Having a set schedule really is essential in a successful homeschool. I've heard people say, "oh we can do school anytime," and then later discovered that they gave up and sent their kids back to school. Schooling "anytime" is a myth! Don't fall for it! You need a set and predictable schedule. But how to establish that set and predictable schedule is totally up to you.
Time of Day
Our lives include milking and caring for farm animals, so while we don't start school until about 9am, it's because we've already put in two full hours work before we start. Other families like to start early in the day and get done early. I know families who love sleeping in and don't start their day until 10am or 11am.
Most children have better mental stamina in the morning. Take advantage of that time. Morning is when children should do the subjects that take higher mental energy, like math or reading for the younger ones. We do our heavy seat work in the morning and save the afternoons for science activities and read alouds.
Some families schedule their day to be finished by 3pm. In my family, we work through the morning, have lunch, and then EVERYBODY takes a nap. We've always had little ones who needed a nap, so we discovered by accident that naps are good for older ones too. Our 6 and 8 year olds are nicer boys if they've had that two hour quiet time. They only sleep occasionally, but the alone time really does work wonders on their disposition. Our teens spend naptime reading on the couch or occasionally sleeping.
The typical day at the local public school is six hours long with about an hour of homework, but at home, that same learning can be accomplished in about 3-4 hours. Some families do the 3-4 hours and call it good. My poor children do the full 6-7 hours and study twice as much. There are just so many interesting things to learn!
Days of Week
Early on we tried to replicate the school experience and do school five days a week. After a few years of frustration, we went to a four day week and we've stayed with it ever since.
Don't get me wrong, my kids don't have it easy. Those four days we do school are four really full and intense days. I discovered that it works better for me and my kids to do four full days with an extra day for field trips or catching up, than do five mellower days. We do school Mondays through Thursdays and then Friday is our library/field trip/catch up day. With as much farm work as we have, it often turns into the day to get projects done.
Weeks Per Year
The local schools do 36 weeks per year and so do we. Sonlight, the curriculum we use for history and literature, is designed on a 36 week year so we follow that. Well, that's our intention, but every year as we get the end, rather than sprint to the finish line, it's more like a collapse. We combine weeks 35 and 36 and call ourselves done.
The public schools have 180 "instructional" days. They do five days a week and 36 weeks a year. But a quick jaunt around town in May lets you know that not every "instructional" day is equal. Those 180 days include lots of spring time field trips, classroom management, assemblies, etc. Don't hold yourself to 180 intense learning filled days in order to be "as good" as the school system.
Some homeschooling families follow the traditional school calendar, running August/September through May/June. Other do a year-round schedule. That's what we do. With a year-round schedule we don't lose learning over the summer, which alone pushes my children ahead of their age peers. That's a good reason to do year-round school, but the real reason we do it is because I just can't do more than six weeks of school at a time. By the end of six solid weeks, I need a break from planning, scheduling, working with kids, and correcting papers. I just can't do it! So after about every six weeks, we have a week off.
Except for September. We take a six week break in the fall, beginning right when the local schools start up. Here in Idaho, we have some of the best camping in the country, but the mountains are full of people all summer, until the day school starts. In September the weather is still fantastic but the campgrounds are empty. It is a glorious break that we relish.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
6 Problems You Will Avoid
After homeschooling for a while, I forget about the problems we no longer have. Then I get around friends' kids and am reminded how peaceful our lives are compared to theirs.
1. Peer pressure
Group think has always been strong in schools, dictating the proper clothes to wear, the way to look, and the toys that kids "must" have. Because my kids aren't exposed to that every day, they don't put much energy into making sure their clothes/makeup/electronics are up to par. Instead, they make decisions about what they like and are interested in. When I get around other kids I'm shocked at the strength of the shoulds-in-order-to-be-good-enough coming from them. By contrast, my kids seem to have a strong sense of being good-enough just in their own skin.
