Homeschooling

[JAK]

Anyone else here homeschool?

[Harmony]

Yep :) :wave

[MenkyFrog]

How old are your kiddies and what made you choose homeschooling? (I have a whole list of questions but I will ask them bit by bit ;) )

[JAK]

Ds is 11. I decided to homeschool because he's not learning at school and school wasn't willing to change or adjust anything to help him.

I've always had reservations about schools. They work well for a number of children, but for too many they simply slip through the cracks, my ds seems to be one of them. But then I've also had reservations about homeschooling him since he has autism and whether I'd cope with the intensity of homeschooling.

Menkyfrog, ask away - as many questions as you want. I know I did that when deciding whether to keep fighting within the education system or take him out. I can't see him going back to a school at all.

Harmony, whereabouts are you located?

[mama_bel]

Yep! Currently have six of school age learning at home!

[zookeeper]

We're homeschooling too - our boys are 7 and 5.

Harmony - I didn't know you were homeschooling! Great News!

[Savannah]

We homeschool too.

DD is 8 and DS is 3. We loosely use the term unschooling to describe what we are doing. Basically I think everything is a learning experience.

[Rinelle]

Yep, we're homeschooling here too. DD is 5, so due to 'officially' start grade 1 next year.

I originally wasn't intending to homeschool at all, but as DD has grown, I've realised that a) she isn't ready for school yet (in the social sense, not the academic sense), and b) she would be very bored academically.

[mummabare]

Yep still going here. Dj is going to be 6 in feb and we are officially registering him next year. Dj is thriving with homeschooling and loving it. I enjoy watching his development and discoveries ;)

[Rinelle]

I enjoy watching his development and discoveries ;)

You know, I think that is the BEST part about it. I'd miss so much if DD was off at school!

[Blossomtime]

We do :D DD is 6yo and this is our first year registered. We love it!

[Nyree]

And us :)

DD is only 4,5, so she doesn't need to be registered until 2011, but am getting ready to be a bit more organised with activities & record keeping.


what made you choose homeschooling?

The decision to homeschool was made quite suddenly earlier this year. I already knew a couple of people IRL homeschooling - and more on various forums - but always thought myself too impatient.

I was feeling less & less comfortable with the local kindy/school. Ironically, we'd just moved further away from the one school I'd consider sending her to & I didn't want to spend 2 hours each day going back & forth. I had sent off for details on the Teacher's Aide course as a potential "school hours friendly" job that I'd enjoy. A few days after that, I think I was reading something about homeschooling & thought I'd look a bit more into it. By the next day, I was convinced. Those 'uneasy' feelings I'd had about choosing schools disappeared & I felt this real buzz. It just felt "right" & I knew it would suit DD's personality & learning style down to a T.

What's been interesting for me is learning how she learns. She loves learning, but hates "being taught" something she hasn't instigated - I imagine much the same way I was when my Dad used to try tutoring me in maths (he was a maths teacher :unsure). Like the others have said, watching them get excited by all their new discoveries is priceless!

[elflyn]

I'm homeschooling the younger three. DS2 is due to start Prep next year, we will be registering. I'm planning on using a Steiner program with lots of natural learning included.
My older 2 are schooled outside the home (except for a year of homeschooling) and I have watched as they became increasingly entrenched in "the system" I really find it offensive that those 12 years of their childhood, are geared towards one final mark/ reward that compares them to the others in their year but gives no indication of who they actually are. It just means that they have learnt the system better than some and not as well as others.
Having said that school has offered my DS some fantastic opportunities in his chosen career that would not have been available to him otherwise. My DD on the other hand has just become a master manipulator. I just did not want that type of learning experience for the younger ones. I'm hoping they will learn and explore for themselves not to some time frame set up by system that doesn't know or understand their learning styles and personalities. Also DS2 is very spirited and I refuse to have him labelled as "difficult" or "ADHD" or even labelled at all. Every child receives a label at school "good" or "bad".
Sorry a bit of a rant but as my older children reach they end of the schooling I find I am getting more and more distressed by conventional schooling methods.

[Harmony]

Rant away - no apology required :)

[mama_bel]

Tigersmum, rant away. It's helpful for others to hear your experiences.

I didn't answer before - my kids are aged 5 to 15 years and we initially homeschooled because the eldest was academically very advanced and highly spirited... Initially we thought to keep her home until around Year 3, then she'd 'fit' better in school. Well, she's 15 now and I'm almost sure she'll never go to school. She works and studies, plays and composes music, loves theatre and has lots of friends. She's still highly spirited and difficult to 'teach' but she's doing more than okay. :)