Questions about Homeschooling my Daughter???

Question

Ive suddenly realised i would like to homeschool my daughter. She is to start school next year, and before recently, i was set on sending her to a normal state school. I didnt think that homeschooling would be an option, but i do believe it is what i would like to do, at least for the first few years.

Ive realised that i love to teach, and especially teach my daughter the things i know, and she loves it too.

I dont have any problems with regular schools, i just feel that i would love to teach my daughter ain the style that suits her personality and interests, and that it would a great bonding experience for me and her.

I know i can teach her anything that she would need to know at this moment, including maths, english, art, sport, music, history, geography, science, technology and another language (i speak fluent Spanish), so there is no doubts in what she will be learning, and i highly expect that she will know a lot more than other children her age from what i will teach her. Continu

Answer 1

Sounds like you have the teaching area covered and that you already want to allow your daughter to have time to explore her interests and passions is a major plus.  :-)  

As far as socialization, do not confuse it for socializing.  Your daughter will learn necessary socialization schools just by being around you in your home.  She will learn common courtesies from you, naturally.  Your daughter will learn to speak and interact with everyday people you come into contact with by seeing and hearing you speak and interact with others, such as:  the banker, the cashier, other customer service personnel, the mail person, those in your neighborhood community, etc.  

Now, onto socializing.  You can seek out local home school groups in your area, join a group such as Brownies or 4-H, allow her to take any lesson(s) she may enjoy, church, etc.  Opportunities abound for your daughter to make friends, not just within her peer group but those younger and older.  Take her to a nursing home and visit with the elderly, many elderly have their *spirits* lifted by talking with children or playing games, reading to a child or listening to a story read by one, and so on.  Also, she will be socializing on a daily basis with you and if you're fortunate enough, other family members who visit.

Best of luck to you and your family.  Home schooling has so many positive and wonderful benefits.  Don't let the naysayers or doubters sway your decision.  Visit home schooling sites and visit the plethora of home schooling bloggers out there and take a peek into their everyday lives.

Lastly, a wonderful book for you to read would be, The Well Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling, by Rachel Gathercol.  This book provides a thorough and comprehensive look into the entire socialization issue and has interviews with many home schooling families.

Answer 2

Will that be a problem?

Nope. I started homeschooling when I was put on bedrest with my seventh child (and had a 1 yo, 3 yo, 5 yo, 6 yo, 7 yo, and a 9yo). It was very easy to simulate a school-at-home experience. As someone else stated, newborns are very easy, it's when they are about 18 months old that you need to worry about keeping them entertained, and it's good training for them to learn to sit at the table with you, or play quietly nearby. We have one bedroom set up as a play/learning room, and so the little ones could play quietly beside us while we worked.

Also is that if i do send her to actual school after a few years, how will it affect her? Will it be bad? Good?

I think you'll find that most homeschoolers are ahead academically, so that will not be a concern. Socialization is not a concern either. The one issue that homeschoolers typically have trouble adjusting to is being constantly bossed around ;-) After being taught in a loving meaningful way, the arbitrary rules and scheduling of schools will take a few days to adjust to. But not long.

I have seven children who are very well adjusted. We just spent three days with my husband's family, thirty children from age thirteen to four months. No one could tell the difference between the homeschooled and the public school children, except that the homeschooled children were in general more respectful of their parents and more kind to their siblings.

Pulling my children out of school has been the best thing that has happened to them and for our family. My four oldest don't ever want to go back to school. The only mistake I made was trying to recreate school at home while teaching them at the beginning. Unschooling has worked marvelously, because it allows children to learn through their interests, and creates a meaningful deeper education. Remember that your daughter is still very young, and it's not a race to learn more, but a journey that the two of you can share.

Good luck! Have fun!

Answer 3

I think it might just be better to send her to school and start year 1. It is only natural for a mother to want to keep their children close to them for as long as possible but she needs to grow.

You should send her to school now so that she can learn to be away from you for longer periods of time and also so she can get into the routine of school early on.

It would also be better for her socially as well. If she doesnt go to school she won't get the same social atmosphere or opportunities that the other kids are recieving. Plus she may not know how to behave in social situations or how to make friends properly if you do send her to school later on.

I think if you do decided to homeschool your daughter, only do it for her first year of schooling until your baby is born. Then send her to year two as this shouldnt be to bad, although you may want to get some of the problems and upset of leaving mummy for the first time over before your next chikld arrives.

Answer 4

i would not home school your daughter.

She will be lacking in the social skills needed for later life.

Whilst other girls her age will be becoming friends, argueing and that sorta thing she'll be at home with you, and yes of course she can go out and play, but thats not the same, she'll be a outcast compared to the other girls who will be class mates.

Of course you think you two will be best friends, maybe. but maybe she wont like you teaching her. Teens are gonna be a problem for her. and if you later decide to put her in school she'll always be the one left behind.

