How will you educate baby?

[Kontessa]

ok, don't laugh, I know we all learn without someone actually teaching us but at some point, most kids go to school. I thought to bring this us as I read a great article and wanted to share. Hubby and I had planned on homeschooling since we planned on having kids. Maybe others here are as well. Here is some support for it:

Home schooling improves academic performance and reduces impact of socio-economic factors

http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/commer....aspx?nID=4933

[YankeeMomInVA]

We're a homeschooling family! I've started with ds (4) this year since he has expressed a burning desire to learn to read.... so each day we do Saxon Phonics and Saxon Math. I'm amazed at how much he LOVES it! I was a little wary of starting him on this stuff at 4, but when a child is ready, a child is ready! (One of the many wonderful benefits of homeschooling!)

We will homeschool Colin AND our newest little one for as long as it meets their needs, my needs, and the needs of our family as a whole.

It's such a wonderful adventure!!!

[sorteep]

we are a public schooling family... I was raised going private (not religious , just private) DH was public school... I don't have the patience to homeschool and we both work.. and we can't afford private (it's like 20K a yr for one kid) and I'm not wild about the catholic schools (and we're not Catholic...) anyway, both boys , so far, have had excellent PS experiences so, so far so good......

homeschoolers definitely out perform reg schoolers across the board (of course there are always exceptions...) I so admire/ commend homeschooling parents, I don't know how you guys do it//

[Curlita]

:

Because of the nature of public schools in our area (and most cities, I guess), we'll try to spend time doing enrichment stuff at home... nothing really formal, but I'm a history geek and Jonny is a science geek and we're big on reading and not on TV. So hopefully, in addition to the "formal" education, we'll be able to instill some other good, productive stuff.

[GinaRae]

Erica, It's all-day learning and we subscribe to it. We don't leave all the teaching up to the school and so the boys get a LOT of great lessons from us just through every day living, etc.

[Kontessa]

Oh please no one asume I think homeschooling is best for everyone. It certainly is not. My best friend would go nutty at home with her kids and they do thrive in public school. It is not for everyone, just like being a working mom is not for everyone. And then we have the cases where we just do what we must.

I just adore homeschooling and so happy to be able to. My daughter is social and kind and a child, not a walking grown up at 8 years old. Though her public schooled friends and TV do enlighten her to the adult world too much some times. I am protective, but I just want her to have a childhood like I did not get. I am so happy her life is nothing like mine was. No better feeling then knowing I am doing better! hehehehehe

I just wanted to open a door not many think about. We are UU liberals and so faith I think has less to do with homeschooling these days. More about life education, and as others have said, that can happen at any hour, nut just school hours!

[AKmomof2+1inNov]

Most definitely a homeschooler here...even though my oldest just turned 4! I always knew I would homeschool my children, even before I knew I would have/want any! My DH and I both found public school boring and annoying although I was a good student and he was, well not.

I'm planning on unschooling for the preschool years and then a classic/great book type of minimal school for later supplemented by whatever they are interested it. As much as I love the idea of unschool and am convinced kids learn on their own the best, I do think that they have to learn to do things they might not enjoy as much. And hopefully they will enjoy a classical education if they are learning it through a good story and the like.

[*Lindsey*]

We'll also be homeschooling. DS and I do some preschool things now.

DH and all his siblings were homeschooled, lots of our extended family (on DH's side) homeschool, and my SIL homeschools her kids.

[GinaRae]

I'd love to be the kind of mom who can homeschool! I blame myself. Yet after volunteering in my son's classroom today and talking with the teacher about my son, I am sort of coming to the realization it's not just me. It's him too

[Kontessa]

We unschooled for over 2 years with DD and then saw some issues and switched to classic and now to a kind of waldorf homeschooling. She likes the structure a lot better and tells people so too.

My problem was with the unschool circle I ran in, too much choice was placed on the child who did not have experience to make such choices and really was that fair of me to put on her?

We educate differenly now and I still have my delightful wild little girl, but now she gets why some choices are mine and she is happy about that. She also likes that I now have more things planned for us and it's fun. Even with lessons that are not so fun, she knows a fun one will follow as I do know her.

Blessings,
Kimmy

Still learning the value and lessons of hard work myself.

[Mom2ManyBlessings]

Right now, our children are in a private school. We homeschooled for 2 years while DH was in seminary in PA, b/c the public schools were awful (tried them for a year - MAJOR disaster for many reasons). I loved homeschooling, and the kids thrived. We managed to undo a number of things that their previous schhools (Catholic, then public) had managed to screw up. Right now, the private school seems to be a good fit for them. As we will most likely be relocating frequently, b/c DH is a priest, I like to keep our schooling options open. I'm sure that they won't ever attend a public school, though. For lots of reasons...

We used SonLight curriculum, and loved it. My sister is still homeschooling her 2 older boys, and loves it, too. I do miss the freedom and flexibility that you have while homeschooling. I had people assume that it must have been REALLY HARD to homeschool with a newborn (DC#5 came during our first year of homeschooling), but actually, it made it much easier, b/c I wasn't running around dropping them off, and picking them up, etc.

We lived in a community at the seminary where many of the kids were homeschooled, so we had none of the "lonely child" worries. They got plenty of interaction and social time, and had lots of friends.

So I guess it will depend where we are, at the time, how we school our kids. If that makes any sense at all...

[renaissanceed]

We are likely going to homeschool unless some overwhelming issues crop up that prevents us. I'd like to try it at least, although if DD and the next one insist, I would give them the option of going to a local public French Immersion school (which would mean not our actual most local school, as the 3 closest to us are not anywhere I would send my kids to school).

I'm actually sadly excited to homeschool, because I loved learning, and feel like I've forgotten so much that I'll get to revisit when experiencing it again with my children.

So far, unschooling looks like the option I would pick, although if DH helps out, I know he'll probably need something more structured for his portion, so we may mingle a few different styles.

[AimeeandBrian]

I was homeschooled and hated it. I need competition! So, I will homeschool and get her reading and doing basic math, then send her to Montessori since my sister is a teacher and would kill me if Baby isn't a Montessori child. She will also help me raise Baby Montessori until she goes to school.

[Traceyky]

Homeschooling here. We homeschooled our oldest since 2nd grade (16 years ago!!) - I have "graduated" 6 of my kids so far.... I can't begin to imagine sending anyone out at this point.

TraceyKy

[pixiesmommy]

I homeschooled Pixie since birth and then sent her to PS for Kindergarten in NC against my better judgement, but we only lasted there a week before we decided to move to IL (it was an abrupt decision to say the least!)

And she is not eligible for the same grade level in IL as in NC due to her birthday being Sept 3 and the age cutoff is Sept 1 : We have tried jumping through all sorts of hoops and having her tested, etc. but PS here just WON'T do it no matter what (we've lived in two districts and it's impossible.) DH works as a HS teacher in PS and he's tried pulling strings that way too, but no dice. Not that I'm completely sold on the PS here anyway, so it's probably for the best.

We finished out the year homeschooling for K, but by the end it was more like un-schooling. She really has interests that span the board, so it was easy to do. We did TONS of science and cooking and trips to the library. I was frustrated with the rigor of worksheets, lesson plans, etc that she hated in the beginning, but once we went "un-school" it was TONS easier and more fun for both of us, and we BOTH ended up learning a lot more! (School-wise and about one another!)

We did find a private school that would agree to test her and put her in the grade she actually TESTED into rather than base it on her age, last year and she did test into first grade and had a great year with straight A's. It was more rigorous than PS and I still think she was bored with most of it. It was a religious school and VERY small, so we decided to move on to another school after doing some more research about what was local, and ended up finding a larger secular school that takes a more hands-on approach. She spent a day there last year and tested into 2nd grade with flying colors and LOVED it.
However....

As most of you know, her teacher has not been the best and is NOT a hands-on kind of teacher, so we ended up with a school that gives even MORE worksheets rather than less, and it's just been a real pain in the butt so far. I'm curious to see how the year plays out. I almost hate to go back to homeschooling her, because she DOES love going off to school and she's very social (which I know is possible with homeschool, but it's hard for ME on a personal level ) So, it's a wait and see game at this point.

I plan to at least homeschool the baby through kindergarten, and then I'll base it on where we're living, what options are available and what suits the child best personality-wise too.

[Apryl Srissa]

In our 5th year of homeschooling here! We've done everything from unschooling to a boring structured curriculum. Now we do a bit of everything, and we decide a lot of it as a team. He knows that the basics are required, but that I will work around his likes/dislikes etc as much as possible, and we discuss and decide together of other options.

We really like it, and my 3 year old has already done most of the preschool book he loves to play in, so we'll definately be continuing on with the rest of the kids.

My oldest is also competitive and VERY social, but lacks some of the social skills to go with the needs. That was a big part of his issues in public school, he just didn't have those skills and wasn't give the time to develop them there. Now he is getting them in a safer environment, and really starting to 'bloom' in his friendships. We do make sure to involve him in outside activities as much as we can manage to meet those needs (and it helps that a lot of our h.s. community have mixed aged siblings, so the lil guys love big bro's activities as much as he does)

[JamesMama]

We'll be homeschooling here.

James is only 2.5 so we haven't started anythin formal, but we probably will when he is 4 or 5. He already knows his ABC's, can count to 14, colors, shapes, animals, animal sounds and stuff. We'll be working on number and letter recognition shortly.

He's pretty social but there is a good homeschool group around here so we'll do that and I also have lots of friends with kids right around his age.

I'm getting LOTS of pressure from my family and DH's family to enroll him in preschool/head start but I don't think we'll do that.

[Hezzy]

We both like the idea of homeschooling, but there are so many contingencies I don't want to marry myself to the idea until we get there. We definitely plan on being with the child(ren) full time until school age, i.e., we don't plan on preschool or day care. But after that I don't know. It will definitely be a huge problem with my family, which I'm not excited about, but will not be a deciding factor. If we do end up doing school, it will most certainly be some sort of alternative schooling like the Brooklyn Free School (if we're still in the area).

So it'll depend on money and work and preferences, both ours and the children's. But homeschooling definitely tops the list.