What my homeschooling daughter gets to do while other kids are in school...
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I get many questions about why I homeschool and what is the difference so I thought I would make a post of what we get to do in a typical week while others are in traditional school.
We get to go outside
~ any time of the day... we can go to the park where we run into other homeschoolers who are also taking advantage of the lovely day. We can go for a walk or a hike through the woods.
We get to socialize
~ This is probably the question asked the most... and of course we get to socialize... we socialize with each other and with everyone in our community that we come across in our daily travels. We also get to socialize with other homeschoolers we might up with for trips and park visits.
We get to learn domestic skills
~ we are always doing canning, gardening, sewing or just cooking our meals on a daily basis. My daughter loves being by my side as we create different dishes in the kitchen.
We get to follow her interests
~ my daughter gets to learn what she is interested in when she wants to learn it. She was very interested in penguins so we dropped everything and headed to the library to get the books out needed to research penguins. To this day her knowledge of penguins is amazing. By the way this is just on example she does study other things as well but we base it on her interests.
We get to give back to the community
~ we volunteer within our community to show our daughter it is important to give back to others no matter how much or little you have. The only way you can make a difference in this life is to give back.
We get to travel
~ and I know everyone gets to travel but we can travel during off season times making traveling cheaper and not as busy when we get there.
We get to avoid the crowds
~ I love this one because we don't have to rush to get things done on the weekend or in the evening we can go to the stores when the crowds are not there. We get to visit tourist attractions when they are not crowded.
We get to follow our own style
~ my daughter is sometimes in the mood for dance clothes so she wears them. Other days it is formal dress so she wears it. We even have days that are jammie days. The point is she has her own style and can wear what she wants when she wants. I try not to stifle her creativity.
We get to take part in LIFE!
~ It happens every day all around us. My daughter takes part in my business and gets to learn what is needed to run my business. Organizing my schedule to fit everything in. Customer relations because I have to keep my clients happy. So basically instead of sitting in a classroom the WORLD is my daughters classroom.
These are just a few things we get to do during our days but I am sure you get the idea.
I love this! I was homeschooled myself, and people have so many misconceptions. I was so happy that I was able to spend so much time singing and playing guitar when I was younger. I also got to focus on web design, reading, english... more on my interests than stuff that will not help in the future. There were sometimes lonely points when we didn't see that many friends, but overall I feel socially normal now, LOL. I hate when people assume ALL homeschoolers do a full day of class from 8 to 3 every day and it's school at home. My family was more 'lifelearning'. Also, I don't like when people assume my parents must be ridiculously religious and scared of me having outside influence. I mean, I am a Christian, but I definitely didn't have that stereotypical Christian homeschooler experience. Great read :)
ReplyDeleteLove. :)
ReplyDeleteif I was able to stay committed I would totally do this. You really have made me think differently of homeschooling!
ReplyDeleteGreat post - I also love home-educating our daughter, who is now 14 years old and has never been to school!
ReplyDeleteMost days she follows her own interests, with just a little "work" that I think is necessary - handwriting improvement is an on-going task that she is working on. A little Math now and again is also on her to-do list. Generally, her days are filled with reading, baking (she bakes a mean Cheesecake!) and coming to work with me - I travel around Southern Ontario, often 200 km each day, with just a little work at the end, so we do spend lots of time together, often singing or talking.
She has also been a Girl Guide for 8 years, plays Soccer in the Summer, is a competetive Highland Dancer and sings in two Choirs, as well as being a long time volunteer in our community.
I feel so blessed to have been able to raise this precious girl with our morals and values, with a good work ethic and our Faith, and I see the results of this now and hope it continues throughout her life.
She is also fortunate never to have been bullied in the School yard or tormented on the school bus, she has never had a teacher who disliked her, nor a subject that she "failed" - because we don't move on to the next level until she has mastered the earlier work.
Most evenings find her playing the piano, sometimes for two or three hours, just for the joy of making music!
It seems to be a misconception that homeschooled kids miss out on something - from your post, I can see that is def. not the case.
ReplyDeletegreat post! I used to think that kids who were home schooled missed out on being a kid, playing with their friends etc....but after reading SO many blogs from parents that home school I can see I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteLOVE, love, love this post!
ReplyDeleteHomeschooling is not for us, but I am glad it is working out for your family!
ReplyDelete@Little Miss Kate
ReplyDeleteI know it doesn't work for everyone but for us it works... and you are right so many people think they miss out... seriously my daughter misses out on nothing... invites to birthday parties... play dates... dance, sports you name it. Just a typical child... living life to the fullest I say.
Fantastic Post as I've always wondered this. Do you have a designated teaching time? When it's a nice day, do you put teaching off for the weekend?
ReplyDelete@Trina
ReplyDeleteNo designated teaching time per say. We are early risers and do a lot early in the morning before the rest of the world gets up.
Do actually keep up with any sort of curriculum it doesn't take a long in a day... seriously... not long at all.
We are unschoolers and that means I help foster my daughter creative and educational choices by offering opportunities to her all day long.
I was home schooled my whole life and graduated that way also. When I was younger I did books until about 7th or 8th grade then I did online school after that. I got up in the morning, got dressed, had breakfast and sat down and did my home work. It took me however slow or fast I was being that day to get done. The thing I loved about home schooling is I was was able to do my school work ahead and have a couple days off if I wanted.
ReplyDelete