s/o homeschooling - resources and info?

[KrisM]

I never considered homeschooling until this past month :). Now that DS is in K, I can see all the problems that we'll be facing with public schools. I am considering it on the researching level right now. Tons of questions:

-I can't imagine trying to homeschool with 2 younger kids here. How do you manage?

-Any good websites with info you can recommend?

-How do you teach things you don't know? DS has Chinese every day and loves it. I really don't know any Chinese or other language. He'll also have violin lessons starting this month. Again, I don't play violin and he's really looking forward to the lessons.

-what does a "typical" day look like?

TIA for any info on helping me sort through this.

[MommyAllison]

We have only just started, and DD is only preschool aged so we really don't do much structured, just learning letters and their sounds. We use letteroftheweek.com - the free curriculum. Sometimes DS is hanging out and playing, but usually I try to wait until he is napping. Your DD could definitely be with you guys doing something else, like coloring, if she was interested.

For language, we have a lot of Russian families in our area (my SIL is Russian, and DH and I travelled there quite a bit, so we know many Russian families), and that is the language we'd like our kids to learn. Partly 'cause it'll be fun for them to talk with their cousin when she gets bigger. :) And partly because in our area, it is a very useful language. My plan is to have them learn from friends - for now, just informally by hearing it spoken around them, and when they are a bit older, more formal Russian lessons. I'm in a local homeschool group and have heard a few discussions on different people around town who offer Spanish and Italian lessons, too. Otherwise, I've heard awesome things about Rosetta Stone software, though I'm not sure what ages that is for. Even if we did public school, language and instrumental music aren't taught until much later, so it's likely we would have looked into private instruction for those things.

I know there must be a million sites out there, but honestly I would like to know too. :) I read homeschooling sections on a few blogs, but haven't found a lot.

Our typical day is not very consistent yet, since we just started - hopefully someone else can help with that. :)

[brittone2]

With younger kids, I just give DD something to keep her busy for a bit (playdoh, fine motor tasks similar to some of the Montessori activities, etc) and that works fine to keep her busy while I give DS some help. Since you can "homeschool" any time you want, sometimes if DS wants to work on a bigger or more involved lesson, concept, or project, I wait until DH is home so we can each have one kid on our hands. It makes life easier. You can "count" homeschooling hours/days done on a weekend, evening, etc. if you are in a state that requires a certain number of hours or days of instruction per year (many, many do not). It isn't hours and hours a day of instruction when they are so young...and for us, it will probably never be hours and hours and hours a day because that doesn't fit our philosophy.

For lessons and language, you could look for something private depending on whether you have those resources available. In our area there are HSing co-ops, so it wouldn't be unimaginable that someone might offer Mandarin lessons, etc. for other homeschoolers in the area (and it might be a native speaker offering it). We could take a class together. I could take a class and teach DS. We could look at programs like Rosetta stone to do together, or find language CDs or podcasts to listen to as a family. There is usually a way :) You don't have to be an expert on everything and anything to HS...a lot of it is identifying resources that can help you and your child meet the goals you have set together. Violin lessons are pretty readily available in our area, but of course could be $$. You might find a teacher willing to discount for a HSer since you could go any time of day and aren't "using up" a slot that a publicly schooled student might use after school hours, kwim?

In terms of a typical day...there is no typical HSing day IMO ;) None of our days are exactly alike. There are *soooo* many different philosophies behind HSing that no 2 HSers will HS the same way and there are many ways to achieve a good outcome through different means. I really think it boils down to what your goals are. For us, learning is just part of our day. We play games with math. We read science books. We play around with snapcircuits. DS is building a robot w/ DH right now based on a book he found. We read every night for a looong time. We do read alouds. DS listens to books on CD. He likes Story of the World which is a series of history CDs...he can do that independently and if something sparks his interest (like Ancient Egypt), we feed that w/ additional discussion and resources.

For resources, it depends on what you are looking for. There are message boards for all different philosophies...Waldorf, Montessori, Well Trained Mind/Classical, unschooling, whatever. Mothering.com has a homeschooling forum and an unschooling forum. There are some great authors out there...I like John Holt (since you are struggling with having him find the right fit w/ school you might like How Children Fail in particular (which is really about how schools fail children in many cases). His stuff is dated in some respects...he makes comments about things like mental retardation, etc. that were obviously a product of the time he wrote his book and sometimes that shows, but the overall message is very good. Teach Your Own and Learning all the Time are great too.) John Taylor Gatto-he has a website where you can get a feel for some of his writing http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/ .

Lots of articles and resources here:
http://www.besthomeschooling.org/ (the owner of the site is a regular poster at MDC. She has an adult son who was unschooled and is either in college or a graduate of college now. She's a fantastic treasure trove of info).

