Part Two: Schedules

This is part two for a friend of mine who is considering homeschooling. It's always helpful to read someone else's "week in the life" so that you can get a ideas for your own.

Let me start by saying we are not very scheduled yet. Our oldest just turned 7 and doesn't need an immense amount of educational structure. For us, she is just starting the "Love of Learning" phase so our scheduling isn't rigorous. The time scheduled is the important part, not the content. For instance, we will schedule the first two hours after the breakfast dishes are done to learn. My seven year old steers most of what we do: Math game? Story of the World? Music? Gardening? Science? The other children have input and we do it together. Most often, the 3 and 5 year old will drop off the project first and the 7 year old will see it through.

In the fall, we will continue on Thursdays (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) with the ASLAND Commonwealth and Mondays with our Music classes at Children's Music Academy (5 and 7 year old). Since Monday and Thursday are mostly scheduled, it leaves Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday for choice of activities.

Here is a sample of our Fall schedule (our summer varies because we camp often):

DAILY: up by 7 a.m., breakfast by 8 a.m., dishes after breakfast: the girls (ages 3, 5 and 7) take turns cleaning off the table, sweeping the floor and helping load the dishwasher)

8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.--organized play/study time We do our religious studies first, then we draw from a variety of Montessori activities, math games, Story of the World, Travelling Friend/Geography, Writing Letters to Family and Friends or writing stories, Science experiments, etc. We sit down on Sunday evening and make out a schedule for the week. It is a mutable schedule; if something we're doing just isn't holding their attention, we find something else to do. The object is to INSPIRE.

10:30a.m. to 11:30 a.m. is free time play; around 11:30 a.m., the girls are responsible for picking up any mess made that morning in preparation for mealtime. Lunch is eaten together at the table, but often the girls make their own lunch and take much pride in it. After, they are responsible for cleaning up and putting their own dishes in the dishwasher (I empty it while they are cleaning up and preparing lunch).

One of the principles of the TJed education is that in Core Phase (approx age 0-8 +/- 80 yrs) you are teaching your children right/wrong, true/false and to WORK. Life is work. Survival is work. Every member of the house participates. My 18 month old helps with the laundry. She even puts her bowl in the dishwasher. :) We are a family unit.

After lunch, I put the 18 month old to bed. The older three play....and play...and play. The TV does NOT go on, unless it's a special occasion--at most three movies in a month. We started out an hour a day when I was pregnant and exhausted, then we went to an hour every other day and now we just don't turn it on before the kids go to bed, especially when the weather is nice. The kids can color, create, explore. My seven year old created a picture library--the three older children colored pictures and posted them on the glass doors that lead to the deck. Each person in the family could check out one picture for a day, then trade it for another to make their rooms more beautiful. She also made books and sold them to her Papa for $1 each. That's just the tip of the iceberg in imagination and innovation.

I try to study during the playtime hours, but I generally get little done with little ones. The object for me is to show the children that I study, to be a good example. Right now I am studying the book "The Making of America" and The Constitution of the United States of America. I'm preparing for Constitution Day and filling in the giant gaps in my education.

At about 4 p.m. I start dinner preparation. We have a large family, so the dishwasher is usually emptied (2 loads a day) and the floor swept again. I warn the children to start picking up their messes and anyone that wants to help cook can do so after the messes are clean.

After dinner together, we clean up and decide on an activity. I learned from the TJed book that I should be reading more with the kids as a family (more than just a couple kids books a day), so we're starting to incorporate at least a half hour of reading the classics a night and we'll increase that this summer. We just finished an abridged version of The Secret Garden and are starting on The Wizard of Oz. All of the kids sit and listen (though the 18 mo old isn't very attentive). They are not "picture books" but the kids love them! After that, we find a game to play or, if they made a particularly large mess that day, I have them finish up cleaning. Before bed, we write in our journal what we learned that day.

Our schedule is rather simple, so it works. It has lots of variations, though. Some days we go to the zoo instead of the structured time; when we do, we take a zoo report sheet and the kids pick an animal to draw and write something about the animal. Or we might go the museum and the same general idea applies.

We take field trips OFTEN. It helps to inspire the kids to see things in such a grand display. Our favorites are:

Museum of Natural History, Zoo, Botanic Gardens, smaller History Museums, nature trips to the Mountains, walks around the neighborhood, free concert performances, ...

