MIW over at Sheltered Not Shattered tagged me with some interesting questions so I thought I'd play along.

What are our goals for our children?

1. That they be confident in what they believe
2. To love learning and learn that learning is a life long process
3. Have strong faith in God
4. Be productive citizens
5. To be good fathers, mother, wife, and husbands
6. Have a strong foundation in the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic
7. To have a respect and understanding of God’s creation
8. To have the skills necessary to take care of themselves
9. To have a heart tender to God’s direction for their lives.
10. To have an understanding of the world’s beliefs so they are better equipped to deal with them
11. To have strong morals and character
12. A well-rounded education including: technology, foreign language, science, history, math, language arts, life skills, music, and art

How do you think learning should happen?

Learning to me is a constant part of our lives it is woven into everything we do and experience.  I think learning should happen through books, life experiences, hands-on activities, field trips, and watching mom and dad.  Learning can not be contained in just a textbook between certain hours of the day; it is something that is always happening.  Children learn from the people they are around, the TV shows they watch, and the things they interact with.  The education can be negative or positive.  I think it is the parent’s responsibility to be diligent in supervising and participating in what their children are learning.   I’m not a shelter them type of person.  I’m more of expose them to things within reason, discuss it, and help prepare them for adulthood.  I try to keep the ultimate goal in mind: that they will grow up and leave my home someday.  I want them to be prepared.

Do you want to teach your children together or individually?

Well it depends on the subject.  My children vary in age from 3 to 14 so some subjects cannot be taught together.  But I do teach some things together and have them do different levels of the same topic.  I like to combine history, science, Bible, art, and some language arts.   I just expect different results from the child according to their age and capability.   Math and reading is something they do individually as there abilities are quite varied.   They participate in each others subjects often without any prompting.  This is kind of a hard question for me.  I write the kids’ lessons individually but they tend to cover the same topics.  I guess it is a combination of both.  We’ve seem to have found a nice balance that works for us.

How much time do you want (or are able) to work directly with your children?

I aim for 3 to 4 hours a day.  Some of this time is divided for individual instruction and some for group activities.  But honestly I have one kid or another working with me on various things throughout the day.  I can hardly do any household things without “help”. LOL

Do you want to include real books and field trips into your school program?

Definitely I think they are essential. 

Do you use a set schedule or flexible approach to your school day?

We don’t really have a set schedule.  We have more of a routine to our days.  I’ve tried the rigid schedule and it made us miserable.  I’ve also tried a super relaxed schedule but it didn’t feel like we were getting much done.  Our days have a certain flow to them with a few things that do have a time assigned.  I think having a routine has helped the kids to know what comes next and we get more accomplished that way.

Do you prefer a curriculum that is thoroughly laid out, one with just an outline, or do you make your own?

I can’t stand a thoroughly laid out curriculum. LOL  On the rare occasion that I buy one I rarely stick to the way it is laid out.  I use it more as a guide.  I prefer to put my own together, drawing from various resources.  I like to include lots of literature and hands-on activities.  I use a wide variety of things.  We use some textbooks, lapbooks, unit studies, videos, computer games, literature, field trips, experiments, and nature study.  We are very eclectic.

How much confidence and experience do you have homeschooling?

I’ve been homeschooling for 6 years.  I’ve grown more confident with our homeschooling as time has progressed.  I will admit there is times when I question myself but that is usually during a difficult time.  I think I’ve grown more confident as I become more convinced this is the thing that is best for my kids and I see how much they have learned. 

Why did your family decide to homeschool?

Well I started out sending my oldest to public school but after watching how his attitude started changing towards his family and the joy of learning evaporate, amongst other things.  We tried a private Christian school.  He did well but they raised the tuition and we couldn’t afford it.  Then we decided to homeschool.  The main reasons we homeschool is because when he was in public school he suddenly didn’t want to play with his brother anymore, he thought mom and dad were stupid, and he was learning morals and character traits that were contrary to our beliefs.  A few statements made during that time that really still stick out to me is; “He’s too young to play with”, “Santa is real, because my teacher said so”, “if you punish me I’ll tell my teacher and she’ll call the cops on you”.  In that short time they had managed to convince my child that I had no say over what he did, that Santa was the reason for Christmas, and that playing with his little brother was uncool.  Needless to say those things didn’t sit well with us.  Then at a parent teacher conference I found out that he had not done an assignment for 7 weeks and had stayed in side for recess because of it.  The thing that really upset me about this is I would constantly ask the teacher how he was doing and she would always say fine.  There are lots of other things we experienced during this time but it would take forever to write about it.  I also don’t want to turn this post into a public school bashing post.  I’m sure some kids excel in public school and there are some great teachers out there.  Unfortunately not in my district.

How was your choice received by family and friends?

There was and is quite the range of responses to our choice.  My mom and dad are very supportive and have been from the beginning.  My sister was leery in the beginning but is now very supportive of our decision.  My brother and sil think we should put our kids in public school so they can play on the sport’s team.   Mil thinks we are doing our kids a disservice by not letting them “socialize” in public school.  I do have a few that ask every time they see us, “Are you going to put your kids in school, yet?”  The rest don’t really say anything about it. 

What are your thoughts on academic or personal progress or achievement in your homeschool, including general results of any testing or evaluation, special recognition or experiences?

I’m pleased with the overall progress of our homeschool.  There are things I would like to improve of course but we are working on them.  The kids have always done well with their evaluations.  I’ve only taking them for testing once and honestly I don’t remember the results.  I know they were good but I couldn’t give you the scores.  I don’t really rely on that stuff to tell me how they’re doing.  I use to when we started out.  I look more to see if they have absorbed what they have learned now.  I’d rather take it slow and make sure they have a good grasp of the subject than pushing through to meet some superficial measurement of knowledge. 

What do you most enjoy about homeschooling?

Being there for all their first.  Seeing that light bulb moment when they finally get it.  That is the best.  Especially if it something we’ve been working on for a long time.  Just this year my little guy just couldn’t seem to remember the number 4 when counting, we worked and worked on it.  Then one day when counting he remembered it.  I got so excited I jumped up and started cheering him.  Which he just ate up and it seemed to cement it with him.  Now he goes around counting for everyone.  Those are the moments that keep me going when I get discouraged.

What do you find most challenging about homeschooling?

I’d have to say it is dealing with the constant questions and the kids constantly following me around telling me everything they learned.  Don’t get me wrong, I love that they are so excited and eager to learn but it does get daunting some times.  When I say constant I’m not exaggerating.  I seem to have one kid or another following me around talking.  I have an introvert type personality and function best when I can have some quite thinking time.  In order to deal with this I try to get up an hour or so before the kids and I go to bed about an hour after them.  I’m much more pleasant that way.

What do your children like most, and least, about homeschooling?

Pumpkin – most: we get done faster with schoolwork and not listen to a teacher lecture all day.  How we get to meet lots of different people.  Least: it’s harder because you expect more from us and I can’t play highschool football.

Peewee – most: that we actually get asked about what we want to learn.  That we get to go on more field trips and see more things.  Least: that the little people keep interrupting when I’m trying to do school.