By "work" I mean produce an educated child in the traditional sense - math, reading, writing, history, etc. At least as good an education as if he had attended public school. (Yes, I know most illiterate people attended school, but you know what I mean.)
I can't imagine sending ds1 to school, but sometimes I'm worried that not only are we unschooling, but that I am being downright neglectful! We are out and about a lot, and we do things like go to the zoo and Discovery Center. He takes classes like gymnastics and cooking and soccer and little day camps. We go to the occasional park day, and get together with a couple of other hs friends once or twice a week.
But I'm worried about the "provide an enriching home environment" aspect of hs'ing. I've got lots of "enriching" books around, but he has no interest in any of them. We read, but not enough for my comfort level. The library hasn't been working for us, because ds1 just wants to check out videos and ds2 just tries to make an escape. He is almost always interested in any projects I initiate, but it doesn't happen much because 1) ds2 makes these things quite impossible and 2) I am fairly lazy and disorganized about this kind of stuff.
I am doing absolutely nothing structured with ds1 as far as academics go, and I'm getting a bit panicked about it. (He turned 6 in May.) Left to his own devices, he chooses to play trains, watch tv, play on the computer, run around like a crazy man, do baking projects or play involved pretend games that honestly make me want to tear my hair out.
Please tell me that he will still end up knowing how to read and do basic mathematical functions before he is 10yo. Or tell me that I am in serious trouble and need to make some drastic changes ASAP!
I can't imagine sending ds1 to school, but sometimes I'm worried that not only are we unschooling, but that I am being downright neglectful! We are out and about a lot, and we do things like go to the zoo and Discovery Center. He takes classes like gymnastics and cooking and soccer and little day camps. We go to the occasional park day, and get together with a couple of other hs friends once or twice a week.
But I'm worried about the "provide an enriching home environment" aspect of hs'ing. I've got lots of "enriching" books around, but he has no interest in any of them. We read, but not enough for my comfort level. The library hasn't been working for us, because ds1 just wants to check out videos and ds2 just tries to make an escape. He is almost always interested in any projects I initiate, but it doesn't happen much because 1) ds2 makes these things quite impossible and 2) I am fairly lazy and disorganized about this kind of stuff.
I am doing absolutely nothing structured with ds1 as far as academics go, and I'm getting a bit panicked about it. (He turned 6 in May.) Left to his own devices, he chooses to play trains, watch tv, play on the computer, run around like a crazy man, do baking projects or play involved pretend games that honestly make me want to tear my hair out.
Please tell me that he will still end up knowing how to read and do basic mathematical functions before he is 10yo. Or tell me that I am in serious trouble and need to make some drastic changes ASAP!