Homeschooling Moms?

Question

I am planning on homeschooling my son who is now just 4 1/2 months old, but I don't think it is ever too early to have a plan for your child's education. I am looking to get some insight from mom's out there who are currently or have homeschooled their children. Some questions I have are:

1. Why did you choose to homeschool?

2. What grades did you homeschool?

3. What grades did you intend to teach, if different that you orginally planned why did you choose to homeschool for more or less time?

4. How many children did you homeschool, age differences?

5. What kind of schedule did you have, for what grades?

6. What is/was the most challenging aspect? Most rewarding?

7. What other activities did you have your child involved in?

8. How does/did your child feel about being homeschooled while you were doing it, after they entered public/private school and after they finished schooling?

9. Did you follow public school schedule as far as holidays, summer, spring break etc.

Any tips

Answer 1

1. to preserve my childs curiosity and love of learning/to spare him the many forms of negative socialization tat plague pubic schools/to assure quality and breadth in the resources of opportunities in his education/because I've heard too many horror stories of what becomes of early readers in public school

(just a few of many reasons)

2. preschool, K and we're doing first/second/third grade level work right now.

3. I plan to exclusively homeschool (no public schools, but will seek out varied resources)

4. One so far, but we're TTC Thing Two. My son is almost five, so that'll be the age spread.

5. we spend about five to thirty minutes per subject, and do two to three subjects a day. we do a bit, take a break, and do a bit more.

6. I compile our curriculum from various sources and approaches, and we're secular, so that can be a challenge. The most rewarding is that he's doing amazingly well, an has a real enthusiasm for it.

7. he's done martial arts, soccer, swim lessons, Spiral Scouts, homeschooling play groups, science camp, art classes, an an Irish dance class.

8. He enjoys it. He sometimes resists when it gets challenging but at other times he elects to "do school" of his own volition, or wants to do more than i had planned.

9. it's summer now and we're still going. I find he doesn't always retain material without review.

Answer 2

1. I also homeschool because the schools in our area (both public and private) were unable to handle my son's needs.  He is both highly gifted and dyslexic, and their solution was to drug him.  My husband and I decided that we could do better.  Today, he's thriving. :)

2. We started out in 1st grade and are now starting 6th.

3. When we started, I wasn't sure.  Honestly, my son came home the first day of school crying his eyes out, begging me to homeschool.  I looked into the matter and found that his feelings about his new school (as well as his boredom and frustration) were founded.  I took the weekend, found out what we needed to do, and we started in the following Monday.  It wasn't something I originally planned on doing, but now we intend to homeschool through high school.

4. I just have one child.  We started when he was 6, he's now 10.5.

5.  We've been through all kinds of different methods; we started out with school at home, tried classical, then Charlotte Mason, and we finally settled on an eclectic blend of unit studies, lit-based, and boxed curriculum.  Our current schedule (that we are likely to keep) is:

-He gets up around 7 or 8 and spends a few minutes with his Dad, who works nights.

-When Dad goes to sleep, he starts in on his independent work, which is waiting on his nightstand when he gets up in the morning.  This includes independent reading (generally a novel, sometimes a nonfiction book about something he's interested in researching), journaling, math, grammar, history reading (either a biography or historical fiction), and any research for science or history that he's able to do on his own.

-He's generally done by 10 or 11, when he takes a break to get something to eat and veg for a few minutes.  We take the dog for a walk if it's a nice day.

-After break time we get started on "together work".  This includes teaching his grammar and math for the next day, timelining his history and doing other projects, working on science experiments, working on writing projects, working on Scout badges that apply to whatever he's studying, discussing whatever he's reading for lit, and working on lapbooks together.

-We're usually done with that by 2 or 3, and he takes a break to play till Dad wakes up.

-When Dad wakes up, they find something to do together.  This could be anything from working on the yard and pool to playing catch at the park.  If Dad has something he has to do that day, he'll play with some friends instead.

-Around 5 or 6 we get dinner.

-After dinner we might read aloud a novel, watch a movie, work on a project, or play a board game.  Otherwise, we might go to a baseball game or take a walk.

-He goes to bed around 10, and then we get up and do it all again :)

This schedule is subject to change, of course; during the summer he has Scout stuff, playdays at the park, and classes, and when fall comes he'll have co op classes on Mondays and Thursdays as well.

