More Fun Than Humans Deserve
Welcome to the first post of Homeschool 360. It’s gonna be a fun post. More fun than humans deserve. Much like homeschooling.
Geez, when i was a kid, I would have killed to be homeschooled. I hated school. Get up at 6. Rush to get dressed. Panic about unfinished homework or a quiz I didn’t study enough for. Stand out in the freezing cold at the bus stop. Let alone worry all day about my totally lame haircut, my ridiculous corduroys that Mom made me wear or whether that cute girl who sat in front of me liked me or not. And let’s not forget how long school was. I left the house at 7 and got home at 3. I was sleep deprived, fun deprived and family deprived.
Today, when I mention that we homeschool our 4 kids, people often look at me like I’m crazy, like they must be weird kids, or that we must be weird parents. But think about how different life is for a kid who is homeschooled for a minute. Sine this is my blog, I’ll use my kids as the example. They sleep till 7 AM, get up and do some chores before a nice family breakfast. After breakfast, we read the Bible individually or collectively, depending on the day. Then it’s time for some math. Thirty minutes of largely self-directed work is the norm. After that, it’s off to the YMCA so Mommy can work out for a couple hours. This is social time for the kids. Other kids at the Y are homeschooled or tracked out so on average there’s 20 - 30 kids for them to interact with on a regular basis. After the Y, it’s home for lunch and other subjects. Language Arts, history, science or reading may be on the schedule for the day. Today, for instane, our kids took turns being the teacher. They directed their siblings in the course work they were to do, the older helping the younger, going to Mommy when someone got stuck.
The biggest bonus of all (in my humble opinion)? No one holds you back. Once they finish studying, they’re off to play outside, free to help out with jobs around the house (’Home Economics’ is another homeschool “subject” in our house both for our girls and our boy), or take the dogs for a walk.
It’s easy to be daunted at the prospect of homeschooling your kids - something I look forward to talking about in future posts - but once you get past that, you realize that homeschooling is fun. Lots of fun, actually. The pros so vastly outweigh the cons it’s a wonder that a much larger percentage of the population doesn’t do it.
Found your blog. I am new to homeschooling. I will be homeschooling my 4 year old (to be 5 in November - missing that Wake County timeline for kindergarten enrollment) this fall for kindergarten. I am looking a homeschooling group that meets on a weekly basis which has age appropriate children. I don’t mind their being older kids, but would like to see a break up of age appropriate children and have activities, field trips, an even some lessons on occasion as a group. I live in Raleigh. Any suggestions? I’ve visited one and am interested in that group, but would like to see what else is out there before I finalize my schedule.