Benefits of homeschooling

A friend on facebook from high school said, "Noticed a lot of moms talking about homeschooling lately. I'm curious, what do you feel the benefits are? And how do you compensate for the missed social experiences?"

My response ended up being a book, but it summed up my feelings about homeschool pretty well, so I wanted to post it here too. Some days I need the reminders of why I do this.

I've homeschooled for 7 years now. This year I have 6th, 4th, 2nd, 1st graders, 2 preschoolers, and a baby. Life is busy. My kids excel academically and with homeschool they can move at their own pace. My 6th grader took the ACT through a talent search this year and scored a 26. He finished high school level Algebra in March. He plays the piano, sings in 2 choirs, takes gymnastics, and has already earned 6 merit badges for BSA. He did try public school for 5th grade. He was bored. With homeschool we don't have to redrill things they already know. I remember being so bored in high school going over parts of speech AGAIN, and thinking we learned this in 4th grade, let's move on! If they know something, we skip it. 

With homeschool, the kids have more "real" friends, less acquaintances. They have friends over often and they make up great creative and active games in the backyard or family room. When they went to a public schooled friends house, he just wanted to play video games. They decided it's more fun to invite him here. We have a co-op once per week where they get to be in a classroom setting with friends and have other moms as their teachers to learn those skills. (We have over 80 kids in the group and have had many of the same families for 4 years.)They get to take all the types of classes that you need a group for, drama, public speaking, parliamentary procedure, PE, sign language, dissection classes. . . 

We homeschool through a virtual charter school, so my kids take the regular ISATs and other tests. I can see how they compare to the other public schooled kids and know we've covered everything, plus much more. My 1st grader just finished 3rd grade math and loves reading real books. She wants to catch up with her brothers and is totally self-motivated. 

On the other hand, my 2nd grader was adopted from foster care a year and a half ago. When he came, he was in first grade and didn't know all of his letters or sounds and couldn't count above 14. He had been told to just sit and not bother other kids. He was on tons of drugs for ADHD and everything else. We've been able to focus on the gaps and one-on-one to help him catch up. He's at grade level now for math, and getting closer for reading. He's reading books like Frog and Toad independently and loves learning. When his ADHD gets too much, I send him out to do 50 jumps on the trampoline or run to the fence and back 10 times, then he can focus. He can practice skip counting by riding his bike in a circle over the numbers and saying them outloud. He can drill flashcards with a math "game." 

Learning can be fun! We do science and history mostly hands on with projects, activities, and experiments. We do LOTS of field trips. They get to be part of real life. They helped re-do the lawn, repaint the house, watch carpet be laid. They are learning life skills along with academics. With homeschool, it's okay to be smart, to like math and reading, and to wear what you like, not what is "cool." 

My kids don't know many video game characters, TV shows, or all the movies. I'm fine with that. They DO know great literature, great mentors, how to interact with kids and adults of any age, and how to learn on their own. They are closer to their siblings and family. It is A LOT of work for me, but there are also many rewards. It's not the right thing for everyone, but it's by far the best thing for my family and my kids would all agree.

Doozy of a month

This last month's been a little crazy. We've had 5 people on antibiotics for strep throat, Tyler had a major surgery to correct his Pectus Excavatum (funnel chest) and spent 5 days in the hospital, Melynda came to visit and ended up spending a weekend in jail for an unpaid driving without privileges ticket, then Stephen had a birthday, then we got hit with croup/colds, a flu like thing with throwing up, fevers, and diarrhea. We've also been potty training, homeschooling, and trying to keep the house from falling apart. :)

Out of all that, the only thing I feel like writing more about is Tyler's surgery. The rest can just be forgotten. (Except Stephen's birthday, but that was pretty uneventful.) 

Tyler has done AMAZING.  It is a genetic "birth defect" (they think) basically the cartilage in his chest grows disproportionately with the inside growing faster than the outside causing it to pull in. It put pressure on his heart which put pressure on his lungs. The surgery entailed 3 inch incisions under each arm. Then they put a steel bar in and "pop" it, breaking the sternum. The bar stays in for 3-4 years. Kind of like braces, but they force the movement all at once, then leave it to heal in place.His left lung was about 1/3 collapsed and his breathing capacity improved 25% almost immediately when they put the bar in. (It would be like breathing through a straw your whole life. It's not ideal, but if you didn't know better, you'd deal with it.) Usually people notice the condition as kids start puberty, around 11-13, but Tyler has had it since birth and it's just gotten worse as he got older.  

His recovery is going great, he's down to 1-2 of the narcotic pain pills per day, from 4. He's mostly bored that he can't do ANYTHING. Basically nothing for 3 months, then limited activity until 6 months, so he won't be able to ride a bike or scooter or jump on the trampoline until Halloween, which is forever away.