6. The most challenging aspect has been to let go of what I think school should be - i.e. the classroom model that I was raised with - and allowing him to learn in the way that makes sense to him.  Once I was able to let go of this and trust him a bit more, things went *much* more smoothly.  Fitting a square peg into a round hole isn't known to be the most effective method of teaching, lol!

The most rewarding aspect...wow, hard to pick.  I would say it's seeing him daily be the happy, inquisitive, confident boy that he is.  He's the type of kid that, although he's very bright and gets along with others well, would probably be picked on in school...he has his own interests and doesn't feel the need to be "just like" everyone else.  Through homeschooling, he's not labeled or separated out; he can just be himself and do what he's interested in and have friends that feel the same way.

7. Oh, goodness.  Let's see:

Cub Scouts, now Boy Scouts

Royal Rangers

AWANA

Youth group

Baseball

Community theater

Gymnastics

Art

Cake decorating classes

Co op (science, history, languages, drama, art, geography, etc.)

Field trips

Organized play days

Impromptu play days

8. He loves it.  He was in private school from Pre-K through K (3 years, including Jr. K) and asked (read: begged) to homeschool after moving to a new state.  He loves the freedom and challenge that comes with it and wants to homeschool through high school.  He also likes the fact that he can graduate high school with a Bachelor's degree if he chooses to work for it.

9. We don't.  We school year round, taking breaks as we need them.  All in all, we're in school 42-45 weeks out of the year, on average.  This way, he can get school work done while the kids in the neighborhood are on vacation or at camp, and can take breaks whenever we go on vacation or he goes to camp.  Also, whenever we need a break through the year - when things just start to weigh down on us and we start to burn out - we can take a few days to recharge.  Because we already do school for 6-9 weeks longer than ps, we're not losing out at all by doing this.  (Not having to review for 6-9 weeks every fall is a plus, too!)

Hope that helps - it's great that you're planning ahead!  That's one thing I wish I would have been able to do...it would have saved a lot of stress our first year!  Good luck :)

Answer 3

Oh never too early to think about it and plan it out. We planned on homeschooling before we even thought about having our Daughter. We said if we ever have a child we will homeschool.

1. Why did you choose to homeschool? I use to teach in both the Public and Private schools- that should be a good enough reason :)

2. What grades did you homeschool? This will be "officially" our first year though we have been homeschooling all along.

3. What grades did you intend to teach, if different that you orginally planned why did you choose to homeschool for more or less time? Thru college age.

4. How many children did you homeschool, age differences? Only one 6 yr old.

5. What kind of schedule did you have, for what grades? No real schedule here. We just wait to see what the day brings us and go with the flow.

6. What is/was the most challenging aspect? Most rewarding? I don't find anything challenging, but the most rewarding is to be the one to teach her and to see her learn each and every moment of the day.

7. What other activities did you have your child involved in? Just playdates right now gymnastics and ballet at one point. The we do all the normal fieldtrips that schools no longer get to do on a daily basis.

8. How does/did your child feel about being homeschooled while you were doing it, after they entered public/private school and after they finished schooling? My Daughter loves it and tells me all the time she never wants to go to school.

9. Did you follow public school schedule as far as holidays, summer, spring break etc. Nope. We just live our lives and do our own thing.

Answer 4

1. Because I was a school teacher. ;) And because my husband still teaches.

2. I'm still homeschooling and my children have never been to school. They are in grades 2 and 5 (just about to finish). We will go through jr. high most likely, and possibly even through high school.

3. I planned to homeschool through jr. high and possibly through high school.

4. I have 2 children--7yob and 10yog.

5. Morning first thing with my ds usually, otherwise nothing gets done except maybe some reading before bedtime. His work takes 30 minutes or so (just reading, writing and math). Other stuff kind of gets added on here and there for science and social studies and he's free to do art and music and "phys.ed." all he wants. With my dd, I expect her to work in the morning before lunchtime for a good 3 hours. She'll often do more than that if you add in extra reading, writing, creating drawings on the computer, other art... When she was my ds's age, she probably did 1-2 hours of work, but she was much more mature at that age than my son is now!

6. Challenging: really trying to meet their needs and wondering if I'm pushing too hard or not giving them enough. (That's just like parenting though, isn't it?) Most rewarding: being able to see them grow up instead of only seeing them a few hours a day in their early years.

