Ash and I had a great day, today! We are loosely following the Sonlight Pre-K curriculum and since I call the shots, I'll be starting her on the Kindergarten curriculum when she turns 5 in November. Britt is doing preschool and will start Pre-K when she turns 4 early next year. :) Elle is just experiencing life and learning daily!
(ash, on the far right with her sister, Britt, and two of her aunties)
Today Ash and I did a lot of reading and she did some work pages from Developing the Early Learner, which she is almost done with. She'd sit down and do each book in one sitting if I'd let her!
(ash, with a mouthful of chocolate)
We read several stories and did some counting (I wanted to test her ability to match the physical number with the numeral and she did great) with chocolate chunks and an egg carton. She was spot on!
(homemade counting activity)
We also read about what nature is and went on a nature walk. I took pictures of everything she found and more!
("baby pinecones, mom!")
Now, my reasons for why Tony and I choose to homeschool our children (not in any particular order of importance):
- Curriculum Planning (seriously, so much fun!).
- Closer
relationship/bond with my kids.
- More time spent
with each other (goes hand in hand with #2).
- I get to set up
the environment instead of letting virtual strangers decide.
- We can go as fast
or as slow as we want (no conveyor belt method for us!).
- We can take a
holiday whenever we want.
- My kids get to be schooled based on how they think, learn
and experience life (instead of a failing system).
- We can sleep in if we want (Elle definitely does NOT).
- Things are chill.
- No school shootings.
- Little to no
bullying.
- Little to no peer pressure.
- No school lunches
to pack.
- I'm social but very picky about the quality of our social life.
- No ridiculously indoctrinated
teachers to deal with (I worked as one and can tell you, we were fed a load of
bunk to parrot back to the parents of our students!)
- I make it my business to know my children and pray everyday that God will help me teach them what and how is best. For me that means not giving them to someone else to teach and raise for the majority of the day.
(all three-leaved and all heart-shaped)
I'm sure that you may have found some of the words I chose to be strong. I feel strongly about this. I feel that the traditional classroom setting isn't a natural environment for children to learn in. I fail to see how one or two teachers can adequately help every child in their class. I also do not agree that the public schools, in general, can offer my children an appropriate or desirable social experience. I love spending time with my children. Is my house immaculate? No. Not even remotely, but the trade off is beyond worth it. And while I don't get a whole lot of "me time," I get enough and know that these precious babies will only be little for so long.
(moss)
Please don't take offense (if you are angry, I invite you to take a day or two before commenting). I am in no way criticizing anyone. I am listing the main reasons I choose to homeschool my children and recognize that others are making a different choice work for them. I also want to let any of you who might be contemplating homeschool know that while it is more labor intensive, it is also infinitely rewarding and 100% worth every minute of your time, effort and sacrifice (if you want to even call it that, which I don't usually). If you have any questions or concerns, I'd be happy to do my best at answering. I was homeschooled by choice, home taught most of my biological siblings (in at least one subject), studied and taught early childhood education for many years and consider myself somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of teaching, while still learning more about it everyday.
My email address is: spontaneousday@gmail.com
The following are more nature walk pics. :)
(there are little tree frogs right outside our front door!)
(britt)
(mushrooms)
(our classroom is wherever we are!)
(sheep friends)
(garden spider - these things are everywhere!)
(tree hugger)
And just because it seems to be what most parents are concerned about, a couple more thoughts on socialization. Look at the kids you know. Then look at their parents. Regardless of how/where those children are schooled, if those kids spend any time with their parents, they WILL be the same kind of social as their parents. If their parents are awkward, the children will struggle with that. If the parents are involved and outgoing, the children will usually follow suit. I have yet to encounter a family that proves my observation wrong.
I loooooove that my friends were not restricted to a class of kids all my own age and that my peers and examples weren't just a bunch of immature kids, like myself, struggling with a lot of the same things. Blind leading the blind, maybe? My socialization involved people of all ages, from all walks of life and from as many nationalities as my community could offer.
Read this article from Homeschool.com. I don't want to shorten it or paraphrase anything. Just read it and see more of where I'm coming from (though there are certain things I don't put any value on, like prom).
I believe that as I let our lives happen naturally and my children are involved with family, friends, and groups they love and are passionate about, they will be socialized in the best possible way.
