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Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by smwensel, Sep 4, 2008.

  1. smwensel

    smwensel New Member

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    Hi! I have been thinking of homeschooling my children since before my eldest (6 yo) started school. He is still in a traditional public school but my daughter is 3 and I have started thinking about her education as she will be starting in K-4 next year. Truth be told I want to home school both of my children, but thought I would try it out to see if it was something I could stick with for my 3 year old. I purchased a 3 year old curriculum for fairly cheap and so far she has enjoyed it. We both love the time we spend together learning. My issue is, how do I convince my husband this is the best route for our children's education? It is only the 2nd day of public school for my son and I am already fed up with the fact that I still have no info on how his class is held and what he will be learning about. My son gives me no information either :x

    I hope everyones day went well! It will be nice chatting with you all!

    Shannon
     
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  3. Cheryl in CA

    Cheryl in CA New Member

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    What are your husband's concerns about homeschooling? If you could provide some specific or even vague reasons why he would be oppossed that would be helpful.
     
  4. Emma's#1fan

    Emma's#1fan Active Member

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    Welcome!
     
  5. smwensel

    smwensel New Member

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    My husband is a very "traditional" kind of guy. He is conservative and I feel he may think that I am not qualified (as I do not have a degree in teaching) to teach my children the education they need for college. Don't get me wrong, he is a wonderful man, but I have started to feel so strongly about this. Another issue he may have is the lack of socialization and taking my son away from his friends.
     
  6. jill

    jill New Member

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    When my children were in school, I was totally convinced that homeschooling would be a far better situation, but my husband wasn't.

    Even if you were a teacher (I am) you still have to do your homework. I would also say that having an education degree has not helped me as far as schooling my own children. Yes, it helps understand the educational and testing lingo, but that's about it. I still had to do a ton of research and learn from my many mistakes.

    When the kids get older, there are so many great programs out there that will allow them to learn what they need to know for college independently. You will just be more of an administrator. But for now take it one step at a time.

    My husband was not on board at first either. He is very logical (an engineer) so I made a list of pros and cons of homeschooling. I was honest about the cons and didn't try to make the arguement one sided to get my way. It also helped me know where I'd need to work extra hard to make homeschooling work.

    He reluctantly agreed to let me try for one year and then he'd decide again, so I took that and ran with it as fast as I could. The kids did great and he "renewed my contract". We are now starting our fifth year.

    Best wishes.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2008
  7. WIMom

    WIMom New Member

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    Welcome Shannon! Just a few weeks ago my sister, whose name is also Shannon, moved to Milwaukee.

    Anyway, it didn't take much convincing for my husband to want to try homeschooling. My husband was sick of dealing with our local school after we attended many Child Study Team meetings about our kindergarten aged son. Also, there were bullying issues and short lunch period issues that my husband and I didn't care for either.

    Can you ask your husband if you can try homeschooling on a one year trial basis?
    About the socialization.....you just have to get your child involved in activities or groups (Scouts, 4H, sports, music, art, Sunday school, homeschool group) and have play dates set up every so often. For instance my kids (7 & 4) are going to go to Sunday school, swim lessons and my 7 y.o. is going to take a homeschool group Art class this fall. They will more than likely still play with the kids in the neighborhood and some of the kids from church. I'm hoping to set up play dates with a few of the homeschool group kids as well.

    Good luck to you and welcome to HomeschoolSpot!
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2008
  8. Autumnleavz

    Autumnleavz New Member

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    Welcome to the forum!!
     
  9. jomama

    jomama New Member

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    Welcome to the forum.
     
  10. Cheryl in CA

    Cheryl in CA New Member

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    Shannon,

    First, if his worry is college, take a deep breath, your son is only 6. I would point out to dh that you are more than capable of teaching a 6 year old as you have mastered all the skills a 6 yo needs to know (okay that was probably a little cheeky). Also, show him the curriculum you would like to use (most have pretty good samples online) and show him that it is teacher-friendly. You would be able to have all you need at your fingertips to do the job well. Ask him for a one year trial.

    Also, try and find some John Taylor Gatto books - you can probably find some free audio online from him. He really opened my eyes to the fact that school is not designed to make innovative, out of the box thinkers, who can be independent adults. It is designed to make workers - at an early age kids learn to answer to the bell and not question. John is a bit radical for some, but even if you tone down his message there is still alot there to be worried about. He was a ps teacher in New York for something like 25 or 30 years - even teacher of the year at one point, so he knows of what he speaks.

    Are you religious? No matter what religion you are, public school is not set-up to pass on your beliefs, morals, and values. Even if you are not religious, I am sure morals and values are important to you and the first priority of ps is not to instill these.

    A quick definition of socialization is "the patterns of child-rearing that serve to endorse behaviours and understandings of the world that are approved of by society." Now the question is who do you want to have socialize your child? Do you want him to be socialized by one adult and a class of 30 kids his own age for 7 hours a day? Or do you want him to learn these things from you, your dh, your extended family, and friends? Do you want him to learn to be bullied or be a bully from his peers on the playground with little or no supervision or do you want him to learn to interact with others under your supervision? This does not mean you hover over him at all events, but it does mean that you are aware of who he is hanging with and what they are doing. He will know he can come to you with problems or if you hear a problem brewing you can step in and help the kids resolve it. I know too many ps moms turned hsers that found out months and years later some horrible things their dc endured in school because the dc were afraid to tell or even worse yet thought it was all normal.

    Lastly, he will have friends. He can have friends through church, the neighborhood, homeschool groups, sports, 4H, scouts, etc. I will say that you as a mom have to take a bigger role in getting him together with his new friends outside of the activities, but that really is not too hard.

    Best wishes and let us know how it all goes.
     
  11. Earthy

    Earthy New Member

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    Welcome!
     
  12. wolverine_jd94

    wolverine_jd94 New Member

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