In 2004, we decided to homeschool our children. We came to this decision after talking to many, many homeschoolers that we met at church, and because the children who were homeschooled were much better behaved and could converse with adults much better than the public-schooled children. We researched homeschooling and realized that it only takes up a fraction of the time that our children would spend in a public school, and they learn much faster and better because of the one-on-one environment. That, coupled with the fact that we could decide what they were learning, really solidified our resolve to homeschool.
The year that Eliza turned five I started to collect homeschool resources. I looked online and found many, many blogs about homeschooling, and many homeschool resource stores. One of our goals with homeschooling was to incorporate the Gospel of Jesus Christ into everything taught. During my research online, I found a website called: Latter-Day Family Resources. Basically, a member of our church who had been homeschooling for years and years started to provide homeschooling resources to others. Her website included reviews of all the resources she had in stock, and she also had several essays about homeschooling. I still remember one of the first ones I read about homeschooling with younger children. In one of her essays she outlined which resources she would choose for a kindergartner and why.
Through the guidance of this essay, and through my own research, I started to build a curriculum for my two daughters who would be in kindergarten and preschool in the fall of 2005. I made a list of all the books I wanted to use, and in August I started to receive those books in the mail.
The last Thursday in August, the public schools started. I had every intention of starting school with my children on the following Monday (I just didn't understand why we should start at the end of a week). In a meeting at church on the Sunday before we were going to start school, Jon decided that there was a better reason to send our children to school than the reasons we had for homeschooling: the public schools needed children who could be a good example to the other children. While I wasn't wholly on board with this idea, I decided I'd rather have harmony in my marriage. So, on the following Monday (the day I was going to start homeschooling), I took Eliza to the elementary school and enrolled her in kindergarten.
And, my children have been in public school ever since that day. At the time, we were living in Minnesota in a small town and the class sizes were about 21 students per class. Both Eliza and Kate were accepted into gifted programs that would take them out of class into a smaller group and do more excelled thinking and projects.
When we moved to Arizona, I heard about how large the class sizes are and how the gifted programs aren't anything like what we'd been using in Minnesota. But, that's not where my decision to use the k12 program came from. My decision came from the idea that we would be in corporate housing for a short time. I didn't want to enroll my children in a public school to yank them out again and enroll them into another school once we bought our house.
So, I enrolled my older girls in the k12 program, which is an online public school. Andrew's birth certificate had accidentally been packed, and by the time we got it out of storage there wasn't a public school around that would allow me to enroll him because it was too late in the year. In the back of my mind, I figured we would use k12 and have a fantastic experience, then want to continue to school at home. After a few weeks, we decided to homeschool for this year (2010-2011). Andrew wasn't enrolled in school, and I figured I would continue to use the reading program I got for Eliza (back in 2005), and then we'd just pick up in the Fall with everything that he missed. Honestly, I didn't really do a lot with Andrew because I planned on homeschooling and knew that I would be able to teach him wherever he was in his understanding of concepts; I was spending most of my time with Eliza and Kate because we had to log their hours.
Because the k12 program is a public school (just online), we had to record our hours for the state. This meant that Eliza needed to be working on her school assignments for at least 5 hours a day, and Kate for at least 4 hours a day. The worst part was that the girls had to take assessment after assessment to see where they needed to start in the k12 curriculum. The curriculum didn't align very well with what they were learning in Minnesota. Example: In Eliza's fourth grade class by the end of the year they would have learned about cell structure; no where in the k12 science book were cells even referred to.
It was stressful and hard to make it through the year, mainly because the experienc wasn't anything like what I was expecting. I think that's becuase we started the k12 curriculum during the middle of the year. If we had started the year with k12, I don't think it would have been such a negative experience for us because we could have started with lesson 1 and just continue through the books (as opposed to taking the assessments for lessons 1-15 in one day). The teacher assigned to us was on vacation for our first few weeks and I didn't hear from her until after we had been doing things a little wrong and ineffeciently.