7. For homeschooling-based activites: field trips, parties, playdates, park days, classes... In addition to that, my dd has done summer camp, swimming lessons, skating, group violin lessons, ballet, soccer and gymnastics. My son has so far only done soccer and swimming formally. He, too, will be doing the summer camp this year. They both also attend Sunday School.

8. Well, my kids are still school age, but they do not have any interest in going to school. They get frustrated by the bad behaviour of a couple of the public schooled boys in their Sunday school class, hear stuff when we're around school groups or even just at playgrounds and can't believe the kids think those types of things are acceptable. They have no desire to actually be around kids like that all the time. (This is not to say that all public schooled kids are like that, just that there have been enough for them to see that it is common enough and they know the chances are that they'll have some kids like that in their classes.)

9. Pretty much. I think I'm going to summer school a bit with them this year, but on a more relaxed level--just take care of some things I feel are basics that need doing because they didn't get done. My husband's a school teacher, so following the school schedule works well.

I never properly answered your #1, did I? What it boils down to in a nutshell is that neither my husband nor I liked what we saw going on socially in school and didn't feel that we should have them grow up in that if we could provide them with something healthier. We also felt that it'd be better educationally since we can meet them at their level--we've both had students we couldn't reach who would've benefited from a different pace or advanced students who had spent so many years being unchallenged, we couldn't even get a spark going.

Tips:

Find as many homeschooling groups as you can in your area and get to know them now. They won't think you're weird for connecting with them when your first is just a baby; they'll think it's fabulous. You can find these groups through web pages or in Yahoo Groups. Try for your city, then region, then state/province.

Take advantage of your public library and the internet and read, read, read. Get a feel for the variety of ways that homeschooling can happen. Get to know the different types of resources out there. Read the things that will help allay fears. Read, read, read.

DON'T try for perfection. So many parents try to find the "best" program for this and that and the other. There's no such thing. They are all tools in different ways and may or may not be a good match, but each family is going to have a different opinion.

Expect homeschooling to be a continuation of your parenting with different demands. It means that it's life: with ups and downs. Some give up on homeschooling because they didn't anticipate down times and though it'd all be up, but life just isn' t like that.

Answer 5

I too unschool my children although I'm somewhat a rookie still having only done it so far for 4 months. My kids are gr 8 and 6 age.

My reason for doing so was the problems I was finding within the school system that even brought to the schools attention, nothing but patronizing and ignorance was the response.  

My oldest is going to go to highschool, but my youngest I think will unschool until they can go to college.

I don't regret my decision and wish now that i had started earlier, before the programming of our education system was able to grasp hold.

Answer 6

LOOK AT THESE LONG AZZ ANSWERS!!

LOL REDROSES ANSWER! " started homeschooling in 1994. It was not well knowed at that time as it is now."

No, its not well knowed is it? are ya ma aunt patsy from missisipi? you shore do sound like er!!!

well i home skooled ma babies and dey is smart as whips, smartist in the trayler park. no fancy book lernin for us, we just show em how to farm and stuff. no need to lern that word stuff if yer just workin the feelds all day long. i say put em to work young and dats how dey learn.

Answer 7

1. Our daughter was the victim of a screaming teacher at one school who left her suicidal at the age of eight, and the victim of an attempted murder by a "nice" girl at the next school.  In one of the top school disctricts in the country, no less.

2. We began homeschooling in the middle of fourth grade and plan to continue through high school.

3. Doesn't apply to our situation.  :)

4. One.  

5.  We have no set schedule, because of her many actvities outside the home.  She takes numerous classes, and that schedule changes every few months.  She is learning from the moment she gets up until the moment she falls asleep.

6.  The most challenging aspect, to be honest, is dealing with other people's negative reactions, which range from people challenging her to answer "academic" questions, to folks who yell at me things like "How could you DO that to her?"  The most rewarding aspect has been seeing our child's personality change from a timid, shy, easily frightened person, to the bubbly, enthusiastic, happy girl she is now.

7.  Homeschool park days

Horseback riding

Art classes

Science classes

Tae Kwan Do

Sewing classes

Drama

Music

Volunteer work

Literary groups

Soccer

Playing with friends.

8.  She loves it.  She has no plans nor desire to return to school, especially as her now middle-school aged friends describe what they are studying, the bullying they endure and the nonsense from the teaching staff.

9.  We do not follow any school shedule.  We homeschool year round, with some schedule changes in the summer for summer class offerings, more time outside, more time horseback riding, and even extra time reading as part of our library's summer reading program.

