the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of homeschool

Every single time i meet a new person (one who doesn't homeschool themselves) or reconnect with someone from the past one of the first things that stumps them about my adult life is the homeschool part. I get a variety of questions, opinions, suggestions and lets face it.....the occasional not so nice comment. I met a mom today who was told by her mil that if she homeschooled her daughter a slew of bad things would happen resulting in a daughter who was less than intelligent. I shared with her our story, encouraged her to go forward with her plan ( a great one) and thought maybe id put it all out there.........

Who? This is an easy one. I have five children, many people assume I homeschool five children. Id love for that to be the case. I made a post that detailed my day from sun up to sundown and if you read that you will agree with me. I do not have time to technically homeschool 5. My homeschoolers are Parker 11, 7th grade, Paxton 6, 1st grade, and Piper 5, K. I wish I had time to present a formal preschool program to Pearce or teach sign language to the baby , but right now notsomuch. I assure you tho, they are both learning every.single.day. We roll as a group, so Pearce is absorbing the K and 1st grade lessons as much as possible and we never discourage him from participating.

What? This is a big one. I get this one from homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike. What do you teach, what programs do you use, what do you do all day????? In general there are two schools of thought in the homeschool world (these are divided into many many subgroups) but #1 is the creation of school at home with books and many similar materials to the normal classroom. #2 Kids learn from the world with little assistance and you simply foster what they show an interest in with less emphasis on a classroom environment in the home. My style falls somewhere in the middle. Each state has requirements so one of the first things I do when I move is check out http://www.hslda.org/ and find out what mine are. I teach the subjects they require , many families don't and I've never heard of anybody getting in trouble for not! Its no biggie, i just fig i gotta teach something right> :) I make me a little chart for each kid so i can try to teach an even amount in each area, otherwise, id only focus on my favorites and my kids would never learn science or math lol. Somedays we use curriculum books (a mix of K12, abeka, apologia, drugstore wkbks) sometimes we watch a DVD (praise the Lord for netflix) sometimes we read a book, we may go on a walk through the woods, check out a bug, visit some ruins, or simply go to the post office (we had a great lesson there today on African American baseball players) learning is everywhere.


Where? Another easy question. Around the Kitchen Table of course :) but seriously , yes, we school at the table. Many people set up a workspace for one or all of their children. I think this is a great option esp with older kids or if you are schooling one child, but for our group we do it together. That is our base. Parker does retreat to his room to study if it gets too loud but the rest to all their work at the table. However...........Everywhere is a classroom and that is the key to my homeschool success. We go to the grocery store and learn the difference in the milks, the mushrooms, what shrimp really look like. We had an awesome lesson at the post office on African American ball players (they have their own stamp collection) followed by an awesome discussion with the older kiddo on why they are special. We stop and ask questions as the zoo, not just walk by. We explore the woods, discuss planes that fly over, compare breeds of dogs walking by. We love fieldtrips, planned or impromptu and I find something for them to learn everywhere.

When? Well the state of Colorado says 4hrs a day. Trust me, homeschooling 3 kids is alot of work, but it never takes 4 hours a day. Maybe added all up here and there but i doubt it. Parker can finish all subjects in 3hrs or less. Paxton and Piper typically total 1.5 hrs each when we have been at home all day and done all the curriculum work they have. We do homeschool 5 days a week , off on weekends and the summer. I'm mean and Ill go ahead and admit that when school kids are off, Kempe academy is still in session. No inservice/conference days here. No snow days and yes if you want a sick day, you best be really sick. This may sound like not enough school to someone in public school but think about it, we don't have to wait for a class of kids to ask questions, no raising hands, no bathroom breaks, no bad kid in the back disrupting everything (ok sometimes that is Pearce) no show off spouting all the facts (yeah yeah we do have a Paxton) but in general there are alot less interruptions etc.

Why? This is a great question. If you intend to homeschool you will want to formulate your own answer before you spill your big secret to the lady next door. If you already homeschool you know exactly what I mean!!!!! everybody asks this! I can only answer for myself. Our story is ...Parker was super smart, our public school really wasn't prepared to deal with that. Their solution was for him to bring extra books to class to read and one day a week for an hour or so, go to the advanced class for fun projects. I sought out a different way and I hope that anyone with a child in school who has this prob or any other prob making school not work well for their kiddo, can consider homeschooling an option. That was my original reason but once we started i found lots of benefits that grew into reasons. I found homeschooling was the only way to make God more important than math or reading. Those are great but God is it for us! and one hour a week in Sunday school wasn't cutting it. This way we spend as much time learning about Him as we do anything else, and find his presence in all we learn. I also found our family functions as a unit better this way. We are never anticipating a break from a particular child (we are always together) and none of my children live 8hrs a day away from me. Kids at school sort of have a life unknown to the family at home (i know i did) and with hschool this doesn't happen. We also do it because i love the kids learning at their own pace. For Parker that is super fast, for Piper that takes a little more time but both is ok. At school Parker would be waiting while the teacher gave more help to Piper, but here he can go on while she and I work more on what she needs. Nobody fails, we teach until it is learned and we all get As!

How? How do you do it? i get asked that all the time. I cannot do it without support. I hschooled for the first few years with permission but not support and I can tell you it makes a world of difference. My husband believes in what we do and when things get tough he can remind me why we do it and express appreciation. I have to have friends that homeschool too. I have them online and irl. they help me choose books and curriculum, find cool field trips and talk me out of throwing them onto the school bus that stopped at the end of the street when there has been a bad day. homeschooling can feel isolated when you don't have a great homeschool group, but if you cant find one, hschool friends are a must. They let you know you aren't the only crazy person who has chosen this lifestyle and your kids aren't the only ones bringing snakes to the lunch table to ask if they are poisonous! :) I also have a great God loving me all the time and that never hurts!