2. Age peers are only peers
In schools, the kids one year (or less) younger are WAY younger and the kids one year (or less) older are WAY older. The only real peers are those who are exactly their same age. Of course, that dynamic exists no where else in the world except in the schools. In fact, in the working world, our children will suddenly be working with people decades older and younger who will be considered their peers. Homeschooling prepares them for that reality.
3. Late night surprises
When we first started homeschooling there were some things I was so happy to leave behind, especially the 9pm, "oh, I need a dozen cupcakes tomorrow, sorry" while pulling out a crumpled paper from their backpack. Yep, I don't miss that.
4. Lack of self-direction needed in college and adult living
Colleges are increasingly noticing that homeschoolers are much more successful than their schooled peers, regardless of academic level. I think one of the major reasons is that homeschooling requires children to learn self-direction. In the school environment, a child can just follow the flow of traffic and keep up — move when the bells tell you, turn in work when the teacher tells you, take the class your counselor tells you. But in homeschooling, there is no, or little, flow of traffic to follow, so children have to learn how to do something just because it needs done.
5. Teachers misunderstanding or not following directions (IEP)
My operating assumption was that teachers were required and did follow such formal documents as IEPs and parental instructions on food. That may be the rule, but I hear from many that it is not the practice. My adopted children have attachment disorder and a key part of their healing is that sweets come only from parents. My daughter's counselor reports that many parents have problems with teachers violating that rule by giving children candy as incentives. Others I talk to scowl about teachers scoffing IEPs and failing to follow any of the provisions their special needs child requires.
6. Siblings who don’t like each other
When I was younger I saw siblings who treated each other more like enemies than friends. I thought, my kids will never be that way! And then they went to school. The taunts amplified and the cold shoulder hardened. And then we started homeschooling. After a few years I realized that all that aloofness was gone and my children were each other's best friends. They were their play mates at "recess" and their buddies on field trips.
1. Peer pressure
Group think has always been strong in schools, dictating the proper clothes to wear, the way to look, and the toys that kids "must" have. Because my kids aren't exposed to that every day, they don't put much energy into making sure their clothes/makeup/electronics are up to par. Instead, they make decisions about what they like and are interested in. When I get around other kids I'm shocked at the strength of the shoulds-in-order-to-be-good-enough coming from them. By contrast, my kids seem to have a strong sense of being good-enough just in their own skin.
2. Age peers are only peers
In schools, the kids one year (or less) younger are WAY younger and the kids one year (or less) older are WAY older. The only real peers are those who are exactly their same age. Of course, that dynamic exists no where else in the world except in the schools. In fact, in the working world, our children will suddenly be working with people decades older and younger who will be considered their peers. Homeschooling prepares them for that reality.
3. Late night surprises
When we first started homeschooling there were some things I was so happy to leave behind, especially the 9pm, "oh, I need a dozen cupcakes tomorrow, sorry" while pulling out a crumpled paper from their backpack. Yep, I don't miss that.
4. Lack of self-direction needed in college and adult living
Colleges are increasingly noticing that homeschoolers are much more successful than their schooled peers, regardless of academic level. I think one of the major reasons is that homeschooling requires children to learn self-direction. In the school environment, a child can just follow the flow of traffic and keep up — move when the bells tell you, turn in work when the teacher tells you, take the class your counselor tells you. But in homeschooling, there is no, or little, flow of traffic to follow, so children have to learn how to do something just because it needs done.
5. Teachers misunderstanding or not following directions (IEP)
My operating assumption was that teachers were required and did follow such formal documents as IEPs and parental instructions on food. That may be the rule, but I hear from many that it is not the practice. My adopted children have attachment disorder and a key part of their healing is that sweets come only from parents. My daughter's counselor reports that many parents have problems with teachers violating that rule by giving children candy as incentives. Others I talk to scowl about teachers scoffing IEPs and failing to follow any of the provisions their special needs child requires.
