Our Choice to Homeschool
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| When I chose
to start homeschooling my kids for the 2000-2001 school
year it was truly a major undertaking that I didn't know
if I could do. I mean, sure I graduated at the top of my
class, but that was almost 10 years ago. Did i still know
everything I used to? No. Could I try and learn it again?
Yes. But could i possibly put all that knowledge out
there on the table for my kids to grab onto efficiently?!?
That was the big question....was I good enough? Now i know that all parents face that same question when they are thinking of homeschooling their children. I'm not the only one that questioned their ability to teach their children responsibly, in fact, i'd say i'm in the majority! :) Hopefully I'll question myself less as we go through our studies together, but who knows, i may not. each year will bring it's own new challenges and changes as we take each new step in this process. There is one thing i can say for certain though, i'm going to try my best. i want this to work. i dont want to be my children's downfall, i want to be part of their foundation. So, you may be asking what a typical day is like for us? well, there really isn't a typical day i guess, but this is a round about way of how it goes...... Canaan is usually the first one up, he bounces out of bed around 7 and hops on the nintendo. this is usually the only time i let him play on it, so he enjoys his alone time to get in some action. hahhaa! i usually get out of bed about 8 with gavin (the baby), if i've gotten a good nights rest i may be up earlier though. katlyn often gets up at the same time i do or a bit later, she's our sleepy head. :) i turn on the puter and have canaan get off the games so he can put it on nick jr. (usually) and the kids watch the kids shows, eat and play around til about 9 or 10. by that time i have some work drawn up for them and a loose plan of what we'll do that day. i'll have stuff to cover math first (to get it done while he's all perky) then we move onto writing and reading. we may go over other things, but it's pretty loose at this point since we're only doing kindergarten. they learn other stuff throughout the day too....like health studies by their personal hygeine and when helping me in the kitchen, and P.E., money--when we sort our change or go to the store, social studies when we study holidays, or other special days, go to town, library hour and lots of other things. just about everyhing you do can be incorporated into some sort of study. ok, so after our studies we do what's left for the day. lunch is usually the main thing on their minds by now, so we take a break. when it's warm out we'll make it a picnic! then if we have to go in town we head out. so overall i guess we spend the most at an hour on actual sit down studying right now, sometimes more, some days less, it all depends. as they age, that time will increase of course. that's us basically. nothing special or out of the ordinary. but in the beginning it really was mind boggling to start each time, wondering if we were doing the right lessons or if we were going in the right order, but you know what? i'm learning to listen to my kids. they give me clues as to whats too much, or to easy, what fits their learning style and how long they can sit still! I dont know how long we'll homeschool, we may decide to do something else by the time our youngest is ready for kindergarten, then again who knows, this may be the first year of a long history with us. :) i do want to enjoy it though, i want to make it a good experience for my kids. i want them to look back or even to realize as they grow up, that it's a good thing for them and is giving them great opportunities. i want them to feel blessed to be given this chance.......i know i do. |