The best tip I can give you is to allow your son to lead you.  He will show you the way.

Answer 8

1. Why did you choose to homeschool?

I wanted more input over what and how my children learned.  I also wanted them to grow up in a positive, nuturing environment, rather than a public school environment which can sometimes be negative.  Here is some information on the benefits of homeschooling:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

2. What grades did you homeschool?

I started homeschooling my oldest when he was in kindergarten.  Before that he went to preschool two days per week.  I don't plan on sending my younger children to preschool.

I have an aunt who homeschooled her children from birth until they graduated high school, and they are absolutely thriving now that they are adults.

3. What grades did you intend to teach, if different that you orginally planned why did you choose to homeschool for more or less time?

I initially thought we'd take it year by year, but now I hope we go all the way through high school.  My children are enjoy learning at home, and I like being free from a school curriculum and schedule.  I also see a big difference between my children and their peers.  

4. How many children did you homeschool, age differences?

So far I'm homeschooling my oldest two, who are three years apart.  My youngest is still a toddler.

5. What kind of schedule did you have, for what grades?

We have a very relaxed schedule.  We do a few hours of work in the morning and we move on with our day.  

There are may different ways to homeschool, and each family's schedule looks  different. Here are some of the different homeschooling methods:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

6. What is/was the most challenging aspect? Most rewarding?

The most challenging aspect was taking that first step.  I was so nervous when Kindergarten registration passed and my child wasn't signed up, and it was hard talking to friends who disapproved of what we were doing.

The most rewarding aspect is being able to watch my children learn and encounter new experiences.  I never knew homeschooling would be this fun!

7. What other activities did you have your child involved in?

My son plays a different sport every season - football, basketball and baseball.  My daughter is in ballet.  Both children are active in church choir and praise dance.

We are members of a homeschool support group so we go on field trips, park days and other outings.  We also have family members who homeschool that we see regularly, and we have a wide range of friends who aren't homeschooling that we see on weekends, etc.

Socialization has not been an issue for us at all.  Our only problem is making sure we aren't doing too much.

Here are some ideas on the type of activities available to homeschoolers:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

8. How does/did your child feel about being homeschooled while you were doing it, after they entered public/private school and after they finished schooling?

My children are still at home and they like being homeschooled.  They know many of their friends go to school, but they have no desire to do so.

9. Did you follow public school schedule as far as holidays, summer, spring break etc.

We keep our own schedule and take breaks whenever we want to. Sometimes we take an entire week off and sometimes we work 7 days straight. We also travel with my husband at times as he often works out of town.  We make school a part of our lives instead of having our lives revolve around school.

Any tips

Relax.  Take it one step at  a time.  Do what works for your family and not what works for other families. Know your child's learning style.  Enjoy your time with your children.

It is great that you are investigating everything now.  Here's some additional information that may help you:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Good luck!

Answer 9

I home school because my daughter couldn't subtract after a year and a half of second grade. She would come home with 4 hours of homework daily and she was beat up on the bus 3 times. The school did nothing to stop it.

My son was in PreK (had just turned 4) and with in 2 months of starting school the teacher wanted to have us put him on ADHD meds. She couldn't control him and he was going from one play station to the next. My son is developmentally delayed (due to a rough beginning) and was not ready for Kindergarten.

I am teaching (starting in August 4th and 1st grade).

I intend to teach all the way through 12th grade if we can. My kids love home school and I hope to continue.

We have 3 kids ages 10, 5, and 2. They each have about 4 years between them.

We do everything at once. We start with Bible for everyone and move on to History (while the oldest is doing history I start with the middle and start him on Math)

The most challenging aspect is to keep going every day. We get in these moods of we just want to be lazy for the day or we have a 100 errands to run and we don't get to it.

Most rewarding is being with my kids everyday. Watching them grow and change everyday.

We are involved in Girl Scouts with my oldest. We are in a Home school group and do Co-Op.

They love home school. After starting in public school they both wanted to be like their cousins (who have always been home schooled). They hated getting up at 6:30 am and riding the bus. My oldest hated all the homework. I hated sending her to school only to get her home to have to teach her what they should have taught her during the day. She's not hard to teach and she is far from dumb. She just didn't get it. Now she does!

We started doing a 6 week schedule. We work for 6 weeks take 2 off and teach all year. We also take from Thanksgiving until New Years off. We are so busy during the Christmas season that doing any "school work" is tough. Instead we teach practical applications (cooking and baking), Life skills (cleaning the house and working on a budget), volunteerism (helping with Christmas productions at Church).

