Green and Natural Parenting » Homeschool

What Do Kids Really Learn in Public Schools?

Tiffany — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:06:17 +0000

(My daughter in an Amish schoolhouse)

I have written much about homeschooling versus public schooling. I have done both and each has advantages and disadvantages. I pretty much allow my kids to make their own choice as to the type of schooling they prefer and all three are in public schools right now. But for weeks now I have been considering pulling rank and taking my middle child, my daughter, out of school and continuing her education at home. I always thought she would be the best equipped to handle public schooling but some changes in her mood and behavior lately are causing some concern. She is only in Kindergarten for cripes sake but if this year is an indication of more like this to come… I am so very afraid.

Academically she is doing well and this is no surprise.. she is a VERY smart cookie. Socially she is doing well, she has friends and she enjoys school for the part. So I guess I am the one with the problem. I have a problem with her being more than a little obsessed with how fashionable her clothes are. I have a problem with her throwing tantrums if I try to make her wear the wrong color, a skirt that has not been bejeweled in some way, or heaven forbid.. a plain t-shirt. I have a problem with everything she wears or owns either adding to or detracting from her “popularity points” at school. No I am not kidding.

I have a BIG problem with my six year old little girl acting more like a freaking teenager with every single day she spends in these public institutions! I also see a problem when observant family members start using terms like “mean girl” or “diva” to describe some of her behavior lately and not because they dared say it, but because they have a point.

This just confirms for me that public schools are the WORST type of social setting for kids. They may or may not be good for education but for socialization and for exposing kids to good role models… they really suck. I am putting so much effort in counteracting the bad stuff she learns there that it just makes sense to pull her out altogether.

I have some big decisions to make over the summer. Do you have any advice or experience for me?

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We Still Homeschool… Wordless Wednesday

Tiffany — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:42:32 +0000

See & Spell Puzzles

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Educational Games for Cold Weather Fun

Tiffany — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:49:39 +0000

Is it getting chilly in your neck of the woods? It is here in central Ohio. I am already putting my energy savings and stay warm plan into action. This week I hope to sew up some rice bags that will be mini space heaters in our beds, some draft snakes for windows and doors, and some window quilts. Because we know it will be cold and snowy for many months I have also been thinking about how we can entertain ourselves without resorting to watching TV all winter. Yes, we will be indoors a lot but we can find fun things to do that doesn’t require a captive audience. And I say this despite the fact that a little birdy told me that Nana is getting us a Wii this xmas. Oh boy…

So as part of my xmas shopping I have been heavily researching cooperative board games. We have a few already for younger kids but not so many that will keep my oldest boy begging for more and none that my hubby and I could play alone after the kids go to bed. I want something fun, educational, and if possible, cooperative or collaberative rather than overly competitive. I think I will pick one or two up NOW though so we can get a jump on the season.. my oldest has gone fishing on his own every day for a month but the past couple of days the trips have been short since it gets cold and dark earlier.. soon he may not go at all.

Luckily I had a few good games in mind, suggested to me by some wonderful unschooling moms, and those opened the door to even more awesome possibilities. Here is some of what I found. They are not cheap like what you find at Wal-Mart but supposedly the quality leaves the usual Hasbro type games in the dust.

Shadows Over Camelot- This is a 90 minute game that takes you into the world of Camelot and Knights. It is collaborative and it would be especially good for us since we have been watching and enjoying the BBC show Merlin. Evil forces are gathering around Camelot – The Black Knight was sighted atop a desolate ridge a scheming Morgan plots her revenge; the Saxon troops are on the move; and acres of timber are being felled for the siege engines. And yet Lancelot has all but vanished, with Excalibur yet to be recovered. These are heavy times indeed. Will you, young squire, come forth and pledge allegiance to your fellow Knights at the Round Table? Is your heart of pure intent and ready to sacrifice for the good of all? Or will the dark promise of power seduce you into treason? As the incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, players work together to defeat the forces closing in on Camelot. This game was recommended by a TV free family I met on another web site of mine… for its educational nature. I think the next one would be good on that count too.

