I'll share some of the things I've found out while researching this life decision. First and foremost you need to be aware of what you plan to teach and how you plan to do it. Most people turn to homeschooling because of religious reasons. The fact that public schools don't incorporate religion into schooling bothers a lot of people and they remedy that by taking charge of what their kids learn. Others are bothered that there is even a hint of religion being taught like the words "one nation under God" in the pledge of elegance. [That is a whole other post] My decision had the same religious weight seeing that most schools don't willingly teach about Pagan beliefs and even more are less knowledgeably tolerant. So I knew what we wanted to teach The Kid. Of course the normal reading, writing and arithmetic. I also wanted her to be aware of my religion and learn for her self as many other religions as we can research. Just like teaching her math and science and proper grammar will help her future decisions of money, jobs and every day living, so will teaching her to be just as knowledgeable about the worlds beliefs to help aid her decisions on a spiritual path of her own. And a bonus from that is that she will just as much respect all others as she respects her self.
So now that I knew what I wanted her to learn, I had to figure out how to teach it to her. ..... Have you met my kid??? I'm not quite sure if she's got one of those hyper active disorders yet. I would not be surprised. The doctor just keeps telling me, "She's a kid." Like that's excuse for her to act like a wild animal half the time. .... Okay, so maybe it is. THAT'S besides the point. What matters is I need to try and figure out how to keep her interested and wanting to do school work. It's sort of a hit and miss thing with her. Some days she's all over it and excited and wanting to do more. Other days, most days she's .. well, a typical kid and just wants to play and do anything but sit still. And in researching homeschooling methods I realized it's possible that not one single curriculum will do the trick. Many parents have mentioned using multiple methods of teaching to accommodate the learning style of their kids. One of them being unschooling. If you've never heard of it (and even if you have) you may think how is that good for any one. Let me give you the quick one, two here. Unschooling is the method of teaching the kids what they choose, when they choose and some times in the form that they choose. Seems like a great idea. Let the kids do what ever they want. Well, that's just about what I thought too. Until I started reading more peoples testimonies about this "unschooling". The idea is to give the learning control to the one that is learning. What better to get their interest than to let them work on what interests them? In theory the kid learns more in depth and with a better understanding if he/she chooses to learn it. 'They' say that children will strive to finish what interests them and this gives them the opportunity to stay interested till they feel they have achieved what they were seeking or have finished the task. It sounds very logical. To be honest, a lot of what I've read is that when some do this unschooling they incorporate a scheduled time or a certain task, but give the kids freedom to do it in their own way. In other words they have combined two different styles of teaching to fit with their kids needs. Which sounds wonderful and I've realized that's a similar path we will probably take. Because of the variety and the amount of schooling methods and curriculums it seems very common to combine maybe even a few of these styles. But there's two issues I have with this path of teaching. One being I could not just let my kid decide what, when, how and where she's going to learn because she would learn about bubbles, NOW, with The Dog, outside. ... All. The. Time. But the thought of trying to get her to sit and do school work on a regular basses I know will wear her thin and me. The other problem I have is that it does sound like a great idea and even a better idea if I can combine a couple styles like I've read about, ....but have you seen the price of curriculums?? Essentially I'm sending her to the best private school money can buy ... But to buy a curriculum (that I know I could write on my own just by having a year or two under my belt doing this) is not something I want to spend that sort of money on only to use it partly or for a vague guide.
Well, here's what I've decided to do. Thankfully she will only be 4 this August and I think I have found a FREE =) curriculum of sorts that can let us sort of wonder through what we think is interesting. Use it how you will, but how I have anticipated using this 36 week Smorgasbord found on Homeschooling-Ideas.com is to find topics that I know she will be interested in and will be fun to learn. I think most of these topics can be adapted for her young age as they would for any age I would imagine. Through the summer we're going to try out some different settings and times for learning to see what works best. Since summer is so busy for us we will have to fit in "learning time" when we can. Lately we have been doing an hour of it before bed which seems to work good. I needed something to calm her down and keep her that way before bed because every thing else always turns into a big production with her and she gets hyper and riled over just about any thing. I would like to get more in the habit of schooling earlier in the day. I guess that will have to be something we discover in this trial period. Because come fall when camping and folfing and the days of summer are at an end, we are starting right from the top of the 36 week Smorgasbord with smiles and bells on. We'll see how many smiles are left and where the bells are at the end of the year.
