Anyone here homeschool?

Sleepy · Dec 11, 2009

This is our first official year of homeschooling with my 5 yr old son. I also have a 3 yr old who just enjoys his playtime!

I'd love to get to know how other homeschoolers here are coming along. Finding other Desi homeschoolers has been quite a challenge thus far.

tikka · Dec 11, 2009

Sleepy, we are currently homeschooling our three year old. We had him in pre-Kg but he went seriously ill within a month and kept getting serious lung infections, so we hope to keep him out of schools now. For very selfish reason I want him back in school for kindergarten and then we hope to resume homeschooling.
If you wanna look up homeschoolers from India, alt-ed in yahoo group could be a good place to start. I believe a few of them live in the US. Good to have touched base with you here.

Srama · Dec 11, 2009

Sleepy, I have off and on considered home schooling and never actually got around to doing it! However, I do read quite a lot about it and look up the curriculum and also know of a group of people who home school. I would very much love to know what you do and will be more than happy to share information - I have not written much for now as I assuming you would have done your work thoroughly and know more than I can imagine. It is a big step and good luck. Would love to know your reasons for home schooling and how it is progressing.

Sleepy · Dec 14, 2009

Hi Tikka and Srama, good to "meet you".

Tikka, thanks for reminding me about the alt-ed group, I remember coming across it a long while back, I will have to go back and search it.

Both of my boys were also in preschool previously, but there were several reasons for me deciding to homeschool. One was, like you Tikka, health reasons. My older son has several food allergies/sensitivities and although the school was very careful, he was still having reactions.

Other reasons were because I didn't feel like he was learning as much as he would at home. He's a bit of a social butterfly, so the last thing on his mind at school is learning, he would much rather just play when he is with a group of other kids his age. I'm all for playtime, but not when we're paying a premium price for his private montessori education! lol He's also quite charming, so I've noticed that he can easily slide under a teacher's radar and get left behind academically.

We also live in a community that is not very diverse, I grew up in a similar fashion and really hated being the only Indian in an entire school. It may or may not bother him later, but I did notice a change in him after we moved here. (We were in a very diverse area in New York prior to here, it was almost like culture shock for him).

There are still other reasons, such as not liking for him to be cooped up in a classroom for 8 hours a day (KG is full day here) He's a little boy with a lot of energy (he would probably be labeled as ADHD in school), actual schoolwork does not really take long ( I've learned from homeschooling), so he still has plenty of time to play and is not bogged down with homework in the evening. I can tailor his education to fit his learning style and personality. Our schedule is flexible and I can take his books along with us on trips. He gets to spend more time with us as a family. And the best thing about it is watching his face when he's grasped a new concept, it's almost like you can actually see the 'lightbulb' switch on!

It's not all great though, it can be stressful for me because I know that I bear the burden of his education and I certainly don't want to fail at this. Lesson planning takes a lot of time (at least it has for me since I'm new to this) and I'm constantly re-evaluating to make sure we are staying on track. And after having the luxury of a few hours to myself during the week when they were in preschool to not having any time alone anymore can be draining. ( I'm the type that likes to have a bit of solitude from time to time)

Srama, I'd love to discuss with you about what you've read thus far. I've checked out practically every book from our little library on the topic but still feel like there is so much more to learn. Our curriculum is eclectic with an emphasis on classical education. How old are your children/child?

Tikka, how have you like homeschooling so far? How long do you intend to do so? I would really like to continue up to middle or high school, but I worry about having the right skills (and patience!).

