Welcome homeschoolers!

[Cynthia Mosher]

After receiving several requests to incorporate homeschooling into VegFamily I've opened this forum for vegan homeschoolers to have a place to talk about their educational paths with their children. Looking forward to the discussions! :)

[vegma]

Awesome! :)

We joined our first homeschool group when ds was 3 and never looked back! Since we made the decision early, unschooling made sense to us as a natural progression of what we'd already been doing. We love it! :D Ds is 7 now.

[kjmckenzie]

I'm not a homeschooler yet, but I have hopes to become one! DS is 2 so we have a while to decide if it is feasible, but I look forward to hearing all about those who have walked before us! Homeschoolers out there please share day to day stories, a day in the life, problems, solutions, pros, cons, everything!

Much appreciated!

Krista

[capersmama]

Hi all!
I'm a mom of 5 and have been homeschooling for .. hmm.... 14+ years (officially), NOT COUNTING the years from birth until "school age".

We did the public school "hokey pokey" for a couple of years and finally decided 10 years ago to completely commit our lives to homeschooling.

Glad this forum is available.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Welcome welcome! Looking forward to your posts!! We have unschooled and homeschooled for about 6 years now. My kids go back and forth with wanting structure and not. BUt we enjoy it whether this or that. :)

[capersmama]

Hi Cynthia!
Unschooling is a lot of fun. We unschooled for ..ohh... 5-6 years and really enjoyed it. There is a wonderful book that I would recommend, Christian Unschooling. I met the two wonderful ladies who wrote it, online in a homescooling chat, and was fortunate enough to be "quoted", even in a small way, in the book. Terri and Elissa compiled this book from many unschooling moms in our homeschool chat over a two year period. It's received wonderful reviews. Chhttp://www.amazon.com/Christian-Unschooling-Growing-Children-Freedom/dp/1891400223eck it out

We have since taken on a more "traditional" school regime as my children have grown (by their choice).

When I started to homeschool I had absolutely no support. My dh refused to see it as a viable educational option and basically thought it was "playing hookey" until they went to "real school." Plus my mom was a 4th grade public school teacher who had the mindset that "socialization" was most important. I am glad to say that over the years most of my family (dh and mom) have come around. They couldn't deny the wonderful progress the kids were making. Now my mom is my biggest advocate. Thanks mom if you're reading this ;)

[crunchychristianmom]

Hi!

I'm not a home schooling mom but have recently started to consider it.

My 5yr old daughter will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. We've already enrolled her in a private Christian school but are concerned about finances as we are a one income family. We don't know if we will be able to keep up with the tuition costs once our younger two are in school as well.

Public school is not an option and my concern with home schooling is my own weakness as a teacher.

I'm not very organized or consistent. My house is always messy and the kids & I definitely don't have any kind of daily schedule or routine.

But we have alot of fun!:D We're always going fun places or meeting with friends for playdates, making the house even messier with random crafts and fun kid projects. Those are the things I'm good at. I worry I won't be able to be the patient, consistent, structured teacher that my kids will need.

Anyone else struggle in this area but still successfully home school?

I'd love to hear your advice!!

-Cheri

[kjmckenzie]

Cheri, it sounds like you should look into unschooling. From what I understand about unschooling, it sounds as though you are already doing it quite well!

I think the basic concept of unschooling is that you simply follow your kids natural inclinations to learn about things and don't really have a routine or schedule. Of course the beauty of it is that you can tweak it to do it however it works for you, you don't have to stick to the definition!

Regardless, I think what you are doing sounds like a great education for your kids already and I am sure you would be a better teacher to them than a teacher who has to contend with 30 plus kids and follow an imposed curriculum!

Good luck!

[vegma]

Cheri, we unschool. It comes so naturally. We don't actively "teach" our children how to crawl, walk, talk, etc. They learn so much on their own by watching and imitating ... and with such enthusiasm and curiosity! We want to retain that enthusiasm and curiosity for learning as our child grows up! I know for me that things are more meaningful when I'm interested in them.

Here's an example of my 7yo and the alphabet. He knows all his letters. He's pretty good at spelling. He's a "beginning" reader (we haven't "taught him to read" - he's picking it up as we read, go to the library, and as he recognizes words, etc). Well, the ABC song never really made an impression on him, and he never saw the need to memorize the alphabet in order. Until ... he started looking things up in the encyclopedia and dictionary! Now he sees the need (as it applies to his life), and he's made the effort to remember the order of the alphabet. :)

Unschooling isn't for everyone. You have to have confidence that your child will learn what he needs to know and not get caught up in the prescribed "child must know xyz at age 7, def at age 8, ghi at age 9". Why not let child learn xfg at age 7, if that's what he's interested in at that age? Why worry if child doesn't learn dyz until age 9? The concept is radical for some - for us it "makes sense"! ;)

[crunchychristianmom]

Wow, Unschooling does sound like a perfect fit for me. But I think I might have trouble convincing my DH, not to mention our parents and other family members.

Up to what age do you unschool? How do they learn math? I'm not very good at math and try to avoid it at all costs!:)

I guess I need to do some research. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

-Cheri

[vegma]

Math is handled the same way. Ds became interested in tape measures a few years ago. He measured everything ... and everyone! We got him a watch for his 5th (or was it 6th?) birthday. We play Monopoly, dice games, etc. We cook (measurements/fractions). When he was younger, he developed a fascination for calculators. We explained how they worked, and he would "test" them to see if they got the right answers! LOL! We recently started giving him a little money of his own each week and talked about how you have to know how much something costs and how much change you should get back. To me, math is easy. If everyone learned it in respect to how they use it in everyday life, I think it would be easy for everyone! A few weeks ago, ds was begging his dad to play two games with him before bed. One of the games they had made up and they always play it for 15 minutes. His dad said they could play the first game for 5 minutes, and ds, said "Oh good, then we'll have 10 minutes left for the other game!".

