Why is it we just can't help but compare ourselves to others? We are a "relaxed" homeschool family. We do reading, writing and math as seatwork EVERY official school day. (It takes and hour or two depending on how much they dawdle) But the otherstuff I do pretty unschooled. Social studies is studied through American Girl books and trips to Williamsburg in the summer with our family. Science is a trip to the zoo, a beach trip in the summer, nature walks, playing with leaves, cooking, etc. My local hs group is always talking about this or that science curriculum, this or that history curriculum, and I worry. Am I doing enough? Am I too relaxed? Are they learning enough? Should we do more worksheets??? More official "experiments"? My kids are at grade level for reading, writing, and math. My oldest is 10 working on 4th grade material. When do I need to do this stuff more "officially"? Edie
LOL I was just thinking about this the other day! When I think back to all the stuff I was supposed to learn in school in those other subjects...and how much I actually REMEMBER and USE I realize how little school mattered. When I wanted to know something I looked it up myself. And I remembered it and used it. I'm trying to get away from the "strict curriculum" idea and move toward teaching stuff my DSD might actually use and want to know! I think it's more important that she have the big picture down and understanding rather than book learnin'! We've been doing a unit on animals, but nothing taught her more than going to the zoo. I think there are some things they'll need to know should they want to go to college and take college courses. Beyond that...I see it as a waste of time. Better they know how to live life on this beautiful earth (and have respect and love for the creation) than be able to label the parts of a plant!
For me, I'd never want to put Jeannie in a position of not knowing something other kids knew. Kids might not stand around and discuss school work, but you never know when skipping something will come back to bite you in the behind.
I always think this when it's noon and my son is done with all his school stuff after only 2 hours and then my friend says "Oh we did school for 6 hours yesterday" In 3 years of homeschooling my son (12) we have never, ever done 6 hours of school- that's what he used to HAVE to do in ps-who says it has to be 6 hours? I just know my son, know what/how he likes to learn and we've sort of settled on a "here's the things you have to learn and the rest is things you want to learn" style of homeschooling. It works for us -my son is not miserable -like many kids we know-and forced to do activities they hate or don't even need just because mom feels it's important. IMHO learning should be relevant, relaxed but stimulating not forced and anxiety provoking -you can go to public school for that. I have found that while homeschoolers (at least the ones we've met) are genuinely wonderful people they can be extremely competitive- what parent isn't I guess right? That doesn't do our kids any good at all. Let them be who they are and enjoy learning not dread it. Jane
I tend to fall in line like what you've written.I hear the same things and wonder it myself. We have seatwork for math, (horizons) reading, writing, spelling, language (abeka) and like you it takes about the same amount of time. My two are almost 7. They are interested in anything that falls into the category of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We've done read-aloud on all the books, and now the girls are starting to read the smaller chapter books on their own now. I really feel like the 3 R's are crucial to get down and the other things come after the fact. I don't see it as skipping anything. I see it as cultivating their interests and getting them excited to learn at their own pace, isn't that one of the reasons why we decided to homeschool in first place? I plan on doing much the same as you as far as history and science goes for the next year. So relax, and know that you are not alone and your children ARE learning and they will do just fine!
I think science might be one to start taking a little more seriously once they're older elementary ages. Of course, I don't know how in-depth you go when you talk about going to the zoo or beach or gathering leaves, but there are many 'schools' within science: botany, chemistry, physics, biology [animal and human], zoology, astronomy, etc. However, I should say that my husband's an engineer, and I began my college career as a biology major [changed to English]; so, we obviously take science pretty seriously in our household.
One other thing I forgot to mention. I was talking to one of the librarians at the library on Tuesday and she was telling me that the American Girl books are spot on as far as history accuracy. We are planning on going into them mid year when we start our next school year. Just because I'm here, I'll share this too. We had a situation where we had an injured bat in our back yard. We took that opportunity to learn all we could about bats. We made crafts, read books, talked to the wildlife center, etc... I wasn't planning on doing a study at that time, but it took our interest for a few weeks and the girls learned so much! (so did I!) Another thing is my girls love the show on PBS - Zula Patrol, that has gotten us off on learning and exploring more on topics they have covered there. (granted they do the millions of years thing from time to time) but I don't focus on that now. Anyway, I've rambled more than what I had originally planned, but hopefully it helps reassure you some. :love:
Ok - I'm a textbook learner. I did well in school because of that. However, we seem to move through stuff pretty quickly. Am I laid back? Yes - with a lot of stuff we are.... especially science because we "live" in a life-science situation being on a farm - the kids see life and death a lot. As my son is getting older - thinking 7th grade now - I'm looking at school in a totally different way than I looked at it 2 years ago when we started because now I am looking at the future (high school to college work).
