Justin, this is for you: isn't it a cool logo?!?
This is a topic I have thought a LOT about. Since before Caleb was born, even. Justin and I have discussed it, but we both know it'll impact me the most, so I'm the one that has the biggest say. It's something that I know will change my life and my children's lives and I am just trying to do what is best for MY children. I've done a lot of research on it and now I would love others' input. I want to know your thoughts, your opinions, your experiences, your own research. Be biased, be opinionated, be honest. I want every facet, every angle, every possible strength and weakness revealed so that my own judgement and decision making is not hindered by ignorance. So please, read on, then tell me your thoughts.
HOME SCHOOLING
Now, I'm not meaning to degrade public school at all. I went to public school, and I had good experiences, good friends, and I learned well enough. So, this isn't to say public is bad, I'm just toying with the idea of giving my children a different experience. Okay, so here are my thoughts thus far on it (I might just write an essay on what I have learned so far--my favorite form of writing :D) But for the sake of not boring you too much:
Pros (hopes):
1. Flexibility: Your own schedule. Your own timing. Your own vacation. Your own style. Your own lessons, your own classroom (or field trip), etc. It's YOUR school.
2. Freedom: Children learn at their own pace; they study what interests them; you can plan lessons around each other. I also like that you can select how much interaction you want with the local public school. Of course how much assistance/evaluation you receive is directly correlated with how much say the federal government has on your own school...
3. Foundation: Your children are with you for the whole day (unless they do sports); You simply have more time to have a huge impact on them. As I read it on another blog, I don't want my children "socialized"--to be like the world and as the world expect--I want them to have social skills. And I want them to have the Gospel as a foundation. With them home with me, I hope they would build a strong foundation to bear them up in the world today
4. Friends: Like I said, I don't want my children without social skills. I want them to have friends, to play sports, to do whatever extracurricular activities interest them. I want them to be happy. I'd hope that with home schooling I could join and participate a local home schooling group of families so that my children could still interact with others their age.
5. Family: I want our family to be close. I love my sisters and my brother and my parents. I've had hard times in my life that have given me opportunities to be close to them, each one for different reasons. I value those relationships. I want the same love and bond and familial strength to exist in my family. I've read that those who home school are very close.
Cons (fears): (no fun alliteration here...sorry, I stopped being creative)
1. Me: Can I handle it? the time commitment? the inevitable frustration? the actual teaching part? The logistics of it all (like reporting assessments, curriculum, etc)?
2. Reality: What if they don't learn what they're supposed to? I'm worried about finding a home schooling group: if I don't find one, do I still home school? How do you decide which method, which course outline and curriculum to use or even start from? I'm not sure where to start with all that...and will I be able to balance teaching my children with being a wife (ie house cleaning, grocery shopping, doctors appointments--do you take them all with you?!--me time)?
3. The Unkown: I guess this is probably the biggest fear I have. I know why I want to home school, and I know how I think I'll get there, but I'm not sure what will happen along the way. I had some great friends in high school who were home schooled and I've seen many great examples, so I have to hope and believe that I CAN do it; but it scares me. Not as much as it used to, but it definitely still scares me.
Alright. Those are my hopes and my fears. Not in any particular order, but put out there. So now it's your turn. What are your experiences, thoughts, ideas, supporting or debasing ideas...:) I really do want to know what you all think, because I respect all of you. :)
Pros (hopes):
1. Flexibility: Your own schedule. Your own timing. Your own vacation. Your own style. Your own lessons, your own classroom (or field trip), etc. It's YOUR school.
2. Freedom: Children learn at their own pace; they study what interests them; you can plan lessons around each other. I also like that you can select how much interaction you want with the local public school. Of course how much assistance/evaluation you receive is directly correlated with how much say the federal government has on your own school...
3. Foundation: Your children are with you for the whole day (unless they do sports); You simply have more time to have a huge impact on them. As I read it on another blog, I don't want my children "socialized"--to be like the world and as the world expect--I want them to have social skills. And I want them to have the Gospel as a foundation. With them home with me, I hope they would build a strong foundation to bear them up in the world today
4. Friends: Like I said, I don't want my children without social skills. I want them to have friends, to play sports, to do whatever extracurricular activities interest them. I want them to be happy. I'd hope that with home schooling I could join and participate a local home schooling group of families so that my children could still interact with others their age.
5. Family: I want our family to be close. I love my sisters and my brother and my parents. I've had hard times in my life that have given me opportunities to be close to them, each one for different reasons. I value those relationships. I want the same love and bond and familial strength to exist in my family. I've read that those who home school are very close.
Cons (fears): (no fun alliteration here...sorry, I stopped being creative)
1. Me: Can I handle it? the time commitment? the inevitable frustration? the actual teaching part? The logistics of it all (like reporting assessments, curriculum, etc)?
2. Reality: What if they don't learn what they're supposed to? I'm worried about finding a home schooling group: if I don't find one, do I still home school? How do you decide which method, which course outline and curriculum to use or even start from? I'm not sure where to start with all that...and will I be able to balance teaching my children with being a wife (ie house cleaning, grocery shopping, doctors appointments--do you take them all with you?!--me time)?
3. The Unkown: I guess this is probably the biggest fear I have. I know why I want to home school, and I know how I think I'll get there, but I'm not sure what will happen along the way. I had some great friends in high school who were home schooled and I've seen many great examples, so I have to hope and believe that I CAN do it; but it scares me. Not as much as it used to, but it definitely still scares me.