Our schedule evolves. Be open to that. Scheduling time is important, so stick to that, but the beauty of homeschooling is that you can take opportunities when they arise. Yesterday, we visitied the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens because our schedule isn't tied down.

We thank God every day that we have the freedom to choose for ourselves and our family.

My Homeschooling Help and Hints:

• I would caution, however, that as a new homeschooler it's easy to get caught in the trap of wanting to do everything. We were involved in a co-op for a couple years that kept us so busy we had little time for playtime and family. You have to work hard at a balance; if you don't participate in any activities with other families, you feel isolated; but if you try to do too much, you become frazzled and the family unit starts to break down.
• This one is hard to hear for new homeschoolers: get rid of 90% of the toys. Just get rid of them. If your children are to be successful at keeping their personal belongings cleaned up, they need to have little to clean. If they have too many toys, they also lose the sense of pride in their things. Ask youself if you are providing the things for their benefit, or your own. If they are begging you for the latest thing in Hannah Montana or Transformers, turn of the TV for a month. Find out what is important when the constant advertising isn't bombarding your children.
• Limit the video games severely. How about 1 day per week for a few hours...for example, let the kids play on Friday night from 7 p.m. until whenever they pass out and that's it for the week. DO NOT turn on the TV. Simplicity.
• Don't underestimate what playtime gives your children. BOREDOM is good if there aren't 100 toys, video games and TV to choose from. Boredom leads to imagination and innovation.

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Brief Why? How? of Homeschooling

A friend of mine may be hearing the call to homeschool her children. She has so many questions, just as any parent has when starting the process.

Instead of a private email, I thought I'd post this here in case someone searching the internet is looking for answers to their questions. Perhaps it will not only help my friend, but other families.

WHY?

Although today the decision to homeschool is more widely accepted, there are still many people who don't believe in homeschooling. It's not uncommon to have a perfect stranger "quiz" your children to test how well they are educated at home.

Everyone has their own reasons for why, and often socialization is one of them. It is also the most widely asked question about homeschooling: "What about socialization?"

Definitions of Socialization:

Wordnet- train for a social environment; "The children must be properly socialized"

wiktionary: socialize - To interact with others; To instruct, usually subconsciously, in the etiquette of a society; To take into collective or governmental ownership

oregonstate.edu: the process by which culture is learned; also called enculturation. During socialization individuals internalize a culture's social controls, along with values and norms about right and wrong.

unk.edu: The process whereby individuals learn to behave willingly in accordance with the prevailing standards of their culture

wordnet: socialized - under group or government control; "socialized ownership"; "socialized medicine

Let's take these definitions into consideration. The first definition "training for a social environment" makes sense. How can we function as a society if we don't understand what is socially acceptable and moral. The question is: who is doing the training? Is it someone that shares your values? In most cases, a teacher has more than 10 students in a class. More often that number is closer to 20 or 25. How easy is it to teach every individual to make good moral decisions when there is one of you and 20 children? The result is that often one child is teaching another child by example. So you are not only dealing with adjusting social behavior in your own family, but you end up adjusting social issues brought in from other families. In a perfect world, elementary aged children would have rock solid morals that follow their family and the ability to influence their peers. How many adults do you know that can make good decisions when their peers are asserting pressure? Now imagine someone with little experience on this earth. If you are a family that is concerned about passing on your morals and values to your children, a homeschooling situation is optimal.

Let's consider the definitions "To take into collective or governmental ownership" and "The process whereby individuals learn to behave willingly in accordance with the prevailing standards of their culture." One of the first things I recommend to someone considering homeschooling is to read the book Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto. Written by an award-winning educator, it outlines the educational system today and how it schools children to "merely obey orders and become smoothly functioning cogs in the industrial machine." Isn't that taking us into collective ownership? The "prevailing standards of [our] culture" are not my own standards; I could rattle off a list of disagreements with societal standards, but instead I'll say that I value family, my children, modesty, commitment, charity/giving, personal accountability and working hard for what I have. If I were collectively owned, wouldn't I have to subscribe what the majority of people value? The trouble is, societal values change; what was once unacceptable becomes acceptable. I choose to educate my children to hold to their values, not change with the time because it's popular.

