Jun. 24, 2009 - Homeschooling questions--answered. Part 1
I've had a bunch of questions lately.
From non-homeschoolers...
WHY do you homeschool?
Is it easy?
What about socialization?
And from the homeschoolers, it's always the same....
What curriculum are you going to use next year.
I thought I'd answer these questions and save myself some time. (GRIN)
1. We homeschool first and foremost because we really believe that God has shown us that He wants us to homeschool our children. That doesn't mean we feel everyone should homeschool. It doesn't mean we feel superior because we do. We strictly do it because we feel, for our family, we are being obedient to what God has shown US. We take the verses in Deuteronomy 6 very seriously that we are to teach our children the things of God, "When you rise up, when you sit down and when we walk along the way." I also selfishly want to be the one to teach my children to read. I want to be there when the lightbulb goes off when math finally clicks, when a Bible verse finally makes sense, when they are tempted to hit their little sister and instead learn what self control is all about. I loved that I get to learn and re-learn so many things along with them! I love that we can do school snuggling on the couch, or outside on the porch on a beautiful day too! Which brings me to the next question...
2. NO, it's not easy...are you kidding? (grin) But nothing worth doing is ever easy. It is a whole lot of work, and judging by how many parents tell us, "I could never teach my kids" I guess it's not supposed to be easy. It's hard, but worth the effort.
3. Socialization is precicesly one of the top reasons why we choose to homeschool. I'll leave it at that.
Now to my fellow moms who are in the curriculum choosing frenzy that I just came out of, and so you don't have to keep asking when I'm gonna blog about our curriculum that we're using this year (haha)
It's not pretty, but here's the plan:
NOTE: all the curriculum names are "clickable" if you want to read more about it.
ALL TOGETHER (Kindergarten through 8th grader)
My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures
Study for Bible Bee
Aslan (8th grade)
Creative Writing from Student of the Word
Math- Finish Teaching Textbooks Geometry (he's 1/2 way through)
Then Scratch your Brain Geometry from Critical Thinking
Then start Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2
Science- Apologia Physical Science
Language Arts- Applications of Grammar
Total Language Plus--Treasure Island, Hiding Place and The Yearling
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Logic- Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox (1st semester)
Followed by Introductory Logic (2nd semester)
I'm also likely going to have him take an online course in the Spring on Creation Apologetics from Answers in Genesis.
He spends quite a bit of time reading online forums learning how to care for his plants. He is super interested in Horticulture, especially Carnivorous plants, and recently has gotten into some "discussions" with PhD's and has needed to defend creationism. He has done a great job, but falls short in debating with PhD professors. (imagine that) I feel that every Christian, but especially those going into Science fields need to know what they believe, why and defend that.
So that is why the classes in Logic and Creation Apologetics. Plus, he LOVES those subjects.
This is taking a lot more time than I expected, so I'm gonna take a break and share the rest of my plans for the other children next time I blog.
In other news...Gilead got his first tooth yesterday!
I'm taking Hosanna on her birthday trip tomorrow for 1 night to a Horse Ranch. We'll go on a 1/2 day horseback riding trip. (Grandma will help us with Gilead...we're excited she's going with us this year!) Pray for daddy back home with the other 5. = )
