJs is if we are going somewhere. You may also find we do not answer the door on homeschooling days because we are still in our PJs. :)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Math Book
Our homeschooling math curriculum is no ordinary math book, it's a story. Yes, we have broken every law in the universe saying the only way to teach is sitting a student in front of a boring textbook until brain death occurs, but we have been learning out of a book series about a five year old college math professor for three years and so far no SWAT team has tried to blow down our door. This book is called, Life of Fred. In the first book, Life of Fred: Fractions by Stanley F. Schmidt, Fred (the five year old math professor) is walking to his first class of the day when he sees a student heading to class on a bike. Fred then notices how much faster he could get to the math classroom if he owned a bike (Fred is only three feet tall and walks slowly) plus he could wear a cool helmet. So Fred finds an ad in the college newspaper and goes to buy a bike were the owner changes the price to the exact amount Fred has in his account (overcharging him for the bike), and then has it shipped to his office. Once back at his office, he finds the package and remembers that his scissors have rounded tips. Instead, he tries to use an 18" knife he bought for his friend Alexander's birthday. He drops the knife on his foot, his friend Betty takes him to the hospital, Alexander meets them, and the trio go out for pizza. There, Fred gets a job, lights fire to the place, sits on the roof of a car going through a car wash to clean all the soot off of him, finds there was a marshmallow in his pocket, wipes the gooey mess on a random cat, (this cat then ends up brushing up against a little girl and gets stuck to her leg) and finally remembers his bike. At home, he picks the tape off the box and finds that it was filled with junk. Not even parts of a bike. After a trip to the corner for some crying, he finds a forty-button remote, and decides to build a robot.
Every chapter has a "your turn to play" which is a set of math questions about the chapter. After every 4-6 chapters there is "The Bridge," which is ten questions about the past six chapters. After 32 chapters (One book) you come to "The Final Bridge," with questions about every thing you learned. Before we found this book, I was using an ordinary school math book and would work from 10AM-6:30PM trying to do a single 40 problem page until my mom found a math book series that was just like a book. I found it a lot easier to stay on task when I realized that instead of 40 problems on decimals or 40 division problems, it was ten or so word problems that use all different types of math. Flipping through it, I noticed that instead of just showing you wordless "examples" of one way to do it, it actually told you how to do the problem, and "The Easy Way" to finish it. I tried it out and found that instead of eight hours a day it was taking me less than one. We are currently at the third book (beginning algebra) and have set deadlines for each book so we can finish them before I start going to high-school. Thanks Stan!
Every chapter has a "your turn to play" which is a set of math questions about the chapter. After every 4-6 chapters there is "The Bridge," which is ten questions about the past six chapters. After 32 chapters (One book) you come to "The Final Bridge," with questions about every thing you learned. Before we found this book, I was using an ordinary school math book and would work from 10AM-6:30PM trying to do a single 40 problem page until my mom found a math book series that was just like a book. I found it a lot easier to stay on task when I realized that instead of 40 problems on decimals or 40 division problems, it was ten or so word problems that use all different types of math. Flipping through it, I noticed that instead of just showing you wordless "examples" of one way to do it, it actually told you how to do the problem, and "The Easy Way" to finish it. I tried it out and found that instead of eight hours a day it was taking me less than one. We are currently at the third book (beginning algebra) and have set deadlines for each book so we can finish them before I start going to high-school. Thanks Stan!
Checklist to Start Homeschooling: First I Shall......
Well, there are many things to do before you actually start doing the schooling part of homeschooling. For some people it's buying the supplies or becoming an official homeschooler, getting a place to do the homeschooling, or, like us, pulling the kids out of school. I don't quite remember which came first for us, being pulled out of school or becoming an official homeschooler. For us, I think, they happened at the same time. It's quite simple to become a homeschooler. All you have to do is print out a form, sign it, then turn it in to the county courthouse. So we did just that. Yay! We're now official homeschoolers! Now we need to get our supplies. I was thinking we would take a long trip to one of those cool teacher supply stores that are jam-packed with stickers, (yay!) but we don't only use teacher supply stores. Instead, my mom decided to buy off the internet. Sure, now we don't have to go to a jam-packed (with people) store but I didn't get my stickers. Did my mom get everything we needed off the internet? Of course not! You can't get everything off the internet! We get a good amount of the stuff we need from places like Wal-Mart at back to school time (including my stickers.) "But what did you need?" you're probably thinking. Here's a list to answer that question, if you asked it:
Markers- not erasable, but washable..... from Crayola
Printers- they have nothing to do with Crayola
Rulers- from various places, maybe even some from Crayola!!!
Good books- from the book store...... not Crayola
Printable learning materials- from our computer to, oh, I don't know, our printer (not Crayola, or at least I don't think)
Helpful computer games- now tell me, where would you find helpful computer games?
Stickers :)- yet another personal favorite
and most importantly,
Pajamas (I'll explain in "My Life in the PJ Club")- um, the type I like.
Once you have all these things you are ready to become a homeschooler, sort of.
Math books - Life of Fred by Stanley F. Schmidt, PhD
Writing books- Writing Strands by Dave Marks
Science books- McWizKid Science by Larry D. McClellan
History books and movie- What Your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grader needs to know and various movies and TV shows from the History Channel
Play tickets- for various plays at various theaters
Homeschooling classes- at various places
Notebooks- one of my personal favorites
Journals- another of my personal favorites
Folders- to hold our many reports and subjects
Pencils- another favorite
Glue sticks- to glue things together of course
Tape- to tape things together
Paper- pretty essential
Colored paper- a colored version of paper
Colored pencils- our colored pencils are erasable and come from Crayola
Crayons- not erasable, but still from Crayola
Computers- I'm pretty sure mine's not from Crayola (I'm on Frankenstein, Patrick's on Lydonstein - we all have our own computers that my dad put together)Writing books- Writing Strands by Dave Marks
Science books- McWizKid Science by Larry D. McClellan
History books and movie- What Your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grader needs to know and various movies and TV shows from the History Channel
Play tickets- for various plays at various theaters
Homeschooling classes- at various places
Notebooks- one of my personal favorites
Journals- another of my personal favorites
Folders- to hold our many reports and subjects
Pencils- another favorite
Glue sticks- to glue things together of course
Tape- to tape things together
Paper- pretty essential
Colored paper- a colored version of paper
Colored pencils- our colored pencils are erasable and come from Crayola
Crayons- not erasable, but still from Crayola
Markers- not erasable, but washable..... from Crayola
Printers- they have nothing to do with Crayola
Rulers- from various places, maybe even some from Crayola!!!