Answer 5

If you feel like HS is the thing to do then go for it. Right now is the perfect time to start. We just started with the basics for my son. We went to Walmart and bought workbooks that taught "Everthing" After he finished those he moved on to  the Explode the Code Series, Handwriting Without Tears and Math U See Primer.

Keep it simple at first. Teaching her to read may be a challenge so don't overwhelm yourself. Even though she is not yet of compulsory age you need to know the laws in your state. http://hslda.org has those for you.

As for having the new baby Congratulations!!! The new baby will affect all aspects of your current life. Including HS. He is going to cry at inoportune times and make doing it a little more stressful. Is it still the right thing to do? You bet it is! Learn to teach while the baby naps or is quiet. Don't try to teach when he is in a mood that will only frustrate you and your oldest.

Most of all have fun with it! Good Luck!

Answer 6

Heck yeah...home school her. You can come up with way more creative and fun stuff and teach her in real life settings. Also their are toys which teach abstract ideas and all sorts of stuff. For the socialising aspect make sure she has friends at home or esle in  a class such as gymnastics, martial arts, swimming, ballet, something like that. I know I ma going to be a somwhat protective parent as I was molested and remeber the kinds of **** that can happen when kids are left alone. I was actually looking at toys to stimulate kids and adults minds, like jacobs ladders, and stuff like that. It is importan6t to learn in real enviroments which is why I believe that schools should be done a lot more outsied and in real enviroments instead of a little desk. Alot of kids are mislabled add or other things becasue their natures doesn't coincide with the modern social structure, as Tom Hartman put it there are hunters and farmers it is a part of our evolutionary progress, we have either been hunter gatherers or famers and have evolved likewise, some people retain their hunting instict or however you wnat to put it. They don't like sitting there being bored. Buioneers conferance of 2007 I believe was really great if you are interested to get off subject, check it out. And if you are religious teach you religion.Nobody believes in the big bang theory. I have spent a lot of time thinking how to better educate our children and no one ever wants to listen, now that your here I can't remember a thing. I however think it is a great idead to home school, just make sure she socialises, somehow. Maybe in a social setting, instead of trying to learn and make friends at the same time. However the comrade in arms form of bonding is presenr tin school as in wartime, people bond better as a result of sharing hardship. Also they tech very unnecessary skills, I prsonally think the whole educatin sytem needs more than a tune up, it needs an overhaul. What have you used throughoutnyou life  the most, this is a good indicator of what to teach her, as well as teaching her wonder and awe at this beautiful earth. We need leaders and conformity teaches that there is nothing wrong with this world or the way things are run, teach her differant. Teach her that trees and animals feel and are not justbusiness commodities or resources for our own selfish desires. Show her pictures of nebulas and do science experiments. Get yourself a free catalog from Edward Hamilton Book sellers and finfd interesting books, there is also another company tht sells all kinds of cool learning dstuff, the trick is to make learning a game and activity. Not a sheet of paper and an A ior F stamped on it. Nobody wnats their child to be the grunt work of the national machine, butn look at the thousands of multitudes who clean the vomit or cook the burgers, people say this is limited to low income communities but everyone needs a garbage man and thats actually one of the better jobs out there. I believe in a more socialist idea for the human community. People would have their areas of expertise but this sytem sucks. I think symple toys yteach physics the best, knitting and a lot of old time skills teach creativity persoistance and patience. Natural observation is resposible for some of the greatest inventions. Look up biomimicry. It also teaches respect for nature. Theres' s much to teach and I am excited for you, above you listed high school sounding subjects, she neds the basics but mostly teach her wonder and inquisitiveness, the mindset to explore and idscover on her own, open her little  ind tio as much as possible. And teach her love so has morals. Our morals are there to protect the love in our hearts. When I am about to have a child I am going to look inot this alot cause I wnat my child learning new and wondrous things every week.  I think that would make me really happy. With my wife and kid. I just don't want the resposiblity of having their life go wrong like mine did, logically I want to adopt so as not to bring another life into this world, but my feelings are otherwise. Oh and back to adult stuff , one of the coolest ideas from biomimicry is underwater mining for the metal particles in the water with very fine filter nets like some forms of bacteria do. Also using water sheds to clean water and avoid flooding, makes use of phytoremediation, which along with mycoremediation is some of the coolest ways to clean polluted lands I know.  Also I believe recycling should be the law, teach her to recycle and make a compost pile or red worm farm. Also use the scraps from dinner to compost soil feed the worms that make castings and grow your own organic veggies to save money and teach her to be self reliant and thrifty while protecting the enviroment and not wasting. The castings are not as valuable as the "juice that will go to the bottom of the bin, drill holes and center over containers to colloect this, excellent as a soil mix in or foliant feed. Very potent organic stuff. Make sure to not feed to greasy foods, if you do this. There are a million ideas, buit don't try to reproduce a classroom, teach her life, not subjects. Thats what i would do.Nobody taught me ****.Looking back at my answer it is very pell mel and scatter brained, the gist is teach her to be a creative individual not a consumer.We are individual souls, not commodities or lab rats fro socio-political experiments for the aristocrats.Teach ehr to be street wise and life experienced , a lot of kids get ripped off going inot or coming out of college thinking they know it all becasue they got honors and straight A's. I ma not saying to teach her to be a street hustler but teach her wonder and creativity not trying to please thet teacher or thinking that doing great in calculus or geting into colooege is going to make her the c=best she can be, creativity, love, and a genuine love for life will make her the best she can be, many people get confused about this and become dried up old husks in tweed jackets or nasty T.V. hypnotised beer drinking scum. Or everyhting in between and only a few are reallty great people inside and out and really happy and satisfied with theoir life. It shopuld be your goal as a parent to make sure your child is on the path to being one of those people. Unfortunately, big business and political economic agendists don't see it that way.There needs to be ythe odd one out in the coldest of perspectives to at least give the other peopns the fasle sense of freedom and hope for a better life though, she can be that odd one out, a shining light to the masses.I wish you the best of everything and love. Also eat all natural and organic if possible. Believe me it is worht it, all natural means no man amde anything, no PB and J's . She will have sparkling health, Ayurveda is very important to lifelong health also. Teach her also what goes around comes around, good karma and you reap what you sow. And forgiveness.

