FT working mom seriously considering home schooling my upcoming 6th grader...

[Anonymous]

Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes you think you have the credentials AND the time to teach your child?

Teaching is just so easy, eh, that anyone can do it.

I'm a teacher, and teaching one child with whom you already have a strong relationship, is totally different from what I do in the classroom with a group of 25 on all different levels, state standards to take into account, parents to form relationships with etc . . . You need a teaching credential for the latter, but not for the former.

Lots of homeschooled kids do very well, regardless of their parents credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Check out the blog "The More Child."

For most of the time that she homeschooled, the mom who writes this blog didn't work outside the home.

When she did get a full time job, she brought her middle schooler to work with her and had her do her work at an empty desk. I imagine it was pretty lonely and boring for that kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Sixth grade math seldom requires calculus, with or without differential equations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

Sixth grade math rarely requires calculus, with or without differential equations.

[Anonymous]

By the way, any parent having trouble teaching math to their child might want to check out some of the free videos on Kahn Academy:

http://www.khanacademy.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Check out the blog "The More Child."

For most of the time that she homeschooled, the mom who writes this blog didn't work outside the home.

When she did get a full time job, she brought her middle schooler to work with her and had her do her work at an empty desk. I imagine it was pretty lonely and boring for that kid.

Plus it's hard to tell what was really going on with the mom, the kids, and everybody's relationships with each other and the multiple public schools they triedl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes you think you have the credentials AND the time to teach your child?

Teaching is just so easy, eh, that anyone can do it.

I'm a teacher, and teaching one child with whom you already have a strong relationship, is totally different from what I do in the classroom with a group of 25 on all different levels, state standards to take into account, parents to form relationships with etc . . . You need a teaching credential for the latter, but not for the former.

Lots of homeschooled kids do very well, regardless of their parents credentials.

Are you even capable of doing differential equations? Or did that just sound like a nice fancy math term to throw out? As a PP pointed out, not many 6th graders are learning that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

Check out the blog "The More Child."

For most of the time that she homeschooled, the mom who writes this blog didn't work outside the home.

When she did get a full time job, she brought her middle schooler to work with her and had her do her work at an empty desk. I imagine it was pretty lonely and boring for that kid.

Plus it's hard to tell what was really going on with the mom, the kids, and everybody's relationships with each other and the multiple public schools they triedl

This is true. If you read the whole story, it seems that one of her children did: homeschool, elementary school, gifted program, back to elementary school, gifted middle school program, homeschool, gifted high school program, boarding school. That's eight moves between kindergarten and what -- 10th grade?

I'm all for homeschooling and see that some may need to pull their kids out of a school for particular reasons, but this blog may not provide the best model to follow.

[Anonymous]

OP, it can be done. You need to join some kind of home school moms club.
The weekends are going to be when much is done. When you try to teach too much in the evening, the child learns less.
Do you have child care plans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

If an 11-year-old is studying differential equations, homeschooling may actually make more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

If an 11-year-old is studying differential equations, homeschooling may actually make more sense.

Yeah, you can't even get this at the takoma math magnet, where the "advanced" 6th graders are doing Algebra 1. (Although I realize the PPs are joking.)

[Anonymous]

Where does your kid go all day though?

If you are out working, do you just leave your kid at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does your kid go all day though?

If you are out working, do you just leave your kid at home?

Goes with you to work or you work from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will you be teaching your child calculus with differential equations? or even just regular calculus?

signed,
also a teacher

If an 11-year-old is studying differential equations, homeschooling may actually make more sense.

If you managed to get your child to the point where they're learning differential equations in 6th grade, then clearly what you're doing is working, regardless of your teaching certification status.

[Anonymous]

I really don't get the logistics of having the bulk of the child's day spent playing second fiddle to mom's work. I'm reasonably agnostic about home school v not, but I really don't see how this schedule would be anything but isolating and miserable for this child.

Actually, I am not quite agnostic: my relatives who did school-of-the-air (Australian homeschooling for rural kids) didn't do as well as those sent off to boarding school (non-elite ones, so it really is apples to apples.)