Hi fellow home-schoolers!
I would love to meet other home-schooling moms! I was wondering, how do you all find time for yourselves, this is one of my biggest challenges, I am always on the move, and it seems like I never get any quiet time, which I would like to have to just read, or relax.
How do you all schedule out your days..do any of you battle with particular issues with home-schooling?
Peace
Sister Makita
I find the biggest challenge
I find the biggest challenge when homeschooling my children is structure. The first 4 months for us was more free and had a natural flow. Now things are more structured. My approach is broken down in two ways:
I write a list of tasks and lessons for the week
I write down goals to measure what I want them to learn for the month
Homeschooling is such a blessed and learned process for all of us. It has unlimited possibilities and my children have progressed and matured rapidly.
I encourage more black families to get on the homeschooling roster!
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Hi Sis!
I am very interested in homeschooling, but I would have no idea where to begin, or how to organize it all without loosing my mind. I love to teach the youth...can you or any of the other sisters suggest a sarting point? My daughter is only 3, but I want to learn as much as I can!!!
Simone
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
[b]Ancestralmama[/b],
I am a home school mother. My daughters are now 6.5 & 5 years old. I started teaching both at 2.5, shapes;colors;recognizing letters;communicating;etc. Home schooling is a challenge and getting organize is the key. You will notice that with teaching your daughter, she will be teaching herself. Home school children become self sufficient very quickly. My advice to all home school parents is to first observe how your child learns. There is an article on that subject under Family Life. Where her strength is, start there. Do not rush to obtain curriculum. Use the library, internet, go to Wal-mart and purchase books. I teach my girls through both 'sit down' learning and 'living' learning (I can explain more if your like). You have so many resources around you. Remember to pay attention to her and what she does, keep in contact with home school mommies (we are your support system girl!), don't put pressure on yourself.
[b]Itiel[/b]
[b]Isisnubes[/b],
I take 1 hour for myself everyday. During this time, I read my motivational book, exercise, or sit in peace and quiet. My children know when it is 'mommy time', so they go and find something to do. My husband encourages me to get my time, because he knows when mommy isn't happy no one is..LOL. You have to slow down, you have to say,'no'. I don't only home school, I operate the family business (which I incorporate into lessons for the girls). Getting my time is imperative.
As you continue to home school and as your child(ren) progress, your schedule will have to change a little. Recently, I planned the lessons into Week 1 & Week 2. The great thing about home schooling is one can be very flexible...if I do not get around to teaching a subject, I do not panic, because I will get to it.
[b]Itiel[/b]
Well sistas, I hope I have been of some help. There is so much to say about this wonderful thing called home schooling...life learning, but I just tried to hit on what you specifically asked.
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
So, you plan to home-school your children from K-12?
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Wow Itiel!
That information is so helpful! The question about how long is interesting, My mother just asked me how long we plan to homeschool our little one. I think that we will promote home/un-schooling for as long as we can. I think that if you keep the learning proccess fun and surround them with others that can make learning interesting, then they will probably have a great desire to leave the nest" per se.
I applaud you Itiel for taking education into your hands. I'm sure you are a wonderful teacher.
[color=#008000]I would like to know from other home-schooling moms, how would you deal with the issue of your home-schooling child, who asks to attend a "regular" school?[/color]
Ericka
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Yes, I do. That is the goal. My reasoning for home schooling is a little different from most moms I know. Before I was married and had children, I knew I wanted to home school. I heard about home schooling, I attended Montessori schools, I attended Private schools. To me home schooling was a little similar to my experiences.
At a certain level home school children can self teach. I will not have to stand over my children to make sure they are doing their lesson. There are some things now that we work on that I allow my children to think through and tell me their idea. I will prepare them, tell them what I expect, let them know the negative side of not getting their work done. At the junior high level, I plan to have my children focusing on what role they will play in this society; what career do they want to pursue. The learning will focus on those subjects. Later, at high school level, we are going to look into internship and whatever opportunities are out there for them to get hands on experience. We will also look into Community College classes.
These are the goals my husband and I are working towards. We pray that it will be successful.
By the way, the name of our school is Marcus Garvey School of Thought. Our motto is Garvey's words: 'Up you mighty race you can accomplish what you will.'
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Hello Queens
I have been homeschooling my daughter since she was 3 years old she is a Kindergartner now. I will start homeschooling my son next year he will be starting pre-school. I have a very structured homeschool schedule. We start at 9:00am and we are done with our homeschool at 2:00pm. I also decided to name our homeschool it is called Wisdom Academy. We do each subject for an hour and we have 30 minute breaks after each subject is done. A hour for lunch. Sometimes the schedule is not followed, which is something I really love about homeschooling. I am free to do my own thing with my kids.
I make sure that my kids are surrounded by other children by having a lot of field trips to the places like the zoo, library, museums, and she has art school that she goes to on a regular basis. I also have a home daycare so they are constantly around other kids.
I have plenty of tiime for myself in the evening.
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Thank you all for the responses! That is the only thing with our schedule, is that we are not around a lot of kids at all, and sometimes I feel really down about that, because I feel as if I am not networking properly with other moms...does anyone else feel this way? Exactly how much interaction with other children is necessary for a healthy development...how do you all feel about this matter?
I know that many SAHMdecide not to really use a schedule, but with so much going on in our home, I think that having a set time for everything is the only way o stay focused, and creative for me.
TruEssence, what sort of subjects do you cover with your children at their age now in your 9-2 block of time?
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
TruEssence, thank you for sharing! Much success to you and your children on this home schooling journey!
Itiel
Re:The Battles of Home-schooling?
Thanks smellgoodlady! Hi Isisnubes this is the schedule that I use...
8:00-9:00am- Language Arts & Handwriting
9:30-10:00am- Break
10:00-11:00am- Phonics & Storytiime
11:00-11:30am- Break
11:30-12:00pm- Computer Time (Educational sites and sites like Noggin, PBS, Nick Jr)
12:00- 1:00pm- Lunch
1:00- 2:00pm- History or Math ( These two subjects I alternate or sometimes fit them in together)
Sometiimes we will start 9:00am and get done at 3:00pm.