Five things we love about homeschooling:
1. Freedom to choose our own curriculum! The whole family loves the fact that we can choose any curriculum we like and change it if or when we need to. We had a big change from Time4Learning and ABCmouse last year to ABeka. This year we're using ABeka for Language Arts, Phonics, Creative Writing, and Arithmetic. Currently we're using Easy Peasy Homeschool to supplement our Arithmetic and Language Arts and as our full Science and History curriculum. Next year will probably be even more diverse than this year. We also use a variety of workbooks throughout the year to enforce other concepts mainly in Arithmetic and Language Arts because these are the two subjects that we concentrate on the most.
2. Less time intensive than public or private schooling. This is another thing that the whole family loves about homeschooling. Our day can begin when we're ready to begin and usually only lasts about 3 hours of book and computer work. The rest of our days are spent reading, learning more information about a topic that interested us from our morning work, or following our own interests. Elder Cracker Jack (11) especially likes this as it means that he gets to work with his hands around the house and on our vehicle with his father. They're taking swimming this year because we now have time for it. They're considering team sports and other classes because they're not bogged down with homework after school.
3. Freedom of scheduling! I know this could be considered part of number 2 but to us it's entirely different. If we need a wiggle day, a sick day, or a "I'd rather be ..." day then we can take it! No one but us is accountable for how we spend our time. Field trips can be planned or spur of the moment, no one tells us we have to be done by a certain time so that we can catch the bus back to school, and if we're not enjoying ourselves we can simply leave and find something else to do. The kiddos pointed out today that if they had been in public school for the last several days they'd have been sent home and had to go to the doctor, everyone is suffering from sinus and allergies due to weather change and the farmer's field being plowed next door. No one is sick but we're sniffling and coughing and this happens several times a year to almost all of us. When they were in public school this required a trip to the doctor each time and missed school which affected their attendance record which meant they never received awards for perfect attendance.
4. Learning real life skills! My kiddos have all always wanted to help in the kitchen, help with car maintenance, or home improvement projects. Now, every day one of them either makes lunch on their own or with help and at least once a week they each get a chance to help make dinner. Mommy is only in charge of breakfast when it requires the stove top and oven to make. ECJ spends part of almost every day doing something with the car or the house. he's learned to change tires, do tune ups, install light sockets (with MUCH supervision), use tools, hang doors, and much much more just in the past couple of months alone! Younger Cracker Jack (8) has spent a lot of her time figuring out crochet because she has a few projects in mind where the proceeds would go to help her favorite animal, the penguin. Peanut (5) works on her drawing every day, she's really interested in drawing and wants to get really good at it.
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| Lunch prepared by an 8 year old! |
5. Together time and more time outside! This is my personal favorite! The children are with us and if they need some extra Mom or Dad time they get it with no problems. Each one of my special children from time to time lose control of their emotions and need a shoulder to help them through it, they don't get teased about it here at home like they used to in public school. There is no pressure to "fit in". If the wiggles have taken over the house we simply move the lessons for the day outside. Not to mention since I began tracking our outside time a little over three weeks ago this means that the kiddos (and to a lesser degree myself) have spent almost 70 hours outside! This is a BIG deal when you have children who have too much energy or are easily frustrated by being "forced" to work through something that they simply are unable to grasp at the moment!
** Extra Credit!** YCJ has dyslexia and has major problems with the written word although her comprehension is wonderful. In the last two weeks something has "clicked" and she's reading on her own for the most part! No, she's not up to grade level in her reading yet BUT she IS getting there! Without homeschooling I doubt that we'd be at this point right now.
You can find us on Facebook at: Homeschool Camper
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Homeschooling really is wonderful lifestyle! Love your list and how you show us the benefits and flexibility of educating our children at home. What a blessing!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you!
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