Homeschooling so far

What I thought home schoolers would look like...

Our homeschooling life...the journey so far!

       I really didn't know what to expect when we started this journey into homeschooling. My idea of homeschooling mainly involved large Christian families wearing their hair in buns and in matching home made dresses. I was very wrong.

 

        My school had received some ex-home schooled students in the past and for the most part these children were on the 'strange' side and struggled socially. Most were educationally on par with their mainstream schooling classmates. In my sixteen years teaching I can think of eight ex-home schooled students that came to my school. There are four ex-home schooled students currently at my school. Two are excellent examples of a job well done, and the other two aren't get examples of homeschooling. In fact one of the ex home schoolers that we have currently at my school was found stealing from my classroom last week! Oh dear! Had to be the home schooler! So in other words my view of homeschooling was quite limited.     

      After we decided to home school the boys we then started to look for 'how to get started' type resources. There are many homeschooling websites, both in Australia and overseas. I find them very useful. The first thing that stood out to me as a homeschooling teacher is the reliance of 'worksheets' by many homeschooling families. I wrongly presumed that many parents were home schooling their children so they would get a more hands on education. I was wrong. I guess for many parents their idea of learning involves worksheets. I've actually seen on some home schooling Facebook pages parents pulling their kids out of their mainstream school, and having seen what was in their workbooks, were 'angry,' 'rope-able' and 'furious' because the books were empty of worksheets. I on the other hand would have been angry, rope-able and furious if my boys HAD come home with book full of worksheets. "What have they been doing all year" one mum asked. To which I replied they were "probably doing more hands on activities." Hands on activities don't always lead to book work. For example, would you prefer your kid learning about measurement and money with a worksheet or by selecting, budgeting for, buying and cooking their meals every day? I know which one I think is more engaging! Many things just can't be taught with a worksheet, and the only times I've used worksheets is to help the students record their findings of hands on activities.

        I think for those wanting to home school their kids the first thing they need to establish is how their children learn the best. I recommend doing some research on "Learning Styles" or "Multiple Intelligences."  If that is work sheets-then great. If not, look into other options. For me home schooling isn't about merely replicating the school classroom in the home...it's about giving my kids opportunities to learn within the context of life itself and to enhance their curiosity about everything big and small.

Here is a link to one of the many Learning Styles tests which is suited to primary school aged children. http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/836-learning-styles-quiz

 There are many support groups out there for those wanting it. Since February we have been trying to meet up with other home schoolers in our area. There are absolutely heaps of home schoolers out there. A lot more than what I could ever have imagined. We've met with three homeschooling parents and their kids. And we have a few more lined up in the next few weeks. The great thing about having so many home schoolers out there is that you can be selective about who you allow your kids to hang with. I'm not saying we look at their profile pictures and say 'oh they don't look like our kind of people.' Rather if their kids don't click with our kids we will look for other options. I'm not going to force my kids to spend time with kids they don't click with. 

Which leads me onto the parenting side of homeschooling. There was an incident at my school a while back that involved two parents having a playground fight (yelling, name calling, accusations- nothing physical) and I mentioned to Simon how I was glad I was going to 'miss out' on the school yard dynamics between parents- the subtle put downs, the comparisons, the unspoken competition between parents. Once again, I was wrong. On all of the Facebook pages for homeschooling there have been all out wars between parents that get down right nasty. Through Facebook pages I've seen fights (and I'm calling them fights rather than arguments because of the viscous comments, ganging up) about the price of an item a home school mum was going trying to sell an item for, to mums requesting meet ups with anyone other than children with autism and to mums taking offense in the way the word 'gifted' was used in a comment. The thing that amazed me is, not that the argument begin (as arguments) but how they escalate into name calling, put downs and how there is ganging up on certain people. Grown women (yet to see a dad in one of these fights) saying things like 'if you loved your kids more....' Looks like as a home schooling parent you could still get involved in this kind of rubbish if they allowed themselves to. I strongly doubt some of the things these parents said would've been said if they were face to face with the other parent... 

So this is our story so far. Stay tuned for more stories of our homeschooling journey.