Trial Homeschool

When Einstein went on spring break (in public school kindergarten, letting him finish out the school year), I decided to do a trial homeschool week. 

It was SO much fun!!! I am still nervous about full-time homeschooling, but I truly enjoy spending time with my son and teaching him new things. 

We took a trip to the zoo, visited a homeschool co-op, and did a 9-1 "learning time" each day. 

I also learned the importance of writing down our game plan each day- jotting down a line or two to keep me on track, otherwise we wander through the day without a plan.

Academics
Since I haven't picked out a curriculum yet, we just picked a couple cool things to focus on.

Math- We worked on fractions by cutting up "pies" and water in measuring cups

Not my picture, but such a fun way to learn!

Science- The Lifecycle of the Butterfly. We got a butterfly garden for my daughter's birthday, and during this week, the butterflies formed their chrysalises! We measured the caterpillars each day and recorded lengths

Writing- Journaling, writing a story about our trip to the zoo, and keeping up his research journal. He interviewed zookeepers and wrote facts about all the different animals

History- We watched an awesome Florence Nightingale video (clip below), listened to the Magic Treehouse book A High Time for Heroes, which is when Jack and Annie meet Florence before she becomes a nurse. 

Geography- We learned the states and their capitols, and kept quizzing each other. We used our states puzzle that have the capitols written under there.

Reading- We did some independent, some read aloud, and some with Mom reading. We read a BUNCH of books! Einstein is a voracious reader and inhales books, which is awesome!!! He is teaching his baby sister to love books too

Planning for Homeschool

Oh boy, where to begin? I have been researching homeschooling for months now, pulling every book available from the local libraries, looking up articles and blogs online, and trying to figure out what will work for our family.

That is the one common theme I have found from all my research- families are encouraged to homeschool in whatever way best fits their family. 

There are several "types" of homeschooling, including but not limited to:

Traditional Homeschooling
This is essentially doing school... at home. So you have the pledge, set curriculums that you purchase for each subject, and you work on them at home. Many families using this approach will have a designated school room with desks, chalkboard or white board, and it is a little school right at their house.

Charter Online Schools
This is an online charter school that will pay for your curriculum, give you access to teachers online, and send you things like microscopes as the lesson plan requires it. You teach the given curriculum at home.

Unschooling
This is the complete opposite of traditional school. Those whose unschool believe that children learn from their natural environment, so formal, "sit down" education isn't needed. They believe that you learn about fractions from cooking, and math in the weekly budget discussion during a grocery store run, etc. 

Unit Based Homeschooling
This is COOL. Some people claim that this can also be considered unschooling, but others consider it it's own category. This is where you take whatever your child is interested in, and run with it. 

This takes a LOT of parental involvement, because you are effectively creating the curriculum as you go along, AND teaching it to your child. But the retention in kids with this method is just astronomical. 

Example: Your child loves weather. So you will plot major natural disasters over the course of history, discuss the impact they had on the community, take temperatures and do the mean, median, and mode, find the temperature difference, find the average rainfall over x amount of time, all that for math. 

You study the water cycle and how things can affect that. You conduct experiments to test acidity of rain in different areas, plot on a map the weather patterns around the world, and read everything about weather. 


Eclectic Homeschooling 
This is what most homeschool families do. They put together their own little mashup of traditional curriculums, some fun units, or whatever else strikes their fancy. 

My Current Plan
Right now, we are leaning toward the eclectic homeschool. I want a set curriculum for math and maybe history, but science will for sure be unit based and child-led. Then we will dabble in whatever I feel is right for Einstein at the time. 

Homeschooling Concerns

There are several things that scare me about starting to homeschool Einstein. My 3 biggest concerns are:

1. What if I forget to teach him something?

2. What if I can't emotionally handle it?

3. Can I keep up with my regular demands and homeschooling?

1. What if I forget to teach him something?

I voiced this concern to a more experienced homeschool mom. She chuckled about it a little bit, then told me, "Everyone misses something. The beauty of homeschool is that once you realize you forgot something, you can just go back and teach it."