Good books- from the book store...... not Crayola
Printable learning materials- from our computer to, oh, I don't know, our printer (not Crayola, or at least I don't think)
Helpful computer games- now tell me, where would you find helpful computer games?
Stickers :)- yet another personal favorite
and most importantly,
Pajamas (I'll explain in "My Life in the PJ Club")- um, the type I like.
Once you have all these things you are ready to become a homeschooler, sort of.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Eagleridge: What is It?
Mondays and Wednesdays are not the same old wake up at ten and take your time through math, writing, and music.
On Wednesdays, we wake up at 7:00, get dressed, have breakfast, and then head to Eagleridge via my best friend Devin's mom. Eagleridge is pretty much just a school for homeschoolers. It's all the ordinary classes (except math) just without homework, and you can choose which days you go. Once we get there at 8:30 AM, Rebecca goes off to some class I don't know of and I go to Physical Education. There, we usually do fitness then move on to the lesson (the sport were working on) and then move on to Science. Every month we work on a different type of science. This month we've been working on the physics of flight. My next class is Student Council. This year I ran for treasurer, lost, found an organization for our Christmas toy drive, was home sick the day we decided on a different organization, seconded the motion to make cards to sell for a fundraiser, tried to make a motion to do crazy hair day again this year, failed unanimously,and my idea for the school dance was the chosen. After that, my next class is Yearbook. In there, we are currently making houses on Google Sketch Up because there is not much else to do, but all we did was made pages for the yearbook. (I made the student council page.) Next, we have lunch. After 30 minutes of recess, we have Composition, Computers, and finally, Art. School ends at 3:30 PM on Wednesdays.
On Mondays, I wake up at 6:30 AM, get dressed, and then again get picked up by Devin's mom. The day starts at 8:00 AM with Medieval History were we are currently writing business letters to the teacher about applying to NASA to go back in time to retrieve lost history. My next class is Compass Learning Math which is an online math program. Next, I have Chess Club where we learn strategies and play chess. After Chess Club, I have Sports Math in which we are currently doing fantasy football. Next I have lunch. After lunch, I have Pre-Algebra. In here it is a lot like school just made easier by the best teacher in the world. Next, I have Physical Education which is just like on Wednesdays. After that I have Microsoft Office in which we do different projects using Microsoft Office. Finally, I play clarinet in Band, my last class of the day. School ends at 4:30 PM on Mondays.
One of the most frequently asked questions is if I miss anything from when I used to be in school. My answer to that is Eagleridge has all the stuff that I might miss from school!
On Wednesdays, we wake up at 7:00, get dressed, have breakfast, and then head to Eagleridge via my best friend Devin's mom. Eagleridge is pretty much just a school for homeschoolers. It's all the ordinary classes (except math) just without homework, and you can choose which days you go. Once we get there at 8:30 AM, Rebecca goes off to some class I don't know of and I go to Physical Education. There, we usually do fitness then move on to the lesson (the sport were working on) and then move on to Science. Every month we work on a different type of science. This month we've been working on the physics of flight. My next class is Student Council. This year I ran for treasurer, lost, found an organization for our Christmas toy drive, was home sick the day we decided on a different organization, seconded the motion to make cards to sell for a fundraiser, tried to make a motion to do crazy hair day again this year, failed unanimously,and my idea for the school dance was the chosen. After that, my next class is Yearbook. In there, we are currently making houses on Google Sketch Up because there is not much else to do, but all we did was made pages for the yearbook. (I made the student council page.) Next, we have lunch. After 30 minutes of recess, we have Composition, Computers, and finally, Art. School ends at 3:30 PM on Wednesdays.
On Mondays, I wake up at 6:30 AM, get dressed, and then again get picked up by Devin's mom. The day starts at 8:00 AM with Medieval History were we are currently writing business letters to the teacher about applying to NASA to go back in time to retrieve lost history. My next class is Compass Learning Math which is an online math program. Next, I have Chess Club where we learn strategies and play chess. After Chess Club, I have Sports Math in which we are currently doing fantasy football. Next I have lunch. After lunch, I have Pre-Algebra. In here it is a lot like school just made easier by the best teacher in the world. Next, I have Physical Education which is just like on Wednesdays. After that I have Microsoft Office in which we do different projects using Microsoft Office. Finally, I play clarinet in Band, my last class of the day. School ends at 4:30 PM on Mondays.
One of the most frequently asked questions is if I miss anything from when I used to be in school. My answer to that is Eagleridge has all the stuff that I might miss from school!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
So I Gave Birth to an Axe Murderer
I'm going to apologize right now for all my childrens' failures in life. This is because, as a homeschooling mother, I can no longer blame the "system" for their lack of learning things. I've often thought it was a shame that I get along so well with my husband that the marriage is solid because I would love to send my kids off to "their dad's house" and have him be responsible for all their bad habits. It's bad enough when your kid misbehaves in front of others, but when somebody asks your kid, "What's 7 x 8?" and the kid has forgotten, you're going to get looks. So I would say as a homeschooling parent, fair or not, the world is going to put you and your kids under a microscope.
So here's the thing with me though, and I know I speak for many homeschooling parents. I'm not trying to raise the perfect child. Granted, it would be nice if he/she doesn't become an axe murderer, but I can accept some individuality. I'm not trying to shelter them from the world, and I am not the sole adult authority in their lives. I am merely guiding their education in a way that I see appropriate, and much of what I see appropriate for them is generated by their interests.
Naturally, homeschooling has made us closer to our children, if for no other reason, just based on the amount of time we spend together. Prior to homeschooling, family time was limited for us because both Mike and I have jobs that are 12-hour days and require that we work weekends and holidays. There was never a day in our week where all four of us were home together, and I think that is important for family unity. Now we have a system where one parent is always home with the kids each day, and we have atleast one sacred "family day" on a weekday where we are all together. Many homeschooling groups focus on one parent being the "primary educator," usually the mother, but that is not the way we do it in our family. I do tend to be the one that organizes the plan of study, but Mike is in charge on his days at home. So please feel free to blame Mike for their failures, as well. :)
So here's the thing with me though, and I know I speak for many homeschooling parents. I'm not trying to raise the perfect child. Granted, it would be nice if he/she doesn't become an axe murderer, but I can accept some individuality. I'm not trying to shelter them from the world, and I am not the sole adult authority in their lives. I am merely guiding their education in a way that I see appropriate, and much of what I see appropriate for them is generated by their interests.
Naturally, homeschooling has made us closer to our children, if for no other reason, just based on the amount of time we spend together. Prior to homeschooling, family time was limited for us because both Mike and I have jobs that are 12-hour days and require that we work weekends and holidays. There was never a day in our week where all four of us were home together, and I think that is important for family unity. Now we have a system where one parent is always home with the kids each day, and we have atleast one sacred "family day" on a weekday where we are all together. Many homeschooling groups focus on one parent being the "primary educator," usually the mother, but that is not the way we do it in our family. I do tend to be the one that organizes the plan of study, but Mike is in charge on his days at home. So please feel free to blame Mike for their failures, as well. :)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Scarlet Letter "H"
I still find it very difficult to tell people that I homeschool my kids, and I've been doing it for three years. I've been told that it gets easier, but I haven't noticed that yet. You'd think that with estimates being close to two million homeschooled kids in the United States, people would have a better acceptance with the idea of homeschooling, but I think homeschoolers are still hotly prejudged.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can do "school" whenever we want, and we are able to make use of the less-crazy hours of the day to schedule dentist and doctor appointments, go shopping, and have fun. Unfortunately, it's during these "school hours" that we encounter the most ridiculous questions. They usually start with, "Is school out early today?" and end with, "But how do you know if they're learning anything?" when we attempt to explain our lives.
I've thought of different ways of handling these questions such as: handing the questioner a pre-printed fact sheet, answering my new response: "See my blog," or just deflecting altogether: "We're happily living the lives of morons." Better yet, maybe we should just go out in public with the big scarlet letter "H" for "homeschooling" around our necks so everyone knows our crime.
My dental hygienist is a personal favorite "questioner." I've gone to the same hygienist for over ten years. Being the dental snob that I am, I actually request her when I make appointments, and she keeps notes on what equipment to use on me. If she ever moved or retired, my teeth would probably fall out of my head. Plus, I like her. However, I think it's because I only see her every six months, and where I always remember every conversation I've had with someone, she can never remember that I homeschool my kids. We usually get started slowly. It usually goes a little something like this:
"How's work?" (She knows this because it says I'm a nurse on my chart.)
"Busy, everybody decided to get drunk and go to the ER over the weekend."
"Oh, do you only work weekends?"
"And Mondays, some Tuesdays."
"Oh, so what do you do the rest of the week?"
"I homeschool my children."
(She backs away from the teeth scraping with a puzzled look.)
"But how do they get their socialization?"
(This is fun to give a one-liner to when your mouth is full of sharp objects.)
"Well, they've done scouts, ballet, Irish dance, hula dance, tap dance, church, choir, youth group, chess club, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, karate, archery, science classes, art classes, drama classes, music lessons, play in a band, gone away to camp numerous times, and go to a homeschool enrichment program that is essentially a 'school' 2 days per week."
"But aren't they missing something?"
(Here's where I give the puzzled look. Seriously? Am I really being asked this?)
"Like what?"
"Like tests, how do you know how they're doing?"
(Wait a second, I guess she gave up on socialization.)
"I let my kids take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test every year, and they always pass despite the fact that I have not taught from the test the whole year as the schools do."
"But how will they get into college?"
"Colleges love homeschoolers because they are self-starters. There are also community colleges, online universities, ACT tests, and SAT tests that can get them where they want to go."
"I just can't imagine doing that."
I can't tell you how many conversations I've had that have gone just like this!!! And then I'll have the same conversation with the same people again! Homeschooling is still an idea that people just consider "weird" despite whatever evidence there is to the contrary. Compounding the problem is that many homeschoolers remain quiet about their practices for fear of losing their right to homeschool. If you're interested in seeing how this right has been threatened, there are many cases documented on http://www.hslda.org.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can do "school" whenever we want, and we are able to make use of the less-crazy hours of the day to schedule dentist and doctor appointments, go shopping, and have fun. Unfortunately, it's during these "school hours" that we encounter the most ridiculous questions. They usually start with, "Is school out early today?" and end with, "But how do you know if they're learning anything?" when we attempt to explain our lives.
I've thought of different ways of handling these questions such as: handing the questioner a pre-printed fact sheet, answering my new response: "See my blog," or just deflecting altogether: "We're happily living the lives of morons." Better yet, maybe we should just go out in public with the big scarlet letter "H" for "homeschooling" around our necks so everyone knows our crime.
My dental hygienist is a personal favorite "questioner." I've gone to the same hygienist for over ten years. Being the dental snob that I am, I actually request her when I make appointments, and she keeps notes on what equipment to use on me. If she ever moved or retired, my teeth would probably fall out of my head. Plus, I like her. However, I think it's because I only see her every six months, and where I always remember every conversation I've had with someone, she can never remember that I homeschool my kids. We usually get started slowly. It usually goes a little something like this:
"How's work?" (She knows this because it says I'm a nurse on my chart.)
"Busy, everybody decided to get drunk and go to the ER over the weekend."
"Oh, do you only work weekends?"
"And Mondays, some Tuesdays."
"Oh, so what do you do the rest of the week?"
"I homeschool my children."
(She backs away from the teeth scraping with a puzzled look.)
"But how do they get their socialization?"
(This is fun to give a one-liner to when your mouth is full of sharp objects.)
"Well, they've done scouts, ballet, Irish dance, hula dance, tap dance, church, choir, youth group, chess club, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, karate, archery, science classes, art classes, drama classes, music lessons, play in a band, gone away to camp numerous times, and go to a homeschool enrichment program that is essentially a 'school' 2 days per week."
"But aren't they missing something?"
(Here's where I give the puzzled look. Seriously? Am I really being asked this?)
"Like what?"
"Like tests, how do you know how they're doing?"
(Wait a second, I guess she gave up on socialization.)
"I let my kids take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test every year, and they always pass despite the fact that I have not taught from the test the whole year as the schools do."
"But how will they get into college?"
"Colleges love homeschoolers because they are self-starters. There are also community colleges, online universities, ACT tests, and SAT tests that can get them where they want to go."
