What Really Matters in Homeschooling

If I had to boil home education down to just one necessity, it would be this: impart a love for learning. Think about it. If you love to do something, you give it a lot of time and you get pretty good at it. If our kids love learning, all we need to do is stand back and watch them go. Of course we need to be there to coach and encourage, but overall, the internal motivation fuels the learning. And when kids are doing what they love, they are happy and easier to live with too.

The key is to keep learning from being a chore. If you notice that your kids are starting to whine about your curriculum or a certain activity, change it. Find a different way to get that information across, or leave it for another day. Be willing to listen to your kids and take their preferences into account.

Another great way to foster a love for learning is to let them dive deeply into something they find interesting. If your child is into dinosaurs, let him become an expert. It's OK if he reads about dinosaurs 24 hours a day. Just think of all the science and history and reading skills he's developing. And as he talks to you about it, he's practicing his verbal skills and flexing his comprehension strategies of summarizing, visualizing, connecting and questioning.

Talking to your child about what she's interested in and what she's learning is an excellent way to build higher order thinking and communication skills.

My kids are now out of the house, and I'm glad to say they caught the learning bug. In fact, Peter (now a college graduate) has started a study/research/discussion group with his friends where they get together and talk about their recent intellectual interests, maybe even peer reviewing papers before they try to publish.

That's the goal--adults who keep on learning.

Homeschooling can seem very overwhelming, so keep it simple and keep the end in mind.

I have related post on Simple Homeschool called How to Build a Strong Foundation for Your Child.

Overcoming the Fall Slump

It's October, and many new homeschoolers are wondering if it's worth it. If you are feeling like this is too hard, you are in over your head, and maybe sending them to school isn't such a bad idea, let me encourage you.

I homeschooled through sixteen Octobers. The excitement of starting off in late August, the new books, fresh ideas and enthusiasm usually wore off by October. Reality sets in. Can we keep this up? I always readjusted and rethought my priorites and then things would get better again.

Simple advice: Be willing to change.

Stop doing that curriculum. Stop having those expectations. What do your kids need now? Maybe a break is all you need. Think about year-round schooling. Some schools go for six weeks, then take two weeks off. I like that idea. You can adapt it to your homeschool without feeling guilty.

Hang in there, mom!

My next piece of simple advice: Don't give up.

As I look back on those years with my kids, I knew I was sacrificing. I knew I was saying no to myself and things I wanted to do, but I kept my eyes on the prize, the prize of three emotionally healthy, stable, intelligent adults. I knew that if I gave them a loving, nurturing environment in which they could develop their natural curiosity, they would not only be learning facts, they would be learning how to learn, how to find information and experts to answer their questions, all driven by their natural interests. I see the results now.  Peter has a job, an apartment, and is teaching himself computer programming. Meg is braving a third-world country, and Missa is working and going to college in the big city.

Now that I am in this phase of life, I am SO glad I gave those early years to my kids. That was their window of time. That was my chance to lay a strong foundation for them. And really, it wasn't all that self-sacrificing because now I am cashing in on the benefits. We all have great relationships with each other, they know how to solve their own problems, and they are on career paths that excite them. What more could a mom want?

Unschooling after College

Peter and Missa

Peter graduated from college in June, and now that it's September, I asked him if he was homesick for college. Does he wish he was starting school instead of heading off to work everyday? He said no, he's glad he is done with college and can get back to learning again. Ha! I asked him to explain and he said that he's glad he can choose what he wants to learn, at his own pace, and in his own way. Spoken like a true unschooler! He is currently learning computer programming. He's taking a course over the internet, one of those open source classes from Stanford, I think he said. He loves it and thinks maybe this is the career he wants to pursue.

Meg is still in India. I miss her and wish she would come home soon, but she is happy and feeling more at home there as she teaches English to children. Missa is into her first semester as a college freshman, living three hours away in her own apartment with a friend. I really miss our years together, but I am so proud of them and continue to marvel at their accomplishments, if only from afar. 

A Practical Guide to Loving Homeschooling

Two years ago I put together this little beginning-of-the-year guide to homeschooling. I've added more and recent posts with the hope that it will help you get organized and prepare for another great year of learning at home!

