you can do it! i just want to encourage you, all the reasons you list are strong reasons to homeschool. you can do a much better job! the reasons i decided to hs, just a few months ago is that there just isnt enough time in the day after the kids are at school til 3 to really know your child, to teach them the values our family holds high, to de-tox them from what they have been through all day,my ds wanted to read books that were 6th grade level and was refused cus he is was in 2nd grade, and found it difficult to try to make a positive impact on my child for 4 hours til bedtime. i think your reasons should motivate you to be determined to do it! you are their mom, and you know what you want them to learn, and be influenced by, that should not stop just because your dc is kindergarten age.celebrate your freedom in this country to homeschool! i have a 5 yr old , i did not want her to go to kindg this fall. i also have a 9 yr old going to 3 rd grade.just this summer i have taught her to read!! and my ds already knows most of his multiplication facts! i have learned so much in the last 3 months, i am convicted to homeschool now! i am going to take it one year at a time. since you have a time cut off to have to go back to work. you can plant wonderful seeds of knowledge in your children until that day comes. go for it! the ladies here have encouraged me so much, i am so excited to be able to return it to you!
TxSandMom, Even if you can't hs your children until they graduate any time spent hsing with your kids is worth the time and the effort. You and your kids will LOVE it. We have been hs for 10 years and it has been the best time in my life. I wouldnt trade it for anything. It is a bit overwhelming and intimidating at first but believe me, you will do really well. We had many reasons for hs. One was that the school will let anyone come on the grounds and take kids without any questions. I have personal experience with that when a friend asked me to pick her nephew up from school early. New to town with my spiked (80's) bleach blonde hair I walked into school and asked the nephew to leave his mom wanted him and nobody stopped me or even gave it a second thought. Two, there were a couple teachers that we knew that would call the students "Stupid"! , many more, too many to list. I feel that my kids have learned a lot and raising kids is like building a foundation on a house, without a strong foundation the house will fall. Same with kids, we have instilled in them to be strong and independant, stand up for their convictions (some adults dont even have convictions) and not to go with the crowd. They may be the only kids in town wearing bike helmets when riding their bikes but when my son had a serious crash on his bike that helmet saved him from serious head injuries according to our dr. It takes a pretty strong individual to not go along with the rest of the kids and to say no. So when you hs you have more time with your kids and influence rather than ps teachers having their influences like the Grinch. Some kids tried to convince my boys to break the rules at the skate board park and even told my boys that it was "okay" my boys said, "No, we know what the rules are and we arent going to break them, besides how would it look if the mayor's son's were breaking the rules at the park"? Go with your heart and you will do fine. You are in my thoughts and prayers!
Hi and Welcome! I'm Tina and I don't live too far from you. I'm in ice cream country,ie. Blue Bell. :lol: . I'm between Brenham and Navasota. :wink: This is my 6th yr homeschooling and I can you tell the reason I took out my oldest 1/2 way through K was because his teacher was always going to workshops. He was left with a substitute (very nice she was) watching movies all day. :roll: My heart was broke :cry: because I knew even though I had two others at home (toddler and newborn) that I could give him more. I didn't know how since I wasn't getting much sleep, but I knew he cried when he was away from me. It was his natural enviroment in which to learn. I feel your sentiment :wink: I can tell you this and I speak from my heart: That no matter how little/how much you homeschool your children will gain leaps and bounds from it. You and I both know that no matter how well intention and extremely nice a ps teacher is, the teacher/student ratio rate is just too high. Especially in the early stages of development, we know how important it is to get those basics. Its so hard to do in a classroom with high teacher/student ratio. If you are privileged to live in a smaller town..children still prosper in an enviroment where their own learning style is nurtured. Its one size fits all in ps. Even if you hs for a short time, your children will benefit from your *gut instinct*. One of the reasons I homeschool is so that I can stay on ONE subject long enough for them to *wrap their minds and hearts* around. I don't have to teach to the test. We can learn for the love of learning,kwim? :wink: Yes and all the holiday celebrating in the younger years takes a lot of time away from things that are more important to learn. We follow a classical education in our style. We cover history in chronological order and we don't