What Our "Homeschooling" Adventure Has Taught Me

First off, let me say when I'm talking about what's going on in our home this summer I'm using quotation marks around "homeschooling" because I'm fully aware that it's not the real homeschooling some of my friends do.  What's going on in our house is more pseudo-school than real homeschool.  More like after school tutoring than school :)

I started out the summer with grand plans of "homeschooling" my son for about 2 hours each day, 5 days a week.  I was figuring this would get him in a wonderful position to start his 1st grade year once school starts in August.   The first week I was really good about that.  The second week . . . I, uh, started slacking.  After about halfway through the second week our "school" time was him playing Starfall every day while his sister rested and I got a bit of a break.

We're now a month in and only have 6 full weeks until school starts (1 of which we'll be out of town) so my grand plans have now gone completely out the window.  I'm now to the point I'm just trying to make sure he didn't have a "summer slide".

In the past month I've learned (or confirmed):
**I'm not disciplined enough to be my child's teacher
**My son and I do not work well in a student/teacher relationship
**I'm lazy
**Coming up with age appropriate lesson plans is hard
**Choosing curriculum is a mind-boggling exercise
**Trying to figure out what my kids "should" know at this age is hard
**I have no clue how to do assessments and figure out if my kids are where they "should" be

I know if our family was committed to this full-time some of those things would work themselves out as I did further research and educated myself, but the truth is every time I've tried to think that way and look into standards and assessments I pretty much have a nervous breakdown.

I went into this summer with unrealistic expectations of our "homeschooling" time each day being a wonderful one-on-one time with my son.  Instead it's become a very stressful thing that makes me thankful for teaching professionals :) Because I won't want to "ruin" my son's summer with a screaming stressed out Mommy we're doing much less "school" than I'd anticipated and I'm fully ok with that.

I'm also left with even more respect for my friends who have determined that homeschooling is the right fit for their family and who are in the trenches as both parent and teacher to their child.

Now, excuse me while I figure out what to do with the curriculum I bought when I got ahead of myself several months ago . . .

I'm Homeschooling!? Say . . .WHAT!?

No, we haven't changed our mind about public school, but I am currently venturing into the world of homeschooling our son while he is on summer break.  Come August he will be enrolled in 1st grade at the same neighborhood school where he attended Kindergarten.

I have long been of the belief that in order for a child to get the most out of their education Mom & Dad need to be involved. Part of that involvement, in my opinion, is by enriching at home.  After meeting with our son's Kindergarten teacher several times this year she has helped us to see areas where he is excelling and needs to be challenged beyond what I had expected to do with him at home

As a result of the conversations with his teacher, I'm "homeschooling" him this summer.  My son is like me and he loves to learn and do workbooks.  The balance we'll need to find this summer is between doing his enrichment stuff to keep him academically engaged, while still giving him a chance to have fun and have a summer break.  Right now I'm planning on doing less than an hour of school a day.

I'm trying to cover every subject this summer so he's ready to hit the ground running in August.   My son LOVES math and is very strong in it, so the math work we're doing is under the direction of his Kindergarten teacher. Since math is his favorite/strongest subject we're going to be doing math almost every day since the crazy kid thinks that's fun.  (He OBVIOUSLY didn't get that from me!) When his teacher explained to us how strong he is in math, she suggested I work with him at home.  I told her we had work books and she said, "No--he needs curriculum".  Um . . . ok.  I guess we're doing curriculum.   In addition to the resources that have been recommended to me by my friends who homeschool full-time I have taken suggestions from his Kindergarten teacher and have borrowed resources from her.  Because I was in my son's Kindergarten class about 2-3 (sometimes 4) times a month I know what type of work he is used to doing and what the 1st grade teachers at his school will be expecting he knows.

Through doing a Swagbucks search for other ideas this morning I found Peace, Love and First Grade which may become my new favorite website for finding ideas for my soon to be first grader!  One thing I printed today from there will be his writing assignment tomorrow.

Two days in this is what our "school day" has looked like.

Day 1: 6 pages of Math-U-See worksheets, 10 minutes of reading to me, 10 minutes of me reading to him
Day 2: Math-U-See Beta video, 30 minutes of writing practice

I am NOT good at math and joke he's going to eclipse my math abilities by 4th grade, but fortunately the Math-U-See videos do the teaching and I just guide him through them.  (Since he's working on adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers as well as multiplication of single digit numbers he hasn't passed me, yet.  PHEW!!)  We'll do some science experiements, too, but those intimidate me at least as much as math (if not more since I don't have the teacher on the video to guide me).

Part of why I don't think homeschooling will work for us is I know I'm not disciplined enough (or patient enough) to be my kids' only teacher, but I am enjoying this one on one time with my son while his sister has rest time in her room every day.

It's Over!

I'm not sure who has been counting down the days until summer vacation more--my son or me.   I'm thinking it was probably me because I'm READY to have my Buddy Boy home for the next few months.  I'm not going to lie--the events in CT in December really messed with my mind and it was hard to drop my son off at school every day.

We're still committed to sending him (and eventually our daughter) to public school, but I missed having him around during the day this year.  Even saying that sounds odd to me because I thought for sure I'd be the mom crying tears of joy on the first day of school thankful to have time to myself for the first time in 6 years.  (Our 4 year old went to preschool 2 mornings a week this year, which meant I had 7 hours a week where I could shower, go to the bathroom and go to Costco by myself for the first time since August, 2006).  It turns out I really enjoy my son (when he's not melting down!) and I like having him with me. 

My husband gives me a week before I'm ready to send him back to school :)

I was warned that, as much as it seems time has flown in the past 6 years, once the kids start school it will REALLY fly.  I believe that because I can't believe my son is now done with Kindergarten and on his way to 1st grade!

I was also not prepared for how much my son would physically change in the months between his first day of Kindergarten and his last.

 

 

First Day of Kindergarten
August, 2012

 

 

Last Day of Kindergarten
May, 2012

A few things stand out to me in this picture:
1) He has definitely aged since August
2) Look at where his head is in relation to the doorknob (the main reason I take "milestone" pictures at the front door is to measure them in relation to the fixtures)
3) Look at those "puppy dog" feet!!


As of the first day of school he hadn't lost any teeth, but he now has his bottom two "adult teeth" growing in.

I was handling today pretty well and then, after school, I saw a friend and said "Last day of Kindergarten" as I started saying it my eyes welled up and I was having trouble talking.  I truly can't believe his first year of school is over and that there are only 12 more years until he's walking across a stage in a cap and gown receiving his high school diploma.

If anybody finds life's "pause" button could you please send it to me because I could REALLY use it!!!

Why We Chose Public School

This may the most controversial post I write and I don't really intend it to be because I know that there is no "one size fits all" answer for every kid and every family. Among my friends I know families who have made every school choice available: homeschool, private school, neighborhood public school, out of district public school, public traditional school and charter schools.  I even know some families that have different options for different kids (ex: one child in public school and one in private school). I know every family has made the decisions they have for specific reasons and many feel they are called to make the decisions they have regarding their child's education.  To me this isn't a right/wrong issue . . . it's a choice.

Here in Arizona we have a lot of freedom when it comes to school choice.  Basically, as long as there is room in a school, any student can apply for open enrollment at whatever public school they want.  Also, because of the way our charter school laws are written there are A LOT of choices for those.  It's almost mind boggling how many choices there are when it comes to the best school for your children.

Our oldest started Kindergarten in August so we've made our first venture into school this year (aside from the 2 years of preschool he had at a church preschool) so my husband and I are well versed in the choices available to us.   After weighing our options here's why we made the decisions we did:

a) We bought our house with the school in mind.  This is definitely NOT our dream house and there are things we'd change (including what we get for our money by living here), but we chose this neighborhood specifically for the schools.

b) We want our kids school friends to be their neighborhood friends.  We go to church about 25 miles from our home and so our kids' church friends don't live close enough to get together frequently.  We want to be able to have our kids' school friends over, and for our kids to hang out with their school friends in the neighborhood, without it requiring major driving on behalf of either set of parents.

c) We want our kids to get used to being "in the world".  We want our kids to be under our roof, where we can help them with their struggles, when they are exposed to ideas that may not necessarily be taught in our home.  We feel that they're going to have to eventually enter the "real world" and we want to be able to walk along side them, and guide them, as they realize what it means to follow Jesus in our culture.   

d) We want our kids to be salt and light to the world around them and we feel if they are only around people who believe the same way we do they won't be building relationships and be able to introduce their friends to Jesus.  I was an education major and had planned on teaching in a public school.  It's a very long story as to why I never taught, aside from my student teaching, but my reasons for wanting to teach in a public school are the same reasons I want my kids to attend one.   It's no secret that our schools can be a very dark place and that's why Jesus has told us to be a light to the world.  If all the light (Christian students and teachers) are removed from the public schools they will be even darker and we want to be part of the illumination that occurs.  

e) We are aware that there may be things taught, or said, that are in direct opposition to our belief system.  When this happens (because I know it will at some point) we are going to use it as a teachable moment for our kids about standing up for what is right.


These are just some of the reasons we've made the decision to send our son (and eventually our daughter) to the neighborhood school.  As with all things related to parenting, the situation is fluid and we're not ruling out another option down the road, but this is where we are right now.  If circumstances change and we feel it becomes necessary to re-evaluate our decision we will and we'll be confident that that is the best decision for our child at the time.