We're studying science this year using an elementary Apologia book on Zoology (swimming creatures)... I know that kids their ages don't concentrate on this at the school down the street but they love it. I know that we'll do things differently but in middle school, they'll complete a general and physical science course and get everything they might have "missed" and be ready for high school. If not, they'll learn it then. Honestly, I learned most of my science in middle/high school. I don't remember much for elementary school other than the names of the planets and the basic parts of a cell
Ediesbeads-I feel the same way. We are really relaxed compared to some others as well. I just try to remind myself that everyone's homeschool looks different because every family is different. My son (8) does math, reading and lang.arts workbooks just about every school day. We also play educational games in those subject as well. We only do writing/penmanship, health, science and s.s. occasionally. Next week I'm going to increase the amount of work/time my son spends on penmanship and writing. He really needs to work on that. For Science and Social Studies I've been checking out books and videos from the library. I looked up what the local elementary 2nd graders were working on in those areas and I'm checking out things according to that. For science so far we've done some dinosaurs books and coloring worksheets, information on whales, ants and magnets. I've also done some kitchen experiments with my kids. I bought a couple of how to do experiment books from a yard sale last summer. What I'm afraid of is that if my hubby loses his job in the upcoming weeks, I might have to some how find a job and put my kids in public school in the fall. I have this fear that if my son goes back to school they will want to put him in special ed or have him repeat 2nd grade. That thought makes my stomach churn...well, also the thought of putting him back in the school that I took him out of. I don't want to hear or see the look of "I told you so" from the staff. BTW-I have heard that the American Girl books are great for history. I might be getting biased information though as my hubby's co-worker's wife does the research for the books!
I agree that for the younger elementary grades the 3 R's are most important but as they get into 4th and 5th grade I think science and history/geography need to start coming into play. I'm not huge on science and it's taken a backseat to other things,but we did finally settle on Real science 4 kids. My youngest son (11 Y.O) is a MAJOR science buff. So he chose Chemistry. It's amazing all the things that I am starting to remember. And I'm having SO much more fun than when I actually "went" to school!! I LOVE homeschooling my kids.
Competitive parents I totally agree with the previous comments and pieces of advice - as both a teacher, ex-homeschooler, and mum. Apparently we forget EIGHTY PER CENT of the facts we learn at school - astounding isn't it? It's the HOW that counts. So if you're teaching your children how to ask questions, how to explore ideas, the excitement of finding out what you want to know- you're doing all the right things! Just keep on providing the materials (including books, computer links etc) that they need, and encouraging creative thinking and problem-solving... (Incidentally, while homeschooling my 3 children - having pet mice proved an amazing learning experience; from caring for another living thing, to building all sorts of amazing 'obstacle courses' in the garage to keep the mice happy... they learned HEAPS..) Also check out the Willard price series of novels. Oldies but absolute goldies. As long as your kids understand that they're a bit dated (i.e. sexist - all the boys are strong and handsome and Do things, girls are the pewling vulnerable ones..) then they will actually laugh at the outdated parts- but the amount of information and mind-stimulation about science, history, biology in them is fantastic.... Cheers! Jean (in New Zealand)
I was an unschooler up until last year. It just was not working for my boys. You are doing fine. I didn't read the other posts but I will assume that they are telling you that "If it works for your family and everyone is happy then don't worry about it." That is my advice. If YOU are worried that they are truly not progressing and YOU don't like the relaxed atmosphere then look into changing. But I have learned myself and speaking to my friends (several unschoolers) that if you really try and go against your natural feel for homeschooling it won't work. Try and find an unschooling conference in your area. It will really give you some confidence that your approach is just fine, and that "oh my goodness, I could never be THAT relaxed!:lol:" It might cost you $$, but it will really be worth your piece of mind. The biggest thing you will learn (and you already know) is that unschool kids progress at a MUCH different rate than schooled kids and even homeschooled kids with a more structured approach. My GF basically unschools her kids. Her 14y dd is doing 5-6 math (would be in 9th grade) - but she can add and subtract fractions (recipes), balance the checkbook, calculate interest for a loan or bank balance, etc. In other words - she has REAL LIFE skills that are way more valuable that the arbitrary grade of her math book. What are the goals of your family in homeschooling? If it is keeping up to grade level then yes, you might want to look at a more traditional approach. But if a natural progression of learning and real life skills are more your goal that you are on the right track.
