Homeschooling

There are numerous reasons why any family makes the choice to Homeschool. I was so surprised when I started to consider homeschooling just how many families are doing it. For us the main reason we made the choice was because I knew that I wanted our son to have a certain type of education. I wanted him to attend Montessori school but we could not afford the cost of it. After EXTENSIVE research I found that my son was already beyond the expected level of where he needed to be to graduate kindergarten by Florida standards. I started thinking that if I have already taught him to this level at home at the age of 4 then surely I could continue with his education for at least a few more years. In Florida children do not have to attend school until they are 6 years of age, although most start kindergarten at age 5. I figured that we'd take that first year, at age 5 when he would be starting kindergarten, and do it at home and see how it goes. I researched, and still do actually - it's never ending really - to find the materials that I thought would work for us. I have actually gone through several different sources that have not really been a good fit for us and found new sources that worked better for Austin and fit his learning style better. So at the age of 4.5 Austin is starting Phonics and learning to read, which he is very excited about. Of course as time goes on our materials will change and be altered according to his ability etc.

What We Are Currently Doing

Currently Austin is only 4.5 years old. I really don't think that children need to start officially "doing" school at 4.5 years old aside from the basics like ABC's, colors, numbers, etc.

Children have so many years of school ahead of them I just don't see what the need is for a 4 year old to know how to read. Studies show that children will be at the level they need to be at in regards to reading and math, etc regardless of how early they start. So if Austin could read at 4 it doesnt mean he will be a better reader at 7 then little John who didnt start learning to read until he was 5 and a half. I just think that at this age life should be all about fun. With that in mind the following is all done at a VERY and I do mean VERY laid back and relaxed pace. Personally I woulndt be doing any "school" yet but Austin is eager and tells me he wants to do school so we do it when he asks. We were doing things more consistently before but I have really scaled back with it because I don't want him to get burnt out on school so young. We are currently using "Explode The Code" for letter's, which is a GREAT source for Austin. He really loves it and learns well with this. We use "Math-U-See" for math, obviously. We also use the "Learn At Home" Curriculum workbook, which is a Christian based curriculum containing, letters, Phonics, Math, Science, Social Studies, Bible Study and Activities. Of course all of this is geared toward his age level. He really likes this curriculum because we get to color the work and cut out and paste for the Science and Social Studies. Currently Austin is working at a Kindergarten level. I just purchased the "Phonics Pathways" book which I have heard good things about and come August (the new school year) we are going to start with that. Of course we use a lot of games and fun activities and basically and probably more importantly we use life as our education. We do Daily Devotions in his "Gotta Have God" book which is more fun then school really. I think it's important that it's fun for him so I try to keep it as laid back as possible Apparently that is working because he's really a little sponge that takes it all in well.

This coming school year, August 2002, will be our first "official" year of homeschooling. Although he doesnt have to school until he is 6 I want to go ahead and start at 5 just so we will have that whole year of practice as far as record keeping, etc before I have to register him as a homeschooler and start reporting to the state. So come this school year we will be more consistent and school 4 days out of 7 per week. We will spend as much time on each subject that we need to cover as we need to or as much time as Austin allows (you just can't MAKE a child learn if they are not into it). I will try to set a schedule but with a baby in the house it all depends on nap time. That's what's so great about homeschooling, if you can't work school in during the morning hours you still have the whole day to fit it in somewhere. Or if you have errands to run you can do school when you get back or even that evening. Taking family vacation can become a wonderful schooling adventure and you don't have to worry about going in the summer or when the kids are out of school. I really believe in the child leading the learning experience. By this I mean that I go with Austin's interests and moods. I try to make things fun for him so he enjoys learning in his own way. If Austin has an interest in bugs then we study bugs in every possible way imaginable. Counting bugs, identifying bugs by the letter they start with, etc.

I really love that we are homeschooling. I feel blessed that my husband shares my desire to provide our children with the best possible education they can get. Will we homeschool forever? Who knows. I know that I would like to do it for as long as Austin is learning at his level or beyond. If we ever get to the point that by homeschooling he is not learning to his ability then we will have to explore other options, and there are many options.

There is really so much to talk about in regards to homeschooling. So much so that there is no way I can write it all here. But if you are interested in anything that I have mentioned or if you have any questions at all pertaining to homeschooling please feel free to e-mail me. I love talking "school"
~Roberta~