Alright. Those are my hopes and my fears. Not in any particular order, but put out there. So now it's your turn. What are your experiences, thoughts, ideas, supporting or debasing ideas...:) I really do want to know what you all think, because I respect all of you. :)
3 comments:
I was scared to put Jez in public school as well when she was ready for pre-kindergarten and I toyed with the idea of homeschooling. After praying about it this is the answer I got...Matt. 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven." Jezmin is the only mormon in her school and she has the opportunity to share her standards and be a 'disciple' so to speak. She has handed out the Friend magazine to her friends and this week she gave her BBF a Book of Mormon with her testimony in it and invites her to church. She is learning to be a leader and the importance of missionary work at a young age. She has also learned tolerance and understanding of others religions and backgrounds. She has learned to love them for who they are.
She has had some intense situations with emotional bullying thats effected her in negative ways that we really struggled with within the last year. It was tough, I am not going to lie. We have never prayed so hard for help and guidance in helping her through it. But challenges and trials brings strength that is needed. And it was also rewarding & heart breaking to listening to her pray at night and ask Heavenly Father for help. She is only 7, but she has learned that she is up against a rough world every day and she already knows that she can't do it without her Heavenly Father. I didn't learn that until I was in High school.
There will always be good and bad/pros and cons to everything. But you have to have faith that this generation is stronger then ever before and if we give them the "armor" to handle and deal with it then they will be spiritual giants and the Lord with protect them when they are not in your care.
Now for the academic part... Jezmin has learned a lot at school and when she comes home we still take an hour or sometimes two a day and we read, spelling quiz games, math games/sheets, I started teaching her piano lessons, she does rosetta stone spanish on the computer.... she is home for 6 hours after school before she goes to bed. I don't let them watch TV much at all. So we have 6 hours to learn, teach, play and spend quality time together. And because I know that I only have that 6 hours with her we use it wisely. It is nice to not have that pressure and weight of teaching my children everything they need to know academically. It makes me happier not to be constantly stressing about it but to know that they are getting it at school and that I can reinforce it to whatever degree I want at home. And I can spend my stress, time and energy doing other things and enjoying other things in life.
We all need a little time away from each other so we can appreciate each other more. Jezmin appreciates me as a mom when she can leave and come back and realize how good she has it. And I appreciate her and all my kids when I can have a bit of a break.
So for me and my family....heck no, I would never ever home school.
But for you, pray about it. Whatever answer you get go with it. Not mine or anyone else, go with what answer you get and you'll know that it is what will be best for your kids and family.
(Hows that for a long big sister kind of comment!? sorry, I have strong feelings toward this subject so I had to comment. And you probably already know and decided already.... I just like to put in my 2 cents with hope that it may help even a little.)
Good luck! We miss you guys!
love Pressett Family comment. Do what is right for you.
but here's why I would never do it: 1.I don't have the patience. I can't handle when I'm trying to accomplish something and there is a distraction. In a homeschooling situation, I would be totally stressed trying to do ANY kind of activity with one child when suddenly the other has to go potty or needs a drink or just wants attention or even asks a brilliant question about whatever he/she is learning at the time... I would probably miss millions of teaching opportunities because I'd be just like "just a sec, I'm busy right now with so and so". you get the picture. This is already so challenging for me WITHOUT the pressure of a curriculum thrown in there.
2. I'm not a genius at ALL subjects. Maybe some of them. :) and Eric could supplement the rest. but I figure I know enough to clarify if something doesn't make sense or to reinforce what is either an interest for my kids or a subject they think they detest. But I don't think I can teach them as well in ALL subjects ALL day as teachers that specialized in only one subject. That really doesn't apply to grade school,just the upper grades, so I don't know how far you were thinking of schooling. For me, JH and HS would be OUT.
3. I would have hated if my [our] mom was my teacher. I don't learn well from our parents. It is just one of those things. Same reason I will never attempt to teach my kids piano, even if I could teach other kids. My kids will have a different teacher. Something about the respect for a non-family adult that just makes the learning easier. I hope that doesn't mean my kids will struggle with learning ANYTHING from me, but I am realistic about how allowing them to have that break from me will improve their willingness to absorb knowledge and hopefully even make them more willing to be taught by me when they come home because they won't be tired of me. :)
not an exhaustive list of reasons why I wouldn't do it, but the main ones, I think. I've got homework to do now, so my comments will have to stop there. I do want to know what you end up deciding, though!
From what I've heard from other parents, the main reason they have ever considered home schooling is the curriculum at public schools (mostly elementary schools), that their children don't understand or struggle with.
So far, with my 4 year old in preschool it has been the perfect fit for us. I know that he and I would get frustrated with each other if I were his constant teacher because I've tried in the past. It works much better for us for him to go to school, learn something from a teacher he respects and then I can reinforce what he learns at home.
The main reasons I have decided that (for now!) home schooling isn't for us is because (1) The fact he would get frustrated with me and vice versa (2) I can't provide a social experience for him that public schooling can. Home school groups in our region are very exclusive...Christian groups don't allow Mormons in them. (3) I can't teach my kids everything they may want to learn. I don't know all the languages, instruments, math skills, etc that a public school would be able to teach them. (4) I don't want the burden of having to have a structure such as home school. I don't know that I have the self-discipline to sit down with my kids and do the lessons that are truly required for home school to be successful and teach them everything they have to know.
I am fully aware that there may come a time that I might have to home school my kids and I think if it were something I had to do, I could, but for now this is working for us. I do worry about the less desirable things my kids will learn at school from peers but I need to trust that if I teach them the Gospel and good values, they can take those and be good examples, and make their own choices.
This really has to be a personal decision and I admire home-schooling mothers and the commitment required of them, so best of luck with your decision!
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