This has to be...let's see...2001?

Foundations

What Makes a Good Homeschool Parent?

Capturing Your Child's Heart

Don't Even Blink

Nurturing Your Child for Success

At the Heart of Homeschooling

Philosophy

Jump Starting an Interest-Led Education

A Look at Interest-Led Learning 

What does Interest-Led Learning Look Like for a Five-Year-Old?

Curious About Unschooling?

Rethinking Education

 How To...

Here's Meg around 2003.

If I Only had a Map (a simple guide to successful homeschooling)

The Bare Minimum  (what more do you need?)

Advice for First Year Homeschoolers 

Motivating Learners in Your Homeschool 

Bloom's Taxonomy: A Simple Roadmap to Learning

How I Keep Records in Our Home School

Should I Homeschool High School?

Intentional Unschooling 

How to Prepare a High School Transcript for Home Schoolers

Homeschooling and College Scholarships

How to Find the Right Books for Your Readers

Using Movies to Teach High School History

I have dozens of posts tagged "beginning homeschooling," but that can get overwhelming. I really need to get organized.

I love to take questions, so what would you like to know?

Choosing Books at the Right Level

Kids who struggle with reading need to be reassured. It's OK if reading doesn't come easily because everyone has things that are hard for them. Ask your child what does come easily...drawing? riding a bicycle? making people laugh? Help them see that they are valuable and talented in ways that are different from others and that's a good thing.

When it comes to choosing books, a struggling reader needs to feel successful (we all do!) in order to hang in there and keep trying, so don't expect him or her to read books at a frustration level, even if you think they should be at that level. Attitude, believing that you can do it, is at least half the battle in learning how to read.

Here is an easy way to find books at your child's reading level using Scholastic.com.

1. Start here and click on Book Wizard.
2. Type in the name of a book that your child can read and understand without much help. 
3. When that book pops up, it will have a grade level and a link that says "Book Alike, find similar books." Click on that button. 
4. Now you will see lots of book choices at that same level. 
5. Make a list of what looks interesting and find them at the library.

If your child's reading level is 6th grade or below, check out this chart. Click on any number or letter in your child's reading level row and it will take you to a page of books at that level with some ways to filter books by subject and theme. This is important because you want to find books that also have interesting topics for your child. 

If you want to learn more about book levels and how to find just the right books for your children, you might like my post about lexiles.

Happy Reading!

Parenting from Afar

Homeschooling invades your personal space...all day long...every day. If you want to homeschool, you must not mind having your kids around that much, and most of us would probably say we like it.

The Fam about 10 years ago, including Missa's friend Spot

So what's it like to finally have your kids move out of the house and begin their adult lives? Culture shock. Extreme culture shock. But I've been working on easing the transition since 2008 when Peter moved away to college. For one, I started this blog in an attempt to capture all the memories and all the lessons I've learned. I also started graduate school to get my teaching certificate up to date and hopefully add a masters degree. That's been keeping me busy and giving me a new focus.

Missa (18), Meg (20), Peter (22), June 2012

Meg moving to India has been harder than I expected. She's been gone almost a month, and we try to communicate every day. Hearing her struggles and not being able to do much about it has been hard. But I do thank God for the Internet. At least we can talk through things in real time. I remember spending three weeks in Hong Kong in the mid 1980s, and it was basically a communication blackout. I feel old saying this, but my, how times have changed! We've even figured out how to use Google+ and get everyone's face online talking at once!

She passed out in the market one day, and that really scared me. She was with a friend who caught her and got her home, but that was a particularly trying time for Ole Mom. Then there was the night she didn't get online as usual, and this led to a very long day for me, waiting to hear from her in the evening (which is her morning). She's starting to feel more comfortable over there, and I'm starting to relax about her being there.

Missa (who moved to Chicagoland this summer) texts me every day. Peter, on the other hand, doesn't communicate as often, but he's a boy, right? I'm glad to say that even though we're moving into this new stage of life, we are all still close...in heart...if not in square footage.