Home*School*Home: Surprising to me.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Surprising to me.

I remember before my kids were born (back when I knew a lot more about parenting) thinking that really only kids under about 6 were cute to me. I thought and said that I only thought kids were tolerable until they were about school age and then they became obnoxious. I expected my kids to do the same, go through an obnoxious period from about 6 to 18 and then hopefully become okay again. This is not what's happened. They are delightful people even at the ages of 11, 13 and 17. Of course, I'm their mom and I would love them anyway. The thing that is more surprising to me is how much I enjoy my kid's friends. They are just wonderful kids, polite, funny and a joy to be around. I'm privileged to know them and surprised that I feel that way.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I agree, I have loved my kids growing up. I thought that it was the baby stages I loved but it is not. although I love babies I love getting to know my kids playing boardgames interacting with them instead of always serving them.
http://wheelsonthebusgoroundandround.com; 12:14 PM

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Homeschooling Advice.

1. Try it. You might enjoy it. It might change your life. It might not be your thing, but you won't know if you don't ever try.

2. Find out what your state (or country) requires, the bare minimum. Do this and then with the rest of it, have fun with it. It doesn't have to be all serious and it doesn't have to look like the inside of a classroom. You're at home. Relax. Play. Read. Learn together. Enjoy your kids. They grow up way too fast.

3. Don't let a written curriculum boss you around. If it works, great. If it's not working for you, throw it out. If only parts of it work, use those and throw the rest out. It's not the boss of you. When shopping for curriculum, read reviews. Try to go somewhere where you can actually hold the book in your hands and look through it. Print out a sample day or week and try and implement it or borrow it before buying. It's kind of hit and miss buying books without being able to see them.

4. Find a homeschool support group. Or two. If you can't find one in real life, find one online. Get support where ever you can.

5. Make a mess now and then. Go outside and put some mentos in coke. Make alka-seltzer rockets. Make some great art. Make a timeline and a map. Grow some borax crystals. Use levers to lift things. Make a trebuchet out of whatever you can find around the house.

6. Go on as many field trips as you can.

The point of this blog.

"there is a theme, if you read, you'll get a growing conviction that homeschooling is a lifestyle that is worthwhile, that it is extremely good for kids and families, that it promotes bonding, is a personalized education that is superior to what you can get anywhere else for your kids, is fun and can be done even if you have a 400 track mind, no math skills (thankfully my husband does though), through working, job changes, bad hair days, home remodeling, deaths, illness, surgery, broken bones and various other things and it actually makes dealing with these things easier, not harder, than it was when we were in the public schools, because homeschooling is so incredibly flexible. That's the point I've been trying to make for the last 5 years or so."

Friday, December 04, 2009

Surprising to me.

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The point of this blog.

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