The Colosseum Board Game - My son and I watched a two hour documentary a few months back on the Colosseum and he was so enchanted with the structure and the world of ancient Rome that I ended up buying him several large Roman history books that he devours nightly. He is so much like me… I love ancient Roman history too and this game looks amazing. As commanded by the Emperor, Rome is in the midst of a 100 day celebration commemorating the opening of the greatest public arena ever conceived by man – the Colosseum. Players earn wealth and glory as one of Rome’s greatest impresarios by producing grand spectacles in the hopes of attracting the most spectators to your events.

Another game I know my son would love is Cleopatra And The Society of Architects. He and I both can’t get enough of ancient Egyptian history, mummies, pyramids, Pharaohs, etc. And Cleopatra is a tie in to ancient Roman history as well. In this game, she calls on the members of the Society of Architects to build her a magnificent new palace in Alexandria – with a Pharaohs ransom to the design that pleases her most. It includes a true, three-dimensional palace that players compete to build. Players strive to become the wealthiest of Cleopatra’s architects by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her palace. The twist however is that players will be tempted to deal with shady characters and trade in materials of dubious origins in order to help them build faster.

Ticket to Ride- This is a game recommended to me by several unschoolers. It is great for learning about geography. It is an award-winning strategy game that challenges players ages eight and up to complete multiple train routes connecting major cities. As miniature trains begin to populate the board map of North America, secret city-to-city rail connections are completed or hopelessly blocked by merciless competitors. There is also a Europe version. These might be just what you need to help kids struggling with their geography or social studies lessons or classes.

Carcassonne- Yet another unschooler recommendation… how it is they find these awesome games? The Carcassonne is a clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique roman and medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and build cities, roads and monasteries in the South of France. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious. The game is for ages 8 and up and 2 to 5 players. Who do you think is going to know more about medieval history.. the kid in a classroom or the kid playing a strategic game set in that time period? This game is actually pretty cheap in price and I think it may be because there are many expansions packs you can purchase to add on to the game.

They look like fun right? What games to YOU play to keep everyone entertained when the weather is less than optimal?

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When Left to Their Own Devices

Tiffany — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:21:38 +0000

What oh what will kids do in the summer when left to their own devices? I decided to check out the garage to see what my son was up to and found a very pleasant surprise indeed. His love of cars has motivated him to start building his own. He used plaster of Paris to make this car mold and then it looks like he hot glued the wheels into the wheel wells. He painted it black and decorated with stickers.

This boy just amazes me with how smart and talented he is and yet this is a child who struggles in school. His strengths are very much mechanical and architectural and schools just don’t put much emphasis on these interests and strengths. Public school fails him and many other students so it is my job as the parent to counteract damage, be his advocate (on his side always), and use off-school time to help him grow and flourish. And he doesn’t even need much help in that regard anymore… this kid is taking flight on his own.

Is Summer for Learning or Fun?

Tiffany — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:43:55 +0000

I have gotten tons of emails lately from people offering resources that will supposedly help my kids stay up to snuff academically while they navigate their summer vacation. I also know several parents that are consumed with using the summer months to “homeschool” so that their public school kids have a leg up when school starts again.

I can’t say that I don’t think about this sometimes but mostly I just realize that they are always learning. Maybe it is not the exact stuff they need to know for whatever grade they are entering but for kids in public school, summer is just about the only time that really allows for our children to direct their own learning experiences. And they do learn… all on their own.

A few weeks ago my kids asked me to renew their JumpStart subscription. Well, actually it was my son’s subscription and he used to play the JumpStart game when he was being homeschooled. When he went back to public school he lost interest and I cancelled it. But for the past few weeks my kids have been playing the JumpStart game version for their particular age groups and having a blast. They solve math problems, do spelling, and learn a variety of other things from these games. My 5 year old daughter especially learns a lot because she watches her older brother while he plays too. For parents that seek activities to help their kids stay sharp this is a good one but it is only for kids on the 4-10 year old age ranges. I do have a few complaints about the actual performance of their software but the activities are awesome. The games also really help them learn how to use a computer quite well.

