I have learned a lot homeschooling my youngest. I learned that I love having him here. I love the fact I get to control his education. And the fact that my state doesn’t require standardized testing is also a plus. I pray that that law doesn’t change. My older two go to public school, by their choice. However, my daughter (she’s in the 6th grade) wants to homeschool next year. My oldest is in high school and I think he likes being around his friends, which is fine with me. My daughter has friends, but I think she’s a little envious that her little brother gets to stay home all day. However, I told her that she will have to do her school work and she’s not going to just sit on the computer all day. She will do her school work, and help me around the house. And of course, she’ll have time to do what she wants as long as she does her chores.
The public school my kids go to is actually a great one. But it’s still a public school so they are required to take standardized tests every year. I think it’s starts around the 3rd grade. The teachers spend most of the year stressing the importance of these tests and doing test prep. Yes, I realize the teachers are required to do this. I don’t think it really benefits the children though. The teachers put so much pressure on the kids to do well that they get stressed out. My oldest was never really that stressed, but my daughter gets extremely worried about the tests. So I guess I will start researching some affordable jr high homeschool curriculum. I may start out using Time4learning like I do with Trey and then supplement it with other stuff. The thing I love about homeschooling is that I don’t have to limit what or how they learn. Trey loves science so we look up things online or he finds documentaries on netflix about animals. He’s currently really into snakes and other reptiles. We also visit the science museum quite often. He reads and comprehends what he’s read very well. When he was 6, they tested his reading and he was on a 4th-5th grade level then. He is a very inquisitive child so he is always asking questions. Lately, he’s been asking me the definitions to random words LOL. He is also mildly interested in social studies. The only subject I struggle to get him to work on is math. But I’m going to order some math workbooks that someone recommended last week and see if that helps. He is ADHD and has a hard time focusing and so he needs a lot of one on one teaching. He just couldn’t get that in public school. He didn’t like going to school at all but when I say “It’s time to do your school work”, he just says “ok” and never argues with me. Even if we have to work on math 🙂 .
