HS Q’s
Homeschool mixer. This is from a site where HS’ers can share answers to these questions. I thought I’d post mine here because my stuff on that site is just links to 2 days that we had recently.
1. Why do you homeschool? Originally it was because my future husband told me that we were going homeschool. Then it was because I really liked having them home with me. Then it was because I felt that God was asking a challenging thing of me and shaping me (and my children) to be who He wanted us to be. Although those are all still reasons we homeschool I have to add: because I know my children best. I know what works and what doesn’t. It’s become our lifestyle, it’s who we are. I really can’t imagine a better job than I have, I get to stay home (well, ok not always at home!) with my kids, doing fun things, and constantly learning with them.
2. What technique or curriculum do you use? Right now we use a Virtual classroom that uses K-12 curriculum. We are part of the Colorado virtual academy, and yes we’re HS’ers (ok, not technically under the law HS’ers.) We have also been unschoolers, unit study, Montessori, car schoolers and workbookers. Even though my entire curriculum is supplied by COVA I still do unit studies and other things on my own.
3. Do your kids work above or below grade level (or both!)? Both. I have 2 that are above and one that is at or below where she needs to be. She has some special requirements though, and she’s getting along fine.
4. What is your educational level? I made it through 12 years of public school intact and one year of college (just to appease my parents who really wanted me to go to college, while all I really wanted to do was get married and have babies.)
5. Do you feel that your education level has an effect on your teaching (both limits and abilities?) No. Simply put, I learn all the time. I am constantly reading and engaging with people and teachers who know as much as I do or maybe a tad more. In order to teach you have to know what you are teaching, so that means I am always remembering what I was taught or having to relearn things I was not taught (like long division, do we really need it?) I am also constantly looking at what my children are imbibing into their minds. Is it really something they need, or is it fluff? As a HS’er I can dismiss the fluff and get down to the core topics in any subject.
6. What does your daily schedule look like? Hah! We wake up (I’m not going to put a time) and eat breakfast/walk the dog/do chores. We have a Bible study most days and then get down to schoolwork. That may be an actual sit down type lesson (like writing an essay) or it may be something I just think up then (like using sidewalk chalk to work out geometry problems.) I have visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners in my house, so I have to present the topic in a variety of ways. I feel sorry for the kinesthetic learner in a classroom environment or an auditory leaner that has a teacher that loves to write.
7. Are your kids always polite and ready to learn? Polite to others, let’s just say they are typical siblings amongst themselves. I like to balance our learning with year round school. That way there are no major breaks in a time frame and we do stay sharp. After all you don’t go to work for 9 months and get a 3 month vacation in the ‘real’ world do you?
8. Do the kids (or you!) get frustrated? Oh, yes. Sometimes once a week. When there’s a problem with a concept I am just like any teacher, I just have fewer students to get the concept across to. Most people tell HS’ers that they could never do it because we are ‘so patient’. Walk in my shoes for a day an you’ll see I am not the patient type. So, God has given me grace in Grace (which is something you didn’t earn, but is given to you as a gift.) She has been a trial to teach, but I am coming out of it with more patience. So, maybe one day when someone says I must have a lot of patience I’ll be able to say, ‘yeah, I do.’
9. How has this affected your parenting? I know everything, because I’m here all the time (well, except for teacher’s night out with my HS group.) I know if someone is having a bad day because they didn’t go to sleep until 1am, I know if someone is sick or tired or cranky or just bored. I know how much information is stored in my kid’s brains because I put it there. I know what they have trouble understanding and what they need more help with. So, I think I’m a better parent for it. HS’ing has definitely helped with communication and having something in common with my kids (besides my genes in their body.)
10. How much free time do they have? More than you’d think. I admit I fill a lot of it with all of the ‘extra’ activates that we do. But don’t think that the ‘extras’ are because I’m thinking they aren’t ‘socialized’ enough. Far from it! I do the extras because I feel it adds to them as an individual, it helps them reach a goal or it’s just fun and I can’t do it without kids (ever see an adult playing in the mud alone? See what I mean?) I have a firm rule that school, by which I mean sit down type work, must be done before lunch. That’s because I don’t like doing school in the afternoon. It is rare, but I will sometimes switch if we have a morning activity and do school in the afternoon, but really no one likes to be sitting indoors after 1.
11. What do they do during their free time? Joel has CAP, archery, park day and volunteering at the Wings museum now. The girls have dance, girl scouts, story time, and park day. Grace will be doing soccer in the fall; Joel is doing flag football in the summer. We also swim, hike, walk, and read.
12. What hobbies do they have? Joel has CAP, which is more of a career step than a hobby. He also likes to build things like nun chucks and rubber band guns. Bethany has dance and loves to create artistic things. Grace has a whale collection, dances and sings. Hannah can tell a really funny joke…..I guess she doesn’t have a hobby yet.
13. What difficulties and challenges do you have with homeschooling? Repetition. Do you realize that I’m about to go over ‘Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons’ for the 4th time?! I have to learn how to teach something differently if it’s not working for a certain child. I might have the same lesson, but I have to give it in a visual, auditory or kinesthetic format (which can be tiring.) I have to monitor 4 different levels of education. Gone are the days when I could do 1 unit study and make it work for the different grades, it’s too hard to make it go from pre-k to 8th now. Also I have to monitor attendance and each child’s progress on our computer curriculum.
14. What makes homeschooling enjoyable? There is so much that makes it worth it. That look on their face when they finally get ‘it’, being able to give them opportunities like flight sims, dancing with the Moscow ballet and volunteering, having time to do what we want. Being at places while kids are in school that are empty and being able to take full advantage of the staff to learn things. Going camping during the week! Having an awesome responsibility to help my children in a way no one else can.
15. How do you get involved in the community? We are involved in our church, CAP, girl scouts and our homeschool group. We volunteer (like at the 4th of July fest or at Wings museum) when we have an opportunity. We can do more because we aren’t constrained to an 8 hour day at school. We help with the boxing of food at our church for our mission, we pick up trash at our park whenever we go, and James is working on his pilot’s license so he can volunteer to teach cadets how to fly.
16. When do you have opportunities to interact with public or privately schooled children? All the time (we’re not ‘unsocialized’!). We see kids at the library or the museum or the park. The difference is that at the library we can sit at story time and check out books at our leisure. The kids that come in from the school are shuttled to a book, shuttled to the check out and shuttled back on the bus. At the museum the large groups of kids are hard to miss. They are the ones who don’t get the hands-on time for the curator because their group is too large or they just don’t have time.
17. Would you like more of these opportunities? No, we have ample time to see kids that are in school as it is and the interactions usually aren’t the best.
18. How can they be created? Meet me on my turf, go in smaller groups and be willing to watch over the kids as the play.
19. What is your least favorite homeschool stereotype? I can’t pick just one. I hate it when people think I’m not smart enough to teach my own children. When people think we don’t socialize enough. I hate when people (especially HS’ers) think that I’m not Homeschooling just because I use a virtual school. I am home all day with them, I am the teacher instructing them and I am sitting right next to them; how is that not homeschooling? On the same point I would never ask that legislation be introduced that lumped virtual schoolers in the same category as homeshcoolers. I was a homeschooler for too long to see those rights violated, so I’m a homeschooler in name only, not under the law. I also don’t like it when we do take a few days off and they kids are asked why they aren’t in school. ‘We HS’ they say and I get dirty looks. That person doesn’t know that we’ve spent the last 8 weeks doing hard school and are just taking a few days off.