My nearly 9 year old son also got to fulfill a HUGE dream of his. He got to ride down a quarter mile racetrack as a passenger in a 11 second car. He kept saying over and over that it was the single best moment of his life. Here he is standing next to a race car that runs on Ethanol. He is very interested in alternative fuel racing.

This week my 5 year old has also started reading and that was all her idea. She wanted to read before she entered kindergarten. She read me four books this morning from the BOB collection (which we adore).

To keep my son reading I have been a bit sneaky. When he wants to go to the water park in the morning or go to the skate park nearby I grab a book and have him read it to me first. I tell him I have been eyeballing this book and I would just LOVE to hear it before we go… works every time. In the evenings I read Harry Potter to him.

Learning is also occuring via weekly trips to the zoo and at the local Science Center. We are lucky to live 9 miles away from COSI, voted by Parents magazine as the best science museum in the country. I bought season passes so we can go as much as we want and this summer they have an Ancient Egypt exhibit with artifacts, mummies, and a replica of the Rosetta Stone. We also saw an IMAX movie there are about mummies. My son and I LIVE for that stuff. We both adore Egypt, history, and archaeology.

So all in all I see no reason to worry that their brains are rotting away and they will enter school and have difficulties. Their brains are fully functional and leading them to places and activities that truly interest them.

Homeschool Drop Out

Tiffany — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:04:51 +0000

Yep…I have some news…not quite sure how I feel about all of it though. I think I am still processing. My son started out this school year at home after a horrible year at public school last year. He was very excited to do homeschooling, as was I. And I think we have done great together too….he is reading books now and that is a new development. Being home helped to restore some of his confidence too. I still think there is no better teacher than mom. I know exactly how to phrase things and get through to him… something teachers rarely catch onto because they have so many students all with different needs.

BUT at the end of the last school year we got some new neighbors and my son plays with them almost daily. He started to relay comments made by their parents about how he wasn’t in a “real” school and it started to make him feel bad about himself once again. In short, one of the kids next door is real jerk…and so are his parents (and I hope they are reading this). But despite how I feel about them and their attitudes my son likes to spend time with them. Having to wait until they (and his other neighborhood friends) get home from school to be able to play started to get rough on him. I took him to homeschool kids events and socials but he just didn’t click with any of the other kids.

The arrival of winter was another kick in the gut as he went from spending 5+ hours a day playing and exploring outside to staying in all day. If it was just cold outside with no snow…he didn’t want to be out there. And unfortunately we have had many cold days since early October (8-20 degrees) and only a few snow days.

My son indoors and bored is like having a caged tiger in the house. All his little quirks and tics (autism spectrum) came out full blast…including one that got REALLY bad. He will be sitting eating or playing and all the sudden emit a loud scream that could wake the dead. He doesn’t even know he did it and if you mention it he can’t explain why he screamed. Imagine that happening 2-3 times an hour. So the past couple months have been tough on us with frazzled nerves to go around.

I was not surprised then when he came to me and asked if he could go back to regular school. He missed being with other kids and having a busy schedule…especially when he sees his sister going to school and having all kinds of fun…pajama parties, a Thanksgiving feast, a Christmas play, and birthday invites from all her new friends. He was tired of his neighborhood friends teasing him about homeschool and acting as if they were somehow superior. And when he enlisted Dad’s help to convince me I knew he meant business.

Soooo…..I gave him 3 options for different schools he could go to. Ironically he was dead set against going to the same school as last year even though his friends are there. He ended up choosing a city school that is not so close by but has a kick butt art program. He told me it was between that school and a fourth choice I hadn’t offered…a nearby Catholic school. I am happy he chose the one he did because we are … not Catholic, LOL. We enrolled him, went shopping for new clothes, and he started yesterday. It is still really early but he is VERY happy so far and yesterday he came home with homework that he already knew forwards and backwards. It was awesome to see the boost it gave him to realize he was actually ahead. And since he is back in school we re-instated a bed time (something we usually don’t have) and he is so jazzed about school he has been going without complaint.

