Showing posts with label homeschool general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool general. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
Friday, November 23, 2007
This week at St. Brigid's
I am starting a new feature here on my blog. Every week or so, I will be writing what we did this week. It will make a nice record of stuff I can't keep in a portfolio.
This week was a little weird because it was a short week.
Monday: We did our normal lessons. This means that we read our chapter book (Alice in Wonderland) during breakfast, then we did some grammar, memory work, math, and I think reading of ancient myths. Kiddo wanted to make hand turkeys, so that was art. Super Ted took Kiddo to the library reading club, where they read a story together and finished their cookbooks that they started last time. Each kid told a recipe for a thanksgiving food and drew a picture, and the library lady had them all made into a little book. So cute!
Tuesday: Kiddo wanted Play-Doh for morning playtime. He played with it for over an hour and was still having a good time with it, so I just let him keep playing. He played with it all morning and I actually had to force him to put it away so we could leave for our field trip. There was supposed to be a special exhibit on animal habitats at the Children's Museum, but it was junky. So we just hung out at the museum and goofed off. I meant to take him on a short nature walk after the museum closed, but I didn't take into account how early it gets dark. Oh, well. We came home and had supper, then I took him to 4-H. He's in the Cloverbuds, which is like a little-kid version of 4-H. I got to taking to the leader, and it turns out that she has no idea what she is meant to be doing. She just has the kids color or make a little craft each time they meet. Shoot. I can have him color at home. They are meant to be doing projects that build character and so forth. So I am going to volunteer to be his Cloverbud leader.
Wednesday: Wednedsay was service-learning day. Our little town is part of the Main Street program, which is meant to help re-vitalize little towns that are having problems. I volunteer with them and serve on the Economic Revitalization Committee. Wednesday we did a mailing, sending 300 fliers to people who live out of town and have expressed an interest in our town, to tell them about the Christmas program. Kiddo worked with focused attention (more or less) for 3 hours. I am so incredibly proud of him.
Friday: Today we had another learning-by-living experience. Kiddo has been planning a "Train Festival" for a couple of months. It was supposed to be a day for him to get all his friends over here to play trains all day. Unfortunately, most of the people he invited couldn't make it, but it turned out to be a fun day anyway. His 3 cousins came over and they had a wonderful time playing all afternoon. This was Kiddo's first experience in planning a party. He had to help with cleaning the house and getting ready. Then he had to greet his guests when they got here, entertain them, and be sure to say goodbye appropriately and thank everyone for coming. We had a little issue because I had told him before the party that the kids were to remain in his two rooms, and not to go into my exercise room or the bedroom. Well, the first time I heard noises coming form the exercise room, I went upstairs and found the kids swinging on my stripper pole. I had told Kiddo earlier that I did not want them using the pole because it is dangerous. So I had to chase the kids out of there. Later on, I could hear them up there again and found they had been in my exercise room AND the bedroom, and Kiddo was JUMPING ON MY BED. They had gotten out all my exercise DVDs and tossed them all over the floor, without the cases. They all got a stern talking-to. I made certain to impress upon Kiddo that we have boundaries, and as the host of his party, he is responsible for making sure that his guests follow the rules of the house. All in all, he was a fairly gracious host, and the party went well overall.
So that is our week in home schooling. Next week we will return to a more regular schedule.
This week was a little weird because it was a short week.
Monday: We did our normal lessons. This means that we read our chapter book (Alice in Wonderland) during breakfast, then we did some grammar, memory work, math, and I think reading of ancient myths. Kiddo wanted to make hand turkeys, so that was art. Super Ted took Kiddo to the library reading club, where they read a story together and finished their cookbooks that they started last time. Each kid told a recipe for a thanksgiving food and drew a picture, and the library lady had them all made into a little book. So cute!
Tuesday: Kiddo wanted Play-Doh for morning playtime. He played with it for over an hour and was still having a good time with it, so I just let him keep playing. He played with it all morning and I actually had to force him to put it away so we could leave for our field trip. There was supposed to be a special exhibit on animal habitats at the Children's Museum, but it was junky. So we just hung out at the museum and goofed off. I meant to take him on a short nature walk after the museum closed, but I didn't take into account how early it gets dark. Oh, well. We came home and had supper, then I took him to 4-H. He's in the Cloverbuds, which is like a little-kid version of 4-H. I got to taking to the leader, and it turns out that she has no idea what she is meant to be doing. She just has the kids color or make a little craft each time they meet. Shoot. I can have him color at home. They are meant to be doing projects that build character and so forth. So I am going to volunteer to be his Cloverbud leader.
