Homeschooling is looking better everyday

[athomemommie]

Hi, First off, I am a teacher, and a mom so I know both sides of the issues involved in a majority of the aspects involved here.

As a teacher, it is getting more and more common to deal with the administration trying to tell us how to teach. In no other profession is this accepted? I have spent nearly 8 yrs (BAS and Masters Degree) focusing on being a great teacher. It is seriously to the point where they say they want you to be highly educated but they'd rather you just follow directions and pass out their agenda to the kids. It is getting to the point where teaching is being done by those with the money and Kids are getting the short end of the stick. No wonder we even have to deal with No Child Left Behind. Let the teachers teach and get everybody else out of the classrooms. If you don't trust the teacher then HOMESCHOOL.

So, as a mom and a teacher I have decided that this is it, I want to teacher like I was trained and not like a robot. So, like the nearly 25 other teacher/at home moms I know I am going to Home School. It is hard enough that they make you jump through hoops to keep your teaching certificate up to date when you want to have your own children. If enough teachers decide to stay home and do what they love sadly the public schools will have just what they want uneducated robots. Sorry but this is true.

So, anyone that wants to homeschool their kids and might like a teachers advice i would be more than glad to help.

Anna

[dcroberts]

I am in my tenth year as a home school mom. People often comment that when I am finished raising my own children I should go back to school and become a "teacher". I still can't figure out the logic behind that sort of thinking!
It is fabulous being in control of your child's curriculum and learning schedule. Each child can have their learning experiences catered to their personal strengths and desires. Kudos to you for giving it a try, even after all that "public school" training!

[athomemommie]

Thank you dcroberts, you are an encouragement to all moms who are taking the plunge. =) While I admit to know little about creating a perfect home school setting I would love to know from your experience the curriculum's you like and dislike as well as other things that you feel would be helpful in knowing. I am always ready to learn vicariously through others and I am really glad that you responded to me, so thank you again =)

[dcroberts]

The thing that I have most thoroughly learned is that there is no one perfect curriculum. What works great for one child is sure to be a flop for the next. I have five children and an entire room full of various sorts of curriculum. It took me years to get to the point where I could decide to just not finish a particular book if I felt that it wasn't benefiting us to the point that I had originally hoped. My children each work out of a minimum of two math texts, so that they can figure out which method for problem solving works the best for them personally. I have one boy who needs to wiggle while he works, and a daughter who does her work with a better attitude if she can watch TV while doing her math. (Today she watched "Hamlet" while doing her Algebra.) One child likes all his work for the day spread out before him, another likes to be in the quiet of his room. The key is to learn about each child's strengths, weaknesses, and future desires and plan their education around them personally. There is simply no way to recommend a curriculum to another parent without some knowledge of the personality of the child, and even then it will take trial and error to get the right "fit". Do not be afraid to experiment and mix and match to build your child's personalized curriculum. Do not be afraid to throw away, give away, change, borrow, and invent!

[aarthivetri@gmail.com]

Hi
I am a stay at home mom. My daughter is 3.3 yrs completed. I was not able to get admission in private preschool for her. I am trying to enhance her fine motor skills and gross motor skills development.She has started writing a coulple of numbers and alphabets too. She is extremeley intersted in listening to story books. I take her to library storytimes and read a lot of age appropriate books at home. I see that she gets outdoor play too where she can find some friends. I am really worried does she is deprived of schooling or will she be fine if she enters preschool next year. Help!!! Thanks in Advance!!!

[Zack_Jenn]

After seeing an article my friend sent me this morning I am really starting to feel that home schooling is the best route too!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/27/obama-proposes-longer-school-day-shorter-summer-vacation/?test=latestnews

I can't even imagine sending my child to school from 7:30 am to 5 pm every day M-F, sending them to school every other Saturday, and shortening their summer break. When are children going to be allowed to be children!?!

I graduated with an emphasis in Elementary Education so I feel I could teach my children well, but I have no idea where to find the resources to do so. Any good suggestions?

My oldest isn't even 3 yet, but she is very smart and I would like to be ready with some good resources when she begins to show an interest in more formal learning.

