I'm a homeschooling mom AMA

[Anonymous]

If your children enjoy memorizing capitals that's great, but this is not an indicator of rigorous or thoughtful education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you using for writing this year? Do you like it?

— another homeschool mom who isn’t loving our current writing curriculum

We use English Lessons Through Literature, which incorporates more writing skills starting in level C. We LOVE it.

I also have Write with Skill Level 1 which I plan on starting in a year or two for middle school. Although I have not used it yet, I have read through it and like the way it looks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your children enjoy memorizing capitals that's great, but this is not an indicator of rigorous or thoughtful education.

OP here,

Not by itself, no. However, that is but one part of their education. They also study English (grammar, writing, spelling, and reading), math, science, history, other aspects of geography (map reading etc), handwriting, typing, art, and music.

We follow a classical curriculum, outlined in the Well Trained Mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you home school? Concern over education quality at your local school options or do you worry about their interactions with other children?

Do you worry they’re missing out on mainstream life experiences?

OP here-- already covered the why question.

For the bolded-- not really. They get a lot of them through their co-op-- lots of unstructured time with sizeable groups of kids with different personalities. Are they missing some? Probably, but considering the prevalence of screens in modern education (but no my children are no computer illiterate) as well as bullying in schools, I do not consider this to be a net-negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you home school? Concern over education quality at your local school options or do you worry about their interactions with other children?

Do you worry they’re missing out on mainstream life experiences?

OP here-- already covered the why question.

For the bolded-- not really. They get a lot of them through their co-op-- lots of unstructured time with sizeable groups of kids with different personalities. Are they missing some? Probably, but considering the prevalence of screens in modern education (but no my children are no computer illiterate) as well as bullying in schools, I do not consider this to be a net-negative.

Curious what size and also how much time and effort you had to put in to find consistent groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you home school? Concern over education quality at your local school options or do you worry about their interactions with other children?

Do you worry they’re missing out on mainstream life experiences?

OP here-- already covered the why question.

For the bolded-- not really. They get a lot of them through their co-op-- lots of unstructured time with sizeable groups of kids with different personalities. Are they missing some? Probably, but considering the prevalence of screens in modern education (but no my children are no computer illiterate) as well as bullying in schools, I do not consider this to be a net-negative.

My 3rd grader has picked up so much bad language at school and we’re in a highly regarded public school. I don’t blame parents for keeping their kids away from that.

[Anonymous]

Are you planning to do this from K-12? How do you plan to ensure that your kids get a complete education desire your own limitations in teaching chemistry, for example?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you planning to do this from K-12? How do you plan to ensure that your kids get a complete education desire your own limitations in teaching chemistry, for example?

^despite

[Anonymous]

How many hours per day do they spend on academics?
Are art and music included in your homeschool curriculum or do they have exposure to those subjects through the co-op?
Have they ever expressed interest in going to traditional school?
Have you gotten criticism from family and/or friends for your choice to homeschool?

I am interested in possibly homeschooling my son who will be in kindergarten next year.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you home school? Concern over education quality at your local school options or do you worry about their interactions with other children?

Do you worry they’re missing out on mainstream life experiences?

OP here-- already covered the why question.

For the bolded-- not really. They get a lot of them through their co-op-- lots of unstructured time with sizeable groups of kids with different personalities. Are they missing some? Probably, but considering the prevalence of screens in modern education (but no my children are no computer illiterate) as well as bullying in schools, I do not consider this to be a net-negative.

My 3rd grader has picked up so much bad language at school and we’re in a highly regarded public school. I don’t blame parents for keeping their kids away from that.

Dealing with ugliness from peers is a life skill.

[Anonymous]

How many children do you have and what is the age range?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you using for writing this year? Do you like it?

— another homeschool mom who isn’t loving our current writing curriculum

We use English Lessons Through Literature, which incorporates more writing skills starting in level C. We LOVE it.

I also have Write with Skill Level 1 which I plan on starting in a year or two for middle school. Although I have not used it yet, I have read through it and like the way it looks.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

That sounds sooooo boring. What do you talk about at dinner?

[Anonymous]

Do you ever get tired of the smarmy, idiotic, condescending questions from other DCUMs?

What's it like having the smartest kids on your block?

Do you ever worry that your kids aren't being bullied at school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you planning to do this from K-12? How do you plan to ensure that your kids get a complete education desire your own limitations in teaching chemistry, for example?

Currently, we plan on homeschooling through high school, yes, but that will change as they get older. For example, I took AP calculus in high school, myself. I even got a 5 on the exam. I do not feel confident in my ability to teach anything above algebra. I plan on using online classes (likely AoPS, or something similar) when my children reach this level.

For the sciences and labs, we currently plan on using co-ops (where the older kids already do some experiments) through middle school and then either community college classes for the high school level classes or else a distance learning classes. Since my kids are only in elementary school, that will not have to be decided for a few years when they get into that level of schooling.