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This is a subject I hear a lot more about as time passes. To be honest, some of that is probably just me being more aware, as I'm going to start homeschooling my son this coming school year. I'll keep posting as we go (and time allows - I do hear it's time consuming), letting you all know how we're doing, but more to the point I'd like to hear from other homeschoolers! Is anybody else homeschooling? What have you found really helpful, and what do you wish you had known when you started?

I'll also sort through my links and post some that I found really helpful when I was looking to get started.

I definitely can't do homeschool! I probably do have the temperment (and the organizational skills), but my husband works nights so we're really glad to have all the kids leave the house and go to school!! Summers are a bit hard, I'm constantly having to remind them that Dad's sleeping so BE QUIET!!!!!!!

I just faxed in my son's book order for the coming school year, and despite the fact that my sisters swear I'm not organized enough to homeschool - I've just finished working up weekly spreadsheets with color-coded class schedules! eek Perhaps I shouldn't mention that to my oldest sister, who's also going to homeschool *four* of her five kids this coming year (it was quite a surprise to me) and hasn't actually signed them up for a course of study yet. *I should probably mention that working up your own spreadsheets isn't mandatory; I subscribed to a parochial umbrella school, which provided a basic syllabus and a list of necessary materials. I'm just really excited, and I find it's easier to stay on schedule if I have a daily schedule sitting in front of me. And the colors are pretty.

I'm rather excited, as I get to be the art teacher (along with everything else), which is a pet subject of mine, and I know what my son likes (superheroes, cutting things out, and drawing on the computer with my graphics tablet). His preschool had him cutting things out, but also coloring them with crayons (which he hates), so half the time he just didn't bother. I'm going to be offering alternative exercises anytime a class assignment involves coloring a picture - or at least he'll have access to colored pencils, which he strongly prefers.

Also exciting is the opportunity to get my son started in learning a foreign language. I found a series of CD-and-booklet sets aimed at his age group (kindergarten) in a large number of languages, but thought I'd start with one of the romance languages, as later in the curriculum he'll be learning Latin (that's Grade 5). I enjoyed French myself, but my husband thought Spanish would be more useful. My son's take? "Nice try, bucko. I want to learn French AND Spanish!" ...Bucko?! So...he's got an extra language class. I'm hoping to learn some Spanish myself while we're at it, since the material I'm using basically involves learning a language through silly songs.

I think the most fun I've had in the planning stages, though, has been setting up the field trips. Most home-school curricula set a four-day class schedule (3-6 hours per day, depending on grade level) and then require some sort of learning activity on the fifth day to satisfy attendance requirements. Translation: weekly field trips! I had so much fun matching up activities with the time of year and the other subjects we'll be studying. Some are actually projects or festivals that will take place at home, like the Chinese New Year celebration. Mostly, though, we'll be visiting monuments, parks, the zoo, the aquarium...my masterstroke was planning a field trip to tour the Capitol Building during election week (yes, I know crowds are going to be awful, I used to work in DC).

The only thing we have left to do now is the infamous "socialization" portion, which we've happily partnered with the Phys. Ed. requirement. We know a kung fu school in our area that actually offers a dedicated home-school P.E. class weekly. So not only will our little guy be getting a good workout in (aside from the daily wiggle-breaks), he'll also be meeting other area kids who do school the same way he does (ameliorates that whole "I'm so weird because I'm not in a regular school" thing)! I expect this will actually work out better for him than regular school, because he's terribly shy and the group will be smaller and they'll all already have two things in common - home-schooling and kung fu. Also, he's met the sifu's two sons already, and had fun playing with them, and I'm pretty sure they're homeschooled as well.

I *might* research home-school groups and join one, but...my least-favorite aspect of my own socialization was in-group/out-group shenanigans, so my tolerance for groups is minimal at best. My ideal scenario would be to connect with the other kung fu moms, and maybe branch out from there.

Oh yeah, and now guitar lessons. My MIL just gave our son her old learning guitar, and he was so excited he marched inside like an honor guard for the battered old case while announcing that he wanted somebody to "teach him it". I know of a music store nearby, so I'll check with them for a recommendation, preferably tomorrow.
[/excited bouncing]

Some of my friends have been a bit puzzled about why I've apparently gone insane. Why on earth am I staying home and spending practically all day every day being both a parent and a teacher? Well, we're doing homeschool for a few reasons.

First and foremost, my son is really bright. I've had more well-meaning adults pull me aside to make sure I know my son is abnormally bright for his age...This is not bragging, it was actually a bit scary at first realizing he'll need something more accelerated than most schools offer. Well, at least on some fronts. He seems more interested in language and reading than in mathematics, but that may change. Both my husband and I have our own lousy memories of being too advanced for the classes available in our respective schools. In my case, it actually involved the principal instructing my teachers to single me out for punishment, and to make up reasons if necessary (one of them felt badly and fessed up to my mother). In my husband's case, they had a go at curing raging boredom with Ritalin - which had no effect at all, except for the standard long-term side effects of the meds. Pity-party aside, what home-schooling means intellectually is that my son can learn everything at his own pace. If he's very advanced in one subject and speeds through the curriculum, we can get the next grade started while he works on-level in less-favored subjects. And if he hates math as much as his father did, he can speed ahead in English, stay on track in Science, and repeat material in Math.