I address socialization first because it's the most commonly asked question. Children in a public school situation are trained to socialize with children their own age while in school. Homeschooled children are taught how to relate to all ages of children and adults during a typical school day. The parents have the opportunity to teach their own values that may or may not align with all of the social norms or prevailing standards.

What about your children having friends? Here is where parents have to leave their own insecurities behind and realize that it's not the VOLUME of friends, but the QUALITY of friendships your child finds. How many of us made friends in school with someone that was not really a good fit for us just because the person happened to sit next to us in school? In a different situation, would you have made friends with the same person? We cannot devalue the need for friendships, but children will find those in their daily lives: the neighbor, a friend in gymnastics class, a cousin, Girl Scouts/4H/Little Flowers, etc. And they will be more likely to find friendships from commonality than geography.

If you ask a homeschooling family the question "Why do you homeschool?" you will receive different answers from every family. Some prevailing answers are the lack of depth in the public schools, the lack of shared values, too much structure and not enough innovation, no parental control of content, too prevalent of a social agenda, little emphasis on American History or history in general, and the list goes on. My list evolves constantly and I'm always adding to my "Why I Homeschool" category. You can read all of my musings HERE.

If you're thinking of homeschooling and reading this, what is holding you back? I'm willing to wager it has more to do with the brain washing (only teachers who have learned to manage a classroom can teach, you're not smart enough to teach, your children need socialization, you can't teach what you're weak in) than with the facts. The truth is, if you're willing to put in the time and effort, the rewards are tenfold.

HOW?

Educational Content

This is very individual. The content of an education is dependent upon the goals, values and capabilities of the homeschooling parent.

Some parents choose to keep their children home while using all of the public education content--these are online schools that provide computers, content and testing. They are fully funded by the education system. I've seen parents very successful with this method of teaching in that the children exceed the standards of that particular school system. The bonus is that children are not subject to the socialization issues of a standard classroom and a parent doesn't have to be well-educated to be successful.

Another method is to find your own boxed curriculum. There are so many to choose from! These curriculum include teacher's editions with answers to the quizzes and tests, a student edition and often a workbook. You can find these for any subject! The beauty is that, again, you have to have some knowledge of a subject, but you don't have to particularly skilled.

Eclectic. Some parents love to find different resources on their own and don't follow any particular curriculum. With the resources available online and at the library for free, it's easy to put together a curriculum that is inexpensive. Often, though, these parents have the ability to be critical about the information available, so some good knowledge of the subjects is necessary. Some parents used boxed curriculum for certain subjects and put together their own for other areas.

Unschooling. This is a broad definition. It ranges from those who never sit at a table with their children to do "schoolwork" to those who spend every day schooling but use different methods like museum visits, book choices, or simply they study whatever the child wants to study.

These are all very broad and just touch on the "How" of homeschooling. The truth is, it can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. It can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you choose.

So HOW do you choose? Meet other homeschooling families (join a support group or an online group, read the thousands of blogs on the internet). After learning all you can, make a choice for your family and seek out a support group that is using a similar method of education. There are unlimited resources, sample family schedules, lists and lists of field trip ideas, even free lesson plans online. The beauty is: you can change what you're doing at any time. Are you worried that changing will hurt your children? I read awhile back ( I wish I could find the original reference) that if you take an illiterate/uneducated adult who is WILLING, you can teach the information from grade 1 through grade 12 in 80 hours. Will changing course hurt you? No, and it's likely to renew your commitment to the teaching process.

Before I go any further, though, this must be said:

You can TEACH your children. YOU DO NOT EDUCATE them. They must choose to educate themselves. You can INSPIRE your children and provide them with information. You can mentor them with sharing what you know. Anything you force into them will be remembered "for the test." How much of what you learned in school do you remember? Why?

Here is my recommended reading list for parents who are considering homeschooling:

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto.

A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille

This is the book that helped us establish our educational principles and the one that reformed our education. It centers around having a mission, learning to be a leader, and education by classics and mentors. Here is more information in a previous post.

Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery by David H Albert

The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

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A Thomas Jefferson Education

Not long ago, a friend of mine asked me to read a book called "A Thomas Jefferson Education." She was inspired by the book and thought I (we-other members of our homeschool group) would be inspired as well.

Quite honestly, I read parts of it, but with the busy holiday season I didn't really absorb it. From her descriptions, though, I knew it might be something I'm interested in. From the little information I had, we decided to attend the first colloquium she hosted which included the seminar: "Face to Face with Greatness: “The Four Lost American Ideals” by Dr. Demille. It was really informative and, quite honestly, sparked a passion in me I haven't felt in a couple years.

This set me off on a reading mission. I didn't find many of the books I need at the bookstore, so I've had to order them online. They include the book I mentioned above and the book Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning. I also bought a bound book/reproduction of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution, Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton and a book about the founding fathers.

To round out my week of inspiration, I attended an online class called "Inspiring and Responding: Nurturing a Love for Learning in the Hearts of Our Children." Which led me to read a bit more about TJEd online.

The result? A re-evaluation of my educational philosophy.

I know, from personal experience, that when I'm passionate about something I will literally spend hours and hours learning about my passion. If I need to know the answer to something, I will go to great lengths to learn the answer.

And important facet of a TJEd education is:

"Inspire instead of Require."

I've done my share of requiring over the last few years, but for the most part, I've tried to inspire. We started with a Math curriculum that was so very repetitive it was making ME crazy so instead of requiring all of the silly repetitiveness, we picked a few problems per lesson and solved them, then moved on to the next. Even that got boring, so I found a Math Games book at the library and we started playing math games that the kids love. We spend time at the zoo, museum, park and camping as a family, we read and learn things together.

But I've also made the mistake of gross overscheduling. After taking a three month hiatus from most of our activities, I realized that I had fallen into the public perception trap: that unless I socialize my children OFTEN they will have problems. Because, after all, kids should be in school to socialize.

In my core, I just felt that something was wrong with the way we were doing things. We had little time at home together--which was one of the main reasons we homeschool. The girls had less and less time to just "play" together and our home was falling into complete disarray.

I read something after our first colloquium that just "clicked" for me:

"The establishment of the Core occurs roughly between the years of 0-8; the maintenance and nourishment of the Core is a life-long process. …This consists of the lessons of good/bad, right/wrong, true/false, and is accomplished through work/play....Spend most of his time at home with his family, being nurtured and loved" ---Oliver Van DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education, 2nd Edition, pages 31-32

A-ha! That's why I was feeling unsure about our direction. Before our hiatus, we had two music classes on monday (one for A and one for K), A 3-4 hour co-op on Tuesday morning with a few other families then an hour of playtime followed by an hour of gymnastics, on Wednesday we often had a field trip and then later swim lessons, Thursday was our only down day (though we often filled it with a field trip) and Friday K has an all-day once-a-week school. Our weeks were packed!

And just when I was receptive, TJEd dropped in my lap. God works in mysterious ways. Another facet of TJEd is a center around your "core book." You decide what that core book is. Of course for us, it's The Bible. It's what teaches us our morals and values. It's the basis for how we decide our mission in life.

TJEd is leadership education. One of our reasons for homeschooling is to create adults who can think critically, are leaders, and have a sense of the purpose and mission that God has for them.

From the TJEd.org website:

"Leadership Education has three primary goals. First, to train thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs, and statesmen—those with understanding and competence to lead society (do things right) and the moral character to act with integrity in the areas they lead in (do the right thing). Second, to perpetuate freedom by helping people understand what freedom is and what must be done to maintain it, and inspiring them to actually do the difficult things required to make it happen. Third, teach students how to think, which is how the first two goals must be accomplished. Those who know how to think are able to lead effectively and help a society remain free and prosperous, while those who know only when or what to think will be unable to do so."

I could ramble on and on, but it's late.

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Short Homeschooling statistics movie

And I thought this was an interesting quote from a homeschooling mom; this was said by a private school teacher (her daughter's teacher before pulling her out):

"Your parents think they know you, they don't know you *I* know you. I'm the one who is with you all day long."

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Teacher bullies children who support McCain

This is from a Finnish documentary about our election.

VIDEO
Click on the video and watch the footage.

The "VOICE" is the teacher.

VOICE: Obama -- oh, Lord, John McCain.

