What Does A Homeschooler Look Like

Can you believe after 5 years people are still surprised to find out that we homeschool? It is particularly funny to see their reaction because I can almost hear the other side of what they allow themselves to say out loud. “But your kids seem so normal.” I always wish that I could ask them to draw a picture of a homeschooler. We used to do this with young Girl Scouts when before our first campout. We would have them draw a picture of a latrine. Since other than camping the work “latrine” is almost never used, the pictures that the kids came up with were priceless. They were then shocked to find out what it really meant. I figure the representation of “homeschooler” would be very similar. From my experience, we would either be drawn as ultra-conservative, rigid, and reserved

or as clog wearing, granola eating, creative hippies .

They would be very shocked if I showed them my average joe family or very outgoing Jehovah’s witness friends (who broke some of my own stereotypes) or my artist friend whose husband is a Ferrier or the Doctor and his housewife and their two boys.

What do you think people “see” when they hear the word “homeschooler”?

Words that You Should Never Speak to Your Children

DD and I are watching the Lifetime movie Coco Chanel. DD is sitting beside me designing away. It is transporting me back to a day when I would draw and draw away. Ideas swirling around in my head. If I do not say so myself, I had wonderful ideas. I started to think; perhaps I would follow this interest toward a career. When I finally got up the courage to tell my parents my plans, she replied plainly, “If that is all you want to do with yourself, why did you bother getting good grades?” It was that day that I put away the idea, and followed in the expected path.

I don’t expect that this same conversation will occur with my children, but it will be similar, just different enough for me not to recognize it when it is here. I pray that I never squelch their dreams, but instead help them strengthen their wings.

Fun Fact Friday - I'm not a label. I am a child.

One of the great things about homeschooling is that your child can be a child and not a label. Teaching / Learning is based on their strengths not their weaknesses.

"Nationally, 1.6 to 2 million people have been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD."
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/10/20/news/11159.shtml


"ADHD was first described by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman in 1845."
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/adhd/nimhadhdpub.pdf


This truly surprised me, because I had always heard differently:


"The main finding was that the variation in prevalence associated with the samples’ geographic origin did not fit a pattern consistent with the notion that ADHD is a byproduct of American culture. The North American rate (6.2%) only slightly exceeded the European rate (4.6%). The highest rates emerged from Africa (8.5%) and South America (11.8%). Corroboration comes from a dimensional ADHD scale used in 21 countries. Japanese and Finnish children scored lowest, Jamaican and Thai children scored highest, and American children scored about average (7)."
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/164/6/856

“Dyslexia, a reading disorder that persists despite good schooling and normal or even above-average intelligence, (is) a handicap that affects up to 1 in 5 schoolchildren in the U.S.”

“"The majority of students who get identified with learning disorders get identified between the ages of 11 and 17," says Robert Pasternack, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education.”

“Dyslexics are also more likely than nondyslexics to end up in prison. According to Frank Wood, a professor of neurology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, new research shows that children with dyslexia are also more likely to drop out of school, withdraw from friends and family or attempt suicide.”

My Comment: I found this comment interesting, it leads me to question if the causes of dyslexia causes these affects as well OR is it the social – emotional issues that arise because someone exhibits the symptoms of dyslexia. It would be an interesting study to compare the rates of prison and suicide with children that have dyslexia in the school system compared to the same rates of homeschooled children with dyslexia.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030908/story.html

"75% - 80% of special education students identified as LD have their basic deficits in language and reading; Source: National Institutes of Health"

"50% of all students in special education in the public schools have learning disabilities -- 2.25 million children; Source: U.S. Dept. of Education 1992"

My Comment: Does this lead anyone else to wonder that maybe this issue is our definition and not our children?
http://ldhope.com/statistics.html


The DSM diagnosis will qualify one for accommodations in school and in standardized testing such as on the GED Tests.

My Comment: And schools get more money for student’s identified as needing additional help – HMMMMMM! They give you a reason to be labeled and they received a financial benefit to have you labeled. Does anyone see a problem here?
http://www.floridatechnet.org/bridges/factsandstats.pdf

Homeschool with an accent on Home not School - Child directed learning

When we choose to homeschool, sometimes the accent gets stuck on the wrong syllable. We put more emphasis on the school rather than on the home. All activities begin to be an opportunity to teach and learn. The problem is that sometimes this emphasis begins to negatively affect naturally occurring learning; taking educational activities that the kids consider fun and turning them into boring, mandatory lessons.
For example, your daughter loves the new blog you have together. She loves to write posts, but to fulfill her writing for the day; you begin to make them mandatory. Perhaps your son, enjoys learning different phrases in foreign languages to impress his friends, but instead of accepting that this is interesting an most certainly educational in its own right, you require him to write down the phrases and make flash cards to make sure that his pronunciation and spelling are correct.
Who can really blame a parent from pushing and wanting their child do better, especially a parent that is also responsible for the education of their children to the extent that a homeschool parent is? But of all the people to get caught up in the “schooling” ideal and the do better, brighter, more concept, it is the very people who understand that all learning goes beyond school. The very people that understand that learning can be found anywhere, that every interest can be nurtured into a skill, and that our individual desires to learn more is stronger than any exterior force.
So as you plan out you homeschool year, ignore your impulse to organize everything. Make sure your kids have interests of their own that they can develop without your input or oversight. Encourage them to explore and try new things. Try, despite your inclination, to let them develop these interests on their own without your oversight. Only comment to encourage or to help as requested. Let them put the accent back on the Home and away from the school.

