Say WHAT?
Homeschool.
I stay home with my children...obviously. I am mom. I am teacher. I decided not to enroll E into preschool for several reasons, one being the fact that I was selfish and wanted to spend as much time as possible with her before releasing her into the wild, known as the public school system. Another reason was that I could teach her the basics for free.
For awhile, I actually debated whether or not to officially homeschool E, instead of registering her with the public school system. Let's face it, there are pros and cons to each option. The question was, could I actually pull it off? I was a teacher before a mom, so I have the capability to teach; however, did I have the discipline with two other young children.
There is a huge homeschool network where we live and I actually know of several families who successfully teach their children. And yes, they are normal children who are smart and socialized. They have online courses. They have co-ops. They have field trips. They can take a family vacation whenever they want. There are a lot of perks. It sounds fabulous. Could I do it? When the topic was brought up with other parents I heard quite a few comments.
"Why do you want to do that?"
"Don't you think you'd ruin her by keeping her home?"
"She won't have any social skills."
"She won't be prepared for Kindergarten."
"You can't prepare them for life skills."
I also heard
"I wish I could do that."
"You should do what's best for you and your family."
"They can learn in a safe and loving environment."
"It makes sense. If you could do it, why wouldn't you?"
"You could really teach your children in ways that they learn best."
"If you know in your heart this is what you want to do, you are more than capable."
"No homework woes!"
I decided to do a practice run of homeschool for a year and get a feel of how E and I like it. It's been an experience. She tells everyone she does Mommy Homeschool and that she loves it. The ladies at the fabric store think she's so lucky to have mommy teach her. It's been a challenge for sure, but quite fun to see her grow. At times, I want to pull my hair out. Other times, she doesn't feel like working. But what's great about having school at home is that we can take a break and come back to it.
One of the biggest fears for people might be socialization. People who are against homeschool may remember that one weird family growing up. They had the kids who didn't have any friends, who were awkward in social gatherings, and didn't quite get how to engage in a proper conversation. It was because of that one family that they are opposed to homeschool. How can they judge the homeschool experience by one or two families? Let's face it, I knew quite a few weird kids in school. I knew kids with few friends. I knew kids who were awkward. I knew kids who couldn't carry on a conversation. As a teacher, I taught plenty of kids with various issues and the public school system can't teach all of them to be socially acceptable. I believe that social skills are important skills taught in the home, as well as in life experiences. Can E socialize among her peers? Yes. She's shy, but very capable of playing with others. She attends
Primary, Story Time at the library, Moppets (children's class for
MOPS), play dates, dance class, activities with neighbors and family members, and she interacts with people in the community (garbage man, store employees, doctors, librarians, or A's coworkers). I don't believe E will have any unusual or awkward social issues. She's fine for now. Teenage years? That's a different story.
Will I continue homeschooling? I don't know. I do know that it's not out of the question.
Is she ready for Kindergarten? Oh, yes. She also tells me I'm ready for college and I can bring my Handy Manny lunch box with me!
I've been making note of some of the KN skills she already has under her belt.
*Responds to adult direction/ asks q's/ participates in activity/ seeks help/ enjoys playing/ shows reciprocity/ speaks kindly
*Manipulates small objects (crayons, pencil, scissors, buttons, zippers)
*Draws body with 6 or more body parts, shapes, and incomplete designs
*Writes numbers 1-10, letters, and some high frequency words
*Completes puzzles
*Catch and throw ball/ walk forward, backward, sideways on a line
*Identifies body parts & imitates their movement
*Can run, jump, hop, skip
*Follows 3 step directions
*Identifies meaning of basic concepts (colors, opposites, positional words)
*Uses facial expressions to communicate
*Listens to and responds to stories
*Identifies first/ last sound in a word
*Recognizes rhyme
*Speaks in complete sentences
*Uses language in imaginative play
*Retells simple stories and events in sequence
*Rote counts to 30, well, 29
*Uses one to one correspondence to identify how many to 10
*Counts backwards from 10
*Identify numbers, writes, and matches numbers to sets 1-10
*Remove objects from sets and describe results
*Recognizes shapes and some 3D shapes
*Describes likenesses & differences between plane figures/ objects
*Names the days of the week
*Sorts by given rule
*Identifies/copies/continues simple patterns
*Create/ describe results of a graph
The jury is still out on whether or not we'll continue homeschool past this year. There are so many things I love about homeschooling, but there are also great things about the public school system. There are a couple KN workshops, tours, and meet & greets coming up and I plan to be there to gain as much info as possible. As for now, we'll keep schooling away in our home.
