Kids, Fun, and Homeschooling

Sheree ♦ January 20, 2012 ♦ 1 Comment

If you have children, treasure every moment that you have with them.

I love being a Mom.  What seems like only weeks ago I was changing my little one’s diapers and now he’s only about 4″ below my shoulders in height when I’m barefoot.  Wow, he’s grown fast.  It just reminds me to treasure every moment, write down the cute things he says, and enjoy watching him learn and grow.  Being a homeschool Mom is such a blessing.  Not only do I get to invest so much in my son’s life, but I get to see his growth and development first-hand rather than hearing about things from his teacher.

(Kids tend to have more fun with boxes than they do with the contents of the box!  Here’s a pic of him in his “convertable boat” with the roof up.)

We study all of the normal school subjects, have outside activities with other kids, enjoy fun art classes, participate in various music activities (such as children’s choir), do projects together, have “shop” class with Dad so he can start to learn some basics about a variety of practical things while enjoying spending time with his Daddy, and even have cooking (mostly baking) activities where we can enjoy each other’s company, talk about math (measurements) and science (why certain things happen when you use certain ingredients) and just have a lot of fun singing, giggling, and eating what we’ve made.  Mommy does voice lessons, piano lessons, computer lessons and so much more.  When he gets older, Mommy will start on guitar lessons.  (Music has always been a big part of my life and I want him to be able to enjoy it as well.)  “Guidance class” is not a specific class, but rather a general lifestyle in our home where Mommy and Daddy get to spend time guiding our children on how to live life based on values we want to impart to them.  (Guidance Class in the public school is based on values the teachers want to impart to our children.   But, when our children are at home they see us living our values and discussions throughout the day involve various aspects of life values so a class is not necessary.)

Because we have time, we do a lot of reading and his reading skills are excellent.  We have the scheduling ability to accomodate what he wants to do.  For example, when he turned six he wanted to start learning how to type so that he could send letters and notes to his older cousins who don’t live close by.  So, we looked up fun typing games on the internet and he started learning to type with proper hand position and all.  Yes, we have computer class that is far more advanced than what a 1st grader would learn in public school.  He also wanted to learn how to take pictures and videos.  (I might regret this one as he takes many, many pictures and videos of me… the camera-shy person.)  But, he has the ability and time.  Some of the things he’s doing make me laugh.  I can see him creating really fun and imaginative videos when he gets older.  He is motivated and, as a homeschool family, we have the ability to take advantage of that and give him excellent opportunities while making it enjoyable.

(The date is set wrong on his camera… one of his experiments in seeing how things worked.  But, in this picture he was trying an experiment.  He wanted to take a picture of “nature” while spinning around as fast as he could just to see what would happen.)

I hear some people saying that he’ll miss out on so much if he’s being homeschooled.  But, I can tell you from first-hand experience that he gets to be active in more things as a homeschooler than he could possibly participate in if he spent the entire day in a public classroom and had to spend time in the evenings doing homework.  He gets to spend lots of quality time with Mommy and Daddy.  And, he has plenty of time to learn, play and just be a kid.

Homeschooling is worth every moment.

But, in homeschool, you teach to the level of your chlid(ren).  If it takes a while for your child to catch on to something, that’s OK.  You keep at it until he does understand it, maybe focusing a little more often on that thing that is hard to comprehend during the week, finding different ways of explaining it until it clicks and he understands.  If he catches on to something quickly, you can move on and not wait for others to catch up.  Each child is different and unique.  You are the best judge of how your child(ren) learn most efficiently and effectively, what areas they need extra practice in, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and so much more.  Knowing your child far better than any teacher could makes you an excellent candidate for homschool.  But, you HAVE to be patient, consistent, persistent, creative and make your learning environment a place (physically, mentally and emotionally) where your child can thrive.  Or it won’t work.

“I will always remember when I was just 6 1/2 years old.  That was a good time!”  ~ My 6 1/2 year old son.

I’ve had the joy of being able to fully participate in my son’s life and watch him develop and grow.  I highly recommend homeschooling.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s so rewarding.