So, when August came around in 2010, our children did not want to homeschool. They thought it would be like k12, and when I told them it would be different, they said they wanted to go to school to make friends. I explained that they would have to be okay with switching schools during the school year. Instead of listening to my heart and what I believed was the best for my children, I listened to them and enrolled them in public school. I was a little weak, and insecure about my ability to homeschool. They liked their school and their teachers, and their teachers seemed to communicate a lot with me, which is good. But, their class sizes were apalling ... 29 students to one teacher! I knew my girls would probably do okay with this because they are extrememly self-driven with their learning. But, I've been concerned about Andrew since his first day.
Then, we moved and I considered homeschooling again, at least Andrew (who has been struggling since his first day in 2010 with the structure of school). But, he wanted to go to public school with Eliza and Kate. So, I listened to him again and enrolled him. And, he has continued to struggle. It breaks my heart when he comes home and tells me that the children at his table call him stupid. He is most definitely not stupid ... he just marches to his own beat most of the time. (A beat that doesn't mix well in public schools.)
For years, whenever I'd talk to anyone who homeschools I'd get that feeling in my heart that screams at me, "I WANT TO HOMESCHOOL!!!" But, then I'd get selfish and think about all the things I will be able to do when all of my children are in school (like go back to school to get my degree, for example).
I am essentially quite selfish and sometimes would rather spend my time doing the things that I want to do, rather than sitting around with my children. Which is why it's been so hard for me to decide about homeschooling. It scares me to think that if I get lazy, my children's education suffers.
But, when I do have teaching moments (like when I do Adam's reading lessons), and then later they use what I taught them (like when Adam reads from the Book of Mormon during family scripture time), I feel such satisfaction knowing that I taught them; that, I was the one who helped them to reach that step in their learning; that, I took the time to really teach them in the way that fits them best (like, drawing simple pictures to help Kate understand math).
I think the entire experience with k12 really soiled all of our ideas of what homeschooling could be like. I mean, I think about homeschooling and how I will have to spend 4-5 hours a day with my children stuck to my side ... and I won't be able to spend my time sewing, or baking, or just sitting around on facebook. (I know, I know, I am so completely self-centered and selfish.)
But, last weekend we met a family from church who homeschool. She was a public school teacher and now homeschools her children because the schools here aren't very good at all. She doesn't feel that the schools here teach as much as she wants her children to know. And, I agree. They don't challenge the children enough.
Example: Kate did a research paper on a person; Queen Elizabeth. She was given about three to four weeks to get this project completed. She did all her research and wrote her paper and everything all on her own. Today, she was able to dress as her person to give her presentation. On the way to school, she told me that everyone in the class was given the opportunity to choose the person they would research. That means that several students were doing their presentations on Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, professional basketball players, and other pop culture celebrities. But, my Kate wanted to do her research on someone who lived "back then," so she chose Queen Elizabeth. How cool is that? When given the opportunity, my daughter decided to learn about an era we did not live in. I think it would have been a better project if the teacher had challeneged the children more and actually either assigned them a person, or a time period from which to choose a person.
Which brings me to my point. I am considering homeschooling next year. Both of my girls will be testing next week for gifted services, but those services aren't anything like what we are used to. They aren't even pulled out of class ... they just get extra work and more is expected of them. Which is okay, when faced with the alternatives in the public school. But, when I think about what they could be doing instead, at home ... I can't help but realize that they could be doing so much more!
The mom that I talked to last weekend told me that her daughter (who is turning eight, and a grade below Kate) and she spend about 2 1/2 hours a day on school and then they are finished. So, I think about that and realize that my Andrew would love to homeschool for that exact reason. He'd much rather play than sit at a desk.
At any rate, I hate thinking that I will mess up my children's futures because of my indecision and selfishness. So, my goal for the next few months is to get over my worldy/earthly desires and actually put my children first. After all, I chose to have children .... I shouldn't be pushing them and their education aside to do the unimportant things I want to do. It's hard, but I think I know where to put my priorities. I just hope I stick with it. And, if I do decide to send my children to public school, I can still supplement at home and expect more of them than the teachers do.
The year that Eliza turned five I started to collect homeschool resources. I looked online and found many, many blogs about homeschooling, and many homeschool resource stores. One of our goals with homeschooling was to incorporate the Gospel of Jesus Christ into everything taught. During my research online, I found a website called: Latter-Day Family Resources. Basically, a member of our church who had been homeschooling for years and years started to provide homeschooling resources to others. Her website included reviews of all the resources she had in stock, and she also had several essays about homeschooling. I still remember one of the first ones I read about homeschooling with younger children. In one of her essays she outlined which resources she would choose for a kindergartner and why.
Through the guidance of this essay, and through my own research, I started to build a curriculum for my two daughters who would be in kindergarten and preschool in the fall of 2005. I made a list of all the books I wanted to use, and in August I started to receive those books in the mail.
The last Thursday in August, the public schools started. I had every intention of starting school with my children on the following Monday (I just didn't understand why we should start at the end of a week). In a meeting at church on the Sunday before we were going to start school, Jon decided that there was a better reason to send our children to school than the reasons we had for homeschooling: the public schools needed children who could be a good example to the other children. While I wasn't wholly on board with this idea, I decided I'd rather have harmony in my marriage. So, on the following Monday (the day I was going to start homeschooling), I took Eliza to the elementary school and enrolled her in kindergarten.
And, my children have been in public school ever since that day. At the time, we were living in Minnesota in a small town and the class sizes were about 21 students per class. Both Eliza and Kate were accepted into gifted programs that would take them out of class into a smaller group and do more excelled thinking and projects.
When we moved to Arizona, I heard about how large the class sizes are and how the gifted programs aren't anything like what we'd been using in Minnesota. But, that's not where my decision to use the k12 program came from. My decision came from the idea that we would be in corporate housing for a short time. I didn't want to enroll my children in a public school to yank them out again and enroll them into another school once we bought our house.
So, I enrolled my older girls in the k12 program, which is an online public school. Andrew's birth certificate had accidentally been packed, and by the time we got it out of storage there wasn't a public school around that would allow me to enroll him because it was too late in the year. In the back of my mind, I figured we would use k12 and have a fantastic experience, then want to continue to school at home. After a few weeks, we decided to homeschool for this year (2010-2011). Andrew wasn't enrolled in school, and I figured I would continue to use the reading program I got for Eliza (back in 2005), and then we'd just pick up in the Fall with everything that he missed. Honestly, I didn't really do a lot with Andrew because I planned on homeschooling and knew that I would be able to teach him wherever he was in his understanding of concepts; I was spending most of my time with Eliza and Kate because we had to log their hours.
Because the k12 program is a public school (just online), we had to record our hours for the state. This meant that Eliza needed to be working on her school assignments for at least 5 hours a day, and Kate for at least 4 hours a day. The worst part was that the girls had to take assessment after assessment to see where they needed to start in the k12 curriculum. The curriculum didn't align very well with what they were learning in Minnesota. Example: In Eliza's fourth grade class by the end of the year they would have learned about cell structure; no where in the k12 science book were cells even referred to.
It was stressful and hard to make it through the year, mainly because the experienc wasn't anything like what I was expecting. I think that's becuase we started the k12 curriculum during the middle of the year. If we had started the year with k12, I don't think it would have been such a negative experience for us because we could have started with lesson 1 and just continue through the books (as opposed to taking the assessments for lessons 1-15 in one day). The teacher assigned to us was on vacation for our first few weeks and I didn't hear from her until after we had been doing things a little wrong and ineffeciently.
So, when August came around in 2010, our children did not want to homeschool. They thought it would be like k12, and when I told them it would be different, they said they wanted to go to school to make friends. I explained that they would have to be okay with switching schools during the school year. Instead of listening to my heart and what I believed was the best for my children, I listened to them and enrolled them in public school. I was a little weak, and insecure about my ability to homeschool. They liked their school and their teachers, and their teachers seemed to communicate a lot with me, which is good. But, their class sizes were apalling ... 29 students to one teacher! I knew my girls would probably do okay with this because they are extrememly self-driven with their learning. But, I've been concerned about Andrew since his first day.