GLENN: Stop, stop, stop, stop. Did you hear this? Anybody pulling for John McCain? It's okay. Who are you? Obama. Who are you? John McCain. "Oh, Lord." Do you hear this? This is subtly, a teacher subtly telling you, "Oh, you're stupid." Continue.

VOICE: Obama. John -- oh, Lord, John McCain.

VOICE: John McCain.

VOICE: Oh, Jesus, John McCain.

GLENN: Stop. Listen to that. "Oh, Jesus, John McCain." Are you going to answer if your teacher is reacting to John McCain? "Oh, Jesus, John McCain. Okay." Wow. Continue.

VOICE: Oh, Jesus, John McCain. Okay. Now I want to ask you something. Why are you pulling for John McCain? And it's okay but why are you pulling for John McCain?


.....

VOICE: So in other words, Barack is going to end that war in Iraq. What do you-all know about that war in Iraq? Huh? Your dad's in the military. Talk.

VOICE: It's a senseless war. And by the way, Kathy, the person that you're picking for President said that our troops could stay in Iraq for another 100 years if they need to. So that means your dad has to stay in the military for another 100 years.

It's one thing to discuss the election and even ask kids questions about what they know. She seriously crossed the line into indoctrinating her children into believing what she believes.

Another reason I homeschool......

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Who was the first president of the United States?

Nope, it's not who you think!

Washington was the first president under the CONSTITUTION. George Washington didn't start his presidency until 1789 but independence was declared in 1776!

Why is it that our own White House doesn't list anyone before Washington? http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/chronological.html

There were 7 presidents before him.

Who were they?

Hanson was the first.

"The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation. This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large amounts of land). Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the Revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress. "
http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one-year term during any three-year period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time. He served in that office from November 5, 1781 until November 3, 1782. He was the first President to serve a full term after the full ratification of the Articles of Confederation – and like so many of the Southern and New England Founders, he was strongly opposed to the Constitution when it was first discussed. He remained a confirmed anti-federalist until his untimely death.
Six other presidents were elected after him - [b]Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) - all prior to Washington taking office. Why don't we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United States? It's quite simple - The Articles of Confederation didn't work well[/b]. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to be written - something we know as the Constitution.

Raise your hand if your school taught this in your American History class.

Nope, mine didn't either.

It seems rather important to understand that we had our own trials and failures as a country before adopting the Constitution.

Apparently, my children are going to fail the standardized question "Who was the first president?" Perhaps they will have to ask the examiner whether the question refers to the first president, or the first president under the Constitution.

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Afraid of a little competition?

Oprah's done it, Cartoon Network has done it, and now Subway.

"What?" you ask.

Exclude homeschoolers.

Oprah apologized that it was an "oversight" (do you believe that?) and the Cartoon Network, which had in 2006 opened the registration and free playground equipment to homeschoolers (we did receive a set for our homeschool group) subsequently opened contests and giveaways to only "registered public schools."

Now Subway, which is hosting a writing contest, has excluded homeschoolers.

"Contest is open only to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted"

Do they have a right to make that choice? Of course they do! Perhaps they are wondering what a homeschooling family would do with the grand prize. In our homeschooling family, or in our group, it would likely be donated to a local charity or recreational facility that needs it. There isn't a single family that couldn't do with the runner up prizes of a scholastic gift basket, a $100 gift card to subway or seeing the story published in a magazine.

They have every right to set the rules for their contest, just as all of the outraged homeschoolers have the right to not support their business.

BTW, I haven't watched Oprah in years and my kids don't even know the Cartoon Network exists. ;)

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An article by a "friend of a friend"

COMMUNITY ESSAY: SAN DIEGO

The real cost of teacher layoffs

By Mark A. Mathewson
April 27, 2008

We keep hearing from the educational powers that be that all their decisions are made “with the best interest of the children in mind.” Well, in light of the news on education cuts, it seems that the children are being served least.

I am a 38-year-old father of two young boys. I gave up a 10-year career in the IT field to follow my dream of becoming a teacher. I have been told countless times that second-career professionals, especially males, from the private sector are one of the most coveted commodities in the public school system, that we can really fill a void as role models.