I believe (for us) that if the "Fear factor" is kept out of learning, then there is no limit to what a child (or adult) can and will learn! :) Can you tell I'm passionate about this? :p

[crunchychristianmom]

Okay, so I did a little homework.

I went to unschool.com and it answered alot of my questions and then I followed a link to my state's laws regarding homeschool/unschool.

From my understanding of the law it said up to the age of 8 it was perfectly legal.But after 8 there would be a few hoops to jump through.

I would have to submit a letter of intent by Sept. to the school district, which is no big deal. But it also said I would have to have a certified instructor supervising my child's progress and have them tested annually to make sure they were keeping up with their peer group. These restrictions concern me. How do you get around them, or are they not enforced in your area?

Thanks for your help!

-Cheri

[vegma]

Ugh, testing is one of my pet peeves! I was a great student - I knew how to memorize things for tests ... but does that mean I learned the material? My state does have "rules" to follow, but they are not as restrictive as yours. I must count x hours in core subjects and x hours in non-core to meet state rqmts. I incorporate my "evaluations" into the journal I keep of what ds does/learns by noting improvements, light bulb moments, etc.

BTW, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can mix and match to do what fits your family ... and your state rqmts. Good luck!

[Christa]

California has restrictive rules like WA state, too. In fact, they are virtually the same. (I have a good friend who is hsing in CA.)

We hsed briefly when dd#1 was in 1st grade due to a very poor school experience, but dds are both in school at this point. I am trying to figure out a way to make hsing work for our family in that I believe it is what my older dd needs although I think that my younger one could get by okay either way.

I'm trying to get a group of local parents together to see if we can set up some sort of a coop b/c I work pt and we really can't afford for me not to be working at all. There is a really neat program in MA (www.voyagersinc.org) that I have been discussing with other moms locally to see if we could model something similar.

[vegma]

Hey Christa, I heard somewhere that CO doesn't allow you to count hours on weekends. Is that true?! I started working pt 4 months ago. I'm not in my field, but my priority was to find a job that offered family health bennies at a reasonable price, 20 hours a week, and I wanted to work weekends! So we have child care covered, and with our type of schooling, learning can take place any time of the day or night...and often does! :p Good luck starting a coop in your area. It seems to me that when someone initiates something, others will follow! ;)

[m@ggi3]

i am a home schooled recently turned vegan teen. today i start at a mainstream school eeeeeeeep!:eek:

[vegma]

Welcome Maggie! May I ask why you decided to begin "mainstream" school? :)
I'm just curious because it seems like a lot of teenagers in our secular homeschool community eventually make their way to school - even many of the unschoolers!

[m@ggi3]

it was hard because i had no friends my age and i missed mainstream which i did in primary. i doubt i had the disiplin to do my TEE like ur sat's i think at home

[vegnmntnmama]

Although we are of the unschooling mindset, we are going to try a relatively new program offered through our school district.

Part one is the online curriculum. This is put together by k12. (http://k12.com)
"...six core courses—Language Arts/English, Math, Science, History, Art, and Music—can be taken separately for supplemental learning or enrichment, or combined into a full-time schooling option. The lesson plans for each subject are integrated, so your child may be reading literature from the same time period as the art or history lesson she is studying. What begins as a story about a king who lost his wife may end up with an examination of the architecture and history of the Taj Mahal, built as a monument to a dead queen."

They set us up with a computer for Sophie to use for her studies (which as a kindergartner, is minimal) and a monthly stipend (not sure how much it will be yet, varies per area) to help pay for internet or supplies. We should be getting our boxes of curriculum and supplies in a couple of weeks.

By the way, this program costs approximately $600 for the year. . .BUT because we are enrolling through our school district, we pay $0. How do you like them apples? :0)

Part two is called Cottage School. This is not required. Neither is the online program required for participation in Cottage School.
Cottage School is a two afternoon per week attendance at the Elementary school. From approximately noon - 3:50 pm. The students are broken into two groups, the k-2 graders and two different afternoons per week it will be for the 3-5 grade kids. These kids go to a classroom with the Cottage School teacher and they practice spanish, reading, etc, then they will go to an art class, or PE class or Music class or Library time, and recess too.
Another cool part of this is that the school recognizes that home school kids are a bit different than the full time kids and they allow the parents to be in the classroom with the child as needed. If the parent prefers, can just volunteer on campus to be close to the child, or can just leave the child and go, if everyone is comfortable with that situation. Whatever works is what the school is willing to do. Which is great.
Another cool thing about being enrolled in this Cottage School program is that anything that is offered to full time students is offered to the part time kids as well. For instance, choir, extra science, or math, use of the library media, sports or any extra curricula opportunities, tutoring. . .it's all available to us if we need it!


By the way, we are in Colorado, Teller County
If you are in Colorado, you can look into COVA, it's also K12, but through the school district so that the curriculum is free.

[Ayla]

We intend to unschool our children, and in fact I'm the owner/administrator of Joyous Learning (http://joyouslearning.info), the Australian home education network :D