"I just can't imagine doing that."
I can't tell you how many conversations I've had that have gone just like this!!! And then I'll have the same conversation with the same people again! Homeschooling is still an idea that people just consider "weird" despite whatever evidence there is to the contrary. Compounding the problem is that many homeschoolers remain quiet about their practices for fear of losing their right to homeschool. If you're interested in seeing how this right has been threatened, there are many cases documented on http://www.hslda.org.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Do-It-Yourself Education
I'm always amazed at the things people are willing to take on by themselves. For example: changing your own oil on your car. Why do people do this themselves? I can drive to my local oil change place and be out in about 15 minutes for less than $25. Doing this at home would require driving to the auto parts supply store (and the gas cost to get there), looking up the right parts in the book, purchasing the parts and the oil, driving home, getting the appropriate buckets for draining the oil, jacking the car up to do the draining, having the right tools on hand to remove the filter, researching how this particular filter is removed, doing the work, and then comes the big pickle: ridding yourself of the dirty oil. Yet I know people who do this procedure without question. Another favorite: remodeling your own house. I know scads of people without employment in the construction field that take on enormous home repair jobs while maintaining employment in another field. This is accepted practice. We have mega-stores like The Home Depot and Lowe's dedicated to people's desire to "do-it-yourself." Yet my desire to educate my own children while maintaining employment as a registered nurse does not warrant this level of acceptance. It's a two-part problem for me where the general public questions my do-it-yourself school, and the homeschooling community questions my working and homeschooling together.
I want to address whether or not parents have the ability to homeschool their own children. Since this is a blog, as opposed to to a research study, I will draw from my own life experiences. One of the first jobs I had in college was at the campus tutoring center. I was recommended as a tutor by my algebra teacher because I had done well in that class. When I went to the interview with the director of the tutoring center, she asked me what other classes I could tutor. Hmmm . . . I didn't really feel I was qualified to tutor anything! I ended up tutoring College Algebra and every math below that), English, ESL, German, and Psychology -- quite a cross-section! Was I an expert in all those disciplines? No. Yet I began to have people requesting me as a tutor. Later on, I branched out and took a job with a private tutoring agency that paid me more money. The clients at this agency were kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade at many different schools in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. Could I have possibly known what was going on with all those different kids in all those classes? No way! But I was busy every afternoon from 4:00-6:00PM when every parent wants a tutor. I did so well with this agency that I finally had enough clients on my own, and I was able to branch out and make some serious money. No one ever questioned my credentials with tutoring all these kids. My success was purely because I listened to the kids, analyzed their problems, and made adjustments so that they began to do better after I started working with them. Yet, homeschooling parents are put through the wringer about whether or not they possess the right credentials to teach their own kids that they know so well.
In my circle of friends, I know almost as many teachers as I do nurses. Teachers, and of course there are exceptions, can be the worst critics of homeschooling parents. I once had a teacher say to me, "I resent the fact that parents think they can do the job that I spent five years in college learning to do." As a nurse I cannot imagine saying to a patient, "You gave yourself your own pill at home? Do you know how much pharmacology I had to take in college to learn how to give you that pill? You're not qualified!" Really, do we have to be experts to figure out most things in life? When I precept new nurses at the hospital, the very first thing we do together is go to the pyxis (the computerized lockbox for drugs) and click on a program called Lexi-comp that will show you everything you need to know about all kinds of drugs: side effects, interactions, how long to infuse an IV drip, what to mix it with, etc. I use this program on a daily basis! Sure, we may have learned it, but we forget stuff and "accepted practice" changes. "Use your resources" -- that's what I tell my nurses and that's what I tell my kids. If a parent is motivated enough to remove his/her child from school, the likelihood is probably high that said parent is motivated enough to educate that child. Don't we learn things based on how meaningful they are to us?
I have to draw on my own life again because the only "D" I ever remember earning in school was my AP United States History class. I had just moved to Germany and was touring castles and cathedrals so why was everyone so surprised that I wasn't interested in writing in-depth papers about the Sugar and Stamp Acts? I'm not suggesting that as American citizens we should forgo learning American history, but I was more motivated to learn European history while in Europe. As a side note, that grade was weighted and history still remains one of my favorite subjects, but I think this is a good example of how people learn things based on their desire -- whether that be a child's desire to learn or a parent's desire to learn how to homeschool. That same year of school, I was made to finish a fourth year of Spanish because why would I want to learn German when I was living in a country where . . . oh I don't know . . . everyone spoke German? How is it that teenagers inevitably end up passing drivers' ed when the rest of their classes may be suffering? Could it be that they have a burning desire to drive?
Which also brings me to the question: how do adults learn things when they are no longer in school? Does the machine shut down? Don't people read the newspaper, watch the news, or research things in Wikipedia? Learning is lifelong. We put far too much sanctity in the walls of the schoolhouse.
I want to address whether or not parents have the ability to homeschool their own children. Since this is a blog, as opposed to to a research study, I will draw from my own life experiences. One of the first jobs I had in college was at the campus tutoring center. I was recommended as a tutor by my algebra teacher because I had done well in that class. When I went to the interview with the director of the tutoring center, she asked me what other classes I could tutor. Hmmm . . . I didn't really feel I was qualified to tutor anything! I ended up tutoring College Algebra and every math below that), English, ESL, German, and Psychology -- quite a cross-section! Was I an expert in all those disciplines? No. Yet I began to have people requesting me as a tutor. Later on, I branched out and took a job with a private tutoring agency that paid me more money. The clients at this agency were kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade at many different schools in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. Could I have possibly known what was going on with all those different kids in all those classes? No way! But I was busy every afternoon from 4:00-6:00PM when every parent wants a tutor. I did so well with this agency that I finally had enough clients on my own, and I was able to branch out and make some serious money. No one ever questioned my credentials with tutoring all these kids. My success was purely because I listened to the kids, analyzed their problems, and made adjustments so that they began to do better after I started working with them. Yet, homeschooling parents are put through the wringer about whether or not they possess the right credentials to teach their own kids that they know so well.
