home school highs and lows

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

For those of you who homeschool or have in the past, I thought it would be interesting to hear your good and bad experiences with it, funny stuff your kids have said/done/written.  Fun or interesting field trips or projects you've done.

This is our first "official" year of homeschooling (ie. the first year that our kids are required to be schooled by compulsory attendance laws.)  We have a 5 year old and 4 year old and of course, a newborn.  My two older girls are both reading.  The older one is reading at a solid 2nd grade level.  The younger one is reading at a 1st-2nd grade level.  Their spelling leaves something to be desired, but that'll come with time.  Even on the weekends, they want to do lessons, so sometimes we do.  A few days ago, my 5YO brought me a paper where she'd been writing.  It said, "I love God. Herid (sic) is bad.  I will pra (sic) to God."  I got kind of tickled by it.  Ever since she was little bitty, she's had an extreme fascination with the bad guys of literature and the Bible... we used to worry a little bit about it.  She would ask dozens of questions about Herod or Jezebel or whoever.  She liked the big, bad wolf instead of the three little pigs and she liked the evil step-mother in Cinderella.  To be honest, I was a little relieved that she wrote that Herod is bad... she later told me that after considering "everything" the only person she ever hated was Herod... she just couldn't understand how anyone could want to be king badly enough to kill babies. 

I've been teaching the girls at home since birth.  Not in a formal, sit-at-a-desk and memorize sort of way, but teaching them none the less.  They spent the rest of the day today after lessons were done outside hunting snails and bugs.  They caught a snail whose shell was an inch or more long.  Teaching my older one to read has been pleasantly easy and fun, which I didn't expect because she's very hands-on and into everything.  My younger one was a little more of a challenge, even though I think she has a really sharp mind. She drove me crazy because the reading book began with big blocks in between words to help the kids visually separate the words, and as they became better readers, the boxes got smaller until in one lesson, they totally disappeared.  My younger one spent 30 minutes trying to figure out why there were no longer boxes, and why they'd been there in the first place, and why didn't grown-ups have boxes between the words when they read, and what was in the boxes, etc.  When she realized that they were really gone, she hollered at her sister, "Did you know they got rid of the boxes?"  We have a 4 yo neighbor kid who is always down here with his older sister and he's not even potty trained yet, and I have to admit stifling a giggle when I heard my kids and the neighbor kids all sitting around in the living room coloring.  The neighbor girl said, "My brother is almost five and he still wears pull ups all the time."  My older daughter looked at them in shock and horror, and then she said, "Well, my little sister is three and she's been reading since she was a newborn."  Not quite, but since she was two. 

Since the local schools started back up a week or so ago, they've been waving at the school bus when it goes by in the morning and saying, "Bye!  have fun in jail!"     What can I say?  They get their obnoxious streak from their daddy.

[Ernest T. Bass]

Being a home-schooled kid, I can say they'll love you for it. My family is extremely hands-on rather than stick-your-nose-in-a-book when it comes to learning. Our philosophy is to learn how to learn, and to appreciate each other's talents and recognize that we don't all learn the same way. Certain subjects come more easily to some of us than others, and visa-versa. We're all encouraged to work with and expand our separate talents, rather than try and squeeze into the same mold that everyone else is in.

So basically, don't take books too seriously, or be alarmed if anyone seems weak at a particular subject. A lot of home schoolers tend to do lots and LOTS of book learning, kind of trying to show up the public school system, or possibly out of fear of not getting a decent "education"...

School is overrated, in my book.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Earnest T, I couldn't have said it better myself.  We don't do a lot of book work other than reading lessons, but that's mainly because they want to learn.  My four and five year olds are better cooks than my 35 year old sister.  They know more about bugs and other crawly things than most grownups.  They know more trees and flowers and vegetables than most adults.  I saw a neighbor giving us "the look" the other day when we were all outside scrambling after a 2.5 inch grasshopper, and I feel sorry for them.  They don't know what they're missing by shipping their kids off all day.

[NM_Shooter]

Having two kids in public school, I think that home schooling is the way to go, especially if you have a network of other families to interface with to help with the social aspect. 

The public schools tend to aim for the middle of the pack when teaching, so the kids at the top and bottom of the curve don't really get what they need.  We supplement our kid's schooling with work at home, and I am surprised at how well they absorb new info.  My youngest one struggles with math a bit, but with just a little 1:1 she gets it pretty quick. 

I don't know if her teacher is not as competent as she should be, or if I am accustomed to the "angle of approach" that she needs to learn.  She is a tactile learner, and needs application examples. 

Anyway, I greatly admire families that invest that sort of time into themselves.  Kudos!

-f-

[StinkerBell]

Since the local schools started back up a week or so ago, they've been waving at the school bus when it goes by in the morning and saying, "Bye!  have fun in jail!"   Grin  What can I say?  They get their obnoxious streak from their daddy.


That is priceless!

I am getting ready to start our home school. Our first day of school will be Sept 2 or 3, depends. The two older ones go to the local High School Jail.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Go Stink!