Wednesday: Wednedsay was service-learning day. Our little town is part of the Main Street program, which is meant to help re-vitalize little towns that are having problems. I volunteer with them and serve on the Economic Revitalization Committee. Wednesday we did a mailing, sending 300 fliers to people who live out of town and have expressed an interest in our town, to tell them about the Christmas program. Kiddo worked with focused attention (more or less) for 3 hours. I am so incredibly proud of him.
Friday: Today we had another learning-by-living experience. Kiddo has been planning a "Train Festival" for a couple of months. It was supposed to be a day for him to get all his friends over here to play trains all day. Unfortunately, most of the people he invited couldn't make it, but it turned out to be a fun day anyway. His 3 cousins came over and they had a wonderful time playing all afternoon. This was Kiddo's first experience in planning a party. He had to help with cleaning the house and getting ready. Then he had to greet his guests when they got here, entertain them, and be sure to say goodbye appropriately and thank everyone for coming. We had a little issue because I had told him before the party that the kids were to remain in his two rooms, and not to go into my exercise room or the bedroom. Well, the first time I heard noises coming form the exercise room, I went upstairs and found the kids swinging on my stripper pole. I had told Kiddo earlier that I did not want them using the pole because it is dangerous. So I had to chase the kids out of there. Later on, I could hear them up there again and found they had been in my exercise room AND the bedroom, and Kiddo was JUMPING ON MY BED. They had gotten out all my exercise DVDs and tossed them all over the floor, without the cases. They all got a stern talking-to. I made certain to impress upon Kiddo that we have boundaries, and as the host of his party, he is responsible for making sure that his guests follow the rules of the house. All in all, he was a fairly gracious host, and the party went well overall.
So that is our week in home schooling. Next week we will return to a more regular schedule.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
The first day of the rest of our lives
The first thing my kiddo said to me this morning was, "Wake up, Teacher-Mommy! We are in first grade now!"
He is SOOOO excited! Excited to be in first grade, excited to be learning at home, excited to have Ted and me as his teachers.
So this is the first day of our lives as a homeschooling family. To celebrate, I am going to make fresh waffles and strawberries for breakfast. We are not starting classes until July, when we will be all done with vacations and summer camps and so on.
If kiddo really wants to do something academic later in the day, we can start on his Art practicum for the summer, decorating his loft like a tree house. It will probably take a whole bunch of time, and I figured out it would be a slick way to incorporate more art/life skills into our curriculum. Or to look at it another way, it is a way to get credit for a big pain-in-the-ass project that we wanted to do anyway.
It is a beautiful day today. Maybe we will go for a nature hike later on.
Wow. I've been waiting for a year to get my kid back, and the day is finally here. I am pretty much speechless. Just, wow.
He is SOOOO excited! Excited to be in first grade, excited to be learning at home, excited to have Ted and me as his teachers.
So this is the first day of our lives as a homeschooling family. To celebrate, I am going to make fresh waffles and strawberries for breakfast. We are not starting classes until July, when we will be all done with vacations and summer camps and so on.
If kiddo really wants to do something academic later in the day, we can start on his Art practicum for the summer, decorating his loft like a tree house. It will probably take a whole bunch of time, and I figured out it would be a slick way to incorporate more art/life skills into our curriculum. Or to look at it another way, it is a way to get credit for a big pain-in-the-ass project that we wanted to do anyway.
It is a beautiful day today. Maybe we will go for a nature hike later on.
Wow. I've been waiting for a year to get my kid back, and the day is finally here. I am pretty much speechless. Just, wow.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Endless Summer Vacaation
Today I went to my son's school and watched him get his Kindergarten Diploma. Then I got to join him for a picnic outdoors. And now I am waiting--counting the minutes really--until I can go get him from school FOR THE LAST TIME.
I was so excited I could not sleep last night. I could have gone back to bed after he left but . . . Nope! Too excited!
I am done with getting up every morning at 6 am, especially in the winter time. (Although it was kind of nice seeing the sunrise on a daily basis. ) I am done with running out to the convenience store at 3 am because I am out of bread or peanut butter. I am done trying to figure out how to pack things in a lunch that will not spoil by lunch time.