[moonemaiden]

We won't technically be starting homeschooling until next year with my daughter, she will be in third grade. I have been contacting local homeschool associations and especially other families that have left her specific school (private montessori school) to start homeschooling.I also work very closely with her teachers this year to make sure I know exactly where she is at in each of her subjects, and to find out if she has different strengths and weaknesses than what I see at home.

I intend to "write" our own curriculum, more like putting together random resources. We have decided to take a unit study approach to learning and have found tons of free units available online through websites like the homeschool learning network and easy fun school. Also, I have found that a curious mind is my best resource. I listen to the questions my daughter asks me and then set up a unit around it. One day she asked me how meteorologists know the weather, I have now set up a weather unit that uses online resources, books from the public library, and a field trip to a local weather station and college that teaches meteorology.

Also, ask local teachers where they do their school shopping, they know where to find the best deals with the most variety. We have a wonderful parent teacher outlet store that sells curriculum, school supplies, and other things to help with the learning process. We are really looking forward to this next stage of our family's educational journey.

[lismom2]

I love the idea of homeschooling, but my husband is unconvinced. I'm exploring options right now and came across this : http://www.k12.com/enroll-or-buy/find-a-school-and-enroll/
I love the idea of virtual school to start out with, and then as our confidence grows switching to an un-schooling approach.

[dcroberts]

"Hi
I am a stay at home mom. My daughter is 3.3 yrs completed. I was not able to get admission in private preschool for her. I am trying to enhance her fine motor skills and gross motor skills development.She has started writing a coulple of numbers and alphabets too. She is extremeley intersted in listening to story books. I take her to library storytimes and read a lot of age appropriate books at home. I see that she gets outdoor play too where she can find some friends. I am really worried does she is deprived of schooling or will she be fine if she enters preschool next year. Help!!! Thanks in Advance!!!"


My advice to you would be to calm down and stop worrying! At 3 years old, your daughter is not at danger of being deprived of schooling! It sounds like you are working with her and finding her "play date" opportunities. You are doing wonderful! A preschool at her age is not much more than a glorified day care center (in my opinion). You can accomplish so much more with mommy one-on-one time and a group of buddies her approximate age to play with on occasion.

[dcroberts]

"I graduated with an emphasis in Elementary Education so I feel I could teach my children well, but I have no idea where to find the resources to do so. Any good suggestions?"

My favorite home school supply resource is a catalog called "Rainbow Resources". It is huge, so browse when you have some mellow time and can concentrate. Make use of a highlighter and dog ear the pages! It has great write ups about most of the curriculum and the prices aren't as ridiculous as I've seen from some sources. www.rainbowresource.com

[crystele]

It is sad so many teachers choose to leave. I see their point with the way the system currently is stacked, but there is accountability both ways for it having gotten to that place.

We recently had a wonderful creative teacher leave not because of bad reviews, not because of lack of administration support, wide support, praise, acclaim.
But she had the audacity to suggest that some performance-based compensation might be appropriate. The other teachers made her life a living hell, of course she quit.

I would love to see more creative teachers, better skilled teachers, but I think with that, comes the responsibility of teachers to say, OK, then we're being graded partially on how well we do, not just how many years we've been teaching. On how well we use the Master's not simply the fact that we attained one.

I got my job because I had a degree; I KEEP my job and get raises or not, based on how well I use it. If teachers want to be treated as professionals, they're going to have to realize they need to move in that direction. Otherwise they'll be treated like all the other unionized professions and measured on "widgets moved along conveyor belt".

[athomemommie]

It is sad, but it really isn't about accountability like you might think, it is really that the history of education was set up as a second rate position by men teachers who were in transition to something better. Yes, they used to be all men and then after that single women under strict regulations not to marry or date etc... So really it has always been this way.

There are a lot of teachers leaving because they go to college, invest their lives into learning everything toward teaching, spending countless hours creating lesson plans and volunteering and every other hoop that they are asked to jump through to get their degrees and told that when they get their own classroom they will be able to create their perfect classroom and everything will be wonderful. Then when they get a classroom they are told oh by the way this is how we do things here, here are 500 more hoops for you to jump through and also we don't want you to do any of those things that you came up with, follow this huge manual word for word or we will fire you if we catch you doing something else, ok? Otherwise we will get along great.

So while teachers may want to get out of the box they are not allowed to, while they may want to break through the glass ceiling they are not allowed to for fear of being fired over it. Districts do THREAT teachers that they will be fired, i know I have been their and heard many a veteran teacher say that it has always been that way as long as they have ever known. So, you are left with teachers who follow orders and don't care and anyone that comes along to try to change it is ostracized by every co-worker around them. It is no wonder she left, i would have to. No one wants to be under a microscope by everyone around them in a work environment.

It isn't the teachers who want it the way it is, (YEARS BASED) it is the Administrators, they want to keep their teachers submissive to the districts every need and change that they see fit. They want to keep it years based so they can keep teachers on edge when a cut comes, forcing them into silence so they can keep their jobs and add on one year at a time. The only way they get ahead is to obtain a Master's degree, jumping them up on the pay scale faster. The problem is that when they are working on their Master's they discover that their are options (Performance Based, New Innovative teaching formats as well as other teachers who are in a safe environment to vent about what they don't like). Then when they feel strong enough to say something well, you see what happens to them.

Districts don't really want teacher's to get their Master's aside from bragging rights. They'd rather have lemings at the end of the day. I hope this sheds some light on the fact that Public schools are extremely flawed and that the only way to truly help our children get ahead educationally is Homeschooling, where every teacher is giving the freedom that he or she truly went to college for. There are great home-school organizations where teachers can teach a subject they feel strong in for a large group of home-school children one day per week. This is all within the guidelines of the State and laws, they are fully protected to do so. It really makes sense and you don't have to worry that there is a secret agenda from administration/government to pump our children full of political garbage when the children need to learn more important things like math for example =)

So the bottom line is public school is a conveyor belt and Everything Else Isn't.

[crystele]

I undesrtand the desire to homeschool but it can't be the only answer because it doesn't work for everyone. I have many friends who've homeschooled, one's daughter begged to go to public school after several years because she was surpassing what her mom could teach her. It was the best of intentions, but she wasn't an educator and her daughter was not learning what she needed to be successful. So homeschooling is ONE solution but it isn't and CANNOT be the ONLY solution.
Homeschooling falls back on a parent's native abilities to teach. And yes, we all teach our children daily. But if my child is a math wizard and struggled to get through algebra, how can I teach her properly? My father was functionally illiterate. He was homeschooled by his grandparents back on the farm; both of whom were fully illiterate. He did as well as he did because he was innately bright. But he didn't have a chance. And kids who are not as bright in those situations will fail utterly.
Public school was originally designed so that kids could have at least a start in life. In between planting & harvest might as well keep them occupied and maybe they can help with the farm's books. I do get that. But as we move to a knowledge-based society from an agrarian and factory one teaching needs to change with it and it hasn't.
There need to be some fundamental changes, that's very clear; but it starts with everyone. It isn't just administrators who want years based, it is the unions first and foremost. All unions run on years-of-service model from the Teamsters to the government. As long as teaching is union based it will be regarded as a factory system, because that is what unions were originally designed for; anonymous, conveyor belt work.
If teaching wants to be a profession, it needs to break out of that mold and become like the other professions. But breaking out allows more creativity, more ways to look at things. If everyone from educators through parents would sit down and say "what will it take" and what is realistic in society then a solution can be found.

[dcroberts]

Bottom line- the public school system is seriously flawed. I could spend years trying to improve it, while my children suffer the consequences, or I can homeschool them. Perhaps after they are grown I will devote my time and energies towards the former, but for now, we will homeschool.
There are always going to be subjects that individual parents don't feel qualified to teach. Devoted homeschool parents have many options. My children attend a government/history class taught by another homeschool mom who is passionate about the subject. There are tutors available, support from correspondence schools, and homeschool co-ops. The only true criteria for being a great homeschool parent is true dedication to the lifestyle.