The best tip I can give is to enjoy every moment. If you start to get stressed take a break. I don't mean a break for the rest of the day I mean for the rest of the week if you need it. Take a chance to recharge your batteries now and again. Plan what you want to do and be prepared to throw it out the window if things change.

Answer 10

Please forgive me, #1 is incredibly long.

1.  I chose to homeschool for a variety of reasons.  First, I hated school as a child.  The last grade I enjoyed was Kindergarten, it was downhill from there, worse every year.  I didn't hate the work so much as the environment.  I loved to read, and in 5th grade I even read most of an entire set of Encyclopedias on my own (I skipped through some things that didn't interest me, but most of the content was interesting).  Ironically, I never felt like I had enough time to read when I was in school.  I was always being given some stupid worksheet to fill in the blanks on.

I was abused physically be my second grade teacher, publicly humiliated by my third grade teacher, and I liked my fourth grade teacher until one day when I was in 5th grade I stopped back by her classroom to say "hi" after school.  She yelled at me and said she didn't have time to talk to me all of the time.  Then she said, "I am not your friend, I am not even your teacher anymore, why don't you leave me alone!"  Keep in mind, I did not hang around her classroom every day, at most I usually waved and said, "Hi Miss Berg!"  This was the first day since moving into 5th grade that I ever actually stopped and tried to talked.  There was no reason for her to treat me like that, she probably had no idea how much she hurt my feelings, I went home and cried for about an hour.  The next day I went to her room and said, "Miss Berg, I am sorry about yesterday, you'll never have to worry about it again.  I'll never make the mistake of thinking you are friend, ever."  And I walked out.  She reported me to my regular teacher and I had to stay after school writing 100 times, "I will treat my teachers with respect."  I added to the 100th one, "Whether they deserve it or not."   I don't know if anyone even noticed, I think they just checked to see that the total sentences equaled 100.

My Fifth grade teacher was great, and I cried when I moved up into Sixth.

In all this time, through all this abuse, no one ever succeeded in teaching me my multiplication tables and I was hopelessly lost in math.  I was so far behind in math that I completely stopped trying and just decided I was "Math Stupid."

I dropped out of school for 7th and 8th grade.  I went back again and they put into 9th grade at a continuation High School.  This school did contract studies where I pretty much taught myself using the books.  I completed all of my required subjects with A's and B's, taking record keeping and accounting for my math credits, I had nothing but electives left when they kicked me out because I turned 18, even though I would have been in school until 19 even if I hadn't fallen behind because I started Kindergarten at 6 instead of 5, they wouldn't cut me any slack because they didn't care.

I proceeded to let my life fall apart for about a year, feeling like a failure.  Then I accepted Christ as my savior, and He put it back together.  I got a 4th grade math book and taught myself math, once I felt like I could tackle it I signed up for Adult High School courses at the Community College.  Since all I had to do was earn elective credits, I could choose whatever classes I wanted.  I took a Pre-Algebra Course and several English Courses, along with a lot of typical electives.

When I looked ahead to having kids, I knew I could never subject them to what I had been through, so I started reading up on homeschooling.  I realized that with homeschooling, not only could I make sure that my kids were treated with care and respect, but I could also freely impart my faith and values to them.  So I became determined to homeschool, I even had a rule about dating, if the guy didn't seem receptive of the idea of homeschooling then it could never get serious.

So I decided to homeschool before I had kids, before I was even married.

2.  My oldest is in 9th grade and has been homeschooled since Preschool, I am also teaching my Kindergartner and my Second Grader at home.

3. I intended to teach my kids all the way through, and I have, except that my son went to Public Special Needs Preschool because he needed physical, speech, and occupational therapy.

4. Three kids.  A daughter 14, a son 8, and another daughter 6.

5. It varied a lot.  We are very eclectic and we change our approach when we get bored or overworked.  There are certain things we adhere to no matter what, like math and phonics for the younger ones, but we change up other things at will.  My High Schooler follows a more regular schedule and course load.

6. High School math has been the most challenging.  I've had to study ahead, but finally my daughter passed me anyway.  We use Teaching Textbooks for math, so really, she doesn't need me to teach her that, the CD Rom that comes with the book completely explains it.