But how are we going to get new professionals entering education when sobering facts about teaching today are revealed, such as Time magazine's February article on education. Its research indicates annual teacher turnover costs the nation about $7 billion each year. Secondly, that “between a quarter and a third of new teachers quit within their first three years on the job, and as many as 50 percent leave poor, urban schools within five years.”

I certainly know why. This job is hard. Yes, harder than I even expected. And the pay is not commensurate with the amount of work required. I know this firsthand, having held many professional positions with more achievable expectations and reasonable hours for much more pay. In fact, I am now enrolled in a masters program primarily to raise my salary to nearly what I was making in the private sector five years ago.

And now another new concern over job security comes onto the scene. As a third-year teacher, I understand that I am in a somewhat precarious situation as far as seniority. But when 14 out of the 24 teachers at my “poor, urban school” receive notices in March that they will likely lose their jobs in June, some of whom have six years of experience, I realize that even if I make it through layoffs this time, chances are I'll face another layoff in my near future.

That being said, let me assure you that I didn't want to become a teacher because it was easy or for the pay, or even to have a job I could count on – those jobs don't exist in this world, and for good reason. I am one of those individuals who not only loves teaching, but wants to give something back to my community, and my country as well. The look on my students' faces as they discover something new is really priceless.

Yet, I need to tell you that damage is already being done in taking young student minds off the track of learning.

At Baker Elementary in Southeast San Diego, our students are in need of stability. For many of them, there is already an incredible uncertainty that permeates their daily lives: family, financial, gangs, to name a few.

I had not mentioned to my fourth-grade class that I had received a layoff notice, as I was concerned about their worrying. But word gets out in a school environment and today, Alicia, in her subdued but unusually probing voice, asked, “Mr. Mathewson, you aren't going to be fired, too, are you?” Where the room had been getting progressively quiet, now you could hear a pin drop. Twenty-six pairs of eyes stared at me. I slowly sat down at the chair at the front of the room and began. “I hadn't planned on talking about this today, but let me explain what Alicia is talking about.”

It didn't matter how delicately I presented the facts. In the end it came down to my children calling out the names of their beloved teachers of years past, or the fifth-grade teachers they were hoping to get next year. When nearly 60 percent of their school's teachers have received pink slips, you can be sure someone really special to them was leaving.

I have received my official layoff notice, which has nothing to do with merit or skills, having done nothing wrong. Still, many veteran teachers and administrators seem confident that in the end we will keep our jobs – that the state budget crisis will be averted at the eleventh hour.
Despite these hopeful assurances, coming from the private sector I've witnessed something else: If you are about to lose your job, you don't sit around and hope someone changes their mind. As a person with a growing family, I cannot take that chance. Lay me off once, shame on you; lay me off twice, shame on me. So, regrettably, I will leave this profession and likely will return to my prior one. I have been frustrated to the point of nearly throwing in the towel several times over the last three years. But I never thought in the end it would be the governor's decision to cut 10 percent of the education budget, and the school board's decision on how to execute, that cut right to the heart of our classrooms that forces me now to go.

None of that seems “in the best interest of the children” to me – but what do I know? I only used to be a teacher.


Mathewson, a fourth-grade teacher at Baker Elementary until June 30 of this year, is a San Diego resident.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080427/news_mz1e27mathew.html

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Sponges

I've often heard that children are sponges. We had a poem on a plaque posted in our house when we were children called "Children Learn what they Live"

Children Learn What They Live (1959)

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn . . .
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight . . .
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive . . .
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself . . .
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy . . .
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt . . .

BUT

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient . . .
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident . . .
If a child lives with , he learns to be appreciative . . .
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love . . .
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is . . .
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice . . .
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him . . .
If a child lives with friendlienss(sic), he learns the world is a nice place in which to live . . .

~Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

These things are all true!

Beyond this, though, I'm learning that though we try to shove education in them at all times, if given the chance they will learn many things without our constant intervention.

Dani is learning to recognize her alphabet. She can spell her name and can write some letters of the alphabet, but I've never sat down with her and formally taught her to recognize the letters as I did with Maisie. It's also the next child syndrome--they see their siblings learning and want to jump in right along! I can see why larger families generally don't have a harder time than any other homeschooling family because the education of the older child spills down to the younger child.

