Is it possible?

[talia rose]

We have a 5 year old very sensitive daughter who currently goes to Montessori preschool/kindergarden. It has been my husbands plan to homeschool/unschool her but she has been going to school 3 years while we got our business off the ground. I am very clear I am NOT a homeschool parent. Scares the heck out of me. I don't like teaching and am grateful there are teachers to do it. My husband, on the other hand, could be a very good homeschool parent BUT we own a business. We work 5-6 days a week. It is possible for our daughter to be there as we have a large upstairs office area but it is very hard to work while she is here. I answer phones, my husband deals with customers. I am afraid she will just be plugged into movies all day. In addition my husband has another profession - he teaches yoga and that takes him away one morning a week and three weeks a year for training. I just don't see how it will be possible to homeschool her. Already we cannot keep up with the homework she is getting in kindergarden! in some ways that means homeschooling might be better as she would not have to do all that homework - but I can't imagine being able to teach her all that she would need to know to get into high school or pass her SATs someday. We are not the most organized family. We are quite often overwhelmed with life as it is and I cannot imagine adding this to our plate. But my husband is insistent despite all my fears.

Our daughter - could do well either way. She has taken two years to warm up to the kids at school and is finally making friends and loving it there. She misses it when she is not going. We have a homeschool group that meets here once a week. But will that be enough?

Thoughts anyone?

[Geerbabe]

I think it helps to remember that your decisions can be made on a year by year basis. This is not an all or nothing deal. You can homeschool this year, put her in school the following year, and homeschool her again later, all depending on where your family is at. It gets scary to think about "I don't know if I can teach her everything she needs to know to get into college", but that is not your current decision. Your daughter is only going in to grade 1. Your focus mostly needs to be on very basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, along with the cultural enrichment of just getting out and living life, exploring your community. Those skills can be taught easily in a small amount of time (maybe aim for one hour a day of "school") and without a huge amount of materials. Make your local library your best friend. Check out the internet for free downloads.

On the other hand, if you decide that life is too chaotic right now to homeschool, it doesn't mean that you are giving up that option forever. Revisit your decision in another year and see how your circumstances have changed.

[Momma Aimee]

I think

that if your DD likes her scfhool, you and DH are happy with it, it is working well for all of you ...

then there is no reason to creat stress by trying to homeschool to meet some ideal.

you are already worried about the house work, and the fact you adn DH really have active jobs in the business that HAVE to be done buz hours (customers and phones, vs accounting that could be done at night or after DD is in bed) show me that for now anyway school is likly the best bet.

if you can put your effort into work while she is at school and then give her attention when she is home -- that is better than trying to homeschool cuz you think you should and being stressed about her day time care, about her education, and about work too ...

it is never a set in stone choice, yu can change it any time you want -- if it doesn't work for your family.

[jeteaa]

Depending on what your business is I think it would be a very unique and rewarding experience for her to be involved in the business. She can learn math by helping w/ accounting, your can pay her and she will learn work ethics. I think kids who really benefit the most from hsing is those with parents that can offer them creative experiences that they could not do while attending school.

[pigpokey]

I would make it clear with your husband that you do not want to do it but support him. Then maybe here or there you will end up enjoying helping with the lessons.

I would not jump to the conclusion that he won't have time to work with her without seeing how he handles things. It doesn't take much time to do 1st grade work if everything goes well (e.g., child has no trouble learning to read or no discalculia). He should be able to do what they do in 3 hours in 1 hour (or less). Then do not underestimate your child's ability to learn without direct instruction in the rest of her time. Him being gone one morning a week -- well maybe they don't do school that morning. We do lessons generally Sat, Sun, TWTh.