Saturday, May 31, 2014

Word of Warning

When seeking advice about homeschooling, don't blindly trust someone just because they have been doing it a year or two longer than yourself.  Go to the moms who have graduated children. Go to the veterans whose children got into college and were well adjusted enough to stay. Go to the ones who tell you hard things, like "have them tested", "be consistent", and"every day matters". Look to and seek out the ones whose children shared the same struggles as your own.

There is a place for discussing things with your peers, absolutely. There should be weekly or monthly times to share information and encourage each other. Be open. Be kind. But don't neglect the wisdom of those much further along in the process. I wish I hadn't.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Beautiful Moments

Homeschooling has such beautiful moments. Right now, my oldest is with her two youngest siblings at the park. She's reading them Shakespeare in the sunshine.

My heart is moved and I'm so grateful that I have been able to enjoy my children in this manner. To see them enjoy one another (and Shakespeare) takes it to a whole other level.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Homeschooling a Junior and Senior

Homeschooling through high school...

The thought always scared the pants off me. Daunting. When my oldest started 9th grade, I latched on to every friend I had who had homeschooled all the way through high school. How do you keep up with credits? How many hours makes up a credit? How many maths? How many sciences? Did you teach all the courses? What about transcripts? When do you test? Where do you test? What qualifies as an elective? On and on and on and on...

Now, we are 8 weeks from my daughter's graduation. She has finished all her math curriculum for the year after spending a solid week doing nothing but math for 7 hours a day. She's set to be done with the rest of her work by the end of April. We've bought the prom dress. Yes, homeschoolers can have proms! We've paid the graduation fee. We've submitted the photos for the graduation slide show. We've got her transcript in order. We haven't had to do much with colleges yet because she's going overseas for a year. She's going as a missionary intern to Ireland and England. Instead of college visits and applications, we're working to raise support.

My oldest son is a junior this year. He wants to be an international commercial airline pilot. I've done a lot of googling and praying. I didn't even know where to start. Thankfully, God sends people into my life to help me. He's scheduled to take his first ACT in two weeks. In hindsight, I should have made him take it in February, to give him more opportunities to take it. He's been doing lots of ACT prep stuff, where, it was discovered, he had an enormous hole in education concerning English. We've been working hard in that area. We have a campus visit scheduled next week at his first choice school and hopefully will get to meet with the RUF director there.

My recommendation to anyone homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling or maybe wanting to homeschool in the future: don't halfway do it or give in to mediocrity. Don't kid yourself that there's always time to catch up. Do it well. Do it even when you don't want to do it. Push them just a little bit more that you want to. Do the hard stuff as well as the fun stuff. Be persistent. Resist the urge to hop from curriculum to curriculum during the school year. Some things are just NOT FUN.

My oldest daughter has always struggled in math. My oldest son has always struggled in writing. The only way they found any freedom, any victory, in those areas was for me to push them through with gentleness and patience. I endured tears and fits. I held them when they wanted to give up. I yelled at them when they need a metaphorical kick in the butt. And when it became too much for me, I passed them off to different teachers. My husband took over math duties and my English-teacher friend took over English duties this year. I have seen sooooo much improvement. It's okay to ask for help.

My other big piece of advice for homeschooling through high school is DO NOT ABDICATE YOUR ROLE. Teenagers are absolutely capable of independent study. They can listen to the DVD lectures and work the problems. They can finish their work. But you are still their teacher. Make them get up in the morning. Be the bad guy and make them turn off their phones. Check their work at the end of every day. You are still in charge. So many people move away from their teens during this time, reasoning that the teen knows what to do and is capable of doing it. BUT when it comes to education, you always need a teacher. They don't know how to stretch themselves. They don't know what they are capable of. It's our job as their teachers to push when they don't want to be pushed. Of course, we do it gently and lovingly, but we push nonetheless. They won't ever thank you for not pushing them. They will hold it against you.

Homeschooling through high school is hard work. It can be daunting, but it's very doable. I think it's the most rewarding part of the entire journey. I will do my best to document my successes and failures so you don't have to muddle through the way I've had to do.




Ramble On...

I am the worst blogger in the world. I haven't posted to my homeschool blog since school started. That's rough.  I think it shows that some people can teach their children at home and maintain a million other activities. I'm not so sure that I can.

Homeschooling takes an enormous amount of time and effort. It requires very deliberate use of time. Our day starts early and finishes early afternoon. Some days, school runs into the evening. When I'm done actively schooling the kids, then it is time to work on grades, lesson plans, worksheets and projects.

I'm making this sound impossible, aren't I? It's not. I still have time to be very active in church, spend a good amount of time with my friends and work a part time job. It's not all consuming, and if I find it becoming all consuming, it's probably slipped into the realm of idolatry and I need to reevaluate.

So re-reading the first paragraph, I think it is more apt to say that social media, of all types, is pretty far down my list of priorities. I enjoy doing it, but it can only come after everything else is finished.