I am kinda sad our homeschool adventure has ended but how sad can I be when I see how happy he is? I have to remember that I didn’t start this because I thought homeschool was the best way to school your kids and that public schools all suck. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I started this to do what was best for my son and right now he tells me that what he needs is at a brick and mortar school. I owe it to him to do my part to make it work.

Loving K12 So Far…

Tiffany — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:29:31 +0000

This was our first week homeschooling using the K12 curriculum. As I mentioned before I went into this hoping for a relatively relaxed curriculum that we could navigate on our own schedule and still incorporate unschooling to some degree. I am VERY happy with our first week.

First we got a brand new HP computer from the school and that was followed by many boxes of new materials. I am so impressed by the quality and the diversity. It is obvious that these learning items were not designed by K12 but rather they took the best of the best from other sources to make one awesome curriculum.

In the Language Arts box for example we got a few workbooks but mostly it was reading books….TONS of them. We have already done 5 of the lessons and most involved reading stories and talking about them. If my son was able to answer the questions about the story with an 80% or better (and he did) he passes and moves on to the next lesson. Fun and easy!

The Science box had safety glasses, sand, beakers, mirrors, a magnifying glass, seeds, a compass, etc. It appears that most of the science lessons revolve around experiments. Our first science lesson had an online video that we watched about viewing the earth from space then we had to identify continents and tape paper animals to the area where they live on an inflatable globe. It was very enjoyable for my son.

The art box had prints of different paintings and sculpture, tempera paints, pastels, brushes, clay, and more. We did our first art lesson Thursday.

The Phonics box had workbooks, video DVDs, flashcards, letter slides, whiteboards, and other cool stuff. This section does appear to be very structured but this is the area where my son needs some extra work so we’ll see how it goes.

The history box has CDs, maps, and reading books.

The math box we have gotten yet. Many of the materials arrived late.

You have to get 920 hours for the year and finish all the lessons. Of course if your child can do the end of lesson assessment you can skip right to it and avoid the work…love that feature because it enables me to teach the lesson any way I want as long as he gets the main points that they want him to learn. We went over directions NWES, as we drove around running errands and he did the assessment without having to do the printable worksheets from K12.

On average you need 5 hours a day to meet the hourly requirements but if you finish (5) 60 minutes lessons in only 20 minutes each then cool beans….you can be done for the day or get ahead. 12 hours of supplemental time can be added each week too! That means over 2 days worth of time can be spent on field trips, watching educational movies, playing games, ect. That feature really rocks. Can’t get that at a brick and mortar school!

We had to add a new set of shelves to our homeschool area to house all the new goodies but so far it is going REALLY good and my kiddo is having fun….which is the most important thing. I also spoke with his assigned K12 teacher and she was awesome. She invited us to an ice cream party next week and told us to check the K12 calendar where there are probably 6 dozen other events planned with other K12 students and parents. So far so good!

The Tag Reading System

Tiffany — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:00:51 +0000

With it being back to school time I guess a new learning toy might be timely. When I heard about the LeapFrog Tag Reading System my first thought was that this would be great for homeschooling moms since it could help teach reading. I imagined it could also be a godsend for someone who had to homeschool one child with 2 younger ones in the house to be occupied as well. Using the TV as a babysitter was sounding attractive but using the Tag is a much better idea. In fact, it is just one awesome product and so far a big time hit in our house.

We got the Tag sytem along with 3 books and immediatley got to work. I signed up for an online account, downloaded the audios for our books, synced the audios with the Tag pen and off my 4 year old daughter went…to listen. The books are basically read to the child by the Tag pen and you can hook it up to earphones if it is hard to hear (as we found). The child is prompted to follow the story closely and listen for subtle cues that indicate is time to turn the page.

