Playing School

Sometimes I forget how strange the idea of homeschooling used to be to me. Now that I've been researching it and contemplating it for a couple of years, it seems like the obvious choice for us right now. But then I'll run into an old acquaintance, like I did last Saturday, who looks at me like I've just sprouted 2 extra heads when I tell them we're homeschooling. I think this meeting planted the idea in my head of writing a post to share some of our reasons for homeschooling for anyone who's curious. I've been composing this post in my head the last couple of days since I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer for any length of time; the post in my head is exceptionally long and the actual post appears to be just about as long.

First a couple of stories...

Last week, my kids were excited about getting yet another Land Before Time movie in the mail from Netflix. I milked it for all it was worth by getting my kids to get lots of things done in the morning before they could watch it after lunch. Right after breakfast, I told Kaia that we would "do school" as soon as I finished feeding Leila. She excitedly ran to her room and got everything set up. She moved her "little table" so it was facing her chalkboard and then drew white lines across it and told me that I could write words on the board and then she would copy them in a little notebook she made for herself. As we were doing this, she asked me, "This is like real school, right, Mom? Except that we have more time after to do other fun things." (Can you tell that this girl, who hears and retains everything, has been listening to me tell people about some of the benefits of homeschooling? And, as a side note, I think a lot of people may envision homeschooling as being, basically, just like school but at home but I have discovered that there are just about as many different methods of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers.)



The next part of the story is for my brother-in-law, Erick. Kaia wanted to play hangman next, which she learned in Primary a week ago. She wanted to be the one to think of the word first. As I guessed the letters, I was wondering if she really had a word in mind. My suspicion turned out to be correct. When we got the point we were in this picture, I asked her if she knew what the word was going to be. She said, "I'm thinking about it." I then told her that so far it spelled, "Eric_." She exclaimed, "What!?! I spelled Erick? That's crazy! We have to tell him!"


On a different schooling note, I think I am addicted to laminating! The picture below is from the first time I went to this teacher supply store and got this entire 11' of laminating for $3! We now have cards for practicing our Chinese vocabulary (my kids are in a Chinese class on Saturdays - I can't remember if I've mentioned that on the blog before) as well as sight word and letter cards. They've been great for playing games like Go Fish and Memory. I've since gone back and got 22' of laminating for just over $6!! There is something so satisfying about getting things like this made for such an amazing price.


While Kaia and I have been busy with "school," Asher has been using our older digital camera to practice his photography skills:



Now for some of our reasons to homeschool...and first let me give a couple of qualifications. First, we began thinking about homeschooling because of the area in which we live. Our particular neighborhood has notoriously bad schools. So that initiated my research about homeschooling, but the longer I have learned about homeschooling the more benefits I see from it. In the interest of honesty, though, I cannot say for sure if I would still be homeschooling if we lived in an area with good schools. That possibility seems so remote at the moment that it's hard to really know what I would do. So, my second qualification, is to make it very clear that I do not look down upon anyone's decision to send their child to school. I don't think that schools are inherently bad and I didn't have a bad experience going to schools myself. Without further ado...

A few of our reasons for homeschooling:
*Homeschooling can allow us to adapt the methods of teaching to our children and their unique learning styles.

*We are in charge of what our children are exposed to at their young ages. We are not homeschooling for religious reasons. To be sure, we have very strong religious convictions. However, I don't feel it necessary to isolate children in order to teach children religion. In fact, I have many good memories from my growing up years of having religious discussions with friends of different faiths, and I came through with my faith intact and I would even say strengthened. While we aren't homeschooling for religious reasons, I would say that, because of the area we are in, we are homeschooling for what might be called moral reasons. I know this is an overgeneralization, but for the most part, children in the neighborhoods surrounding us are exposed to all types of movies and influences that I do not want my children to be exposed to at their young ages.

*Homeschooling gives us much more time together as a family. My children are best friends and get along really well most of the time.

*Homeschooling allows us to delay excessive academics. In our area, kids can begin going to school full time at 3 years of age. I want my children to experience a childhood of playing and being creative. I feel like a mama bear in wanting to protect this experience for my kids.

*I get to learn about all kinds of fun things along with my kids and help them maintain their love of learning. Peter and I joke that our kids don't realize that learning's not supposed to be fun. :)

*I feel like my kids just get to be more and more fun as they get older and I get to share that with them. I love the many moments when I am left in awe at the wonderful people my children are becoming.

The above are just a few of the benefits of homeschooling. The main concern I have had in regards to homeschooling is how to maintain my own sanity when I am with my children day in and day out while also being responsible for their education. Fortunately, in regards to the latter concern I have found a method of homeschooling that really resonates with me and has a lot of on-line support from other moms who are in the trenches, so to speak (if you're not tired of reading about homeschooling yet, you can go here to learn more about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling).

One thing that is really helping me right now is getting more of a schedule in our lives. I think I have resisted putting more structure in our lives for a long time due to some subconscious feeling that we would lose any opportunity for spontaneity. But what I'm actually finding is that having some structure enables us to get more done and have more fun. If I know that I will have a time to check e-mails, exercise, read scriptures, do chores, etc. etc. then I can be more present with my children when we're reading stories or playing games. And my kids are better at entertaining themselves when I'm doing the above things if they know they will have set times for reading and playing games with me.

I can certainly say that homeschooling tests me in so many ways - just today my kids tested my patience, love, and selflessness to the extreme. And I'll admit that I failed in a lot of ways. But by coming face to face with my shortcomings, I am forced to improve. This is my favorite quote of the week from this amazing talk:

“As we draw closer to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away.”