Author Topic: Homeschooling  (Read 6673 times)

mallerina

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Homeschooling
« on: January 30, 2015, 08:08:22 PM »
Hi y'all! I'm a semi-mustachian mom currently in graduate school to earn my degree in education. My lifelong dream has always been to become a teacher. Throughout my student teaching experience I've seen things that have made me question if I want to put my kids in public schools, and I've been toying with the idea of homeschooling them. Does anyone here homeschool? If so, for what reasons? If you're a parent with kids in public schools, does the focus on testing and reliance on pre-packaged curriculum and lack of teacher freedom ever rub you the wrong way? I sometimes feel like I've got to don my tinfoil had when talking about big business (*coughpearsoncough*) and education, it just gets my spider senses tingling.
The other factor that complicates this is that my husband is active duty military and we'll be moving to a new state this summer. If we move to one of the many small towns we put on our dream sheet, there's the very real possibility that even if I wanted to find a teaching job I couldn't. I feel that if I'm going to be at home anyway why not put my degree to use and homeschool.

homehandymum

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2015, 12:57:52 AM »
There are a few of us here :) 

Previous thread here:  http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/mini-money-mustaches/home-schooling/

1967mama

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2015, 02:02:41 AM »
Throughout my student teaching experience I've seen things that have made me question if I want to put my kids in public schools, and I've been toying with the idea of homeschooling them. Does anyone here homeschool? If so, for what reasons?

I was a teacher Before Kids. I began my quest for knowledge regarding homeschooling when my firstborn child was 6 months old. I'm in my 20th year of homeschooling now, and we have never NEVER regretted our decision to homeschool. Its wonderful to teach your own! My last little one is in 2nd grade now, so we still have lots of wonderful learning years yet to come :-)

mallerina

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2015, 07:01:32 PM »
Thanks homehandymum for the link. I was so absorbed in reading the other threads that I didn't even think to search before asking. Noob mistake! 1967mama I'm glad to hear from a former teacher! It makes me feel like my work in school isn't a complete waste of time ;)

1967mama

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2015, 07:18:31 PM »
Mallerina,

You might enjoy this study on homeschooling, since you're in the research phase:

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=13089

I went to university for 4 years to get my teaching degree, taught for 3 years, and then kept extending my leave until I realized I wanted to be home with my kids full time :-)

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2015, 09:38:25 AM »
I posted in the earlier-linked thread, but here's a short version:

My wife homeschools our kids.  However, we have a great relationship with the public school, and we send our kids there for specials (music, art, PE).  It's hard, and a big time commitment for my wife, but it has been a great thing for our family.  It has eliminated the stress of rushing everyone out the door in the morning, and completely eliminated what I call "the witching hour"--that time of day when Mom is making dinner, kids are coming home from school and have homework to do, the toddler is waking up from the nap, and there's a lot of stress and noise.  Depending on how diligent the kids are, they can be done with all their school (including math, spelling, reading, piano, religion, history, and sometimes science) before lunch.  There's no homework (I overheard a friend talking about their kindergartner's homework the other day.  Seriously, why does a kindergartner need homework?!).  There's no busywork.  There's no wasted time waiting for other kids to catch up.

I like to daydream about how much more we could do for our kids (educationally) if we just got a rebate on our property taxes for the time the kids aren't in public schools....

caliq

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2015, 09:52:47 AM »
I posted in the earlier-linked thread, but here's a short version:

My wife homeschools our kids.  However, we have a great relationship with the public school, and we send our kids there for specials (music, art, PE).  It's hard, and a big time commitment for my wife, but it has been a great thing for our family.  It has eliminated the stress of rushing everyone out the door in the morning, and completely eliminated what I call "the witching hour"--that time of day when Mom is making dinner, kids are coming home from school and have homework to do, the toddler is waking up from the nap, and there's a lot of stress and noise.  Depending on how diligent the kids are, they can be done with all their school (including math, spelling, reading, piano, religion, history, and sometimes science) before lunch.  There's no homework (I overheard a friend talking about their kindergartner's homework the other day.  Seriously, why does a kindergartner need homework?!).  There's no busywork.  There's no wasted time waiting for other kids to catch up.

I like to daydream about how much more we could do for our kids (educationally) if we just got a rebate on our property taxes for the time the kids aren't in public schools....

I used to make up homework when I was in kindergarten because I loved learning so much ;)  My parents were appalled and called the school (apparently I made up a significant quantity of it...). 