In my circle of friends, I know almost as many teachers as I do nurses. Teachers, and of course there are exceptions, can be the worst critics of homeschooling parents. I once had a teacher say to me, "I resent the fact that parents think they can do the job that I spent five years in college learning to do." As a nurse I cannot imagine saying to a patient, "You gave yourself your own pill at home? Do you know how much pharmacology I had to take in college to learn how to give you that pill? You're not qualified!" Really, do we have to be experts to figure out most things in life? When I precept new nurses at the hospital, the very first thing we do together is go to the pyxis (the computerized lockbox for drugs) and click on a program called Lexi-comp that will show you everything you need to know about all kinds of drugs: side effects, interactions, how long to infuse an IV drip, what to mix it with, etc. I use this program on a daily basis! Sure, we may have learned it, but we forget stuff and "accepted practice" changes. "Use your resources" -- that's what I tell my nurses and that's what I tell my kids. If a parent is motivated enough to remove his/her child from school, the likelihood is probably high that said parent is motivated enough to educate that child. Don't we learn things based on how meaningful they are to us?
I have to draw on my own life again because the only "D" I ever remember earning in school was my AP United States History class. I had just moved to Germany and was touring castles and cathedrals so why was everyone so surprised that I wasn't interested in writing in-depth papers about the Sugar and Stamp Acts? I'm not suggesting that as American citizens we should forgo learning American history, but I was more motivated to learn European history while in Europe. As a side note, that grade was weighted and history still remains one of my favorite subjects, but I think this is a good example of how people learn things based on their desire -- whether that be a child's desire to learn or a parent's desire to learn how to homeschool. That same year of school, I was made to finish a fourth year of Spanish because why would I want to learn German when I was living in a country where . . . oh I don't know . . . everyone spoke German? How is it that teenagers inevitably end up passing drivers' ed when the rest of their classes may be suffering? Could it be that they have a burning desire to drive?
Which also brings me to the question: how do adults learn things when they are no longer in school? Does the machine shut down? Don't people read the newspaper, watch the news, or research things in Wikipedia? Learning is lifelong. We put far too much sanctity in the walls of the schoolhouse.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
How is Home Better?
Every time I go somewhere I am asked where I go to school. Not everyone goes to school. I haven't been in a regular 5 day-a-week public school for 3 years. So I tell them, "I don't go to school, but I do go to an enrichment program called Eagleridge." One time I got asked, "What does it enrich?" Eagleridge is like school, it actually is a public school. I couldn't think of what to answer. So I just said, "It teaches you a little bit of every thing: writing, science, computers........ but no math." Math is the least popular subject to many so whenever I say we have no math, I usually get a big "LUCKY!!!" from someone my age. Or I will tell them I go to school only two days a week, "LUCKY!!!" I do get math but I get it at home. I probably get more math than regular schoolers actually. How am I "lucky"? I have "school" all seven days a week. I'm not saying homeschooling is bad, but you do have school all seven days a week, at least in our family.
One thing about Eagleridge is that they expect you to already know what they're talking about because Eagleridge is for enriching not teaching. I only go two days a week because I do my main schooling at home. Eagleridge lets you chose your classes on Mondays and Tuesday/Thursday. On those days you get mixed with kids of all different grades and ages. On Wednesdays and Fridays you go around to assigned classes with the kids of your grade. I enjoy Eagleridge because it gives me a chance to be with other homeschoolers. Eagleridge also doesn't give out too much homework because you already have the work that your parents assigned you to do and that is your "home work" (the work you do at home.) And yes, homeschooling is just like a school of homework.
I had a lot of problems with regular schooling. I was shy (and still am) so I had a lot of problems talking to the teacher. I was a lot smarter than the rest of the class so I was doing work that I already knew how to do. You see, I was ready for second grade in first and am ready for sixth grade and I am in fourth. Homeschooling has been very helpful to me because I can work at my own pace. Plus, lunch can be every 45 minutes!
One thing about Eagleridge is that they expect you to already know what they're talking about because Eagleridge is for enriching not teaching. I only go two days a week because I do my main schooling at home. Eagleridge lets you chose your classes on Mondays and Tuesday/Thursday. On those days you get mixed with kids of all different grades and ages. On Wednesdays and Fridays you go around to assigned classes with the kids of your grade. I enjoy Eagleridge because it gives me a chance to be with other homeschoolers. Eagleridge also doesn't give out too much homework because you already have the work that your parents assigned you to do and that is your "home work" (the work you do at home.) And yes, homeschooling is just like a school of homework.
I had a lot of problems with regular schooling. I was shy (and still am) so I had a lot of problems talking to the teacher. I was a lot smarter than the rest of the class so I was doing work that I already knew how to do. You see, I was ready for second grade in first and am ready for sixth grade and I am in fourth. Homeschooling has been very helpful to me because I can work at my own pace. Plus, lunch can be every 45 minutes!
An Ordinary School Day
One of the advantages to homeschooling is that there is no set time you need to finish it, but you can go at your own pace. We usually start math around 10-10:30, and end around noon. We then have lunch, and begin work on writing. We then end around 1:00 and move on to another activity like geography, science, or history. We do this selected subject until about 2:00 and then move on to practicing our instruments. While Rebecca's practicing piano, I'm practicing clarinet or guitar, and when I'm practicing piano, Rebecca's practicing flute. This lasts until about 3:00 when we consider our self done and then have free time for the rest of the day. Rebecca usually spends that time writing books and short stories, while I usually spend my time reading or playing on the computer.
Although this is what an ordinary day of homeschooling is like, we almost always have some sort of Shakespeare play or science center homeschool class at least once a month. Most of the science center classes revolved around physics, like the Cat-A-Pult class where you were literally flinging a rubber cat trying to hit a target using a makeshift catapult, but there was a chemistry class, a robotics class, and a scientific method class. Along with all these classes, at home, I also made an illustrated, wall sized, periodic table, and recently, I built a guitar fuzz distortion pedal with my dad. I would say that the science activities I'm doing at home now are much more fun and advanced than when I was in school. When I was in second grade, I made a science fair project for the school science fair on how icicles are made. I enjoyed this, but the only other student participant was a fifth-grader who had done a project on how if you run a magnet over sand, little black particles will appear. After about three minutes of walking around the "science fair" we left the display board there and came back for it later.
