Our homeschool path is finally becoming smoother, after months of tripping over stones of insecurity and doubts. Here are updates about where we are now and where we're headed with kindergarten this August:
I have been mentally preparing our homeschool mission statement, that statement of unique faith our family has in homeschooling. (Not sure if I'll share it here.) I'll need it on tough days as a reminder of why we have chosen this. I am beginning a full-time job in my home for which I'll receive no (earthly) payment and that will make people assume we're dumb hillbillies. I can handle people thinking I am weird (because I have my whole life), but I want them to give my kids a chance before writing them off. I HATE the high school mentality (of cool versus weird)... but it's everywhere. Everywhere.
However, I have reached a place in my confidence that has me thanking God for all the mental struggling I have done with these preparations because I am confident I can teach my kids better than any public or private school how to be good human beings. I *know* homeschool is not for everyone, and I am totally accepting of that. But I do believe this is perfect for who my husband and I are and who we want our kids to become.
We began our talks of homeschooling when my husband and I were still dating. For him, I think it has always been a belief that he and I can teach our kids in a fuller way than a school system, no fear for him about cray-cray people. But for me, in the beginning, it was honestly a desire to hide them from the big bad world. Beautifully, though, God has transformed that fear into a desire to (and belief that we are capable to) raise boys who will be creative, intellectual, kind, hard-working men of God who will go into this world and make it better. I still fear some of the senselessness in our culture, but I plan to fully prepare my boys to be empathetic men who are aware of different lifestyles -- *from God's perspective*. I want them to be compassionate as they stand for what's right. And I am so thankful that because homeschool is growing in our country so many opportunities are present to show them the world and its people so that they will be more wholly prepared at the appropriate time to GO and LOVE and (re-)CREATE. I hope they'll see my husband and I doing that when opportunities arise. (Sometimes our introversion makes the "other people" part difficult, so we pray God will show us how he can use our introversion and still help us with the second greatest command.)
Academically, we have registered with a group that meets two days a week throughout the school year. We start in August. It is kinda competitive to clench a spot, so I was SO thankful we made it on registration day to get THE LAST SPOT! THANK YOU, Father!!! The group chooses the curriculum (Yay! I hate making decisions.). I teach the curriculum throughout the week, with a few required and personal additions (Yay! I like that part.). Our kindergartener will meet in a class with 15-20 other homeschooled kids his age, taught by a teacher hired by the tutorial program, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a few hours to go over the material we have done at home. I am so excited for our older son because he loves being around kids his age, and one of his best buds from church is in this group too. It will be good for me to get to know other homeschooling parents to grow our community as well.
Our younger son is 2. I plan to go over pre-K stuff with him while his big brother is at tutorial. I look forward to our one-on-one time. He has been learning counting and his ABCs while I work on reading with his bro. (It is so cute to hear him count in his still-developing speech. He got to twelve last week. So cute!)
Speaking of reading...
My goal is to have our older son pretty well-acquainted with reading by the time tutorial starts in August. He will be 6 in October, but I feel like he has always been a fast learner and ahead in behavior, so I think he would have been okay starting kindergarten last year... but that isn't how any school system does things, and I need to learn not to rush anyway. This past January I began a Start-to-Read program from Usborne with our 5yo. Even though he has known his alphabet and sounds for years, I've heard so much about not starting reading too soon because of the detrimental effects it could have on learning down the road -- so I waited longer than necessary to begin with him. We have read aloud numerous times a day since he was born, both picture books and countless chapter books, but I didn't ask him to start until a few months ago.
We read through the eight books of the starter pack at a relaxed pace, and now we're two books into the next pack. He is very good at it, but he doesn't feel excited about it. However, the Teach Your Monster to Read Game on the computer that accompanies the books is highly enjoyable for him, and it is very effective in teaching sounds, so we use it as motivation when working through each book and the activities. The motivation part is a challenge for me (because I like to just get the work done, sweat is the reward for me... but not for kids), and I hope the peer group in our tutorial group will help feed his ambition a bit. He highly enjoys the science and art projects we do. And he loves when we read aloud to him. I am praying and feeling out as sensitively as I can his lack of excitement about learning to read himself... because he will have to learn important things he won't find "fun," but I don't want to crush his will to push through. Oy.
Well, that's where we are. How about you other homeschooling parents? What are your current and future plans?Any advice from veterans? How do you motivate your kids without positive peer pressure? How do you motivate yourself to join group outings and become part of a community (especially if you're inroverted, like me)?