What I liked about this system as opposed to the other LeapFrog reading systems is that it has no bulk. There is no clunky and wasteful plastic case to carry around, no audio cassettes that get lost, etc. This sytem as has regular size books, usually hardbacks, and the pen is the size of a small flashlight. These would be a snap to put inside your purse to take on a trip (as I intend to do this weekend). The stories are also engaging. My daughter listens to all of them at least once a week, usually more. She has 5 books now… Ozzie and Mack (comes with it), Kung Fu Panda, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Mrs. Spider’s Tea Party, and Adventures Under the Sea. They have many more too. We have our eye on Fancy Nancy at the Museum. The Tag pen can only hold about 5 audios at a time.

My only issues or sticking points are the fact that the Tag pen prompts you to change the batteries often when I would prefer that it just let them go dead and the cost of the books, $13.99 each. But the quality and the entertainment value is worth it IMO.

My only concern was that she might start to prefer listening to the Tag instead of her mom and dad but no worries there..she just loves to be read too.

The LeapFrog Tag is available at Amazon.com

The Great Homeschool Decision

Tiffany — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:00:51 +0000

Okay yes, I did already make the decision to homeschool. The great decision I am talking about is method and curriculum. That seems to be the next step after deciding to teach your child at home. What curriculum or homeschooling method will best suit your family and your child?

All this summer I have been doing unschooling while I researched many different homeschooling approaches and compared curriculum. I wanted to go into this with as much knowledge as possible. I think anyone who knows me will tell you that when I decide to do something it has to be perfect…it has to be an Oscar worthy performance. I have very high standards for myself and yes it does get tiresome. I think I went through the usual self doubt that many homeschooling parents go through…can I do this? Will I be a good teacher? Will I have sufficient time? Will I fall flat on my face and make my son pay for my mistakes?

Well, I have a lot of faith in unschooling and wanted to go that route but innevitably I gave in to my fears and also to well meaning family members who insisted that I was being way to casual with my son’s education. I also started to see some unfavorable attitudes develop with an unschooling approach…such as the day my son announced that he did not need to read to do mechanical/engine work (his ultimate goal) and therefore would not be reading or working on his reading anymore. This is one sure way to make my heart stop…reading is like oxygen to me.

So…I made the decision that feels like half and half to me. My son has been enrolled in an online school that uses the K12 curriculum. It is structured and there will be tests on core skills but it is also VERY flexible I found after numerous phone calls to their offices. There is no grading of assignments and homework, there is only testing of basic skills that they need to pass with an 80% or better. They have online tutorials and textbooks for the parents to use in their instruction but using them is really optional. You can teach any which way you want to as long as the basics are covered. So when my son has science this year and needs to learn about the planets we can read their textbooks together and do the suggested activities OR we could go to a planetarium, see a space IMAX movie, create a planet mobile, or watch cute little videos at BrainPop Jr. The journey is not as important as the end result which makes me VERY happy. He can also go at his own pace…he does not need to be at the same level for English and math…he can just work according to his own needs and skills. If need be he could be doing second grade math and science and first grade writing and spelling. This program is hugely flexible and still allows me to incorporate my own ideas and opportunities for LIFE learning. They provide us with a computer and all the required books. They even arrange field trips and parties with other homeschooled students.

In doing the initial placement tests I can see that my son is behind his peers in reading and writing… or so they say. I am not worried about it. Interestingly though he is advanced in his language skills. He is awesome at narration, picking out details in a story, identifying the overal theme or lesson, or picking the missing words that complete the sentences. He is also great with definitions. I think his language skills have a lot to do with the fact that his father and I have always talked to him like an adult. Even when our kids were babies we never used baby talk…we talked to them like we would talk to anyone else. We didn’t “dumb things down” so to speak. If they need clarification we were happy to offer it but otherwise we just talked to them without any special exceptions for their age. Instead of “Oh baby….does baby want some num nums and some baa baa with milkie?” We would ask: “Payton would you like something to eat? Would you like bananas? Here have some warm cereal with bananas and this cup with milk inside it. I will sit here next to you and read this newspaper.” Just more evidence that life teaches a great deal of the lessons they need to learn…sigh.