Pistol Packin' Mama
The big day came where we downloaded the "Affidavit of Intent to Home School" form, signed our promise that we would "provide at least the subjects of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science," got the form notarized, and all piled into the car to file the form at the county courthouse. When we got there, all four of us went in with the magic form. We handed the form over to the woman expecting . . . ? "Are you sure about this?" "We need to take your photos for the FBI." "Here's a list of the testing schedule so we can check if you're doing your job." "You're the worst parents ever." We heard none of that. The lady merely said, "Thanks." No balloons dropped from the ceiling. No judge shook our hand. No family photo was taken.
Now what? My first concern was that we get out and meet some other homeschoolers so my kids wouldn't feel like they were the only ones being homeschooled. After all, my biggest reservation about homeschooling was the worry that my children would not be exposed to diversity. I remember when Amy Carter attended public school during the Carter presidency, and that is the first recollection I have of the importance of mixing socioeconomic classes. Around that time, I began to take note of the segregation within my own southern California community. We had a hispanic housekeeper that we used to drive home at the end of her day of working for us. They were a large family with four or five kids and various other family members all living in a one-bedroom rented mobile home across the street from the railroad tracks in our pricey beach community. We would drive up to find her family's laundry drying on the clothesline after her day of doing our family's laundry. This seemed like injustice to me. My mother did not have a job outside the home, it just seemed like we had a housekeeper because that is what one did. My mother would tell me, "Elena is happy to have the job with us because she just wants to send money home to Mexico." So then I wanted to know what was going on in Mexico! I was pretty sure Elena's family did not have a lot to eat because they were relieving us of our male baby goats left and right. About this time, I became the "president" of our 4-H goat group (hold the applause) so I was learning a lot about dairy goats, and I knew that the females were coveted for the milk and there wasn't a lot of use for the males other than breeding (Elena lived in a trailer without a yard) or meat. I asked why we didn't take Juan the gardener home after his day with us, but that was because Juan didn't have a home. He lived in a cardboard box in a canyon near our house. My friends and I used to play in the canyon during the day, and we saw how Juan lived. So when people ask me, "Why don't you just move to a nicer neighborhood with better schools?" I really don't want to live in the high house on the hill anymore.
So how was I going to expose my kids to different people, such as they would get at school, when most days it was the three of us genetically-linked "diverse" people hanging out together. We started going to homeschool support groups, park days, museum days, art classes, field trips, music classes, etc. Early on, we were probably doing too much as we were gone almost every day for this or that activity for homeschoolers. One of the biggest surprises to homeschooling has been the oddball people we have met since we left the school system. There's the kid who has a seizure disorder so his mom has to stay with him all the time so she figured she'd just start homeschooling him. We've met several dyslexic kids -- totally smart kids, but worksheets and in-class board work were completely wasted time for them. We know kids that were adopted from different countries that are being homeschooled because their ages and their ability level (aka "grade" level) do not match. Also, many kids that, for whatever reason, are either way above or way below grade level; the school system tends to just not know what to do with these kids. We have also learned about different religions because there are lots of people that homeschool so they can infuse religion as part of what their kids learn. I've met parents that are anti-vaccination, anti-medicine, and anti-establishment. My favorite mom: the "pistol packin' mama," always showed up to homeschool park days with a baby in a sling and a gun on her hip. I have lived one block from the "projects" in downtown San Francisco, have frequently walked London parks in the dark of night when I lived there, have traveled through Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin when that was still in existence, and currently work as a an ER nurse which is consistently rated as one of the top professions for workplace violence. At my job, at any time, we have armed hospital security, armed Sheriff's officers, armed Department of Corrections officers, prisoners, AND gang members, but somehow a group of homeschooling children and moms in a suburban park appeared to be a danger to her. Gotta love homeschoolers!
Now what? My first concern was that we get out and meet some other homeschoolers so my kids wouldn't feel like they were the only ones being homeschooled. After all, my biggest reservation about homeschooling was the worry that my children would not be exposed to diversity. I remember when Amy Carter attended public school during the Carter presidency, and that is the first recollection I have of the importance of mixing socioeconomic classes. Around that time, I began to take note of the segregation within my own southern California community. We had a hispanic housekeeper that we used to drive home at the end of her day of working for us. They were a large family with four or five kids and various other family members all living in a one-bedroom rented mobile home across the street from the railroad tracks in our pricey beach community. We would drive up to find her family's laundry drying on the clothesline after her day of doing our family's laundry. This seemed like injustice to me. My mother did not have a job outside the home, it just seemed like we had a housekeeper because that is what one did. My mother would tell me, "Elena is happy to have the job with us because she just wants to send money home to Mexico." So then I wanted to know what was going on in Mexico! I was pretty sure Elena's family did not have a lot to eat because they were relieving us of our male baby goats left and right. About this time, I became the "president" of our 4-H goat group (hold the applause) so I was learning a lot about dairy goats, and I knew that the females were coveted for the milk and there wasn't a lot of use for the males other than breeding (Elena lived in a trailer without a yard) or meat. I asked why we didn't take Juan the gardener home after his day with us, but that was because Juan didn't have a home. He lived in a cardboard box in a canyon near our house. My friends and I used to play in the canyon during the day, and we saw how Juan lived. So when people ask me, "Why don't you just move to a nicer neighborhood with better schools?" I really don't want to live in the high house on the hill anymore.
So how was I going to expose my kids to different people, such as they would get at school, when most days it was the three of us genetically-linked "diverse" people hanging out together. We started going to homeschool support groups, park days, museum days, art classes, field trips, music classes, etc. Early on, we were probably doing too much as we were gone almost every day for this or that activity for homeschoolers. One of the biggest surprises to homeschooling has been the oddball people we have met since we left the school system. There's the kid who has a seizure disorder so his mom has to stay with him all the time so she figured she'd just start homeschooling him. We've met several dyslexic kids -- totally smart kids, but worksheets and in-class board work were completely wasted time for them. We know kids that were adopted from different countries that are being homeschooled because their ages and their ability level (aka "grade" level) do not match. Also, many kids that, for whatever reason, are either way above or way below grade level; the school system tends to just not know what to do with these kids. We have also learned about different religions because there are lots of people that homeschool so they can infuse religion as part of what their kids learn. I've met parents that are anti-vaccination, anti-medicine, and anti-establishment. My favorite mom: the "pistol packin' mama," always showed up to homeschool park days with a baby in a sling and a gun on her hip. I have lived one block from the "projects" in downtown San Francisco, have frequently walked London parks in the dark of night when I lived there, have traveled through Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin when that was still in existence, and currently work as a an ER nurse which is consistently rated as one of the top professions for workplace violence. At my job, at any time, we have armed hospital security, armed Sheriff's officers, armed Department of Corrections officers, prisoners, AND gang members, but somehow a group of homeschooling children and moms in a suburban park appeared to be a danger to her. Gotta love homeschoolers!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Secrets of the Old Schoolhouse
I think it's important to start at the beginning. My kids did attend school initially. My son did two years of preschool, then kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and half of 3rd grade. My daughter did two years of preschool, then kindergarten, and half of 1st grade. It was from these experiences that we made the decision to homeschool. There was not any one incident that left us running from the school system, but rather a culmination of my observations as a parent volunteer at the school, and my conversations with their teachers (including two years in a row of my relevant questions making the teachers cry during parent-teacher conferences!) The only other contributing factor towards our decision to homeschool may have been my undergraduate education in the teaching of English, but I feel strongly that homeschooling parents do not need a teaching degree to be successful with their own children. However, in my case, my education probably gave me the confidence I needed to actually pull them out of school.