Website Wednesday - Homeschool resources

My favorite Christmas gift magazine came in the mail today. It is packed with terrific ideas for “educational” toys. I have ordered from Museum Tour several times and have always been satisfied with their service and the products that I received. They also have some neat educational activities on their site like: detarnishing old pennies, making your own ice cream, and creating balloon cars.

Another great website for easy, fun activities is activities is PBS’ Zoom. My friend, Jenn, and I actually used many of these activities to create a science co-op.

My favorite homeschooling magazine is Home Education magazine. Yes, I’m slightly biased since they have published my writing, but I have adored their magazine prior to ever writing for them. If you hurry you can take advantage of their current special $20.00 for 6 issues instead of the regular $32.

We use portions of the Alpha Omega curriculum. It has worked well as the core of our homeschool lessons. I don’t hesitate to add to the base Alpha Omega subjects and occasionally I may slightly alter something that they have included. Basically though, Alpha Omega forms the support post which all else is hung. Particularly, we use their Alpha Omega, from Christian Book Distributors, or from Amazon.

One Day at a Time - A Day Makes all the Difference

Yesterday, DS made me want to write an article called, “Can I have some Ritalin, Please!” I could not get DS to focus. He was anxious and easily distractible. Trying to get through our work was like pulling teeth.

Today, a new day has dawned. He is rocking on his work. He has even stopped to ask extra questions. And then was able to explain the answer in correct geometric terms.

“Mom, if you have two lines next to each other,” he placed a pencil and a plastic piece next to each other, “are they still parallel?”

As always I tried to understand the question and answer it. “Yes.” I just thought he wondered if parallel only worked in one plane i.e. on top instead of next to. “It doesn’t matter if they go this way or that. They are still parallel.”

“No, Mom, I know that, but are the lines parallel if they are different sizes?”

“Well, we need to start the conversation using proper terms. Is this,” I held up the pencil, “a line?”

A light bulb went off in his head, “No, it’s a line segment. A line goes on in both directions forever. A line segment has two endpoints. If it were a ray it would end on one side and go vomph on the other.” He pointed to the ceiling.

He gets it.

Of course to balance the positive exciting portion of my day, math with dd turned into a disaster. We did recover, but trying to get her to listen sometimes can be quite frustrating. When her answer is not correct, she will often go back, make a quick change or two and quasi guess at the answer. If it’s not 2, how about -2.

I tried to get her to back up and go through the process. I tried to get her to understand the process, but I could not get through her. This was not an issue of this specific problem but of the process in general. I blew up and walked away.

When we finally had both calmed down enough to talk again, I tried to explain that she would probably never see that exact same math problem again, but she would do the same process over and over again. She apologized for her behavior. I told her that there were three things I expected as her teacher:

1. Respectful Attention
2. Thoughtful Questioning
3. Patient Listening

Being that she was pulled out of school in 2nd grade, she has had no experience with a school teacher that leaves you behind, while the class moves on and no idea how lucky she was to have a teacher who was completely individualizing their program to suit her needs. After her apology, we were at least able to finish the section, but I’m sure it won’t be the last outbreak.

Yesterday, I was looking for Ritalin today for a Valium. Homeschooling is nothing if it isn’t exciting. Wouldn't it be great if they both had a good day on the same day? I don't want to think of the flip side of that though.

Library Lock-in

Ok, I’ll go from writing about too much to do to being excited about one of the activities. We received an invitation to a Lock-in at the local library. The homeschooling community is going to have a sleepover with literary scavenger hunts, a video game area, movies, authors’ reading their work. As Regenia said, “Don’t plan to get too much sleep.” I wasn’t too sure how the kids were going to react, but both said they were in so I have signed us up.

Of course since our group is well known for its cooperative management, I now have to think of some activity that might blend with what they have planned. I’ll have to really think on this one.

One of the great things is that it will cost me a whopping $15. $5 for each of us and that will cover the cost of pizza. I love when cheapness collides with fun and education.

I encourage you to find a homeschooling group if you haven’t already. If you have found one but did not mesh with it, I encourage you to look again. We are very lucky that we found a great group right from the beginning.