Both of my older children blow me away with their language skills although I have shared before that my 30 month old is almost completely non-verbal thus far..so we are scratching our heads over that one.

So…we will see how a more structured homeschool approach goes. I figure we can quit anytime right? We are actually considering moving to another city nearby this spring as well…and ahem…farther away from certain naysayers. But that’s not the reason for the move! We want to live in the big city again. We could downsize and simplify. If we do move it will be nice for my son to have some routine and familiarity.

Let the journey begin!

Homeschool Questions Answered

Tiffany — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:17:50 +0000

I’m Just Saying has asked homeschoolers to answer 10 questions. I am a newbie homeschooler…only 3 months in so far but I still thought I would like to take a stab at answering these. I hope they can give others some insight into homeschooling.

1. What was your motivation for homeschooling? Was it based on religious reasons? Was is it based on curriculum – did you want more freedom in choosing what your children were being taught? Was it based on socializing – wanting to have more control in the people with whom your children came into contact with? Was it based on logistics – the nearest school being 20 miles away? What made you finally decide to go this route?

My decision to homeschool was based upon necessity IMO. I had always toyed with the idea of homeschooling so that our family could travel but by the time my son was ready for Kindergarten he REALLY wanted to go to school and so I let him lead the way. K was good but in first grade we got a rude awakening. We transferred to a new state where the students were very much ahead of my son academically. In his K class in Arizona they played games, did art, and learned their ABCs. When we transferred to K in Ohio the kids were already reading, spelling and reciting all the US states, and more. You should have seen me at his graduation ceremony when I saw what the other kids could do…you could have knocked me over with a feather. I also learned that these kids had started school at age 4 with free preschool via the city school district. They already had two years of all day school under their belts and my son had only one year of half day school.

Obviously you can see why he started to have problems in first grade. IMO he is right where he should be academically…perhaps a little behind in reading but that I attribute to the school making him feel like a failure when he couldn’t read as well as the other kids. He lost interest in it. The cookie cutter mentality and the unwillingness to have realistic standards was what motivated me to pull my son from public school. If he couldn’t keep up they insisted on making him feel like a “special case” and that was NOT okay by me.

2. Don’t hate me for asking this. How to you handle socialization? What steps do you take to make sure your children are around other children and adults? Are you active in a home school group? Do you spend a lot of time at church activities? Maybe you utilize the local Y for activities and they meet friends there?

Socialization is one reason I wanted my son to attend public initially. In general I don’t think homeschooled kids are lacking socialization but MY son was when the it came time to enroll in Kindergarten. He spent years being sick and in and out of hospitals (vaccine injury). He couldn’t be around other kids so much because he had a very weak immune system. We had spent a year in Ohio…on a remote country farm. We didn’t know anyone really other than family and we had NO neighbors that had kids. Then we moved back to AZ (for my cancer treatment) and were living on a remote mountain with NO neighbors at all. It was a 30 minute drive into town and all my friends had kids much younger than my son. He wasn’t getting to socialize at all. Kindergarten seemed like a blessing…and it really was. He made friends and he loved his school. Then I did the worst thing I could have done probably…I moved him back to Ohio.

I wasn’t impressed at all with the socialization he got in first grade. A twerp would spit in his lunch or touch his food because he has a germ phobia. Girls were regularly kissing him which he despised. Older kids on the bus would make him hold their books and one 5th grader even slapped him across the face. Being an out-of-towner in a small town put him at a disadvantage too.

That kind of socialization he can do without! Now he socializes regularly with two kids his age that live behind us (our yards touch) and a younger boy who lives down the street. My son knows what is going on with all our neighbors before I do. My moms cousin also has two grandsons (both older) who come and spend the day with us. He got to spend a week recently with his cousin that lives in Mexico too. We go to the park, to museums, to children’s plays, to art camps, etc. He goes to the drag races with his grandfather and Uncle to watch his grandfather race almost every weekend and meets all sorts of people. He gets plenty of socialization and my other two kiddos do to. They are not exposed to people with the same family life, the same values, the same religious beliefs only. I want them to be exposed to all sorts of people with different values and beliefs.