Besides the usual stuff I always heard in our parent-teacher conferences, "Your kids are very smart, very quiet, and very well-behaved," I found the parent-teacher conferences to be a real window into what was going on there. Prior to the parent-teacher conference, there is back-to-school night where your child basically finds out what the teacher looks like and what side of the room he/she will be sitting on. Then there is the generic information sent home about rules and homework policies. But the parent-teacher conference is the first time we get to sit down with the individual who is going to have an enormous impact on our child's life, and really discuss how and what our child is doing in school. I prepared for my parent-teacher conference by providing a short reading list for the teacher (LOL) and including a copy of "Twenty Tips for Teachers" from the book The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine N. Aron, PhD. Apparently, teachers do not take warmly towards suggestions from parents on how to better handle their children. In my current field, this is called continuing education. Also in my current field, I strive to create an individual plan of care for each patient's unique health problem. Yet throughout my kids' time in the school system, I was continually reminded that my children would not be learning anything unique to their needs, but instead what the rest of the class needed or what was mandated by the school district.
When my daughter started kindergarten she was already reading. Despite this fact, her daily homework centered around learning the sounds of the alphabet starting with the letter A the first week, and continuing each week through the letter Z. On the first night of the week she would need to write the letter A a few zillion times. The next night she would have to find items around the house that started with the letter A. The following night she would have to glue items around the letter A, and so on through the week. I began to ask Rebecca if her teacher knew that she could already read. Her reply: "I don't know Mommy, there isn't anything to read. She reads to us." I suggested to Rebecca that since she was shy with her teacher, that she make it her goal to get the teacher to notice that she could already read so that possibly she could *practice* that skill at school. The phonics homework continued and still no reading work. When I had my first parent-teacher conference I asked her teacher if she knew that Rebecca could already read. She said she knew this fact, but since there were only three readers in her class, she needed to concentrate on getting the other kids reading by the end of the year. The teacher felt that Rebecca really only needed to work on getting over her shyness this year because, of course, shyness is something one can simply just choose to stop doing! By the way, she is still pretty shy and so am I, at times, and I'm nearing 40!
My son had these same issues during his time in school. In 1st grade Patrick was (and still is) nuts about science. At the first parent-teacher conference I asked why the class did not do any science activities. His teacher told me that she wanted to do science, but that in 1st grade the science standards were so minimal compared to all the language and math standards that science would be limited. She then asked me if I would volunteer to help in the classroom one afternoon per week when she got started on science. My thoughts were, "Oh, this is probably going to get real messy, and she wants another body to help contain the mess and clean up afterwards." When I arrived the first time I was surprised to find that the kids were doing "science" worksheets where they identified people who use science in their jobs. I was the "scientist" as a nurse so I got to talk about what types of science I use in my job. The kids had a million questions about bones, blood, skin, you name it! Eventually the teacher had to cut me off from the barrage of questions, but I felt like I was getting cut off from my Oscar acceptance speech. Clearly, I was the most interesting thing that had happened in this class all year. The next week I arrived with my skeleton model, clay to make muscles, and my anatomy coloring book, but once we got going with looking at the skeleton, naming the bones, and pointing to our own bones, I was cut off again for another "science" worksheet, this one asking, "What does a bone do? Supports the body. What do teeth do? Chew. What is skin for? Protection." Good night. Seriously, that was the whole content of the worksheet, the rest was graphics of big-headed, cartoon-style children that they could color. Six year old kids want to do stuff, not fill in worksheets. Once again I felt like we were stopping before they might learn too much. I wanted to take a few of them aside and say, "Meet me in the hall after class, and I'll show you some more cool bones!"
One of my favorite memories from our school days, and the one that probably had the most impact on me, occurred when I had the daughter of Rebecca's teacher in my girl scout troop. Her teacher and her daughter carpooled with me on a troop trip to volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul homeless center. They were really impressed with all the troop trips we took to museums, multicultural activities we did, and desire to help with different problems in our community. We got to discussing the challenges of trying to teach school in a state where there is still a large percentage of second-language learners, yet an "English-only" policy, the struggles of the "No Child Left Behind" Act and how it concentrated its efforts on getting the lower performing students up to par, but did nothing to assist the upper performing students. Her teacher told me that when she reached 3rd grade she could test for the gifted program (which I have strong feelings against anyway), but that the gifted program met after school. So they sit all day bored in a classroom, and then go to an enrichment program during the time that they would normally have extracurricular activities such as sports, scouts, or a social life. By this time I had already toured both private schools and charter schools, and came to the realization that if we were to switch schools, then we would be spending all our time on the highway shuttling back and forth. I explained to her that I wanted my children to have an education that continually nurtured a lifelong interest in learning, rather than just the basics. Then her teacher said to me, "Kathy, the school is always going to cater to the lowest common denominator. If you want your children to have an education beyond the state standards, then you're going to have to supplement them at home." Wow. That really hit me. So I had to keep them home so they could get an education! What a concept!