6. Siblings who don’t like each other
When I was younger I saw siblings who treated each other more like enemies than friends. I thought, my kids will never be that way! And then they went to school. The taunts amplified and the cold shoulder hardened. And then we started homeschooling. After a few years I realized that all that aloofness was gone and my children were each other's best friends. They were their play mates at "recess" and their buddies on field trips.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
6 Problems You May Have
Many enter homeschooling worried that they'll be unsuccessful, just to have to problems arise and prove them right. Homeschooling, like parenting, can be pretty challenging, but just like parenting, a lot of love, creativity, and commitment will turn that around.
1. Resistance
The number one issue I hear from people is resistance. The child doesn't want to do the work. They complain. They take forever. And they do it all day long. What parent wouldn't want out of that nightmare?
We had lots of resistance when we started but we rarely deal with it now. What changed? We got to the root of the resistance and turned it around.
The biggest issue turned out to be curriculum. At first we got textbooks and workbooks, things that looked very school to me. The kids made my life miserable and I responded like it was an obedience issue. They finally wore me down and I figured I couldn't do worse than try something different. Everything changed! Then I realized how important curriculum is. I also realized that textbooks are just not fun.
Pushing too hard or not hard enough turned out to be a problem. Children learn at different paces. Homeschooling provides the freedom for children to learn at their own pace, but I didn't put that into practice at first. I kept pushing them, even when they had trouble, or I held them back when they had already mastered concepts. Relaxing and letting them set the pace removed many obstacles.
Learning disabilities can be lurking under the surface. I used to worry about this. Well, I mostly worried about how unprepared I felt to deal with them. But if you pay attention to your child, you'll notice naturally where their difficulties are and how they learn. Learning disabilities not only compromise a child's ability to learn, but often fills them with anticipated failure so they don't even try. After lots of banging my head against the wall, I realized that my oldest child learns with creativity. Reading several paragraphs and then filling out a worksheet just killed him and the next day he couldn't tell you a thing about those paragraphs. But if I gave him an assignment to draw an Oregon Trail wagon train and then handed him a big sheet of paper and a book on the Oregon Trail, he learned deeply.
Frankly, resistance can also be a good old fashioned obedience issue. Homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, so if your child is generally defiant or disrespectful, homeschooling may be a wonderful blessing because it will force you to deal with it in a constructive and life-giving way, rather than let it fester until they are grown and gone.
2. Failure
I worried so much about failure in the early years and now I never worry about it. If a child doesn't master a concept, just do it again. My second child had a hard time with math. When she failed a chapter, I just had her re-do it. If she failed it again, then I knew the curriculum wasn't working for her so we tried something new. Done.
3. Isolation & Loneliness
Kids used to the constant social interaction of the classroom can experience some serious sensory deprivation when they start homeschooling. Some of this can be dealt with by joining homeschool co-ops or play groups. Many cities have homeschool meet ups where kids get together and play or do activities together.
But homeschooling will be more social isolating than going to school, and I don't think that is a bad thing. In fact, I think the volume of social time in schools is artificial and even unhealthy, as attested to by the many social problems including bullying present in schools. After leaving school as a young adult, I never again experienced the sheer volume of social interaction that was typical and normal in the school setting.
4. Money
Homeschooling is not free. But, let's be honest, neither is public school. Public school requires school supplies, backpacks, packing or buying lunch, locker fees, school pictures, sports fees, and many fund raisers. I also experienced that it required a different level of clothing & shoes than what my children were happy with at home. I know families who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on homeschooling curriculum, on-line classes, and community classes. I also know families who buy almost nothing and use the internet and the library as their information source. We spend about $1,500-$3,000 per year on our seven children.
5. Spouses Disagree or Are Unsupportive
Some people staying at home to educate their children (usually women) report that their spouse is unsupportive with either negative comments or complete uninvolvement. Just like homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, it can also amplify marriage problems. If your spouse is unsupportive, you've got a marriage problem that needs attending to.
6. Parents Don't Like Being With Their Kids
Some would laugh at this as a problem, but I think it's the number one reason people don't homeschool when they think they should. I've heard people say, "if the kids were home all day long they'd drive me crazy," but I've never heard a homeschooling parent say that. Now, maybe the only people who homeschool are people who really enjoy being with their kids (symptom), but I think the opposite is true, that homeschooling creates an environment where parents learn to genuinely enjoy being with their children (causative).