3. Do you use the public school system for any part of your child’s routine? Some children here come to the school for band or chorus, or maybe for science class. Do you send your child to the public school to take advantage of any of their programs?

Not at this time but I wouldn’t hesitate to do so in the future.

4. Do your children begin and end school at the same time each day? Do they have a strict schedule, at least as far as waking up and reporting to the school area of your home? If not, when/how will you transition your children into following a more rigid schedule – awaking at the same time each day so that they can follow a routine outside of the home like for college and work?

We have no schedule. We wake when we want to wake, sleep when we want to sleep, and do schoolwork when the inspiration strikes. At this young age I think schedules for the sake of teaching them what holding a job will be like is silly. Especially since I work from home and I have no schedule….I work when I want to work. Of course my kids learn about keeping appointments and scheduling activities whenever we have a workshop to attend or a play to see. If they don’t manage their time well they miss out on things. Those are life lessons and they learn them on their own. I want them to know that they don’t have to do the 9-5 workday or that work has to be tedious. I want them to know what they actually want in life and then go after it…whatever that may be…even if means selling chalk drawings on a beach in between surf sessions.

5. How many spelling bees has your child won? Oh, I’m kidding. We all know most of the recent national spelling bee winners have been home schooled children. I just wanted to throw a little funny in there?

I wouldn’t be likely to enter anything like this but it is cool that homeschooled kids are frequent winners.

6. Do you have a sense of humor? It’s probably a little late for me to ask that but…

Oh yes…no stuffiness here. We all LOVE to laugh.

7. Where do you find your curriculum? Do you shop for it and order it? Do you create your own?

No curriculum so far. We have an assortment of workbooks, printables (paid and free), we visit the library often, we have online learning games, we play educational board games and do puzzles, we take field trips, and we work on whatever interests us that day. For instance…a few weeks back we went to COSI. We sketched a crime scene, looked under a microscope at hair samples, looked at dog DNA strands, watched an autopsy, watched a circumcision, participated in hot air balloon races, used a bottle rocket, toured a submarine, and went through flight training for a NASA space shuttle. We also watched an IMAX movie about renowned American climber John Harlin III, and his journey to the Swiss Alps to climb the Eiger, a peak famous for its treacherous north face, a vertical rock wall that juts more than a mile into the air. We stayed all day until they had to kick us out at closing time. They learned more in one day than they would have in a week at school…and we do stuff like this all the time.

8. Do you have any worries at all about teaching your teenagers the higher level math and sciences? I, for one, could not teach chemistry to my children but I could probably teach them calculus. Is this a concern for you?

Well, I did high school myself (at home) in two years. I taught myself algebra and the like with books. I got accepted into college at 16 and tested out of all the intro math and science classes. I also did plenty of advanced level science classes…biology, anatomy, organic chemistry, etc and I had a 4.0. So it can be done. My hubby is a math wiz. However, if my kids need extra help I will get them tutors.

9. What bothers you the most about the reputation home schoolers have? What things do you hate to hear people say about you for your choice? I really hope you don’t say that it’s my previous post.

The idea that bothers me the most is that all homeschoolers are religious fanatics who are trying to hide their kids away from the real world and breed intolerance. That is SO not what we are about.

10. Be honest, do you, at least in your mind sometimes, judge those of us who choose public school? Do you ever think we are making a bad choice for our children? Are you vocal about that disapproval?

Honestly…no. Homeschooling isn’t for everyone or every child. This year I will have one child at home and one in private school. You do what works for your child. Public school could very well be in our future again some day and if it is I will be just as involved in their educations as I am at home. I do think public schools are pretty awful across the board but that just means that parents need to become activists for change. If change will ever occur it will take a certain percentage of people leaving them (homeschool) to get their attention and a certain percentage need to stay and try to re-work things. Everyone has a part to play.

A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century