Monday, August 31, 2015

The Unexpected Socialization Advantage to Homeschooling

 

Sometimes I feel like I'm on an island.  On my island, life actually runs pretty smoothly.  My children have a routine, they are enthusiastically learning, and Mr. Wonderful and I are seeing growth and maturity in each of their lives.  I actually like our island life.  But I must confess, sometimes I get insecure about the fact that I don't always know what's going on outside of our little plot of land.

Everybody says that when you start homeschooling, you really need a good support network.  This makes perfect sense, because it can be very scary to wade out into the water of the unknown by yourself.  Unfortunately, the aforementioned "support network" isn't necessarily readily available--even in a huge multi-city area like where I live.  Sadly, support groups don't grow on trees.  Sure, we have co-ops galore, university model schools everywhere, and random homeschool classes (which we love).  But I can honestly say, I don't have a network of homeschool moms who I can call or turn to for help.  I'm just really lucky to have family members who are willing to talk me off the cliffs when I'm having one of my panicky days.

I was pretty proud of myself when we survived an entire year of kindergarten without too many hiccups in spite of not having a support network.  I heard good reports from our museum school teachers and summer golf coaches about what a great little guy I have and how respectful and smart he is, so I figured that something had gone right last year.  Plus, we were plenty far enough ahead in our curriculum to feel like we were on the right track.  In spite of my instincts that my kids are doing great, I still had this nagging sense of wonder about where my children are in comparison to other kids.  It's hard to compare when you're not regularly around other kids!

It wasn't until I sat in on a class at church last week that I realized how amazing my kids are.  I will be the first to admit when we are struggling with an area, so I'm not one to brag as a sanctimommy by any means.  But I've got to be honest, a lot of the kids at church are irreverent, rude little beasts!  Had I caught either of my boys behaving like the kiddos I saw, I would have been tempted to drag them out of class by their hair.  I knew that there were behavior problems in the elementary classes at church, because my oldest hates to go to class where the "other" kids are constantly getting in trouble.  I absolutely wasn't prepared to also witness a preschool class where most of the children were out-right bad, while my 5 year old sat quietly on his carpet square listening to the story.  It was both a sad and enlightening experience.  Do parents not care about the fact that their children don't know how to behave?  Or do they not realize that they can expect better from their little people?  Or are my expectations just really that much higher for my kids?

Then it dawned on me--just because a child goes to preschool and elementary school and gets "socialized" doesn't necessarily mean that his parents have a clue about his actual social behavior.  When you're with your child everyday, for better or worse, you are intimately acquainted with their behavior flaws.  You have the opportunity to practice social skills in public with your neighborhood barista, Target check-out ladies, librarians, and countless other people that you encounter throughout the week. I can sit on a park bench during science class at the nature center and watch him interact with the other homeschool children in his class.  And Mr. Wonderful can observe him on the golf course as he practices his golf etiquette with his competitors. If I sent my boys off to a classroom everyday, it would be much harder to get a feel for their peer and adult interactions because I wouldn't be there to witness it. 

I'm not saying that there aren't some great kiddos who go to school everyday.  (Hello! I was one of them, if I do say so myself.)  But I am saying that this misnomer that homeschooled kids aren't or can't get properly socialized because they're not around kids every day is just poor logic.  My kids learn their social skills from me, as opposed to from other 5 and 7 year old children.  Plus, we don't have to deal with peer pressure problems from other children, because my guys are learning to be responsible for their own behavior.

Until last week, it never even occurred to me that homeschooling has given me a huge advantage from a parenting aspect because I have all day, almost every day, (we do have outside classes) to reinforce good behavior and attitudes.  Although we initially started out homeschooling because we saw that there could be huge academic advantages, Mr. Wonderful and I are seeing that there are benefits to living life on our island that we never expected.  Who knew that teaching social skills to homeschooled children would be so easy?

Thursday, August 20, 2015

School is Back in Session


Figured I would come out of my pregnancy hibernation to share some updates... 

I can't believe that I'm only about 10 or 11 weeks from meeting my newest little one.  Oh how I wish I could share with you whether I'm having a boy or girl, but this baby has absolutely refused to reveal itself to us in spite of multiple ultrasounds.  It's becoming routine for me to tell people that hopefully we'll find out "at next month's ultrasound."  But if I don't find out in 2 weeks, we're going to be officially Team Green on this child.  The doctor says what we've seen looks more like a boy than a girl, but he's still not completely sure.  Either way, baby is getting a red plaid bear and moose nursery.  If it's a girl, we'll just add a few bows here and there.

Not only are we in baby mode again, but we're back on the homeschool saddle for this school year.  We've almost completed three weeks of 1st grade!  This year is going light years better than last year--partly because I'm not a rookie mom making rookie mistakes, and partly because my little guy is much more engaged this year. 

After the tears and headaches of last spring, I decided to change up our curriculum.  I still like the idea of a Charlotte Mason combined with a classical approach, but I'm not committing myself to a "style" this year.  I threw out half of the Memoria Press plan for 2nd grade (our guy is a year ahead), and decided that we'll revisit their curriculum in junior high when we're ready to dive more into a classical study.  I still really like some aspects of the curriculum, but I can honestly say that phonics was discouraging and we're not ready for the American cursive that is pervasive in all their 1st and 2nd grade workbooks.

Since I'm a bit more systematic in my own approach to learning, I decided to choose curriculum on a subject-by-subject basis.  A year ago, I would have died at the thought of "customizing" my own plan.  But as it turns out, I don't follow guidelines so well myself, and pre-prepared teacher lesson plans kind of get on my nerves (if you're a professional educator, I'm sure this statement makes you cringe).  Anyway, starting from scratch with each subject has been loads of fun.

For now, we're using the following books for these subjects:
  • Bible- God's Great Covenant OT (1) by Classical Academic Press
  • Spelling- 2nd grade spelling by BJU Press
  • English- 2nd grade English by BJU Press (coordinates with spelling)
  • Math- grade 3 by Rod & Staff
  • Social Studies- grade 2 by Rod & Staff
  • Science- Grade 1 by Christian Liberty Press; Homeschool Zoo classes once per month; and a homeschool class at a local nature preserve once a week (how many kids get to go on a 60 minute hike in the woods every week?!)
  • Writing- Handwriting Without Tears, 1st grade 
  • Reading- we're spending our first quarter reading science books for kids; we've also incorporated weekly book reports
  • PE- Jr. PGA golf tournaments; will sign up for basketball this winter
Next semester we will be adding a health and manners book, Latin, and science grade 2 when we finish some of the subjects we're currently doing.

How are we going to pull all of this off with a new baby?  Who knows?!  We'll figure it out.  12 weeks ago I would have told you that I would be too sick to homeschool in August, but here we are.

I really want to document our school experiences more, so I'll try to do better.  But with Baby #4 coming so soon, I'm not making any promises.  Just know that I haven't forgot y'all.  Can't wait to share stories about life as a family of 6.  (And no, there will be no bump pictures for you.  I'm not sicko enough to think that's cute.  If you really want to know what my little self looks like pregnant, you'll have to call my mom.  Otherwise, you'll just have to wait for pics of the baby...)