start with community helpers but with Ancient Egypt and Greece. We cover science ONE topic each year. Life Science first all year, Earth science this year, and we will be starting Chemistry this year. My boys are 10,8 and 5yo. We can do music, gymnastics and even started Latin in 3rd grade. Is it easy? Absolutely Not! However, I can say this, that it is the most FULFILLING jobs I have ever had!! My previous background is in the court sytem/law. None of that compares to being with my children, ingraining moral values, high educational standards, a love of family, love of God and especially a love of learning that will hopefully stick with them their whole lives. We have very little time for TV around here, too much to learn and do :wink: I can't speak praises enough about homeschooling even if it is for a short time. The 1:1 time you can give them now will put them far ahead of their peers. Trying to raise independent self learners is possible even going to public school. It just takes a parent realizing their God given responsibility. Children will naturally flourish in an enviroment of learning that is safe, mostly germ free, loving, secure and stable. I think its important to have your husband's support. Even though I do a majority of the teaching, my dh backs me up 100% . He is my anchor and brings me back to reality when I have set unrealistic goals in my hsing. If you decide to homeschool, we will help you every bit of the way. :wink: I will help get you in touch with groups,co-ops and otherwise other homeschoolers in you area who can help make your first year a smooth one. We are glad you are here!
You know, you can request other lessons at Christmastime. I recently bought a carload of stuff from a teacher who retired, and in there was an entire collection of lessons for her students who were Jehovah's Witnesses. She had worksheets, lessons and activities for them to use during the holidays when those familiies don't observe.
I would think that a public school would make it mandatory to teach about all the traditions around that time (Hannakah, Kwanza, Christmas, etc.). That's what many of ours do. I once had a pair of twin girls who were Muslim in one of my classes and we always talked about what they celebrated too so they didn't feel left out. What kind of movies do they watch? Are they educational pertaining to the curriculum? As far as learning things they aren't interested in though, wouldn't you prefer your child to have the knowledge of those things anyways rather than only learn things that they like? In a way I feel like I am going back on everything that I believe in (I hate the fact that schools push kids into knowing certain things that are just not necessary-i.e. algebra I hate and can't ever get it, therefore I don't think I should have been required to know it), however, it's good for all kids to be well rounded, in a certain respect. If you are that upset about certain things then I think you already know what you want to do. To each is own. If you have a strong desire to hs, then hs! I am sure you can give your child more than they could at her young age.
Welcome! Welcome, TxSandMom! I'm Anne. I hs my ds, who is 7 yrs. old. He's in second grade (we just started 2nd in July). I'm a teacher, but I would much rather teach ds at home. He would not thrive in a classroom, at least not academically. He's VERY social, so he'd LOVE entertaining his classmates, but that's not what school is for! So I've taught him from day one and plan to keep on teaching him through high school. :-D
The Holiday Thing..... Let me tell you how it was in my school. It's almost impossible to totally cut out Christmas, Easter, Valentine's and Halloween. Now, I personally don't "do" Halloween. But my class did take part in the school-wide costume parade, followed by a party in each classroom. We encouraged non-scary costumes, but couldn't really enforce that. And the building was decorated with jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, etc., though most of them were "cute" ones. Worksheets had them on, art lessons were built around them, etc. I tried to do as little that way as possible. What I DID do was teach a unit on the skeleton, so it was a legitimate unit rather than a Halloween-related one. I would also get a classical music tape called "Fright Night...Music That Goes Bump in the Night". We would then listen for the musical patterns that would occur in classical pieces, such as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" or "Night on Bald Mountain", or "La Danse Macabre". With Christmas, we would start our practicing for our program during Choir (whole-school participation!) in October. The whole week was practically a waste for anything other than practice. Teachers were expected to be VERY flexible to the whim of the choir directors. We also had Santa coming and visiting with EACH CHILD. Of course, there was no real religious Christmas of any kind! Again, the art, writing, reading, etc. would center around the holicay. Frosty, Santa, Rudolph and cute angels would be on every worksheet. Yes, you can have worksheets without those things for Jehovah Witnesses, etc., but you cannot erase the holiday from the entire building.
