beginner questions

[Spring Lily]

We've got a 3 year old who is in a coop perschool that we love, but we're starting to look into the possibility of homeschooling her for kindergarten. I'm leaning toward unschooling, but have to do some more reading about it. I have so many general questions about how to make HS work, though. Hopefully some of you can help me!

I have a ton of questions, so I'll just jump in. Any you can answer would be helpful, thanks in advance!

1. If there are younger siblings, how do you get enough focused time to work with your older child? I have twins who are 2 yrs younger, and I can't imagine trying to work on an activity or concentrate with DD while they're playing and being wild.

2. If you work part time, what do you do with your children? We plan to put the twins in this same coop preschool, which means I'll be volunteering there a couple of days a week. I don't know what to do with DD on those days.

3. How strict are you about the way the schoolwork is done? In other words, how much of a stickler are you to the rules? Or do you focus more on how they're learning the concept you're teaching? DD loves to do these kindergarten workbooks already (for fun), but she doesn't always do them the "right" way. For example: today she did a page where it said "underline the picture with the most people in it." She underlined all of them and drew extra people so each picture had the same number in it. She obviously understood the concept, but if she turned that in to a teacher it would be marked wrong. I hate smothering her creativity, but I can also see the usefulness of learning what the assignment is looking for.

4. How often do you meet up with other kids? Individually? In groups?

5. Do you ever meet up with other HS families so the kids can do projects together? I have always hated group work, but done in the right way it teaches some important skills. I'm not sure how common that is with HSers, though.

6. Do you ever feel lonely or isolated HSing?

7. How do you stay motivated?

8. If you have kids who are different ages, is it difficult to work with all of them at once?

9. Are there any signs you'd look for that would mean your child would benefit more from traditional school (at least for a while)? I'm feeling openminded about how long HSing would last for us, but I'm curious how others can tell if/when their child's ready to go to public school.

I think that's it...for the moment.

[Dakota's Mom]

We are not sticklers for anything. We work when we want to and do other things when we don't want to work. I feel that as long as we cover the material in a decent amount of time, we are fine. My son is 7 years old and is working on 2nd grade math and language and 3rd grade science and social studies. We do an online program called Time4Learning. He will probably finish 2nd grade by the end of March.

At three years old I'd say your daughter did a great job by drawing in the people to make sure they all were equal. That shows a great deal of thought. As homeschoolers we don't have to worry about getting "it right for the teacher." She can express herself any way she wants to. Learning will happen. Just as she learned to walk and talk, she will learn to read and add and subtract. That's what unschooling is all about. Your daughter loves workbooks so let her do them any way she wants to. If she want to learn about a specific topic, you can work on it during nap time or when dad is home to help with the little ones. Or maybe by then, they will want to learn with her.

I don't know what to do while you are in the preschool. Is it possible that they would let her come along and be a helper on the days you are there? Do you have a friend or grandparent she could play with while you go with the littles?

We don't worry about isolation. For us, it is more about having time to stay home and relax. We are on the go with other homeschoolers sometimes 6 days a week. This week we only went out once. But we have been snowed in most of the week. Next week we have outings 6 days. We do group activities all the time. For example, next week we are having a geography fair. Each child or family will present a country to the group. We are doing Guatemala since my son was born there. We are also going to Read Across America next week. We will meet with the group at a local library to read and celebrate Dr. Seuss.

We also take classes at the Nature Center, at the Environmental Center, taught by other homeschoolers, etc. Last week we went to the Challenger Center where the kids took a simulated trip to the moon. Each child had a job to do within the space shuttle. They all worked together to bring the mission home safely. So we do lots of group activities but none that I have to teach. I can just sit back and watch.

I only have the one at home now. But my daughter has three that she is homeschooling. She usually sits the 12 year old down to the computer to work on his stuff. Then she can help the 11 year old with what she is working on. And in between she is keeping the 3 year old busy with coloring activities or tracing letters or educational videos. The older ones now each have their own computers so they can both work online by themselves. And they are used to the interuptions from the little one. I don't know how she does it. But I have been on the phone with her while she is keeping all three of them focused on their work. It works for her.

Whenever I feel about ready to throw in the towel and send him to school my son will do something incredible to remind me why we do this. So motivation is not a serious problem. And we have so many activities that we can always let the computer work wait and go out with our friends.

My son is totally not interested in school. He screams every time I mention school. I think if your daughter is really unhappy with homeschooling, she will let you know.

Feel free to ask any other questions. I'm sure lots of other people will chime in on this as well.

Kathi

[Lillian J]

3. How strict are you about the way the schoolwork is done? In other words, how much of a stickler are you to the rules? Or do you focus more on how they're learning the concept you're teaching?

We didn't follow any rules - I didn't tend to teach as much as my child just tended to learn. We didn't do formal school sessions at all - or even informal school sessions, for that matter.

DD loves to do these kindergarten workbooks already (for fun), but she doesn't always do them the "right" way. For example: today she did a page where it said "underline the picture with the most people in it." She underlined all of them and drew extra people so each picture had the same number in it. She obviously understood the concept, but if she turned that in to a teacher it would be marked wrong. I hate smothering her creativity, but I can also see the usefulness of learning what the assignment is looking for.

Cute! I wouldn't bother to correct her on that sort of thing. Does she know which picture has the most people in it? Probably so - so the exercise would just be busy work anyway.

4. How often do you meet up with other kids? Individually? In groups?

As much as possible. My son had a good buddy next door to play with when the little boy wasn't in school. He also had homeschool friends that we met through the local support group, and I'd get him together with them as much as possible - and we attended something with it at least once a week, whether it was at park day, in private activity groups, at field trips or other events.

5. Do you ever meet up with other HS families so the kids can do projects together? I have always hated group work, but done in the right way it teaches some important skills. I'm not sure how common that is with HSers, though.[/B]

It's pretty common. We didn't get together for "projects" so much as little fun classes that didn't require anything, mostly as social get togethers for the children to get to know one another in small groups. We had a little science club at our house at one point too - also just for fun and social time, but they loved bringing and sharing experiments too. I also found lots of community classes and activities he enjoyed.

6. Do you ever feel lonely or isolated HSing

That happened occasionally - you need to really work on not getting into the habit of getting lazy about keeping things happening.

7. How do you stay motivated?

I didn't do school-at-home, so it wasn't so daunting. We'd do things we enjoyed - and my son did a lot on his own. We were on the go a lot to lots of outside activities too.

9. Are there any signs you'd look for that would mean your child would benefit more from traditional school (at least for a while)? I'm feeling openminded about how long HSing would last for us, but I'm curious how others can tell if/when their child's ready to go to public school.


I think a child who is unhappy not having a reasonable amount of interaction with children should definitely be allowed to attend school! A parent can make sincere efforts to get together a social life and play dates, but some don't want to, and in some cases it isn't always possible, so I think it's only fair to allow a child to have the opportunity to go to school if he wants. A social life is not simply a luxury where most children are concerned - it's a necessity, and it's one that most of us had access to, so it's only fair, in my opinion, to allow our children the same opportunities.

I'm on the run again, or I'd add more - will try to get back later. Lillian