It's amazing how much children learn!

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Definition of Homeschooling

There are many definitions of homeschooling. There are legal definitions defined by the state that govern how parents may homeschool their children. These range from parents being required to homeschool 100% with no public support and given few rules aside from occasional testing and record-keeping to those states that require every homeschooled parent to operate under an "umbrella" school and report to that particular school their curriculum and schedule.

There are also other definitions such as:

*Students are considered to be homeschooled if (1) they are ages 5–17 in a grade equivalent to at least kindergarten and no higher than 12th grade; (2) their parents report them as being schooled at home instead of at a public or private school for at least part of their education; and (3) their part-time enrollment in public or private schools does not exceed 25 hours a week. Students who are schooled at home only because of a temporary illness are not considered to be homeschooled students.

*Homeschooling (also called home education and sometimes spelled home schooling) is the education of children at home and in the community, in contrast to education in an institution such as a public or parochial school. In the United States, homeschooling is the focus of a substantial minority movement among parents who wish to provide their children with a custom or more complete education which they feel is unattainable in most public or even private schools.

Frankly, the laws in general are crappy. If you homeschool, you don't receive financial support from the state even though you are paying taxes for your public schools and your children receive no benefit. If you choose to homeschool, you're on your own.

There are ways to homeschool inexpensively! The internet is a great resource these days, and the library is invaluable.

However, there ARE some public programs worth a second look. But beware...if you choose to enroll in any of these programs, you may get some fallout from those homeschoolers that consider themselves "true" homeschoolers.

Case in point: There is a particular homeschool group locally that has a "Board of Directors" (not a true board as it is not a non-profit group and does not conduct itself as a Board of Directors) that will not allow anyone to serve on their board unless they are homeschooling under the strict definition of homeschooling. When one of the board members of that group found out that myself and a friend (we are both FORMER board members of that group) are now utilizing a program called H.O.P.E., she became irate and said she just couldn't BELIEVE that we didn't have a single board member serving under the strict definition of homeschooling.

The woman she complained TO is also enrolling her two children in the program. Boy, did she get an earful of insults!!

You see, according to these ladies, you're not really homeschooling and you don't deserve to be called homeschoolers if you use any public programs. I heard that phrase from all 3 of the board members numerous times while serving on their board and it was one of the reasons I had to leave that group.

I don't pretend to know what is right for families. What I do know is that any family taking an extremely active role in their children's education deserves to be called a homeschooler. There are those who use an online academy to access computers, resources, curriculum and instruction, but do it all from home including field trips and enrichment. I don't see any reason why they are any less homeschoolers--they spend just as much time educating their children as "traditional" homeschoolers.

There is also a 1 day a week Options Program that allows homeschoolers to connect with other homeschoolers and have some enrichment one day a week with public funding. In our case, the program is run under the umbrella of a charter school and the money received is in complete control of the H.O.P.E. program. The program itself is run by homeschooling moms with kids either still in school, or have attended the H.O.P.E. program. This program was started because a group of moms were running a cooperative in the same fashion and they were having troubles keeping it funded, thus they applied for public funding.

We benefit from the program through no-cost curriculum in up to 8 areas (core + electives) and some enrichment we wouldn't otherwise have or would pay for. These include Physical Education (group games, team activities) which we could participate in if we were willing to drive 30 miles and pay $16 a month for it. Sign Language classes, stand-alone science experiments, Math games, and ART--something I'm not always good at providing.

The sacrifice--one day a week my kid is in class with 7 other children...yep, 1 teacher for 8 children. And I get some of my tax dollars back.

The kids are in this program 6 hours X 35 weeks...a little over 1/4th of their required contact/instruction hours for the state. The rest is up to me. I have to educate, keep records, abide by the testing/evaluation requirements. But alas, I am not a true homeschooler under the definition of the board members of that group.

Of course, when we WERE board members of that group, none of our children were old enough to fall under the homeschool law. SO technically, they already had two board members that weren't homeschooling legally :) Wonder if they realize that?

I've never believed that anyone should "do it alone." There is a reason we have family and community. It's the smart people that know how to use their resources. After all, it's not about your own EGO...it's about the best education for your children.