No longer will every morning be a race to get ready before the bus comes. No more threats of "Eat your breakfast or go to school hungry!"
We will relax and take it easy. We will get up when we please. I will once again have my hour of morning quiet time during which I can drink coffee, exercise, blog, or veg out. We will take trips as the whim strikes us, and go to the museums during the week when they are not crowded. We will hit the beach after Labor Day and and go sledding when the snow is fresh.
I still plan to cover all the bases of proper education. We will of course work on reading, penmanship, math, and so on. But we will be doing it our way. We will be reading real books we enjoy, not some processed textbook crap. Science class is going to consist of planting things and making a nature notebook, and it will over lap with drawing. Drawing will over lap with history, which is going to start with prehistoric animals. Which of course over laps with science.
Can I tell you how excited I am right now? When I was a kid, summer vacation meant lots of free time, but it also meant wonderful trips with my family, children's theater, carnivals and circuses and nature hikes and girl scout camp and lots of educational activities. I always joined the summer reading club at the library and spent countless hours up a tree with a book. I devoted God-knows-how-many hours to my hobbies and 4-H projects. When I was 15, I volunteered to help out with my church youth group, and wound up running the office. Summer was not just a time to relax, but a time to indulge all my hobbies and interests.
I am now thinking of this moment as the start of an endless summer vacation.
Let's kick it off with some ice cream.
I was so excited I could not sleep last night. I could have gone back to bed after he left but . . . Nope! Too excited!
I am done with getting up every morning at 6 am, especially in the winter time. (Although it was kind of nice seeing the sunrise on a daily basis. ) I am done with running out to the convenience store at 3 am because I am out of bread or peanut butter. I am done trying to figure out how to pack things in a lunch that will not spoil by lunch time.
No longer will every morning be a race to get ready before the bus comes. No more threats of "Eat your breakfast or go to school hungry!"
We will relax and take it easy. We will get up when we please. I will once again have my hour of morning quiet time during which I can drink coffee, exercise, blog, or veg out. We will take trips as the whim strikes us, and go to the museums during the week when they are not crowded. We will hit the beach after Labor Day and and go sledding when the snow is fresh.
I still plan to cover all the bases of proper education. We will of course work on reading, penmanship, math, and so on. But we will be doing it our way. We will be reading real books we enjoy, not some processed textbook crap. Science class is going to consist of planting things and making a nature notebook, and it will over lap with drawing. Drawing will over lap with history, which is going to start with prehistoric animals. Which of course over laps with science.
Can I tell you how excited I am right now? When I was a kid, summer vacation meant lots of free time, but it also meant wonderful trips with my family, children's theater, carnivals and circuses and nature hikes and girl scout camp and lots of educational activities. I always joined the summer reading club at the library and spent countless hours up a tree with a book. I devoted God-knows-how-many hours to my hobbies and 4-H projects. When I was 15, I volunteered to help out with my church youth group, and wound up running the office. Summer was not just a time to relax, but a time to indulge all my hobbies and interests.
I am now thinking of this moment as the start of an endless summer vacation.
Let's kick it off with some ice cream.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
My personal reasons to homeschool
So there are probably as many reasons to home school as there are parents and students who are doing it. At this point in time, I am trying to get my head around some of the core issues involved in my decision to educate my son. One of the biggies is why the hell I am doing it.
And my number one, best reason for wanting to home-educate my child:
A customized, personal curriculum in a private setting just has to trump a noisy, crowded classroom with 30 kids to one teacher. It just has to. Anyone could do the math . . . I would hope.
- I think I understand my son better than anybody else. This is being born out by his current school experience. He is bored senseless, and instead of challenging him, the teacher gives him pointless busywork to do. I have been to the school, asking for challenging work for him, and it gets me nowhere. I have become such a thorn in the teachers side, I am no longer invited to volunteer in the classroom.
- I care about my son more than anybody else. I love my son more than anything or any one else on this earth. I don't care how much a teacher loves "children" in a collective sense or how committed she is to her work. She doesn't love all those kids like she loves her own kid. Or like I love mine.
- I believe education should be rigorous, challenging, interesting, and inspiring. Mine was none of these things. I know I can do better.