So now that I knew what I wanted her to learn, I had to figure out how to teach it to her. ..... Have you met my kid??? I'm not quite sure if she's got one of those hyper active disorders yet. I would not be surprised. The doctor just keeps telling me, "She's a kid." Like that's excuse for her to act like a wild animal half the time. .... Okay, so maybe it is. THAT'S besides the point. What matters is I need to try and figure out how to keep her interested and wanting to do school work. It's sort of a hit and miss thing with her. Some days she's all over it and excited and wanting to do more. Other days, most days she's .. well, a typical kid and just wants to play and do anything but sit still. And in researching homeschooling methods I realized it's possible that not one single curriculum will do the trick. Many parents have mentioned using multiple methods of teaching to accommodate the learning style of their kids. One of them being unschooling. If you've never heard of it (and even if you have) you may think how is that good for any one. Let me give you the quick one, two here. Unschooling is the method of teaching the kids what they choose, when they choose and some times in the form that they choose. Seems like a great idea. Let the kids do what ever they want. Well, that's just about what I thought too. Until I started reading more peoples testimonies about this "unschooling". The idea is to give the learning control to the one that is learning. What better to get their interest than to let them work on what interests them? In theory the kid learns more in depth and with a better understanding if he/she chooses to learn it. 'They' say that children will strive to finish what interests them and this gives them the opportunity to stay interested till they feel they have achieved what they were seeking or have finished the task. It sounds very logical. To be honest, a lot of what I've read is that when some do this unschooling they incorporate a scheduled time or a certain task, but give the kids freedom to do it in their own way. In other words they have combined two different styles of teaching to fit with their kids needs. Which sounds wonderful and I've realized that's a similar path we will probably take. Because of the variety and the amount of schooling methods and curriculums it seems very common to combine maybe even a few of these styles. But there's two issues I have with this path of teaching. One being I could not just let my kid decide what, when, how and where she's going to learn because she would learn about bubbles, NOW, with The Dog, outside. ... All. The. Time. But the thought of trying to get her to sit and do school work on a regular basses I know will wear her thin and me. The other problem I have is that it does sound like a great idea and even a better idea if I can combine a couple styles like I've read about, ....but have you seen the price of curriculums?? Essentially I'm sending her to the best private school money can buy ... But to buy a curriculum (that I know I could write on my own just by having a year or two under my belt doing this) is not something I want to spend that sort of money on only to use it partly or for a vague guide.
Well, here's what I've decided to do. Thankfully she will only be 4 this August and I think I have found a FREE =) curriculum of sorts that can let us sort of wonder through what we think is interesting. Use it how you will, but how I have anticipated using this 36 week Smorgasbord found on Homeschooling-Ideas.com is to find topics that I know she will be interested in and will be fun to learn. I think most of these topics can be adapted for her young age as they would for any age I would imagine. Through the summer we're going to try out some different settings and times for learning to see what works best. Since summer is so busy for us we will have to fit in "learning time" when we can. Lately we have been doing an hour of it before bed which seems to work good. I needed something to calm her down and keep her that way before bed because every thing else always turns into a big production with her and she gets hyper and riled over just about any thing. I would like to get more in the habit of schooling earlier in the day. I guess that will have to be something we discover in this trial period. Because come fall when camping and folfing and the days of summer are at an end, we are starting right from the top of the 36 week Smorgasbord with smiles and bells on. We'll see how many smiles are left and where the bells are at the end of the year.
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