Homeschooling - day to day

Question:
I've been following the discussion on homeschooling. I don't homeschool my children right now but have some interest in it. Could some of the moms and dads who homeschool describe what a typical day, week and month are? It seems overwhelming to me, but that might be because I am an old mom! (Okay, 43 isn't that old, but you get my drift....). I have this picture of homeschooling as everyone sitting around a blackboard for five hours a day, and that's just not something I think I could do. I love to teach my children, but I'm just not sure about homeschooling.

Answer:
- First off, you are not old! Old is a state of mind. Perhaps you are just tired. That's how I feel sometimes. We get our homeschool programs designed by the National Accademy of Child Development. They give us specific exercises and accademics and prescribe a set number of minutes to do each. Some are done more than once per day. We don't set a certain number of hours aside for school. Since the traditional school approach didn't work for us, we don't emulate something that didn't work to begin with. I break up the homeschool program into 15-20 minute segments. This keeps the interest (intensity) level high. In between the segments, the children get a break to do what they wish,(puzzles, computer, outside play, read a book) while I do a 15-20 minute segment with another child (I am presently working with 3, well 4 if you include nursing the baby and carrying him about in my sling...) We are usually not done until 5 or 6 in the evening, but we do other things besides what is on the program. I usually reserve Fridays for social activities with other kids. The 15 minute periods are good because sometimes, in between kids, I can do the dishes or put in a load of laundry, or even start dinner. It's kind of become a way of life. This approach also allows me to spend alot of time with the kids doing fun things. The idea is to make most of the activities gamelike and to strive for a positive atmosphere. Everyone has bad days, but I try to keep them to a minimum and change my approach if something is not working. Also, the 15 minute periods keep the intensity level high and end before the brain gets overstimulated. If you spend too much time doing something, the brain gets overloaded and actually is detrimental to the learning process. It took me a long time to unlearn that more is not always better. If you are wondering how the kids do, I can only say they are acceleurated in their academics. Socially, they are very well adjusted. They get along well with children of all ages, as well as adults. No, my house is never clean and usually we eat dinner late, but I do cook most of the meals during the week and Brett cooks on Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes I don't do the dishes at night because I'm too tired but they get done eventually. I'd rather spend the time with the kids then have a clean house. I'd really be interested in hearing how other homeschooling families arrange their days. You probably already teach your children more than you think. We don't even have a blackboard.

- Because I was homeschooling so many children -- and sometimes one or two others people asked me to teach -- I ended up turning our family room into a classroom with student desks and a low table for the little children. If I had had fewer children, the dining room table would have been fine. Any comfy couch is a place to read. But it's nice to have some shelves to keep all the work materials, puzzles, etc. on. Since I was a Montessori teacher before I was a homeschooling mom, I had been trained in certain exercises used during the toddler years to increase a child's ability to concentrate, work independently, and have a sense of order. It's an approach anyone can use to better prepare their child for learning no matter where they go to school. I wrote a book for everyday parents of prescholers to share these Montessori methods and how to incorporate them in the home. It's called Small Beginnings and you can see it at amazon. com. I taught my children read by the Montessori method, which I have just shared in a book to be published next month called Ready, Set, Read!. Because my children could work independently, they were all basically self-educating, once they were able to read. I used textbooks and workbooks from A Beka, Merrill McGraw, and Saxon math for the basic subjects. Because I valued the education I received, I tended to be pretty academic -- that is, I graded my children's work each day, gave them tests, etc. I used the Saxon math course which is very no-frills and based on repetition of all skills in each lesson. My kids loved it. They also loved workbooks, contrary to popular opinion. Okay, here's how our school days were: Each child had a small spiral notebook where I wrote out each day's assignments. I had a stamp made with all the subjects and stamped the pages. I planned two or three weeks of assignments at a time. We started at 8:00 with Bible study and singing (we are Christians) That was the best part of day -- my kids all love3 singing because we did so much of it! Then we'd have a group lesson -- maybe about a country or current event -- whatever mom wanted to talk about. Then by 8:45 or so, my kids would start their work. they were free to do their subjects in any order they wished. They would read the text and answer any questions, or take their tests. If they had any questions they would come and ask me and we would go over it. But basically they were self-taught. In the meantime, I would be doing Montessori-type exercises or puzzles, etc with younger kids -- or changing diapers or nursing, or changing clothes from washer to dryer. As they finished, they would check off the subjects completed in their assignment books and put their completed work on my destk. I would grade the work, and if I saw any problems, talk with them about it. We were always finished with school by noon. We went only monday through thursday. (on Fridays we would go to museums, or the beach or the zoo) We often took off the whole month of December. And we took the normal summer vacation. And yet we finished every text book every year. I also didn't realize until my kids went to school how far advanced they were. My oldest son skipped a grade going into high school and had no difficulty. All scored at least 4 years above grade level in reading skills. Homeschooling is a wonderful experience, if you feel called to do it. I have counseled lots of moms who wanted to homeschool but were intimidated about it. It's really not as difficult as it would appear. There are homeschool associations in every state (e-mail me and I can put you in touch with yours), books you can read, and conferences you can attend to get ideas and see curriculums. And the rewards are great -- family closeness, etc. Now after a year with kids in school, I realize there are things at school my kids cannot get at home. I don't feel my younger kids learned as much academically this year in school as they would have at home (my son in Catholic high school sure did, though!). But they learned some other extrememly important things. It actually is more of a hassle to have the kids in school -- more hours, less help with little ones, etc. But, like I said, I felt led to do this this year. That's the bottom line -- to make decisions one year (even one day) at a time -- not based on fear or what anyone else thinks. You are the only one who knows what's best for your child.