- I have been to the public schools. I taught as a cadre sub in the Chicago School System for over a year. I tutored Biology 101, Anatomy and Physiology, and some 3rd grade kids for extra credit when I was in college. What I saw was
- Nursing students who could not reason deductively
- college freshmen who could not do simple fractions or measure with a ruler,
- High school sophomores who were reading at a 6th grade level,
- 6th graders who needed a calculator for 6+4,
- 3rd graders who could not answer a reading question that began with "why do you think . . ." because all they could do was search for the answer in the reading selection.
- Textbooks are being progressively "dumbed down" and this is no lie. The difference between the book I had for Bio 101 and a later addition of the same book was just . . . astounding.
- I can't afford the peer pressure. My mom was the only one I knew who didn't work, and I wished she did. All my friends had cool stuff and designer clothes. I felt horribly self-conscious about not having all that same stuff, and envious of my friends, to boot. They say it's different for boys, but I'm not so sure. Kiddo wore my runners singlet to school for purple day (the first week of school when they were learning their colors) and got teased for wearing a dress. How is it going to get any better? I work, but I choose to spend my money on things we can all benefit from: books, travel, and family activities and outings. I don't want to choose between the things I love doing with my guys, and designer duds for my kid. Besides, it is going to be a cold day in hell when my son dresses better than I do.
- I wish I had had a classical education. And now we are BOTH going to get one, by George.
- I love learning new things and I want to pass that on to my son. What better way to do it that to give him hands on, everyday experience of his mother having a blast learning new things?
- Kids are only young once and this is likely the only one I will ever have. I want to enjoy every minute I can with him.
- Morals and values are very hard to teach. It will probably take me all day . . . every day.
- My work schedule puts me at odds with any school schedule. As it is, I have to work half shifts or else not see my son at night. Money for dancers is always tight in the winter months, so I had to work 4-5 days a week (as opposed to 3 during the good months) and as a result got to see my son awake only one hour a day--from 6:30 to 7:30 a. m. That is arguably the WORST part of the day, since we were rushed and neither one of us is really a morning person. Every day before he goes to school my son wants to know if I am working that night,and if I will be home for bedtime. Before he started kindergarten, I got to see my son EVERY morning and spend a lot of time with him before I left for work.
- I am just a do-it-yourself kind of person. I am usually convinced that there is no job I can't do, if only I have a book and the right tools.
And my number one, best reason for wanting to home-educate my child:
A customized, personal curriculum in a private setting just has to trump a noisy, crowded classroom with 30 kids to one teacher. It just has to. Anyone could do the math . . . I would hope.
Helpful books for home school parents
Helpful books for home school parents
The Well-Trained Mind by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
•Teach Your Own by John Holt
•How Children Learn by John Holt
•How Children Fail by John Holt
•Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Education by
John Taylor Gotto
•The First Year of Homeschooling by Linda Dobson
•The Homeschooling Book of Answers by Linda Dobson
•The Art of Education by Linda Dobson
•The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 88 Most Important Questions
Answered by Homeschooling's Most Respected Voices by Linda Dobson
•Fundamentals of Homeschooling, Notes on Successful Family Living by
Ann Lahrson-Fisher
•The Complete Homeschooling Resource Book by Rebecca Rupp
•Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery: A Journal of Original
Seeking by David Albert
•The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real
Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn
•What about College? : How Homeschooling Leads to Admissions to the
Best Colleges & Universities by Cafi Cohen
•The Dan Riley School for a Girl: An Adventure in Home Schooling by
Dan Riley
•Homeschooling for Excellence by David Colfax and Micki Colfax
•And the Skylark Sings with Me – Adventures In Homeschooling and
Community-Based Education by David H. Albert
•Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma
•Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series by Charlotte Mason
•The Unschooling Handbook, How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's
Classroom by Mary Griffith
•When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte
Mason's Philosophy for Today by Anderson, Macaulay, Beckman and Scott
•For the Love of Learning: Information and Resources for Combining
Charlotte Mason and Classical Education by Jenny Sockey
•The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dorothy and Raymond Moore
•A Sense of Self: Listening to Homeschooled Adolescent Girls by
Susannah Sheffer
•What Your 1st Grader Should Know by E.D. Hirsch [entire series
recommended]
•Family Matters by David Gutterson
•The Latin-Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell
•Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
•Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline by Becky Bailey
•Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves by Naomi Aldort
•Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen
•There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith
•Teach Like Your Hair Is on Fire by Rafe Esquith
•Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery
of Greek Wisdom by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath
•Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee
Simmons and William F. Buckley
•100 Top Curriculum Picks by Cathy Duffy
•How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and on to Learning by
Carol Barnier
"The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook" (by Rupp)
"Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers"
by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate
Upside-Down Brilliance by Linda Kreger Silverman
Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids by Alexandra Shires Golon.
'Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful
Parenting' by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn
Genius Denied by Jan and Bob Davidson
My mother, My homeschool, My self
(Before I get started, let me make this clear: I love my mom. I do not hate her. I am not bitter (much) about the way she raised me. I know she truly thought she was doing everything right and making all the right choices, even though they are not choices I would make for myself or my own child. This is a result of our differing personalities, not because I believe she was WRONG. Sure she made some mistakes, but so have I. )
I love my mom, I really do. But I do not like her very much. It's not personal, I just don't like the kind of person she is. She is a Conformist.
Now, of course some level of conformity is good and helpful. People should all conform to traffic laws, for example, or we would have chaos on the roads. And I by no means intend to say that I myself, am above that heard instinct. I feel just as stupid as the next person when I realize I have dresses inappropriately at some event.
But my mom is a super-conformist. She would have made a good Nazi. Not that she is a mean, cruel, or heartless person. But she would have done mean, cruel, and heartless things because some authority told her to. She would have done whatever was required of her, and not asked why. She seems to have an almost pathological fear of being in any way different, of standing out from the pack.
I don't know why she is like that.
Compared to my mom, I am just about as different as they get. I strive to excel at things that are important to me. I question everything, including my reasons for questioning. I take nothing on faith, except what I choose to take. I weigh my decisions. I am suspect of authority and its hidden agendas. In any discussion, I expect people to have opinions based on facts and defensible by logical arguments. I am disgusted with people who, lemming-like, follow the crowd (which seems to be most people I meet these days.) In short, I march to my own individual drum.
I don't know why I am like that. I only know that I am extremely uncomfortable when I get out of step with my own drum and try to fall in and match my thinking with that of the crowd.
Well, you can probably guess where I am going with this. Every parenting decision I have made for my son, has been informed by the opinions of experts and veteran parents, and censored by my gut instinct. I must be doing something right. My son is turning out to be a nice, thoughtful little boy who is kind to animals, caries on involved conversations with adults, and was reading before kindergarten. He is extremely sensitive, deeply concerned with the fate of ants and worms, and moved to tears by the story of the Crucifixion. He is curious, bright, energetic, and absolutely lovable. Perfect.
But according to my mother, every decision I make for him is WRONG. Breastfeeding, vegetarian living, limiting junk food, the way I discipline . . . all of it. WRONG. I'm sometimes surprised she has not called DCFS on me. All of her objections to everything I do seem to have one of two themes. Either 1) I don't know what I am doing, or 2) I am denying my son the chance to be absolutely, stunningly average.
I expected some resistance to the idea of home schooling. Her father was, after all, a history teacher, although he retired sometime in the 1960's. She herself claims to have loved school. And of course, public school is what all the average kids do. But boy was I not prepared for all I heard.
My mom told me that I can't possibly know how to teach my own child (after I taught him to read), that unless I go to teachers' college and get a certificate I will not have the necessary knowledge to teach a child. She told me he will never be normal if I insist on keeping him locked in the house all day, that he will never have any friends, and that this foolish experiment of mine will ruin my son's life forever. He will not be able to get into college and in fact, at the end of 12 years, will probably not have an education sufficient to even get a GED. The truant officer will come get me. I will not be able to judge his progress because there will be no standardized tests. And perhaps my favorite part: Hanging around is a classroom full of 6 year olds with inadequate adult supervision and doing boring repetitive work is preferable to a customized, one-on-one education with the people who love him most.
Now, most homeschool parents know most of this is silly. Of course we are not going to stay locked up all day, for example. Of course he will go to college, if he wants. It's easy to dismiss most of the above tirade as fear and ignorance. What hurt me was her complete lack of trust in me as a parent, and as a teacher. I do have experience in the classroom, just not a certificate. I have 2 college degrees. I have taught my kid to read and do basic math already, without any help except a couple of books and websites. And yet in spite of all that, I'm not good enough, in her eyes, to teach my own kid.
Of course, she wouldn't see it that way. To her, its just that home school is so . . . different. Outside the norm. Beyond the Pale.
And that's just WRONG.
I love my mom, I really do. But I do not like her very much. It's not personal, I just don't like the kind of person she is. She is a Conformist.
Now, of course some level of conformity is good and helpful. People should all conform to traffic laws, for example, or we would have chaos on the roads. And I by no means intend to say that I myself, am above that heard instinct. I feel just as stupid as the next person when I realize I have dresses inappropriately at some event.
But my mom is a super-conformist. She would have made a good Nazi. Not that she is a mean, cruel, or heartless person. But she would have done mean, cruel, and heartless things because some authority told her to. She would have done whatever was required of her, and not asked why. She seems to have an almost pathological fear of being in any way different, of standing out from the pack.
I don't know why she is like that.
Compared to my mom, I am just about as different as they get. I strive to excel at things that are important to me. I question everything, including my reasons for questioning. I take nothing on faith, except what I choose to take. I weigh my decisions. I am suspect of authority and its hidden agendas. In any discussion, I expect people to have opinions based on facts and defensible by logical arguments. I am disgusted with people who, lemming-like, follow the crowd (which seems to be most people I meet these days.) In short, I march to my own individual drum.
I don't know why I am like that. I only know that I am extremely uncomfortable when I get out of step with my own drum and try to fall in and match my thinking with that of the crowd.
Well, you can probably guess where I am going with this. Every parenting decision I have made for my son, has been informed by the opinions of experts and veteran parents, and censored by my gut instinct. I must be doing something right. My son is turning out to be a nice, thoughtful little boy who is kind to animals, caries on involved conversations with adults, and was reading before kindergarten. He is extremely sensitive, deeply concerned with the fate of ants and worms, and moved to tears by the story of the Crucifixion. He is curious, bright, energetic, and absolutely lovable. Perfect.
But according to my mother, every decision I make for him is WRONG. Breastfeeding, vegetarian living, limiting junk food, the way I discipline . . . all of it. WRONG. I'm sometimes surprised she has not called DCFS on me. All of her objections to everything I do seem to have one of two themes. Either 1) I don't know what I am doing, or 2) I am denying my son the chance to be absolutely, stunningly average.
I expected some resistance to the idea of home schooling. Her father was, after all, a history teacher, although he retired sometime in the 1960's. She herself claims to have loved school. And of course, public school is what all the average kids do. But boy was I not prepared for all I heard.
My mom told me that I can't possibly know how to teach my own child (after I taught him to read), that unless I go to teachers' college and get a certificate I will not have the necessary knowledge to teach a child. She told me he will never be normal if I insist on keeping him locked in the house all day, that he will never have any friends, and that this foolish experiment of mine will ruin my son's life forever. He will not be able to get into college and in fact, at the end of 12 years, will probably not have an education sufficient to even get a GED. The truant officer will come get me. I will not be able to judge his progress because there will be no standardized tests. And perhaps my favorite part: Hanging around is a classroom full of 6 year olds with inadequate adult supervision and doing boring repetitive work is preferable to a customized, one-on-one education with the people who love him most.
Now, most homeschool parents know most of this is silly. Of course we are not going to stay locked up all day, for example. Of course he will go to college, if he wants. It's easy to dismiss most of the above tirade as fear and ignorance. What hurt me was her complete lack of trust in me as a parent, and as a teacher. I do have experience in the classroom, just not a certificate. I have 2 college degrees. I have taught my kid to read and do basic math already, without any help except a couple of books and websites. And yet in spite of all that, I'm not good enough, in her eyes, to teach my own kid.
Of course, she wouldn't see it that way. To her, its just that home school is so . . . different. Outside the norm. Beyond the Pale.
And that's just WRONG.
Awesome article by Linda Dobson
The Road Less Traveled - Linda Dobson
I Can Read This, So I Thank My Mother
Today I waited at a red light behind a car with a bumper sticker proclaiming the owner's child was a local school's student of the month. Yesterday, I was behind another vehicle whose owner's child is an honor student. The day before, yet another bumper sticker told me that if I could read it, I should thank a teacher.After all these years, such stickers still irritate me. Many years ago, they bothered me so badly that, being the good homeschooling advocate that I am, I decided to fight back. I created my own bumper sticker. I gave them away at homeschooling conferences, and with book purchases. (And all of the homeschoolers within my local support group, I now believe, in retrospect, were afraid not to put theirs on their cars.)
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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