I hadn't ever thought of it that way. In my mind, I was still stuck on the public school teaching method, where if you missed a concept at school, that was too bad, because the class will keep going on, and they can't wait for one student.

But with homeschooling, if I forget to discuss the Transcontinental Railroad, I can just go back and learn about it. There is no big history test that they will fail if they have the flu. If we decide that we will tackle Chemistry a different year because it isn't clicking this year, we can do that! 

2. What if I can't emotionally handle it?

One thing that is very consistent with Einstein is his emotional unpredictability. He will independently decide to study chess on his own for hours, then the next day, have a half hour melt-down because I won't let him wear the same underwear 4 days in a row. His emotions don't just go 0 to 60 in a few seconds, it goes from 100 to -100 then back again. 

But I again remind myself that I have handled him for 6 years so far, and I think of the end goal I want to accomplish- for him to be challenged academically and be shown great role models for behavior. And in order to do that, I MUST be a good role model. So if we need to take a break, we can.

And some great advice I got was to save all my "extra patience" for homeschool time. Because even if I go nuts as a mom sometime, I want my child to love learning. And me freaking out won't inspire curiosity or passion.

3. Can I keep up with my regular demands and homeschooling?

I have a lot on my plate. My older daughter has a rare genetic syndrome that requires constant care and supervision when she is home, plus a baby with the same condition at home all the time, a husband to give attention to, house that needs cleaned, meals that need cooked, lessons to plan, church volunteer work, lots to do!

The best thing that I can come up with here is to prioritize. My family will always be #1 for me. So if we are able to get in some learning and therapy, and be a happy family, then the rest doesn't matter. I do love having good food and a clean house! I feel like the order there helps me feel in control of my life and keep my sanity in tact, but I also know that my kids being educated is more important than the breakfast dishes being washed by 8 am.   

Why Homeschool?

I never thought I would be homeschooling. Having grown up in public school, I always had assumed that my kids would go there as well. 

So when Einstein turned 5, I was all excited for him to get to go to kindergarten and have a trained education professional teach him things. 

But to my dismay, he instantly became class clown, acting up with the other kids were learning how to read words like "it" and "like" when he was devouring the Magic Tree House series at home. 

Where he was doing multiplication and division, other kids were learning to add 3 and 2, and his teacher wasn't allowed to give more difficult work. My child was at school and not learning anything.

We couldn't afford private school, we submitted his name for the good charter schools but he didn't get selected (random lottery), and though I told him I would let him finish the school year, I didn't want to do another year of public school. 

So that left us with- homeschool!

It seems like the minute I started considering homeschool, I started meeting homeschooling families at the park, at church, in the store, everywhere!!! They just seemed to pop right out of the ground all around me.

And I was amazed! 

These families had incredibly smart, well-adjusted kids that were curious, hard-working, social, and loved their families!

And the more I looked into it, the more excited I became about homeschooling!

Here are my top 10 reasons why I want to homeschool Einstein:

1. Interest- Led Learning

This is a HUGE one for Einstein! Ever since he was tiny, Einstein would become obsessed with a topic and want to know everything about it! 

In public school, they won't adapt all the math questions to incorporate crocodiles. But with homeschool, we can! We can draw those for art, study their life cycle and habitat in science, learn about where they are found in geography... I love it!!! And Einstein learns so much better that way anyway!

2. Flexibility and Freedom

I can teach whatever I want. I live in a state where homeschoolers can do our own thing, which is AWESOME!!! I don't like being told what to teach my kid and when and how. 

I love being able to choose what my kid learns. We can have a Christian-based education! We can take a month to study Egyptian culture if my child is interested in that. At school, all kids are fed the same thing, regardless if they are interested or not. If a kid loves baseball, they are usually told, "Cool, play at recess, but right now we need to study Rosa Parks so stop talking about baseball." 

I am all about child-led learning! I am more than happy to adapt what we are studying to fit what you are interested in! Because that is how kids learn best!!!

3. No State Mandated Tests!

I guess this goes along with the freedom. One thing I didn't like in school growing up was the immense pressure schools put on kids for the annual state tests to measure our levels of performance. 

Those exams were a complete joke for kids in upper levels, and yet we were forced to sit for hour after hour while teachers drilled what would be on the test instead of learning something we wanted to learn.

4. I Get to Spend More Time With Him

Einstein is exhausting. He is emotionally volatile, always wants 120% of my energy and attention, and talks constantly. I was excited for peace when he went to school, but when he was gone, I missed him! That surprised me- I didn't think I would.

But I can't think of anything I would rather do than learn with my kids! To do science experiments in the kitchen, do math on the sidewalk outside, study ancient Mesopotamia and create dioramas- I would LOVE to do that!!! 

5. Natural Curiosity and Creativity Can Flourish

As the months of Einstein finishing out kindergarten have gone on, I have noticed a decline in his asking questions. He will constantly ask how brakes work, when do clouds become rain, how a budget works- lots of things not school related. And it makes me sad that school teachers won't have the time in their curriculum to delve into anything he wants to learn about. 

Same thing with art- I always see the kindergarteners come home with the same exact picture and even the same sentences on their pictures. Like a picture of a pig, ALL cut out and colored the same way, with the sentence "I think the pig will get away" written down. I want my kid to be able to draw whatever HE wants and think for himself, not copy off a board.

6. Less Wasted Time 

Oh my goodness! I never realized how much wasted time goes on at school! It is constantly "Susie pass out these papers" (5 minutes later) "Now everyone write a C, and color the cat orange." (15 minutes later) "Now I will come around and check." (5 minutes later)

When going to the bathroom, everyone has to go, and wait for the whole class to go to the bathroom and get a drink, and no talking allowed while you wait! I guess it frustrates me that I think my kid could have just gone to the bathroom at home, done his work, then had 3-4 more hours during the day to do what HE wants to do, instead of waiting for classmates to finish work.

7. Field Trips!

Everyone's favorite things in school were always the field trips! As a homeschooler, I can take my kid on field trips anywhere ANY time I want! Instead of waiting for that once a year trip to the zoo with the class, we can pile into the car and drive to the beach to study the tide. We can attend that cool exhibit that came to the science museum. As often as we want! 

I can't wait to take our research journals and go find plants to classify and look at plant versus animal cells under a microscope! Sign me up!!! 

8. Relaxed Days

I don't like the mom I become when everything is rushed and stressed. I end up yelling at my kids to hurry up and get out the door or we will be late, then there is the car drop off line, and I feel like I am in the car for a couple hours every day with cranky me and cranky kids!

I would MUCH rather take time to show Einstein how to cook eggs in the morning, and have the time to teach him to wash his plate and load it in the dishwasher, instead of tapping a watch while he tries to shovel food in as fast as he can because we always seem to be late.

And no nasty attendance lady giving me a stink eye! Score!!!

9. Life Skills

Kind of going along with the last one, I don't want Einstein to graduate high school and then realize he has no functional skills at all. I had college roommates who had no idea how to cook, clean or do their laundry. 

I want to teach Einstein to change a tire, garden, handle finances well, mow the lawn, do CPR, cook meals, notice others' needs and fill them, all those things that people run around saying that schools are failing to teach kids.

10. Nobody Will Love My Kid More Than I Will

Teachers are incredible. Truly. They go into that profession not for the pay (obviously), but for their passion for teaching and inspiring minds!

And yet, no one will ever be as invested in my child's well-being and education as I will be. Teachers love kids and then the kids move to the next grade level. But they always come home to the same mom who loves them no matter what. 

I want Einstein to feel like he is learning in an environment where he is 100% safe. Where he is loved unconditionally, and it is okay to make mistakes with no peer pressure pouring in on you.

Bonus: Fewer Stupid Fads

There are SO many things that come home from school I would be perfectly okay with never seeing/ hearing about again!!! Boys are not known for their maturity at school, and I certainly don't want any extra helpings of that.