Wow, the comments run the gammut don't they. I don't think the kids sit around and compare what they have learned. I pointed out the other day when one of his tv shows talked about the "Trojan Horse" as a weapon. We had studied it. So it was nice to make that connection. We talked about what Spartan means...which seemed to make an impression. But he couldn't tell me 3 days later. I was hoping he would remember Hamurabi and Laws...but he didn't. But he got the "joke" of a financial analysis company named Cerberus. He remembered where tantalize comes from. and what it means. None of his conversations with peers have included any of these bits of conversation. Few of my conversations with peers have included these sorts of references. (ok, one conversation the other day...someone said "the guy who came over the Alps with elephants" and I could say "Hanibal") Really, for history and science both I am hoping for kind of a general "oh, I have heard something about that somewhere." That being said, his writing really gets me down...but can I expect him to write at grade level if he doesn't read at grade level...and isn't this WHY we are hs?? So he can succeed, even if it is not on the same timeline as everyone else? So maybe my kid will be ahead or behind, but I am trying to leave those sorts of designations out of it. He is just my child, learning. I am just his mother, doing my best. You are too.
not reading the whole thing.. but to encoruage you, my friend's daughter goes to what I consider a progressive high school, very good school system etc, she has high grades and is doing ap classes... we played some trivia type games with vocabulary word type things ( Apples to Apples the regular version) my kids knew what things meant, who people were.. now mind you we have actually played th game before but even then they knew how to fake it if they did not know it, and how to figure it out from the discriptions.... I considered our methods a cross between stressed out too much work to laid back. The more this year progresses the more laid back I have become, but I am working on that! History book got lost for ds, so we are focused more on our secondary history class and map work at the moment.. Aside from last week when we had guests! Science is weak this year but I know we will make up for that in the coming years its his last year of grade school or his first year of jr high depending on the district! lol Next year will be one child so I will be overwhelming him with teaching I am sure! The good thing is that we CAN relax nwo and again with our schooling because we have many years in which to teach. The bad thing is that we do have to keep up to certain levels so that as someone put the kids dont feel dumb in front of thier peers.
I've been thinking about the "keeping up with peers" and my situation here. You know I thought about when my cousin and I were in public school. We went to different districts and when we would have sleep overs and talk about school, I was always amazed at the way her school did things, they didn't do things in the same order we did. She was learning about things differently than I was, but you know, we both ended up with a high school education. So just because the family down the street is learning about "this" today and mine are learning about "that" -- eventually they both will know "this and that" when they cross the finish line.
I think Mamakittycat has an excellent point. When the boys talk about what they are doing...one in private school is in 5th grade doing a 15 page paper on oh, now I can't remember (15 pages for heaven sake!!!) and the ps 6th graders a 6 page paper on an assigned country...My ds is grateful to be hs...we just have discussions about these things... these are the tear producers I was trying to avoid!
I don't know if you are because I haven't started yet but I thought that was the whole purpose of homeschooling was being more flexible and teaching your own way. I think it is great that you care about doing enough. Good job
I hate the writing assignments, too, but at some point the kids must produce a well written paper. If it gets avoided and avoided, when does this happen? I hear you on just discussing things, but that also doesn't teach writing skills. We've got a writing assignment next week, and I dread it already.:roll: Jeannie definitely does not like to write-- except for the annual Christmas list!:wink:
