Deciding to Homeschool Your Young Children
Read the article this discussion is about
- Willow4
- Arlie10
- Terrie_Bittner
- BeckySAHM
- Willow4
-
Joy Butler
- Willow4
- lperry
- Willow4
- James6995
This archived discussion is "read only".
For the corresponding "live" discussions, post in the active topic forum here.
« Previous 1 2 Next »
» Willow4 - Re: Home schooling
In response to message posted by Arlie10:Hi Arlie. Thanks so much for stopping by my topic. I appreciate the kind words about my article.
However, I am not comfortable telling anyone that they should buy a box curriculum. I understand that many people think a box curriculum gives their child everything they need. I disagree with that to a certain point. I feel that box curriculums are a good place to start for many parents who find the idea of pulling together their own curriculum overwhelming in the later grades.
It's my own personal belief for my own children that a box curriculum for Preschool is just way too expensive when compared with the resources to make my own. I can take the information from skills lists, books and my own state's guidelines to determine what I need to be teaching my preschooler.
-- posted by Willow4
» Arlie10 - Re: Re: Home schooling
Cheryl,Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I have no objection to a parent using their own skills to come up with a curriculum for pre-schoolers. Where I have seen a lot and I mean a lot of problems is in those situations in which parents try to develop a curriculum for the upper grades or worse yet don't have a curriculum at all. My point being that there are certain definite areas of education that must be covered in the upper grades, and the box curriculums have proven themselves to adequately address all those areas. It’s hard to home school a teenager in the first place and there is no reason to burden a parent with the extra weight of trying to develop a satisfactory curriculum that will cover all the bases at the same time while relatively inexpensive curriculums are tested and available. If a person does not want the latest curriculum, there is always another parent who has no use of last year’s curriculum that will gladly sell it to you at half price or less. Most home school groups know who these people are. My problem arises with basically the unschool movement that does not follow a curriculum and winds up with students that are not prepared to enter college. I am familiar with many and have yet to see one that has adequately prepared a student for college.
Regards
Arlie Edwards
-- posted by Arlie10
» Terrie_Bittner - Re: Re: Re: Home schooling
In response to message posted by Arlie10:I currently have a child in college and have never used a boxed curriculum. She's doing just fine. One of my objections to public school textbooks when my children were in school for a few years is that they were inaccurate. The history and science had so many mistakes. I suspect that boxed curricula have the same problem. My teenagers learn by going to Barnes and Nobles and choosing trade books written by real historians and scientists. They are now completely self-taught, although we worked up to that gradually. Each year, they plan what they intend to learn and how to learn it. Their education has been a bit unorthodox, but what they learned wasn't the secret. The secret was that they learned how to learn and why to learn, and they learned to love learning. My daughter knows just how to tackle any subject thrown at her. She did have some adjustments to artificial learning measurements-tests-but that was simply a matter of figuring out how to interpret the teacher. Since they have used adult books and college textbooks since fifth grade, I don't see how they can be unprepared for college.
-- posted by Terrie_Bittner
» BeckySAHM - Re: Re: Re: Re: Home schooling
In response to message posted by Terrie_Bittner:Great topic, Cheryl.
I have three kids in this age group that I homeschool--one in 3rd, one in 1st, one kindergartner.This is an interesting discussion. I lean more toward an unschooling style for preschool, Kindergarten and mostly for 1st grade. For my oldest child's 2nd and 3rd grade, I've been putting more structure into her learning by researching the typical skills, then picking out various materials and learning activities to help her learn them. She's done great with that method, but it's getting to be a lot of work for me. For next year, I think I'd like something all laid out for me, but more real books, not textbooks like Terrie mentioned. So, I guess my point is that it can be done in any of these ways, but there are certainly pros and cons of each.
Well, I have to check out more of this site now.
-- posted by BeckySAHM
» Willow4 - Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Home schooling
In response to message posted by BeckySAHM:Hi Becky! A big warm welcome to you! I'm so glad you dropped by. It's a relatively new topic for me although I've been writing at Suite about 2 1/2 years now. I tend to agree with the more relaxed approach for the younger children. I always giggle when my 3 year old learns something new and doesn't even realize he's learning.
This week my daughter has been leading them in making up plays and skits. It's been great fun watching her reinforce his listening skills and finding ways in which both my 3 yr and 5 yr old can do things. They are both so quick minded and between the three of them they come up with some amazing things. She actually taught the 3 yr old the basic stages of a flowers growth with one of their plays. It's amazing what they'll learn when their little minds are allowed to explore.
With the older kids I think a more structured learning environment is needed. It's my opinion that you can have a structured but child led learning environment. Use what the kids are interested in learning to develop a curriculum of your own or find one already put together in that subject area.
-- posted by Willow4
»
Joy Butler
- Re: Cheryl, I'm so glad you've taken on this topic.
Hi Cheryl. I love your articles and enjoy reading the discussions. As a 10 year homeschooling veteran and and now a grandparent to two small homeschoolers, I will be visiting often. Thanks.
-- posted by Joy Butler
» lperry - Re: Re: Cheryl, I'm so glad you've taken on this topic.
I just had to drop in and see what the homeschoolers were up to. Boy did it bring back some memories.When my son was in the 1st grade, I had a 3 year old daughter and a new born baby girl (the baby was born at home with a midwife) and we had one car that my husband used to get to work. Homeschooling my 1st grader just seemed like the best option, otherwise I was dragging all of the kids out early, early every morning to get hubby to work and son to school.
What fun we had that year! I had my son released from public school and every day after breakfast until lunch we "played" school. Or so my son thought! His sister sat alongside the table with him and worked on her own skills. I am proud to say that when that little boy went to 2nd grade, he was quickly moved to the Talented and Gifted program and did very well. I was so pleased with the extra time I had to improve his reading and just generally love him to pieces all day. I've never regretted it for a moment.
Good luck to all you Moms out there who are fighting the good fight and thanks, Cheryl, for a truly supportive topic!
Lisa
-- posted by lperry
» Willow4 - Re: Re: Re: Cheryl, I'm so glad you've taken on this topic.
In response to message posted by lperry:Hi Lisa! It's so great to see you stopping by. It sounds like you really enjoyed your homeschooling experience and that's wonderful. Those will be great memories for both you and your son.
When my oldest was in 1st I homeschooled him and my preschool daughter joined right in. We did this for two years and when she went back to public school in 2nd grade she did all 3rd grade work and her teacher reported that spent more time with the lizards in class because she got everything done with A's. The following year she was advanced a grade and still brings home straight A's except for the occasional B in art. It's amazing the difference an educating parent can make for their kids.
Thanks again for stopping by!
-- posted by Willow4
« Previous 1 2 Next »
Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion.