So, I'm going to start homeschooling for the first time next week (officially), even thought for the last 3 weeks, I've been having my son (10 yrs old) learn his do some work every day, to get him ready. He never learned his multiplication tables in school, but over the last three weeks, he's learned them up to 8x9. I also have him reading one chapter from a book he got at the library, and writing a summary for it each day. He has hardly given me any resistance to learning and working. I've decided to do the whole "school-at-home" thing, because it seems the easiest and most organized way to start out, for me. Also, I feel like my son does best when he has a predictable schedule and lots of structure. So this is what my day is like now, and then what I expect it to be in a week: DH and I wake up our son, and I make breakfast while DH showers. My son makes his bed, gets dressed and combs his hair before coming to the table. After we eat, he brushes his teeth, then he empties the dishwasher and puts the clean dishes away, and then puts any dirty dishes in the washer while I shower and get dressed. Then we all hop in the car to drop DH off at work (we only have one vehicle), and come back home. As soon as we get home, it's about 9am, and I start him on whatever 'summer school' work I have planned for him. We break for lunch, and then work a little more and then he's free for the rest of the day. I've already organized what will be his portfolio, so that I can maintain it to meet state requirements, and I've worked out a basic schedule and lesson plan to start out with for next week. On August 30th, he starts back up with bi-weekly choir rehearsals, and I'm looking into some different activities available at the community center down the street. Am I doing this right? Am I being entirely too anal about the whole thing? I also forgot to mention that I am expecting my second child in early October, so we'll have to break from school for a few weeks then, and make up the days later on in the year. :?::?:
I'm all for the "whatever works for your family" style of homeschooling! It sounds like you've got it all worked out, and "easing into" a full program with just multiplication and reading/writing sounds just right to me. Activities, some but not too much, according to his likes sounds great - we don't have a lot of that around here, so we pretty much have to "make our own" activities or drive anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or so to get anywhere to do anything! You guys have fun, now, y'hear?
LOL I must sound like a total perfectionist control-freak in my post! I'm really not, I promise (well, ok, maybe just a little). I do know I'm going to have to be flexible, and that there will be days where we don't complete the nifty little schedule I've come up with. But my son is very receptive to all of this, and he's shown a lot of progress in just a few weeks. I made a chore chart for him, which is working out really well. It lists everything that I expect him to do on a daily basis, and we've only had 3 off days in 3 weeks. Also, I set up his school area in the kitchen as far away from other distractions as possible.
There's no such thing as "doing it wrong". If it works for you, that's what matters. I'm definately not a "school-at-home" person, but the beauty of homeschooling is that you can do what works best for you. If you find out later it isn't working, you can always change.
I found that school-at-home worked really well for me starting out. As you go on you will develop a style that works best for your family. Sounds like you have a GREAT start tho =)
I agree-whatever works for your family. School-at-home with schedules and such wouldn't work for our family at all, but it doesn't mean it's not best for you and yours. Some people (and kids are people too!) need more structure than others, some need more freedom. If it's working for you, then it's not wrong That's the great thing about homeschooling-it's not one size fits all!
Thanks. Ive been working really hard to organize everything. I figure that j I start out wu organized, that it will be a lot easier to stick with it throughout the year. It's gonna be a bit tough when the baby is born, but I have some plans for that, like letting my son just do online math and other educational games for a few weeks instead of all text book stuff.
Yes, I am still reading some books I got from the library about homeschooling, and getting some great ideas to implement later on down the line. I'm lucky to live in a state that is not too intrusive to homeshoolers, and has no attendance requirements, so a little missed time here and there when the baby is born will not be the end of the world.
sounds great. the great thing about homeschooling is that nothing is set in stone! You can tweak things as you go along. Congrats on your upcoming blessing!
