I get asked all the time, “Homeschool?!?!? How do your kids get the “social” aspect of school?” My response is…”Besides letting the kids out of their cage for about an hour a day to stretch out their legs, we occasionally take them to the local grocery store to see how other humans interact.”
Granted, I didn’t believe I could home school in the first place but I never doubted the benefits of homeschooling. I was just lazy, selfish (wanted my ME-time), and knocked it before I even tried it. – Is that the correct saying???
Anyway, convinced that I wouldn’t have the patience to teach and wanting to preserve my precious me-time, I sent Thelma to kindergarten at the same public school I went to…a pretty good, typical suburban primary school. I’m not knocking public school since I went to public school K-12 and I turned out ok. Ummm…Wait…Well, let’s just move on.
Like a good, suburban mom, I joined the PTA. I got suckered into being the Head Class Mom because no one else wanted to (Note to Moms who want to “contribute” – this job sucks ass.), volunteered to help teach Cultural Arts for the class (Somehow I became the main cultural arts person as well.), and volunteered once a month to help out the teacher grading papers and what-not. Here’s a pic of me teaching “cultural arts”:
School started off wonderfully – Thelma loved her classmates and school. She was SO excited about school but after a while the school early start time, 7:45am for a 5-yr old, started to become a problem. It didn’t matter if Thelma went to bed by 8pm, it was still harder than hell to get her out of bed by 6:00am. My little bundle of energy soon became lethargic, unmotivated and didn’t like school anymore. This started to concern me. Since I can’t keep my opinion to myself, I wanted to know if there was anyone else out there who felt the same thing and voiced my dislike of the early-school start times. I called in to our local newspaper that lets residents call in any comments or thoughts about the town. Well, it generated quite a buzz. Some agreed but some were like “this woman is just lazy to take her kids to school”. I actually kept the newspaper clipping. I couldn’t find the responses though…damn!
Needless to say my comments did not motivate the public school system enough for them to change the school times. I learn later that student attendance is directly related to school funding so that explains a lot. It’s all about the money folks!! Really, when you look around, when is it NOT about money in our society. Craziness!
Our mornings would be frenzied and rushed where I’m frantically annoyed, screaming “We’re late! We’re late! Get up! Go go go! Put your cereal in a mug and eat your breakfast in the car!” So, for starters, I didn’t want to start off every morning being a bitch to my kids and be remembered as that crazy Vietnamese woman screaming and rushing the kids in the morning. It’s not really a great way to start off your day.
During the school year, we would miss a few days due to our travels to take care of business. There’s a predetermined amount of unexcused absences (I think 6-7 days) and when you exceed that you are referred to THE LAW. Then you have to explain yourself some stranger judge why you lock your kids up in a cage. Ok, j.k. Our absences came from business trips to take care of our businesses. Dick was on the road often and we felt it was more important to be together as a family. We were never referred to a judge but we were “warned” by Thelma’s teacher that we had missed too many days. I politely explained to her that my husband travels and we feel it’s important to be together as a family. Any missed schoolwork on the road, I mean, it’s Kindergarten for Pete’s sake! Well, it didn’t matter. There are RULES and they must be followed! For me, rules are great if they make sense but making my family stressed and unhappy didn’t make any sense to me.
Since Dick and I don’t have “normal” 9-5 jobs, sending our kids to public school really started to affect our family’s happiness. I believe that school, work, family life is all interconnected and public school was putting a heavy strain on our family life. Life was not good. The kids were miserable. Tired. Not liking school. Dick and I were arguing more because we tend to work late at night (sometimes until 3-4am) and I still have to get up at 6:00 to get the kids ready for school while Dick sleeps in until noon or later. So, Jane not happy! See Jane kick Dick’s ass! You know the saying, “When Momma’s not happy, ain’t NOBODY happy!”. True dat!
We absolutely love and believe in homeschooling and here’s why:
In addition, because it’s one on one, we get so much done in such a little amount of time. We can cover so much material in one hour. At the public school, there are 20 kids to one teacher. Do you think she has time to cover things the kids don’t understand individually and wait until they understand it? No, they don’t have time for that. They have to move on. Every child learns at different speeds but that’s not really taken into consideration when you’re in public school.
And in all my years of school, all I did was study to pass tests. It wasn’t interesting, except for Art. I crammed for tests, would get great marks, but then forget it the next day. I mean, really, why do I have to memorize EVERY DATE in history when I can Google it? Ok, so we didn’t have Google back then. Hell, we didn’t even have the internet. But, It’s not how much information you can memorize but knowing how to get that information the fastest to do what you need to do. I try to teach my girls to think for themselves, to solve their own problems analytically instead of insisting on things that don’t matter.We also take breaks when they’re tired so that they can focus better and absorb more.
Not everyone agrees with our way of educating our children, not even my own family. But, that’s ok. They don’t have to agree. We realize this may not work for everyone but it works for us and keeps our family together and happy! And that’s the MOST important thing for us. Our family’s happiness!
Peace, Love, and Happiness People!
-Jane, Homeschool Teacher
14/09/2009 at 7:24 PM Permalink
I love it! but where do you find a “curriculum” & materials? Is there a guideline or do you really set your own everything? I’d love to learn more about it.
14/09/2009 at 8:10 PM Permalink
There is an ABUNDANCE of curriculum. Homeschooling has become so popular that there are support groups, co-ops, tons of different curriculum and a plethora of information online. There are no guidelines but you can register with an umbrella school for a small fee (about $50/yr) and for that fee, they take report your child’s attendance and yearly test scores (National Standard Testing so thta you know where your child stands) to your state. This is not mandatory. Also, if you would also like to supplement your homeschooling with more “social interaction” you can also register them with a co-op where you can choose to go to that school for 1, 2 or 3 days a week. Different co-ops have different requirements. Some require you to use their curriculum, which some like b/c then they don’t have to worry about what to teach. The school tells you what to do on the days off. But if you want the flexibility to teach what you like, you can do that too. We’re involved with a one-day co-op and the kids LOVE it! Let me know if you have more questions. I’d be glad to answer them as best I can.
14/09/2009 at 8:15 PM Permalink
Hey girlie-we have a whole community of home schoolers here. The kids complete their curriculum work at home before lunch and then venture out to meet up with other home-schooled kids for real-world experiences at museums, playgrounds, events, etc. in the afternoons. People need to learn that home-schooled kids are socialized-just not in a traditional school setting.
14/09/2009 at 8:22 PM Permalink
Totally! And what’s great is that homeschool kids can talk to people of all ages, in addition to but not solely just kids their own age. Adults etc. I think people are fearful b/c they don’t know much about it so what I’m suggesting to those who don’t know is EDUCATE yourself. Talk to other homeschool moms, go online.
I used to be one of those “Hell no, I could never homeschool. Not patient enough”-kind of people. But you do what’s best for your family. Again, it might not be for everyone.
15/09/2009 at 7:15 AM Permalink
Hey,
I saw what ever works. You seem to have found a healthy balance for your family. I think a lot of kids that had trouble in large schools (like the one went to) need that one on one time. I don’t foresee any social awkwardness amongst your children – look at their mama!
Rock on!
Ash