An Apple For The…Mommy?
Hey, remember me? I purportedly write a blog here, and yet it’s been days since I’ve checked in. There’s a reason, however: We’re officially homeschooling now.
But wait, regular EV readers say, weren’t you going to be starting at the end of the month? Why, yes. That was my plan. Then my son announced Thursday afternoon that he never, ever, ever wanted to go back to school. As luck would have it, that day our new curriculum arrived in the mail.
I’d ordered the 1st Grade series with the plan of letting him “unschool” (or “deschool” or however you want to put it) throughout the month of March. Then, I figured, I’d work with him to help him reach the remainder of the kindergarten learning objectives. By mid-summer, or maybe even this fall, we’d be ready for the 1st grade books I’d purchased.
Once again, my son had other plans.
This morning he announced that he wanted to start school at home with Mommy and brought me the 1st Grade Reading/Phonics workbook I’d left out after I’d looked through it. It didn’t take long to realize that the first six chapters were too easy for him, and by the end of the morning we were working on lessons scheduled well toward the end of first grade. After lunch, the same thing happened with the math books.
No wonder the little guy was bored out of his mind at public school. Luckily, Mom is not compelled to slow down his learning to suit the schedule of 22 other little minds, so I guess we’ll be finishing 1st grade sometime this summer… a year ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, I have absolutely no firm plans for history, science, art or Spanish (his chosen second language), so tonight I’ll be putting together at least a rough outline of objectives and our first few lesson plans.
So, although I thought I’d left behind my years of burning the midnight oil while slaving over a pile of books, I have to say: this is so much more fun!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I just happened onto your blog recently and have been enjoying it. Keep up the work.
I did have one comment pertaining to homeschooling your son. I heartily suggest that either in lieu of or alongside Spanish you teach him Latin.
I suggest this because Latin, being almost a completely inflected language, forces the reader to understand what each word is doing in the sentence. It dramatically helps not only English grammar but also the understanding of grammar in many other languages. Spanish, I believe, has lost many of these inflections.
In the end, given the talent your son shows, it might not matter, since he seems very smart. Nevertheless, I will say that learning Latin greatly helped my own understanding of grammar. I first started learning Latin the summer prior to writing my MA thesis and I am convinced it greatly improved my thesis as I’m sure it will help with my dissertation in a couple of years.
Thanks
takes after his mommy.
Welcome to the wonderful world of homeschooling. Nothing is more satisfying than helpy your child to realize they are a real human being and not just a lump in a chair in a classroom.
p.s. Rob has a good point re: Latin.
That’s awesome. I’m glad he’s enjoying learning!
That’s awesome, I would love to hear about the curriculum you settle on for history, science, etc. We are considering the same for our two youngest.
Half-way through the first grade IN THE FIRST DAY???
DAYUMMMMN.
Speaking of the 22 other little minds, I read a teacher’s comment somewhere that it’s like watching 17 or so kids stand around in the middle of the road while you pull one or two out of a ditch. Sad analogy, but true.
Kate, you’re my hero. Please do keep us posted (and if you decide not to keep “us” posted, ME) on how things are going.
xoxo
This is great news!
[...] Venomous Kate is homeschooling now. Which explains why she hasn’t posted much lately. Didn’t they kill Socrates for corrupting youth? [...]
I certainly admire you. Glad to hear things are going better than planned!!
Wecome to the world of home education. Kiss your old life goodbye.
[...] Venomous Kate from Wizbang. [...]
Oh, you’re in for an exhilarating ride! Congrats, and enjoy. We sure do.
links for 2006-02-24…
Electric Venom » Blog Archive » An Apple For The…Mommy? Hmmeschooling one day - but I nominate her for……
Congratulations! I think that both of you will be very satisfied with the homeschooling experience. I can think of nothing healthier for your son.
I think the biggest problem with public school is, firstly they have to be relegated to serving the lowest common denominator BY DESIGN, and the fact that they really have no clue about handling anything other than A/V type learners.
When you get a Tactile/Kinesthetic style learner, most teachers do not have a clue as to how to deal with it, and the kid gets labeled ADD or HA, or whatever.
The other major, perhaps primary, problem is the lack of parents that are training their children at home in the first place. These parents have the standard 2.5 kids or whatever the average is, take off their job for 6 weeks to ‘bond’ with the child, and then toss him or her off to some daycare for the rest of their young childhood. Some of these kids turn out ok, but I’d guess most end up resenting their parents for not being parents.
They also end up playing their parents, who are often guilt ridden for not ‘being there’ (as if they had no choice) for their kids, and the kids end up never learning even basic life skills or social values. There IS most definitely ‘ADD’ in these children, just not the sort of ADD the doctors are diagnosing. Rather the Attention Deficit disorder these children experience have to do with the lack of time their parents put into them. The attention ‘deficit’ is lack of parenting.
This leads us to a three-pronged problem at the outset. Schools by design can only deal with the ’standard’ child. Any child that gets outside of that standard gets labeled ‘disabled’ or ‘ADD’ or some other usually bogus classification, when in actuality, they just learn differently than the A/V style learner.
Myself, I’ve always been hands-on. Give me a book, and it’s not worth crap to me. I can’t remember, all the data is overwhelming, and nothing ‘sinks in.’ Give object to work on with examples of how it works, and I’m all over it. For example I absolutely hated Calculus in College. Physics was cool because you were using and observing what the math was describing. Too many kids out there are being stigmatized as ‘disabled’ or ‘hyperactive’ out there when all they need is someone who understands how to teach them.
VK, I think you are doing a great service to your child. I think you will find once you get over the initial ‘good lord what do I do now’ stage, and get settled in, that it will in fact be better than school, as a family. First, you will find that the child will probably be done with schoolwork fairly early in the day. This is OK. We are generally done by noon. Many homeschoolers do, as they aren’t distracted by the constant start-stop-blah blah blah of the normal school day.
Secondly I think you will find it frees you up to do more ‘hands on’ studies. Get out and dig up some rocks (as the kid gets older) and study. Go see a civil war battleground. Go on a road trip, call it a vacation, and LEARN as you are vacationing. Locate all the state and local parks within a 200 mile radius, or whatever is within a days travel, and take an overnight trip. Take a hike, go camping, mountain climbing (not a lot in Kansas I guess, but, you aren’t tied to school, take a trip!) Learning opportunities never stop. Find whatever it is the child (and you) is interested in, find out where something that involves that is going on, and BE THERE. Kids tied to school just do not have that opportunity for real life experience. Kinesthetic learners need that sort of hands-on, and on top of it, its fun. Not being chained to school frees you up to do some real, hands on, kinesthetic, fun learning. The possibilities are endless, unlike public school.
PS, Geeze, I spewed alot in a short time there, sorry for the length.
No problem, Buddy. My son definitely is a kinesthetic learner, as am I. We’re quite fortunate in that kind of fit since it gives me insight into helping him learn in an effective and positive manner. On the other hand, teaching a kiesthetic learner has worn me out this week!
This is GREAT Kate!
I totally admire parents who homeschool their children for the right reasons.
What a lucky boy to have such an intelligent, caring mother!
Good for you! Homeschooling is a blast! Have fun with it!
An update! An update! Your readers would like an update! How are things working out?
I’ve always been facinated by homeschooling. What does your state require from you? I understand in CA you have to take a test to be put on the record as “Graduated from High school”.
A homeschooler I know did that when she was 13.
I’m curious, DeAnna, what would be a WRONG reason for homeschooling?
A wrong reason for hs’ing would be that your church pressures everyone to homeschool, and you’re really dreading it but feel that you’re somehow a bad Christian if you don’t. That was the situation of a neighbor of mine.
Yes, update please!
I will concede that one, Sharon. I hear people on both sides, some think that religious reasons are legitimate, others think that only intellectual reasons are legitimate. And both are very arrogant about their stance. That’s what I thought I was reading.
“I guess we’ll be finishing 1st grade sometime this summer… a year ahead of schedule.”
Just be aware that the completion of 1st grade may take place MUCH sooner… or much later. We found that placing any kind of timetable on the thing was counter-productive — for us. Far easier to set general goals with generous non-specific deadlines: “finish X in the next few months”, “toilet-train by age 15 or so”, etc.