Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Mama I Wanna Learn: Homeschooling and Unschooling
by Mama FoxHomeschooling - the practice of teaching one's own children at home, instead of sending them to school.
Now that things are getting settled I'm going to jump back into homeschooling Fox1. We've been doing little things in a very unschooling way for the last year but that makes Papa Fox nervous and he asked if I can write out some 'lesson plans' and get a bit of structure. Fine by me although I wish he would trust me more.
Unschooling - a home-school education with the child taking the primary responsibility instead of a parent or teacher; also called child-directed learning, self-learning. (I.e. Learning from every day life without parent directed formal or structured education.)
I'm still so glad he's agreed to allow me to homeschool. He is still very hesitant but he's just worried they will end up like him: thrown into public school in 2nd grade, with no knowledge of socializing only to be deemed an outcast and subsequently bullied for multiple years after. I'm not going to let that happen. Not only would I go crazy being in the house all day without outside friends, but they need their friends too. I'm looking forward to playgroups and later I'll be searching for a local homeschooling group to get together with.
I have scope and sequence (what they are supposed to learn each grade) pages printed out for preschool through 1st grade so I have a basic outline and have been searching the Internet and my books for ideas to learn it. We have some great ideas here and now that we have the space to do it, we are going to have a great year. The boys are still young so a lot of things we'll be doing is more geared to unschooling. I try to add in education bits and pieces into their life but they do a lot on their own, especially math wise. They make me proud. 
I foresee many great years of learning and playing together.
There's so much information online about homeschooling. I love this blog - Guilt Free Homeschooling. She has great ideas, great insight and great advice.What type of schooling did you have growing up? How would you rate your learning experience?
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Comments (10)
well i was public schooled with a year of private thrown in and i hated it!!!!we move a bit and i begged my mom to homeschool me.Schools are just so robotic i mean think about it you sit at a desk for 7 hours a day and then if you get in trouble for talking or being antsy whats your punishment???you're inside for recess when you need to burn off that energy!!!!thats just one of the thngs that doesnt make sense pluse other kids are so consumed with whats in and whats out.playing with kids only in their group.When you go to a homeschool group it is sooo not like that you see older kids teaching younger kids rules of games and for the most part everyone is included.my boyfriend has said only homeschooling till the 6th grade and i've told him thats fine for his kids but mine will continue to be homeschooled.They have tons of friends and we're always busy and they have learned so much more then they ever would've in public school.Public school it's all about the kids meeting a certain level in a certian timespan in homeschool you can take the time to make sure they obtain that level.no joke my Stepson went through kindergarten not learning how to read while all the other kids did nothing was ever said and he never got any one on one time with the teacher.The teacher said oh he can read but what he was doing was memorizing the books i watched him do it.this last year he took his reading level from a prek to a 2nd grade.it was hard work but he did it.Even my boyfriend supports the homeschooling now i just wish my mother in law would(shes a public school special ed teach)good luck to you!!!
I was public schooled all the way through -- and have no problems with my schooling at that time. However, with all the chaos that is public schooling now, I want much better for my children. As an educator by profession, I know the issues that teachers and administrators go through just to get to education and many many times children get lost in the shuffle. It is a nightmare. I have had my oldest child in two different private schools and homeschooled a year. We all love where we are now - I teach at the private school all three of my children now attend. But I do dream of homeschooling days once more.
Oh and I love Carolyn at Guilt Free Homeschooling! She is wonderful - don't miss her book and she has more on the way!
My family attempted homeschooling for one year. It definitely takes a certain brand of family to achieve homeschool well. I was in 1st grade, my older brother in 4th, and my younger brother toddling around in a diaper ripping up various magazines. I am one of those people who hates to be taught anything she could have taught herself. Homeschool was NOT my thing. Mom and I have such similar temperaments that we got in huge fights about addition and subtraction and history and grammar - she finally decided that private school was the way for me. I started out in public school, but I was one of those child progenies. I started reading around the same time I could speak - around 2 or 3. I still have trouble counting to 20, but I can read and write exquisitely. :)
After that, I went to private school from 2-6th grade, then public school for 7th, then private for 8-9, then another private school for 10-11, and yet another for my senior year. We moved a lot.
After that one year of homeschooling, we never tried it again with me. My younger brother was homeschooled a bit in middle school because of some social adaptation problems he'd had. It was just safer for him to be home.
I was one of those kids homeschooled back in the '80s when there were all these legal battles over parents trying to homeschool. My parents were amazing and in spite of my hyper activity and headstrong tendancies got a wonderful education and enjoyed vast, rich socialization. I was involved in sports, choir, and drama. We traveled and went to museums and did volunteer work in our community.
My husband and I love homeschooling (he attended public school) and cultivate an atmosphere of lifelong learning in our home. My husband is about to graduate from medical school next year (at 37 years old) and I try to take courses at the community college whenever I can fit them in. Our children think learning is something you never stop doing and I am soooo glad!
Have you looked a classical homeschooling? My husband and I feel in love with the concept and the variety of knowledge from a broad, history based world view! Homeshcooling didn't work out for me because of my temperament and attention span (lol! my kids have better attention spans than me! They were always begging for more schooling and I was like, "let's call it a day". Poor things!). One day I hope to hire tutors for my kids so they get the benefits of home education without the handicap of their wacky, crazy mom! =D
My kids have been in public school for now, though I'm "playing it by ear" and keeping homeschooling in the back of my mind for the future should I feel it would benefit the kids better.
One of my biggest goals for D is having him go to Montessori for preschool and elementary, at least. It's also very much child-led, allowing them to retain and nurture that instinctual love for learning that most kids have. Hubby and I have talked about homeschooling once or twice, I'm not sure I feel confident enough to attempt it myself, though then again depending on what kind of a support community is around there's part of me that would be curious about trying it.
I was homeschooled a huge part of my education, and only went to public school the last two years. I am sending my son to kindergarten this year, but only because I don't think I am structured enough just yet. We are taking this one step at a time. If it doesn't work out in the school, then he will be taken out.
I went to public school save for a brief stint in private. I had no problems with it until high school when it became boring and slow. My brother did great in public school, my sister didn't do well in public or private and would have definitely benefited greatly by homeschooling. I can see the pros and cons of public school vs private vs homeschool. It's more about what works for your individual child. some kids just fail in certain situations and it's up to their parents to see that and find a solution that works. We will likely choose private school for our daughter.
I went to private school for elementary, public for Jr. High and Homeschool for Sr. High.
I think that homeschooling is far superior to the other options. Every child will go further and deeper when going at their own pace. I also am not a huge fan of limiting time on one subject to the traditional classroom time limits. I think that this limits a learners attention span and natural inclinactions to explore and learn more about something that they find exciting.
I am NOT an unschooler, but I do believe in making teaching methods child interest oriented when possible. For example, while we are continuing our same Latin and Math during the summer, our history will switch from the ancient world to WWII, because my kids really want to learn more about this era. Science subjects will also be taken form things that interest them.
My kids are 6, 7 and 8 (going to be 1st grade, 2nd grade and 4th grade) so this is no longer new, but as they change and their interests change and we hit new highs, lows, spurts and blocks, it is always fresh and challenging. It certainly keeps me on my toes and learning or re-learning new things in order to teach them.
@mlehaymes@xanga -
- you could do bumper stickers!
"My progeny beat up your prodigy"
(Or, reverse that... it still works)