7. Church Youth Group and kids club, swimming lessons, 4H, homeschool co-op, library programs, a church play (which I will NEVER volunteer to help with again!), AWANA's, Missionettes, Rainbow Girls.

8. They seem to enjoy it so far, at the beginning of High School I asked my daughter if she wanted to try Public School for a year.  The answer was a resounding "NO."

9. At first I followed the school schedule.  My son's special needs cause him to regress too much over summer though, so now my younger kids go year round.  My older daughter would have been done for summer next week, but we had a little "issue" this year that resulted in her needing to re-do a lot of work, she will be going on some subjects until mid July, and then have summer break.  I try to follow the Public School vacation schedule with her so that she is free to join her friends on vacation, but even she doesn't follow the school's weekly schedule.  We homeschool Tuesday through Saturday, so that we have the same days off as my husband.

Answer 11

1. We just had too many things to do and spending so much time in a classroom would slow us down.

2. K-12, but we never really discussed grade level.  

3. I used to think we'd homeschool until it no longer worked, and that turned out to be all the way through.

4.  2 kids 18 mos difference.

5. We unschooled, so our scheduled has varied greatly through the years.  

6.  The biggest challenge for me was in the early years, I had some doubts because unschooling just isn't something I'd seen much myself.  I believed in it in theory, and my background is in child psychology/human development which completely supports unschooling.  But, somehow my own experiences made me question it.  

The most rewarding aspect has been watching my children grow up into amazing people.

7. I wouldn't say I had my children involved in activities, they were involved, but it wasn't at my insistance.  playgroups, field trip days, park days, gymnastics, art classes, foreign language, creative writing, ice skating, clowning... there is a lot more, but you get the idea...

8. My kids loved homeschooling for the most part.  It was their choice after all.  They both plan on unschooling their own children, I suppose that says a lot.

9. As unschoolers, we didn't follow a formal schedule, but often classes, sports programs and what not follow the public school schedule so there was definitely influence.  And any time they wanted to interact with public school kids, we had to understand the schedule to coordinate.  

Often we would plan field trips specifically to avoid public school kids.  Simply to enjoy places when they aren't so crowded.  That is something I still embrass since I don't care for crowds.

Just follow your heart and don't listen to naysayers. Good Luck :D

Answer 12

I am not a mom yet, but I know my mom's answers to all of these questions because I have heard them a million times (ok, maybe not a million...) :

1. Because we wanted to be on charge of our children's education and felt we could educate them better then any teacher who has thirty other kids to worry about.

2. Me K-12, my brother K-9 and then private school, my sister K-8 and that's as far along as she is.

3. My mom planned to teach until high school, but when that time came I didn't want to stop homeschooling so we worked out a deal: I could continue to homeschool but I had to take charge of my school, activities, and schedule.  My brother wanted to go to high school so that took care of that, and my little sister hasn't quite hit the high school years yet, but I have a feeling she will homeschool K-12.

4. Three kids at most.  I am now 22, my brother is 20, and our sister 12.

5. We had to be ready to start the 'school' day by eight, so showered, dressed, breakfast eaten, room cleaned, but starting school could mean walking to the kitchen to get our school work started our packing up the car and heading out to our various activities.  We did alot of school work in the car.

6. My mom did not pay attention in school and as a result did not make very good grades so her biggest challenge was relearning concepts so she could teach them to us.  Sometimes we would learn something faster than she would and we would teach it to her, thus enforcing our understanding.  The most rewarding is that we are a close family and my brother and I are both working on music degrees.

7. Everyone had to play piano, my sister and I play violin, art lessons, voice lessons, orchestra, quartet, chior, baseball, softball, volleyball, church activities, playing outside with friends, classes activities at the Y, field trips, volunteer work, basketball, volunteering with political campaigns, classes taught by other homeschool parents, classes at the community college, theater, ballet.

8. I love that my parents homeschoold me K-12 and I loved it while I was doing it.  My brother liked being homeschooled when he was younger, but he needs competition to motivate him and he didn't want to miss out on the high school experience.  He feels that homeschooling was good but going to schol was better for him and I agree.  I don't think he would have been happy homeschool K-12.  My sister is basically a mini me and feels that going to school would cut into her activites and social time.  I think she'll homeschool K-12 because she would have way too much to give up if she went to school.

9. We kinda followed the public school schedule, although math and english were year-round subjects, no questions asked.  We started the 'new' school year around the same time as the public schoolers, and usually ended much later because we would take breaks throughout the year for birthdays, field trips, visiting relatives, and other things.

Hmm, I know my mom would have lots of tips for you but I would say the best thing my mom did for us was to listen to our feelings about our education and taking our opinions into consideration.

Answer 13

1. I homeschool because public schools could not help my children, both gifted and disabled. I should say that they tried, but it's nearly impossible to provide an adequate education for anyone outside the norm, and they usually don't provide an education that is appropriate for the newly technical world.

2. Well, when we started four years ago, I had two children not yet school age, a preK, a kindie, a first grader, second grader and a fifth grader. Now I have an eighth grader, fifth grade, fourth grade, third grade, second grade and kindie. And one under age.

3. I plan on unschooling until my children no longer desire to unschool. Hopefully it will be to college.

4. I have seven, right now they are 13, 11 (today!), 9, 8, 6, 4, and two years old.

5. We started off with school at home, which rapidly changed into unschooling. We do not enforce a rigid schedule of learning, but allow the children to explore topics that they are interested in, when they desire. We have a daily routine, which is very flexible and reflects our lifestyle. It has meal times at 8am, 12pm and 6pm, a general clean up time in the am and pm, and usually outings every afternoon.

6. Challenging aspect? When I was enforcing school-at-home, it was unpleasant and didn't really create the love of learning that I really wanted in my children. Most rewarding has been unschooling and seeing all of my children bloom into Beings that are excited to learn.

7. We've been through art classes, baseball, basketball, soccer, tae kwon do, violin, band, boy scouts, girl scouts, 4H, PE, science classes through the science museum, field trips all over the country (from Los Angelos to the Outer Banks.

8. They LOVE homeschool. The older four had been in public school and do not want to go back.

9. I don't follow the public school schedule. In fact, it's a relief when all the public school kids are in school, and we can visit the museums, parks and historical sites without 200 kids around ;-)

Answer 14

I recommend you send him to public school. (In my opinion) Because your gonna want to have your son connect with orther peers, besides its only kindergarden. Maybe for 1st grade you should think about homeschool at around....7th grade!

Answer 15

<Why did you choose to home school?>

Our eyes where open to the lacking public school system when my daughter went to 6th grade. In a nutshell, my child had come from a very disciplined private school and was having a hard time with the fact that none of the kids at her new school ( a charter school)would even listen to the teacher. The final straw was when she was "propositioned" (to put it nicely) by a boy in her class who had been held back a couple of times. The solution that the principal thought was appropriate (after I threatened to call the cops due to NO returned phone calls) was to bring my child AND the boy into the same room and ask them together what happened. I pulled her out the next day.

I looked into home school and did a lot of research finding that kids who do this work at their own pace, follow there interests and usually end up with better test scores. We have found all that to be true and have benefited in having a closer family, happier kids who have great friends and many interests.

Looking back, even though she was in a high priced private school up to 6th grade, her education was lacking. I wish I would have started home schooling from the beginning. I discovered many "holes" in her education. Little things, for instance knowing how to tell time. I asked her why she didn't ask for help and she said she did but the teacher just said she would catch on later. Glad I paid all that money for a great education!

<What grades did you home school?>

My oldest started in the middle of 6th grade, she’s going into 11th. My youngest started in 2nd grade, now going into 6th.

<What grades did you intend to teach, if different that you originally planned why did you choose to home school for more or less time>

I only intended to home school my oldest for a year so she could recover from the abuse she suffered. We loved it so the next year we pulled out our youngest and haven't looked back.

<How many children did you home school, age differences>

Two, an 11 year old and a 16 year old.

<What kind of schedule did you have, for what grades> Schedule? Oh, We generally give them up at about week two of beginning a new "year."

We have tried, we simply can’t keep up with one. I now make a list of assignments for the week. It works well for us.

<How does/did your child feel about being home schooled while you were doing it, after they entered public/private school and after they finished schooling>

The youngest LOVES it, its all she can remember and is thriving. I as of late have allowed my oldest to take a couple of classes at the local high school and she does very well socially and academically. We have 2 formal dances under our belt and she is very like by her peers and teachers.

<Did you follow public school schedule as far as holidays, summer, spring break etc.>

Not really. We take breaks whenever we want. Sometimes that corresponds with the schools though.

Tips? Do lots of research and reading now! Figure out how your child learns best and follow his interests when teaching. Don't listen to the naysayers, you can do it!