1. Resistance
The number one issue I hear from people is resistance. The child doesn't want to do the work. They complain. They take forever. And they do it all day long. What parent wouldn't want out of that nightmare?
We had lots of resistance when we started but we rarely deal with it now. What changed? We got to the root of the resistance and turned it around.
The biggest issue turned out to be curriculum. At first we got textbooks and workbooks, things that looked very school to me. The kids made my life miserable and I responded like it was an obedience issue. They finally wore me down and I figured I couldn't do worse than try something different. Everything changed! Then I realized how important curriculum is. I also realized that textbooks are just not fun.
Pushing too hard or not hard enough turned out to be a problem. Children learn at different paces. Homeschooling provides the freedom for children to learn at their own pace, but I didn't put that into practice at first. I kept pushing them, even when they had trouble, or I held them back when they had already mastered concepts. Relaxing and letting them set the pace removed many obstacles.
Learning disabilities can be lurking under the surface. I used to worry about this. Well, I mostly worried about how unprepared I felt to deal with them. But if you pay attention to your child, you'll notice naturally where their difficulties are and how they learn. Learning disabilities not only compromise a child's ability to learn, but often fills them with anticipated failure so they don't even try. After lots of banging my head against the wall, I realized that my oldest child learns with creativity. Reading several paragraphs and then filling out a worksheet just killed him and the next day he couldn't tell you a thing about those paragraphs. But if I gave him an assignment to draw an Oregon Trail wagon train and then handed him a big sheet of paper and a book on the Oregon Trail, he learned deeply.
Frankly, resistance can also be a good old fashioned obedience issue. Homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, so if your child is generally defiant or disrespectful, homeschooling may be a wonderful blessing because it will force you to deal with it in a constructive and life-giving way, rather than let it fester until they are grown and gone.
2. Failure
I worried so much about failure in the early years and now I never worry about it. If a child doesn't master a concept, just do it again. My second child had a hard time with math. When she failed a chapter, I just had her re-do it. If she failed it again, then I knew the curriculum wasn't working for her so we tried something new. Done.
3. Isolation & Loneliness
Kids used to the constant social interaction of the classroom can experience some serious sensory deprivation when they start homeschooling. Some of this can be dealt with by joining homeschool co-ops or play groups. Many cities have homeschool meet ups where kids get together and play or do activities together.
But homeschooling will be more social isolating than going to school, and I don't think that is a bad thing. In fact, I think the volume of social time in schools is artificial and even unhealthy, as attested to by the many social problems including bullying present in schools. After leaving school as a young adult, I never again experienced the sheer volume of social interaction that was typical and normal in the school setting.
4. Money
Homeschooling is not free. But, let's be honest, neither is public school. Public school requires school supplies, backpacks, packing or buying lunch, locker fees, school pictures, sports fees, and many fund raisers. I also experienced that it required a different level of clothing & shoes than what my children were happy with at home. I know families who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on homeschooling curriculum, on-line classes, and community classes. I also know families who buy almost nothing and use the internet and the library as their information source. We spend about $1,500-$3,000 per year on our seven children.
5. Spouses Disagree or Are Unsupportive
Some people staying at home to educate their children (usually women) report that their spouse is unsupportive with either negative comments or complete uninvolvement. Just like homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, it can also amplify marriage problems. If your spouse is unsupportive, you've got a marriage problem that needs attending to.
6. Parents Don't Like Being With Their Kids
Some would laugh at this as a problem, but I think it's the number one reason people don't homeschool when they think they should. I've heard people say, "if the kids were home all day long they'd drive me crazy," but I've never heard a homeschooling parent say that. Now, maybe the only people who homeschool are people who really enjoy being with their kids (symptom), but I think the opposite is true, that homeschooling creates an environment where parents learn to genuinely enjoy being with their children (causative).
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