I knew people that homeschooled. I thought they were crazy. I felt the kids must be missing out on so much. Then I observed some of their time with their friends at school. You know, that fifteen minutes of recess they get after they eat lunch in a crammed cafeteria. Everyone should watch this show at some point. The kids run around like lunatics. The quiet ones wandering around searching for a familiar face. This is the important "socialization" that my children would be missing if I were to pull them out of school. When I volunteered in Patrick's 3rd grade class, I walked around helping the kids with their work, while the teacher wrote names on the board for talking. We were a tag team, she and I, but why was I doing the teaching part? What about the technology available at the school, like the computers. Rebecca went an entire year without a working computer login. When I asked what she did during computer time, I was told she could work on "worksheets." Yippee!
And so we began our homeschooling journey at winter break in December 2006. Three years have gone by now, and we have a lot to say about the subject! More later . . .
Besides the usual stuff I always heard in our parent-teacher conferences, "Your kids are very smart, very quiet, and very well-behaved," I found the parent-teacher conferences to be a real window into what was going on there. Prior to the parent-teacher conference, there is back-to-school night where your child basically finds out what the teacher looks like and what side of the room he/she will be sitting on. Then there is the generic information sent home about rules and homework policies. But the parent-teacher conference is the first time we get to sit down with the individual who is going to have an enormous impact on our child's life, and really discuss how and what our child is doing in school. I prepared for my parent-teacher conference by providing a short reading list for the teacher (LOL) and including a copy of "Twenty Tips for Teachers" from the book The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine N. Aron, PhD. Apparently, teachers do not take warmly towards suggestions from parents on how to better handle their children. In my current field, this is called continuing education. Also in my current field, I strive to create an individual plan of care for each patient's unique health problem. Yet throughout my kids' time in the school system, I was continually reminded that my children would not be learning anything unique to their needs, but instead what the rest of the class needed or what was mandated by the school district.
When my daughter started kindergarten she was already reading. Despite this fact, her daily homework centered around learning the sounds of the alphabet starting with the letter A the first week, and continuing each week through the letter Z. On the first night of the week she would need to write the letter A a few zillion times. The next night she would have to find items around the house that started with the letter A. The following night she would have to glue items around the letter A, and so on through the week. I began to ask Rebecca if her teacher knew that she could already read. Her reply: "I don't know Mommy, there isn't anything to read. She reads to us." I suggested to Rebecca that since she was shy with her teacher, that she make it her goal to get the teacher to notice that she could already read so that possibly she could *practice* that skill at school. The phonics homework continued and still no reading work. When I had my first parent-teacher conference I asked her teacher if she knew that Rebecca could already read. She said she knew this fact, but since there were only three readers in her class, she needed to concentrate on getting the other kids reading by the end of the year. The teacher felt that Rebecca really only needed to work on getting over her shyness this year because, of course, shyness is something one can simply just choose to stop doing! By the way, she is still pretty shy and so am I, at times, and I'm nearing 40!
My son had these same issues during his time in school. In 1st grade Patrick was (and still is) nuts about science. At the first parent-teacher conference I asked why the class did not do any science activities. His teacher told me that she wanted to do science, but that in 1st grade the science standards were so minimal compared to all the language and math standards that science would be limited. She then asked me if I would volunteer to help in the classroom one afternoon per week when she got started on science. My thoughts were, "Oh, this is probably going to get real messy, and she wants another body to help contain the mess and clean up afterwards." When I arrived the first time I was surprised to find that the kids were doing "science" worksheets where they identified people who use science in their jobs. I was the "scientist" as a nurse so I got to talk about what types of science I use in my job. The kids had a million questions about bones, blood, skin, you name it! Eventually the teacher had to cut me off from the barrage of questions, but I felt like I was getting cut off from my Oscar acceptance speech. Clearly, I was the most interesting thing that had happened in this class all year. The next week I arrived with my skeleton model, clay to make muscles, and my anatomy coloring book, but once we got going with looking at the skeleton, naming the bones, and pointing to our own bones, I was cut off again for another "science" worksheet, this one asking, "What does a bone do? Supports the body. What do teeth do? Chew. What is skin for? Protection." Good night. Seriously, that was the whole content of the worksheet, the rest was graphics of big-headed, cartoon-style children that they could color. Six year old kids want to do stuff, not fill in worksheets. Once again I felt like we were stopping before they might learn too much. I wanted to take a few of them aside and say, "Meet me in the hall after class, and I'll show you some more cool bones!"
One of my favorite memories from our school days, and the one that probably had the most impact on me, occurred when I had the daughter of Rebecca's teacher in my girl scout troop. Her teacher and her daughter carpooled with me on a troop trip to volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul homeless center. They were really impressed with all the troop trips we took to museums, multicultural activities we did, and desire to help with different problems in our community. We got to discussing the challenges of trying to teach school in a state where there is still a large percentage of second-language learners, yet an "English-only" policy, the struggles of the "No Child Left Behind" Act and how it concentrated its efforts on getting the lower performing students up to par, but did nothing to assist the upper performing students. Her teacher told me that when she reached 3rd grade she could test for the gifted program (which I have strong feelings against anyway), but that the gifted program met after school. So they sit all day bored in a classroom, and then go to an enrichment program during the time that they would normally have extracurricular activities such as sports, scouts, or a social life. By this time I had already toured both private schools and charter schools, and came to the realization that if we were to switch schools, then we would be spending all our time on the highway shuttling back and forth. I explained to her that I wanted my children to have an education that continually nurtured a lifelong interest in learning, rather than just the basics. Then her teacher said to me, "Kathy, the school is always going to cater to the lowest common denominator. If you want your children to have an education beyond the state standards, then you're going to have to supplement them at home." Wow. That really hit me. So I had to keep them home so they could get an education! What a concept!
I knew people that homeschooled. I thought they were crazy. I felt the kids must be missing out on so much. Then I observed some of their time with their friends at school. You know, that fifteen minutes of recess they get after they eat lunch in a crammed cafeteria. Everyone should watch this show at some point. The kids run around like lunatics. The quiet ones wandering around searching for a familiar face. This is the important "socialization" that my children would be missing if I were to pull them out of school. When I volunteered in Patrick's 3rd grade class, I walked around helping the kids with their work, while the teacher wrote names on the board for talking. We were a tag team, she and I, but why was I doing the teaching part? What about the technology available at the school, like the computers. Rebecca went an entire year without a working computer login. When I asked what she did during computer time, I was told she could work on "worksheets." Yippee!
And so we began our homeschooling journey at winter break in December 2006. Three years have gone by now, and we have a lot to say about the subject! More later . . .
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