There are so many great books...so much depends on where you are coming from philosophically. My local library carries Home Education magazine which I like. Some people like Linda Dobson's books...some are good for those just starting to think about HSing. I haven't read it but want to check out a book by Mary Griffith called The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's Classroom. Haven't read these but they might interest you:
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Matters-Homeschooling-Makes-Sense/dp/0156300001
http://www.amazon.com/Well-Adjusted-Child-Social-Benefits-Homeschooling/dp/1600651070/ref=pd_sim_b_1

PM me if you want to chat :)

eta: the amount of resources can be overwhelming. One other thing to check out is your state laws so you can get a feel for what would be legally required etc. in your state. It varies sooooo much state to state. Just looked at your location...MI appears to be VERY homeschooler friendly. That really helps give you a ton of flexibility to best fit your DC's needs.

[Raidra]

You could try searching for local homeschool groups to see if they offer new homeschooler support groups. Or just join some email lists and listen to conversations. MDC has a great homeschooling forum that's fun to lurk in.

There are tons and tons of books on homeschooling. Definitely John Holt, Linda Dobson, Mary Griffith, David Albert. There are more, but it's been a while since I've read homeschooling books. The besthomeschooling website already mentioned is just fantastic.

My kids are almost 6, 4, and 16 months. I usually do stuff with the boys when the baby's napping, but that's not always an option. It's not too hard to set the little one up with play dough, crayons, or some other activity. My 4 year old either goes along with what we're doing or he plays by himself. It hasn't been too much of an issue. We'll see what happens when the new baby arrives. We'll probably take a break and just do work evenings and weekends.

Our days really vary quite a lot. Since we never did school, it's pretty much just like what we've been doing all along. We go to playgroups, to field trips, book club, Earth Scouts, and we host science activities at our house. We visit the library regularly. Colwyn does two 'lessons' a day, which vary widely. He usually does a 10 minute lesson from Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and the other can be more or less anything.. math workbooks, science experiments, reading from our history books, art, dictating stories (I write what they say, then they illustrate), reading chapter books aloud, baking, etc. 'School' only takes up 45 minutes at most. Sometimes we'll skip a few days during the week and make up for it on weekends.

As far as subjects that you don't know much about, you can either learn along with your child or find a tutor or class. Local homeschool groups are really great places to find those sorts of resources. Our goal really is to teach our children how to learn, so that when they get older and have the desire to learn something I know nothing about, they can pick up the right materials and teach themselves, or we can find appropriate mentors. Chances are, you're not going to have to know much about calculus even if your child wants to learn it. :)

Homeschooling is fantastic and I can't imagine ever putting my kids in school. It's not that schools are so bad, but that this way is just *so* much more fun.

[firstbaby]

I have two kids - one is 5 and one is 3 and we just started HS'ing this year. I am in love. It is perfectly imperfect and I agree with a lot of Beth's comments. We are ecclectic HS'ers and while there is no "typical" day, I've found we typically start around 9 am and finish by 11 am. I'm using Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading by Jesse Wise for phonics / reading and Math U See for math and some ETC thrown in there for phonics. I also have the Five in a Row parents guide and books to bring in different things.

I would say our "typical" morning is the Pledge, calendar time, one of the boys is our weather reporter (I made a weather wheel), then 30 minutes of reading / phonics, 30 minutes of Math, a Bible lesson, a FIAR book, and a art/craft activity. Also, throughout the day, we mix in some science, history (we LOVE the SOTW books Beth mentioned), whatever else feeds the interest of what the boys want to learn more about.

My younger one sometimes wants to sit in on his brother's lesson, or I have duplos / legos available for him, a sticker book, cuisinaire rods, pattern blocks, puzzles, whatever he's interested in playing with. I also have some books on CD he likes to listen to while I go through the math or reading part of the day with big brother.

I think you could easily find resources for the music and language lessons you are interested in. PP's had some good suggestions there also.

We just got back from Disney and didn't have to coordinate his absence and homework, I know he isn't tied to a desk all day with busiwork, he works at his own level in each area, and I can feed his interests. Here, it is full day of K and that sealed the deal for DH to make our way into HS'ing - it is such a long day. Every day, DS is so excited to learn about new things and have the "play" time even though he's learning in the process and so much more efficient, IMHO.

Good luck! PM me if you have any questions!!!

[AngelaS]

To keep younger kids entertained, I have a closet full of 'school only toys/activities' that are only brought out when we're doing school; special puzzles, tweezers and beads, matching games, etc.

My best resource is a message board of other Christian homeschoolers that I joined. :) I've learned a lot there. :D

A typical day is my kitchen table and often counter, buried in books. I work with the oldest while the younger two play, then switch. Then we all sit together to do a subject or two together, often while they play with Playdoh or something to keep the fidgetty ones amused. No two days are the same and that's the beauty of school at home. :) I iron or put away dishes while my 2nd grader reads to me, the small one and I count the socks that come out of the dryer and Daddy explains the concept of imaginary numbers over dinner. :)

I don't teach everything! I pay someone to teach piano, we pay for theater classes and swimming lessons and at some point I'll pay someone to teach a foreign language too. :)