Second, my husband is a shift worker. This means two things: a) we really don't earn enough to send our kids to a great school; b) our family's schedule does not in fact match up with the standard weekday/weekend formula. So after wistfully looking long and lovingly at Montessori schools, I realized that in fact I could do much the same thing at home, for a fraction of the cost (since I don't require a salary to teach), and with school being at home, we can set most of our weekly field trips to coincide with Daddy's days off (hurray for time with Daddy!).

Third, government educational policy scares me. I understand there are great magnet schools and that disciplinary practice and general student behavior varies regionally, but news stories are not encouraging. I also understand that the job of news shows is to sell themselves, but that doesn't change the fact that what they are reporting does happen in some schools (some in my area), and there is no guarantee that it won't be the one my children attend.

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So, that was long, but I needed to squee, and then I thought I had better address some of the reasons I've chosen the home-school route. Please note that I really do have nice memories of my own school experience, and believe every educational option has its merits. I've simply chosen what I feel is the best option for my children. And, of course, I'm sharing here so that anyone who's curious can get some helpful information and also let me be their guinea pig/canary before trying it themselves. (I watched two guinea pigs myself before deciding to try it.)

I LIVE!!!!!

yup, I've been out of gaia because I started homeschooling my twins over the summer. Max has speech/communication problems and working with him on a one-on-one basis has made a HUGE difference in 2 months. It's really adorable when his brother helps him.

What system are you going with? The worst and scariest thing about homeschooling is the enormous number of homeschool styles out there. We're going with Waldorf/Enki since they are the closest to the Montessori they've been attending. And our personal views as Universalists and artists makes it ideal. We're also fortunate to have a good friend that owns an educational supply store for the homeschoolers in this county!

The thing that made homeschooling so easy for us was the joy we feel when we look in our boys' eyes as the gears click and they understand what we are teaching them. It's a serious head rush! And I also read in my homeschool search that if you are a parent, you are already homeschooling your child, it's just a question what you teach them and when. After all, my boys were counting the bars on their cribs instead of taking their naps when they were 1 1/2 in spanish and then english! (We're a bi-lingual/multi-cultural household) Kids are always learning when they play, why not make that play educational?

I wasn't quite sure how to answer the poll, since I used to homeschool, but I am not doing it now. It's a great experience if you want to and can do it, but right now we've got a lot going on, and the public school our kids go to is pretty good.

Does home-pre-schooling count? I've got a three-year-old too, and we learn all sorts of things together. wink

I was home schooled when I was younger and it was the best experience of my life.

I'll home school my children one day :3

Public/Private schools are too scary now days.

Yep. The part about a body cavity search of a pre-teen honors student for *gasp* TYLENOL was kind of my breaking point. I mean, wtf? And don't get me started on the sex-n-drugs...among ELEVEN-year-olds... No thank you to that kind of socialization! We get our socializing done in kung fu class, thanks.

Not to mention, and I feel this is important, home schoolers don't really get any homework, per se. They just get their work done on their own schedule, and the rest of the time is their own - and I've seen the amount of time my friends have to spend hanging over their kids and helping them with their homework! It's like they're home schooling anyway, but they're also sending them to school...And wasn't there all that furor over children with back problems from having to cart all those books home every night?

I think homeschooling is a good option for some people, but I think there needs to be an actual valid reason to homeschool. I, personally, would be afraid of the lack of socialization with peers that my children would have. They wouldn't learn how to communicate with people they don't know.

However, when I say I think there should be a serious, valid reason for choosing to homeschool is this. My ex-fiance and his brother were both homeschooled because they were "picked on." Half or two thirds of the children in a school are picked on by someone or another. Even if your children are picked on, its a social situation they need to learn to deal with and make mature decisions. Now, violence is something different. But these two were just being picked on, so their mother began homeschooling them. Even today, they are so overly dependent on their mother, that it has impaired their ability to be independent. Both of them are lazy, don't want to work, and live with their parents. They don't help out around the house, cook supper, or even clean their bedrooms. They have to be told to take a bath. They literally do act like children and there is no reason for that when they are in their mid-twenties. And I think homeschooling had a lot to do with the way they are, because their mother is too overprotective. They just want to sit at home and be children playing video games and watching tv because that's what they've been doing for the last ten years, even when they were in school.

Granted, I'm not blaming homeschooling for their problems, but their mother's overprotectiveness and not letting them experience any kind of social behavior. I don't want my daughter to end up like that. I want her to be friends with everyone and take being picked on with a grain of salt. But I think we all want that for our children.