Answer 7

yea thats a good idea but i also think that by you expecting another child soon would be a problem. In home school you need alot of quietness and that might be distracting ( i do home school, freshman) and then since shes young her mind would probably not be focused on her school work exspecially because she's at home and she would probably want to do things that she normally did.

But one thing that is important in life and later on in school is communication. By her going to regular school she would be able to meet kids her age make new freindships and things like that.

But I recommend that you try regular school first or until you have enough energy (after the birth) and then if you think its best then you could enroll her in homeschool.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Having a baby in the house will make things run according to baby's schedule, but it's still very do-able to teach your daughter things. You can read to her while you nurse, you can sing songs, count, and so much more. You don't need to spend a lot of formal time in the early years.

Going to school at ANY age will be an adjustment. Kids move from homeschooling into public school all the time. Some do better than others at the transition due to preparation or innate personality.

Sending her to school "to be more social" isn't likely necessary and can often be less desirable--she will adopt the social attitudes and norms that are at school, norms and attitudes that may be contrary to what you would like for her to be. It is definitely possible for her to socialize with other kids even while she homeschools. I hope you weren't planning on not having her socialize for her years at home with you! What is available depends on where you live: homeschool groups, dance lessons, swimming lessons, other sporty lessons, clubs, Girl Guides, summer camps, etc.

To address some of the other comments:

She will not be lacking in the social skills she needs later in life unless you set it up that way. She will not be an outcast unless you keep her from living things outside the home (homeschooling should NOT mean staying at home all the time, unless you live so far out in the wilderness it's not even possible to go to school on a daily basis). Kids don't like their teachers teaching them, so I'm not sure why that is being used as an argument to not homeschool--it's certainly not used as an argument to not send kids to school!

Sending a child for grade 1 then pulling them out usually causes more problems with homeschooling than if you'd just kept them learning at home in the first place. She doesn't need to go to school to learn to be away from you for longer periods of time, and she certainly doesn't need to learn, at age 5/6, to be away from you daily for 7 hours.

If you raise a daughter who is perceptive and knows how to learn and adapt to situations, there will be few problems later on. People seem to think that we learn everything we learn in school and that it cements who we are and we can't learn and adapt later on. It's nonsense. Astronauts don't need to go into a space shuttle as kids to be able to do it as adults, right? Too many people think there's a set amount of "stuff" to be learned or you'll never learn it, and that the only place to learn it (which is ridiculous) is in school. We do not need to be in desks for 5+ hours a day to learn how to be with other people!

Answer 9

i wouldn't  home school her. she will lack alot of skills which she will get from school eg make friend and learn off other children

good luck

Answer 10

<I am expecting another child (my second) in about September this year, and so i will have a newborn at home with me while i am teaching. Will that be a problem? I dont think it really will be, but anyone had problems with that?>

I had two babies while homeschooling another child or two other children.  It was very easy with the first one as he loved to just sit in my lap and would do so happily as I taught the other or looked over his work.  The second wasn't like that, but it was still doable.  I kept her occupied so she wouldn't be noisy.  There were times when both one of my sons and my baby daughter would need something at the same time.  Somebody would just have to wait.  I taught my sons that if they needed me and I couldn't come right away they were to move on to the next thing and I would come when I could.  It was really no big deal and didn't last that long.  They do grow up quickly.