Your Secret Source For Homeschooling Information
A few years ago, I made the big decision to homeschool my kids. It was a huge thing; I had to think of everything, and trust me, making a workable schedule for a whirlwind of a six year old, five year old and a three year old was not easy.
I had to think of the pros and the cons, and is this really a great idea?
So, after dealing with all that, I’m going to share with you my experiences and some homeschool help tips, which I hope will serve to allow you to know what to expect, as well as the pros and cons, and why you can do it too. I will also talk about where to get information on homeschooling.
But first, what is home school? or what is homeschooling?
It’s simple really; homeschooling is the decision to educate your child at home, rather than sending them to public or private school, for whatever your reasons are.
The Pros and Cons
For me, the pros were:
By homeschooling my kids, I could better control what happens around them, and the type of people they interact with.
While they are at school, our kids are continually faced with some distasteful situations or some of the most unpleasant personalities. I also realized that schools tend to teach, either directly or indirectly some rather conflicting values to our children than what we would generally approve of.
To an extent it was cheaper.
I didn’t have to buy textbooks that were either near useless or massively expensive; sometimes I didn’t even need to buy the books at all; I could just borrow them from the local library and copy the pages I needed, or even find them online and printed it.
Statistically, homeschooled kids score better on exams and tended to be more successful overall.
I found that this happened because, if the kids are home schooled, their schedules are tailored specially for them, and, as they are my kids, so I know there learning styles. That, and since its only three children, each of them got my individual attention, I was also able to go over the topics as much as needed.
The cons were
Limited Socialization
Yes, even though I really wouldn’t have minded locking them in the house the whole day, I had to be concerned about their social growth. Their socialization is important, because, if they couldn’t relate to their peers, and other situations, then how would they function in society?
To offset this, I got more involved with my community, particularly the neighborhood moms, and organized events. I had to somehow fit in organizing social and sporting events and recreational activities, along with community events that I’m involved in.
What if I can’t teach all they need to know?
As I was not a certified teacher, I had to purchase teaching manuals, and attend group meetings with parents who have the same ideas; I had to learn all these topics I’m teaching too.
What if I’m too nice, or allow them too much leeway because they are my own kids? What if I inadvertently stunt their growth, educationally or socially? Was the decision to home school the right one?
Finding Information
It took a while, but I discussed the idea and my misgivings with my husband, and in the end we decided to work with it.
In the end, it all worked out great, then my biggest worry became, where can I find homeschooling information? Homeschooling information hadn’t been too hard to address though, I spoke with neighbors, and found that there are free sites for homeschooling provided by the government, there is even a guide on homeschoolerguide.com. The secret was determination and on-line classes for some topics and subjects, sure we had to pay for that, but nothing in life is free.
The best part though was that I could just start a lesson anytime; say one of them is helping me to cook, I can teach them about the sciences.
Adjusting
Scheduling was a bit of a problem, but for different reasons really.
While I could theoretically start a lesson at any time, and I technically had time to go over a topic ten times; I had to do some major rearranging of my own personal schedule.
As a stay at home mom, you would have thought that this would have been easy, surprisingly, it wasn’t. I’m heavily involved in my community, I’m President of my local Parenting group as well as a prominent member of our local Community Center where mom’s organize play dates, field trips (educational and recreational) as well as various word, such as sports (we organized a community wide soccer team), so let me tell you, my schedule is the definition of hectic, along with fitting in my book club.
