One more thing: please don't take this post personally if you love public school and find that it's right for you and for your family. This is my perspective.
Dear Friend,
I have LOVED home schooling! Neither Charlotte nor I fully appreciated it until this year while going through the public school thing.
Charlotte's current school is excellent. It's a Department of Defense school here on base. Her teacher is wonderful and the curriculum is challenging. Bullying and teasing are not allowed in the classrooms she's in. There's plenty of help for her dyslexia as well as speech therapy and an IEP.
Presuming a good school, teachers, etc., here are my pros and cons of public school:
Pros:
* Time to myself for six hours a day.
* Extra services at the school.
Cons:
* Time to myself for six hours a day. It does actually get old after a while.
* Charlotte's not here to help with house chores. (That's why I had a kid, after all.)
* Isolation (Home school groups are a great source of friends for Mom, too!)
* BEING A SLAVE TO "THE MAN". I HATE having some government entity telling me what time we have to get up, what time we have to leave, what constitutes "sick", when I can and cannot take vacation, when my child does and does not learn, what my child does or does not learn, and who they have to associate with. The school system has also taken away my afternoons due to Charlotte's homework. Because Charlotte also needs lots of sleep, the government is forcing a different bedtime than we would normally choose as well.
Pros and Cons for Home Schooling:
Pros:
*FREEDOM! We can adjust our family schedule to whatever fits us. If hubby has to work "swing" shift, we can adjust our schedules to match. Cousins on vacation from school? On to NC we go for a visit. If Charlotte's not feeling well she can still get her school work done as well as get some rest.
* Curriculum. I get to choose what my child learns and what style of teaching she gets.
* Time with family.
* Control over who she associates with. I've had many comments about how Charlotte must never have gotten any socialization as a home schooler but the same person will turn around and tell me how "well adjusted" Charlotte is. As a home schooling family your child(ren) will associate with children and adults of all ages, races, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. Bully at the play group? Find another playgroup.
* The Scriptures count as text books.
* Learning can stay fun and interesting rather than a chore.
* You get to experience adventures with your kids and learn stuff with them. I'm already learning tons from Charlotte's new history books!
Cons:
* Freedom = Responsibility. I have to choose the curriculum, take attendance, follow the applicable laws, get something done every day, and sometimes I have to play the "meanie" when it comes to getting homework done.
* Hard Work
* Don't get tons of time to myself.
* You will get NO accolades from the world. No matter how well your children "perform", no matter how smart they are, or how many accomplishments they acquire, you will be considered a "failure" because you did not send them off for someone else to teach. If you choose to home school, be ready for opposition. There is opposition in all things - especially against the good things. Be ready for this.
You must have enough "spiritual confidence" to be satisfied with whatever it is your children can accomplish in a given day. Sometimes that will be a lot academically, and sometimes it will be a triumph just to get them to not drown the neighbor's cat in your toilet. If you don't have that "spiritual confidence" yet - that confidence that comes as a gift of the spirit - it's time to get it.
As far as "scarring my child for life", I'm going to do that anyway. I may as well have fun while doing it.
Who is to say that public schooling is "normal"?
What will scar my child more...
having a bad day at home, or having a bad day at school?
having your mom grump at you because you're griping about doing your schoolwork, or having your mom grump at you because you're griping about doing your homework?
having to leave a play group because there's a mean nasty kid there, or having to face that mean nasty kid every day of the school year and have no way to defend myself?
Q: What about all the friends she's missing at school?
A: What about all the home schooling friends she misses out on because she's at public school?
Q: Shouldn't kids have to face challenges?
A: Would you ride a motorcycle without a helmet? Take a test without studying? Go bungee jumping without a cord? A child must be prepared to "face challenges".
Q: You can't protect or insulate them forever. It's good for them to have to face mean teachers and bullies.
A: Really? Would you put up with a co-worker beating you up? How about a boss that belittles you? What about a co-worker that snaps your bra or puts gum in your hair or destroys your presentation? If we wouldn't put up with it as adults, why should we expect our children to put up with it? Why should we teach our children that their self esteem should be dependent upon how much or what type of attention they get from strangers?
Please don't let all that talk before about "opposition" discourage you. The rewards are tremendous.
Charlotte has a vocabulary that can put many high-schoolers to shame (and she's a dyslexic-autistic-spectrum 9 year old). Charlotte still loves to learn. I have a wonderful relationship with her - she's a friend as well as a daughter. So far I have not run into any "parents just don't understand" attitude. No "us against them" mentality. Sure the occasional “Why should I have to do that?” attitude, but much more so while she's been in public school than home schooled.
You also asked about curriculum. I'm quite happy to share with you what works for us. The key is to read reviews, talk to people, look at and handle as much home schooling stuff as possible, and read "How They Learn". Then think on each one of your children and pray about them. What should you teach them? What will work best for them?
Basically if you have pencils, paper, a really good dictionary, some imagination, a good attitude, and the scriptures, you can home school. The main key is to have a prayerful attitude, invite the Holy Spirit into your school day with your kids, and then just have fun with them.
If they're doing worksheets, study something for yourself. There must be something out there in the world you'd like to learn more about. Sit at the kitchen table with them. If you're cooking, include them as much as possible. It may be that they're only able to put the forks on the table for you, but they are learning. If you're involved with what they do, and show interest in it yourself, they will, too.
Too often I get into the "get things done" mode and my child and her education are just one more thing to do. Life is much simpler and much more pleasant when we do things together. Even when she was barely walking - when I included her our life was much better. (If I was cleaning a room she "helped" - even if she wasn't actually helping - at least I knew where she was and what she was doing.) Even now - if I'm doing laundry I include her. Same with baking day (she likes that one), hanging clothes on the line, dusting, etc. As long as we're doing it together she's happy to go along for the ride.
Again, prayer and following Heavenly Father in what you teach them is exceptionally important. If Heavenly Father tells you that this year your child(ren) should be taught Reading, Math, and Spelling, do not try to include history or writing as "subjects". TEACH Reading, Math, and Spelling. Everything beyond that would be superfluous. That's not to say they won't learn things. You can watch videos, go to museums, read books together.... just don't try to have them as "set subjects". It will backfire on you. So will teaching less than Heavenly Father directs.
So here's what's on our plates for this upcoming year. (Starting in June... we home school year round.)
We'll spend about 30 minutes on each subject unless we're just having a blast and wanna keep going.
Religion: Preach My Gospel ($4) and the scriptures - FREE online.
English: Rod and Staff - I love Rod and Staff! Built by the Amish = Built to Last. Timeless, simple, no-frills, affordable. $50 or less per set per grade.
Math: Rod and Staff. We're doing some review to make sure the public school didn't miss anything that Rod and Staff covers for her grade level. While the going is "easy", she'll do 3 worksheets (front and back) per day. That's about the same amount she brings home from school every day for regular home work so she's excited. Normal dose is 1 worksheet (front and back) per day. $50 for the set per grade.
Reading: McGuffey readers. Project Gutenberg. Do an author search for McGuffey. The version I found was from 1912 or somewhere near that. It's timeless, it works (the only thing I found that helped Charlotte's dyslexia), it's tested, it teaches good values, it treats children as intelligent beings, and it's FREE.
Spelling: McGuffey for now. (Also at Project Gutenberg.) I may switch over to Rod and Staff as it relies less on wrote memorization and gets into word etymology - Charlotte likes that type of stuff. FREE.
Vocabulary: Vocabulary Cartoons. About $16 per book. Three books in the series.
History: "The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child" - Volumes 1 - 4. $12 - $17 per book depending on whether you get hardcover or paperback. Activity books and test books can also be purchased. My goal is to help Charlotte get a good general sense of history - then we'll delve into revolutionary history, the constitution, and the restoration of the gospel.
Science: Netflix. Charlotte LOVES documentaries and science shows. There's a Nova series on physics (string theory) that she really likes. About $20 per month (including taxes) to have 4 discs out at a time and all the online viewing we can stand. We get Netflix instead of cable or satellite.
Other resources we use:
English Grammar 101 - FREE
Library - My tax dollars at work
Dictionary.Com - FREE for basic service, $10 per year for a subscription
"Blackline Maps of World History" with CD - $30
Project Gutenberg – FREE
As we get to the Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology phase of our world history tour, we'll read out loud the series "Percy Jackson & the Olympians". VERY fun books. Available in paperback at Wal-Mart – about $7 per book.
If she spends 30 minutes a day on each subject (ok... we'll probably spend about 30 minutes on spelling and vocabulary combined) that's 4 hours of instruction per day. That's much less time than public school (she's leaves to walk to school at 07:30 and gets home right about 15:00 - that's 7.5 hours away from home every day). And the time we spend will be more efficient as she's getting more one-on-one time and can pretty much go straight into "self teaching" mode right away.
The rest of the day can be spent on playing, housework (keeping a home is part of her education, too), getting together with friends, classes, museums, play dates, TV, reading, art... basically whatever interests her. We just limit the amount of time the TV is on per day.
She was home sick from school today and we had a lovely time. We had a late breakfast together and we talked. She worked on some school work for her class while we listened to Glenn Beck and I did some housework. She played with her dolls and she rested a bit. A friend came over to help me inventory my food storage and Charlotte and Harmony also cleaned the floors for me (I had foot surgery on Friday so doing the floors is a bit difficult). We all had a very pleasant lunch together and Charlotte enjoyed participating in the "grown up" talk. After Harmony went home Charlotte and I enjoyed an episode of Little House on the Prairie together. Then it was time to put the clean sheets on the bed (fresh out of the dryer) and we listened to the radio for a bit while winding down. 19:30 I tucked her in bed and she fell asleep quickly.
If she hadn't been sick and this had been a "normal" home school day, here's most likely how it would have gone:
08:00 - Breakfast and scripture study
09:00 - School Work and house chores (If Charlotte's having a case of the "wiggles" she'll alternate between school work and house work or other things)
12:00 - Lunch and finish school work
1:30 - PLAY!
What's great is that the schedule is flexible. Cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby? GREAT! We can do school work in the afternoon. Friend calls up and wants to meet at the park! GREAT! No problem! School work can be done in the car on the way to the activities. (There's even a curriculum called "Car Schooling"!)
I know... it all seems very idealistic. It should be. It can be - as long as I'm willing to give my angst a boot and just kick back and enjoy the process. It can be a lot of work.. scanning stuff in, getting her work together, keeping track of stuff to fulfill the legal requirements... but it's all worth it. Organization goes a long way - as does prayer.
Expect to make mistakes. You will make them. However, if you are in tune with the Spirit (inspiration from God via the Holy Ghost) and willing to learn from the mistakes and are honest with your kids about your mistakes, you will not scar them for life. You will be providing them with opportunities to learn about mercy, forgiveness, and resilience.
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