I'm confident my children are being well-educated and are well-adjusted, polite, and happy. My 5 year old can read and knows basic addition. My 3 year old knows her letters. My under two year old knows her colors. They all eat healthy and not one is overweight or obese. And I'm smart enough to know how to use my resources.

I'm a homeschooler.

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WWH: School Lunches

When I started writing this post, I did a quick google on School Lunches. Not surprisingly, I scrolled through 2 pages of "pro-school lunch" articles, all written by either a school district or a blog/website that specifically supports school lunches.

In general, I don't believe that school lunches are necessarily "bad." For many families in our country, it's sadly the only balanced meal their children get in a day. In our era of fast food convenience, french fries are considered a vegetable and a school lunch may be the only time something green (other than a fruit roll up) is offered.

However, kids left to make their own decisions don't always make the best decisions. I know that my 5 year old, left to make her own milk decision, would choose chocolate milk (which we don't drink at home) simply because the word "chocolate" is in the title.

According to Calorie King:
1 cup of 1% Chocolate Milk has 158 calories, 2.5 grams of fat--24.8 g of SUGAR
1 cup of 1% plain white Milk has 105 calories, 2.4 grams of fat--0 g of SUGAR

I'm also opposed to the amount of sodium typical in a school lunch, as well as the added ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup (which seem to be in EVERYTHING these days), and the load of artificial flavors and preservatives laden in boxed, canned and pre-packaged foods.

As expected, left to their own accord, most kids will choose the "fun food" over the healthy food...such as chocolate milk over the plain milk or eating all of the pizza and none of the vegetables.

That's not to say that we hold all "fun" foods from our kids; we're not naive enough to think if we keep them from our children they will never want them. I'm sure there are many people who grew up without any treats and "went crazy" when they could finally choose for themselves. We allow the kids to choose occasional sweets, but the key for us is to teach that dessert is not necessary (and we RARELY have dessert after a meal) and that controlling ourselves with the sweets is important. Moderation is definitely the key.

One of the MANY reasons that we homeschool is to teach our kids good eating habits and reinforce them daily. We don't eat meals in front of the television but rather at the dining table. We very rarely snack in front of the television, minus the occasional bowl of popcorn for a movie as a family. Our goal is that our children know where their food comes from, the nutritional value of the food, and how to choose and prepare such food.

My goal for next year is to develop a decent garden. I'd planned to do it this year, but I'm just not up for it during this pregnancy. Next year we'll start with some basics: tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, green beans, etc. We want our girls to know how to grow their own food and appreciate where it comes from.

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The reality about public school...outrage

Many parents think they have control over what is taught to their children in school. The reality is, that's false. There was a Supreme Court ruling that when you choose to send your kids to public school, you choose to let the school teach the curriculum. When I first read that decision, I was outraged.

I'm further outraged today. A local public high school in Boulder had an assembly on sex education and drugs. Here were the types of things that the speakers said at this assembly:

• Have lots of sex--sex with the same sex, opposite sex, whatever sex, just not incest because you can end up with pregnancy with genetic problems
• Clinical pysch/speaker says: "I'm going to encourage you to have sex, I'm going to encourage you to experiment with drugs."
• Speaker says--I don't like condoms, I can't keep an erection, frankly they are terrible, that's what they don't tell you about condoms
• A student asks if she should have sex with someone that doesn't really care about her--the speaker says, "of course." Some of the best sex I've had is with someone who didn't love me.
• Go ahead and do drugs and have sex, just do it responsibly.
• Speaker mentions that sometimes when he has sex, he has blips of thoughts about young people
• Even now there are psychologists who have sessions under the influence of Ecstacy...if I had some now, maybe I'd do it with somebody.

I know it sounds outrageous, but I've heard the actual clips. If you're interested, you can listen to clips and the ENTIRE audio HERE (I'm not sure how long this link will be valid, I hope for at least awhile).

I've often heard "this wouldn't happen in my school." Maybe not, but I'm not willing to take the chance. My kids will know about sex--I'm a firm believer in education, but in such a way that my children learn how powerful sex is and that it is reserved for someone you love in a healthy relationship.

I worked at a clinic in college. For a year, I did health education. I saw the devastating effects of casual sex, I taught about the effects...and I don't want my children to have to learn the "hard way" about it.

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