Also, why are your children only sometimes taught science?

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2015, 11:26:20 AM »
I posted in the earlier-linked thread, but here's a short version:

My wife homeschools our kids.  However, we have a great relationship with the public school, and we send our kids there for specials (music, art, PE).  It's hard, and a big time commitment for my wife, but it has been a great thing for our family.  It has eliminated the stress of rushing everyone out the door in the morning, and completely eliminated what I call "the witching hour"--that time of day when Mom is making dinner, kids are coming home from school and have homework to do, the toddler is waking up from the nap, and there's a lot of stress and noise.  Depending on how diligent the kids are, they can be done with all their school (including math, spelling, reading, piano, religion, history, and sometimes science) before lunch.  There's no homework (I overheard a friend talking about their kindergartner's homework the other day.  Seriously, why does a kindergartner need homework?!).  There's no busywork.  There's no wasted time waiting for other kids to catch up.

I like to daydream about how much more we could do for our kids (educationally) if we just got a rebate on our property taxes for the time the kids aren't in public schools....

I used to make up homework when I was in kindergarten because I loved learning so much ;)  My parents were appalled and called the school (apparently I made up a significant quantity of it...). 

Also, why are your children only sometimes taught science?
They have science 3x/week, and they spend a larger amount of time than other subjects.

caliq

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2015, 02:38:17 PM »
I posted in the earlier-linked thread, but here's a short version:

My wife homeschools our kids.  However, we have a great relationship with the public school, and we send our kids there for specials (music, art, PE).  It's hard, and a big time commitment for my wife, but it has been a great thing for our family.  It has eliminated the stress of rushing everyone out the door in the morning, and completely eliminated what I call "the witching hour"--that time of day when Mom is making dinner, kids are coming home from school and have homework to do, the toddler is waking up from the nap, and there's a lot of stress and noise.  Depending on how diligent the kids are, they can be done with all their school (including math, spelling, reading, piano, religion, history, and sometimes science) before lunch.  There's no homework (I overheard a friend talking about their kindergartner's homework the other day.  Seriously, why does a kindergartner need homework?!).  There's no busywork.  There's no wasted time waiting for other kids to catch up.

I like to daydream about how much more we could do for our kids (educationally) if we just got a rebate on our property taxes for the time the kids aren't in public schools....

I used to make up homework when I was in kindergarten because I loved learning so much ;)  My parents were appalled and called the school (apparently I made up a significant quantity of it...). 

Also, why are your children only sometimes taught science?
They have science 3x/week, and they spend a larger amount of time than other subjects.

Yay! Just checking! The homeschooling thread in the Welcome forum scared me in regards to science :(

mxt0133

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2015, 02:50:37 PM »
Here is a great blog about homeschooling and self-directed learning.  The author also has a book called Free to Learn.  There are tons of posts of various subjects that really helped us when my family was researching on homeschooling/unschooling our two boys and future baby girl (due in May).  I hope it helps and addresses some of your questions and concerns.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn

At the end of the day whether you choose to homeschool or not your future.  I think your kids will benefit greatly just being being involved and questioning the status quo. 

PrfromTexas

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2020, 12:13:34 AM »
Quote
Quote from: mxt0133 buyessays on February 03, 2015, 02:50:37 PM
Here is a great blog about homeschooling and self-directed learning.  The author also has a book called Free to Learn.  There are tons of posts of various subjects that really helped us when my family was researching on homeschooling/unschooling our two boys and future baby girl (due in May).  I hope it helps and addresses some of your questions and concerns.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn

At the end of the day whether you choose to homeschool or not your future.  I think your kids will benefit greatly just being being involved and questioning the status quo.
 

Just wanted to mention a couple of other great resources (besides PsychologyToday) for those who are struggling to homeschool their kids. My wife is obsessed with this idea (like I mentioned before) and she tried to dig up everything she could for our 14-year-old. Like any teenager, Albert pays attention only to the modern social trends and something really geeky (and like any teenager he hates his name too). So we chose Engvid lessons to help him improve his communication skills and English grammar. Just google: English Lessons by Ronnie, she has those on YouTube too. She has a remarkable teaching style and I guess it's the way she makes it possible for the listeners to remember more from the lesson.
As for everything else:
Clickschooling
Time4Learning
Academic Earth
Simple Homeschool
Moving Beyond the Page
« Last Edit: January 14, 2020, 12:17:39 AM by PrfromTexas »