Then, we moved and I considered homeschooling again, at least Andrew (who has been struggling since his first day in 2010 with the structure of school). But, he wanted to go to public school with Eliza and Kate. So, I listened to him again and enrolled him. And, he has continued to struggle. It breaks my heart when he comes home and tells me that the children at his table call him stupid. He is most definitely not stupid ... he just marches to his own beat most of the time. (A beat that doesn't mix well in public schools.)
For years, whenever I'd talk to anyone who homeschools I'd get that feeling in my heart that screams at me, "I WANT TO HOMESCHOOL!!!" But, then I'd get selfish and think about all the things I will be able to do when all of my children are in school (like go back to school to get my degree, for example).
I am essentially quite selfish and sometimes would rather spend my time doing the things that I want to do, rather than sitting around with my children. Which is why it's been so hard for me to decide about homeschooling. It scares me to think that if I get lazy, my children's education suffers.
But, when I do have teaching moments (like when I do Adam's reading lessons), and then later they use what I taught them (like when Adam reads from the Book of Mormon during family scripture time), I feel such satisfaction knowing that I taught them; that, I was the one who helped them to reach that step in their learning; that, I took the time to really teach them in the way that fits them best (like, drawing simple pictures to help Kate understand math).
I think the entire experience with k12 really soiled all of our ideas of what homeschooling could be like. I mean, I think about homeschooling and how I will have to spend 4-5 hours a day with my children stuck to my side ... and I won't be able to spend my time sewing, or baking, or just sitting around on facebook. (I know, I know, I am so completely self-centered and selfish.)
But, last weekend we met a family from church who homeschool. She was a public school teacher and now homeschools her children because the schools here aren't very good at all. She doesn't feel that the schools here teach as much as she wants her children to know. And, I agree. They don't challenge the children enough.
Example: Kate did a research paper on a person; Queen Elizabeth. She was given about three to four weeks to get this project completed. She did all her research and wrote her paper and everything all on her own. Today, she was able to dress as her person to give her presentation. On the way to school, she told me that everyone in the class was given the opportunity to choose the person they would research. That means that several students were doing their presentations on Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, professional basketball players, and other pop culture celebrities. But, my Kate wanted to do her research on someone who lived "back then," so she chose Queen Elizabeth. How cool is that? When given the opportunity, my daughter decided to learn about an era we did not live in. I think it would have been a better project if the teacher had challeneged the children more and actually either assigned them a person, or a time period from which to choose a person.
Which brings me to my point. I am considering homeschooling next year. Both of my girls will be testing next week for gifted services, but those services aren't anything like what we are used to. They aren't even pulled out of class ... they just get extra work and more is expected of them. Which is okay, when faced with the alternatives in the public school. But, when I think about what they could be doing instead, at home ... I can't help but realize that they could be doing so much more!
The mom that I talked to last weekend told me that her daughter (who is turning eight, and a grade below Kate) and she spend about 2 1/2 hours a day on school and then they are finished. So, I think about that and realize that my Andrew would love to homeschool for that exact reason. He'd much rather play than sit at a desk.
At any rate, I hate thinking that I will mess up my children's futures because of my indecision and selfishness. So, my goal for the next few months is to get over my worldy/earthly desires and actually put my children first. After all, I chose to have children .... I shouldn't be pushing them and their education aside to do the unimportant things I want to do. It's hard, but I think I know where to put my priorities. I just hope I stick with it. And, if I do decide to send my children to public school, I can still supplement at home and expect more of them than the teachers do.
Comments
I also wanted to tell you that I think you and your husband made a good decision to send your older girls to public school originally. I think the Lord blessed you for making that decision by allowing your girls to have an excellent public school education. It's too bad that AZ isn't adding up to be that same great quality. I have an aunt and uncle in Gilbert who are homeschooling their last 4 kids (their oldest three are married off) for the same reasons -- lack of a quality education.
Ramble. Ramble. Ramble. :)
Sorry!
That's all I wanted to say. hahaha
my sister-in-law home schools. she likes A Thomas Jefferson Education. You might want to read that book. i never have. i don't know much about it. but there might be somethings you want to take from it. Good Luck. OH--and I'm sure John would be a great gym teacher.