Trish’s Blog

Josh and I have decided to homeschool our children. It’s funny how life can change on a dime, but I think this has been coming on since before we had children. When we had our first, I remember saying that I would want to homeschool her because I couldn’t imagine sending her out into a world of bullies and potty mouths. Then she turned two and I thought that there would be no way I would ever have the patience to homeschool a child. I would end up putting her in a pot of stew or worse. I told myself this for another ten years… even in the face of less than desirable public school situations.

The time is now right for me to go with my earlier convictions. When I heard about a friend’s decision to homeschool her children, I was so inspired. A five-minute conversation, standing in the street under the hot sun made me very excited about the possibilities. Josh had a similar experience having lunch with a homeschooling parent on the same day. That day (Wednesday, July 8, 2009) and every day since, I have been researching how to put homeschool into action. I have found several websites, talked with friends who are homeschooling or going to homeschool their children, emailed family for their take (with some surprising results), cleaned out the 371.042 catalog section of the local library, and talked with everyone in the house about their expectations. (Sarah wants to be Christopher Paolini and learn how to write fiction, Zack wants to learn about Japanese instruments, and Seth wants to learn about animals that he hasn’t heard of before. Josh wants to have a schedule and regular testing. I want to get my priorities straight and serve my family while strengthening our relationships with each other.)

I have purchased two books that I think will be a good resource in this venture: 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum and Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool through High School. The reason I picked the first is because two friends recommended/lent it to me and the second because it wasn’t available at the local library and I needed a $25 order to get the free shipping. (Maybe I’ll learn something when we study mathematics.) Everything else I have borrowed from the library.

One book that I did not plan to borrow beforehand and ended up getting (it would have looked lonely sitting there by itself after I cleaned off the shelf anyway) is The Homeschooling Option: How to Decide When It’s Right For Your Family. I highly recommend this book for anyone with children (homeschooled or not). I like that it was written just last year and the information is current and relative to today. It brings up valid points about education in an objective manner. The author is a university professor who claims to be biased for homeschooling, but she doesn’t come across that way. The language she uses does not offend and it is easy to take or leave it without feeling guilty for whatever road you choose to take. She draws on her own experience as a homeschooling parent and even though our situations are vastly different, it was nice to hear what it was like for her. Quotes from homeschooled children and their parents are scattered throughout the text and I loved reading about their experiences because their backgrounds were all different, too. Reading what the children wrote, mostly teenagers, was insightful as well. (I wish I could reserve Tim for marriage to my oldest, but he’s already twice her age… oh well.) There’s a “coffee talk” chapter towards the end where the author and other parents get the chance to answer frequently asked questions in a more complete manner as they rarely get the chance in real life, on-the-spot settings. The Appendix at the end of book gives web addresses for legal regulations  and support groups in every state. All in all, this book covers a lot of information to help guide a completely clueless person like myself, and I happily blazed through it towards enlightenment.

I’ve learned so much in the last week! I never knew there was such a thing as Unschooling. It gets me really excited to read about families implimenting this approach, but I know Josh is expecting something more traditional. I know what a Unit Study is and I am amazed at the experiences some families have gone through. The more I have researched, the less I have thought of this as an exercise in “what if” and moved more towards “when”. We can do this to we will do this. The children were already talking about homeschool in terms of when and not if (like it is in the title of the book), and I have gone from cautiously giving vague answers to more definitive ones. We still need to find out if Sarah can continue with band at her current middle school, but I’ve been told that our county allows homeschoolers to participate with public schools. I hope it’s true because this has come on so suddenly… I don’t have any immediate alternatives for Sarah’s career in percussion.

We have already decided that the first year is going to be a work in progress. We have talked with the kids about their expectations. I still have a lot of homework to do on what my Education Philosophy is and what category of learning styles my children fall into. But as each day passes, I get mental glimpses of what it could be like. The other day I dreamed about us planting a garden and got out of bed to peek through the blinds to see where the sun touched the backyard in the morning. I can already see that my attitude towards my children is changing. Instead of waiting for school to start so that I can have the house to myself and just one child who takes naps, I’m noticing opportunities to teach. I’m cherishing the time I have with them now and am looking forward to all the time we will have together “when school starts.” I feel that I will finally be taking veteran moms to heart when they say, “Enjoy it. It goes by so fast.”

My favorite excerpt from the book:  Homeschooling works because it offers a unique and exciting vision of how education, family life, social needs, and the individual can come together at a time when we are questioning the kind of life we want for our children in this new century. Homeschooling gives families the time and space to live together for more than a few minutes each day. Homeschooled children learn that they don’t need to wait until they are eighteen or twenty-two to take their place in society. Home education is tailored to all the child’s needs—intellectual, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual.

Posted on July 17th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids, Homeschool, In My Opinion, Life