tikka · Dec 14, 2009

Hear, hear. The lower KG is 5 hours and the upper Kg 8 hours. I know they have a lot of playtime, but even then it sounds way too much to me. To me, it looked like Ds's learning had stalled at school. I am guessing that is probably because of the different methodologies followed at home and school, but he is a shyster and does not really play with children his age. I do believe he may be in autism spectrum - highly functional perhaps and I am not crazy about his being labelled in school. But I do want to get him help for whatever his issues may be. Mainstreaming children with development issues here is ages behind the first world.
We are looking at literacy and numeracy at this point and we don't have a specific "study" hours or curriculum. I have not thought much about curriculum because we intend unschooling. If he seems interested in learning, say during lunch, we follow his cue and show him how to make words.
But we have a new law here that mandates for all children over the age of 6 to be in school (not just schooled as the compulsory education laws in other countries state.) So, we will have to find out if we can have him in a school that is flexible or in open schools with a primary focus on music or sports (or some such thing). We are not looking beyond the next two years at this point and watching how the law is interpreted. We believe DS has some talent for music, but at this stage we are unsure if it goes beyond a really good ear.
Currently, it has been fun, real fun. To see how he learns and how his mind works. I have sister with two older DNs who has helped me understand how learning to read happens. I am more unsure of this phase than say teaching him science or maths. I am thinking of getting myself the requisite qualifications through our open university. The course material is available online, you need to take an exam and pay up the fee if you want the certification, so that will allow for me to learn at my pace.
I can understand about the lack of diversity, though I feel my challenge would be to expose him to the mainstream world. My friends tend to be very alternative thinkers themselves. I cant imagine how it is when race is also thrown into the mix.
p.s. You must have heard this joke about a homeschooling mom letting some steam off in the kitchen by herself and the homeschooled young ones ask her what went wrong. "Nothing, nothing. I am just having a parent-teacher conference."

Sleepy · Dec 15, 2009

Yes, ds1 also stalled when he entered school. At 19 months he knew upper and lower case letters, their sounds, numbers 1-20 written and counting, at least 10 different shapes, every color imaginable, and was reading 3 and 4 letter CVC, CCVC words. When I pulled him out last spring at nearly 5 yrs old he was practically exactly at the same place.:shock:

Starfall.com is a great sight for learning letter sounds, of course they would be English letters though.

So your going to take an education course is that right? If you get certified could you be able to bypass the mandatory school laws? That sounds like a great option!

Sleepy · Dec 15, 2009

?Huh, well I posted a reply here and it looks like it got lost in cyberspace.?

Tikka, yes my ds1 also stalled once he entered school. At 19 months he could recognize capital and lowercase letters, knew their sounds, could read cvc and ccvc words, knew written numbers to 20 and could count them, knew various shades of colors, at least ten different shapes, etc. Last spring at nearly 5 yrs old he was pretty much at the same place!:shock:

So now I am trying to make up for our lost time and get him back on track. He is not behind for his age, but he was also not typical for his age to begin with. He went from above average and moved backwards instead of forward.

So is the course your taking going to get you certified in education? Could this be a way to bypass the mandatory schooling laws? It sounds like a great option!:thumbsup

I actually had not yet heard that joke, very funny! I'm going to have to use that one from time to time. I do give myself days off though, and refer to them as teacher in-service days.

BTW, a good site for learning letters and sounds (English) is Starfall.com. They also have some easy to read short stories.

tikka · Jan 21, 2010

Sleepy, I wonder how I missed this. I actually know of people who have managed to register a pre-school and run it from their home for a student population of 3 grandchildren . So that may be a way out. The age group is 6 to 14 that needs to be compulsorily in school. If you are on alt-ed, they are now considering a petition to revise that. Hopefully that is a way out.
I thought of getting myself trained because I do need some reference. I tried unschooling, but we did no learning. But then what is a 3 year old to learn ;-). Also, it would help in the understanding of early childhood development, which to me is a greater challenge than the more advanced schooling. I don't think my child is genius material, but I think he may learn better in a supportive environment given how sensitive a child he is. And I dont see why I should not make it the best experience for him :-D
I see a lot of parents are concerned about the schools are not being able to meet the developmental needs of their child. To be in tune with your child is a great thing. My child is mostly typical, probably has a little mature taste when it comes to music. But I dont think there is a prodigious talent. I know he can be good at piano, if he wants to practice playing longer than schooling will allow him, that's what we would like for him to do.
We do love starfall.com. The other thing we do gcompris -free for linux but paid for windows and Mac (not too sure there). I have a family membership at the British Council library - the toddler books are excellent.
Have you heard of the Words Are Categorical series. If your children like rhyming, this is an interesting way to introduce grammar.

Vishalini3 · Jan 21, 2010

Tikka, I saw those categorised books in DD's school - on their book exhibition cum sale. I instantly liked them. I am just waiting to buy them, whenever she is ready )))

Sleepy · Feb 11, 2010

Thanks, Tikka, for the link to those books! I have seen them before but completely forgot about them. I need to check to see if our library carries any of them, otherwise they will certainly be added to my ever growing Amazon wishlist.