Home School 101

This is it. This is my first week as a home schooling mom. I asked my kindergartner what she would like her first subject to be and she said Bible. Bible it is.

Several months ago another mom at church, who began home schooling her son several years ago, approached me.

"So, are you planning to home school your daughter?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Have you chosen your curriculum yet?"

"Um…"

"Well," she interrupted, "I've chosen one for my son for this year. There were several I was interested in and we settled on this one. Here's a book you can borrow. (The book is: What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know by Hirsch and Holdren) I used this for my son his first year."

As she continued to talk I could feel a fog coming over me. I began to feel worried. I hadn't chosen a curriculum yet. I hadn't read the book now in my possession. What if I don't teach my kindergartner everything she needs to know. By the end of our conversation I had committed myself to joining the co-op of other home schooling moms at my church (good), and opened up a can of insecurities about my own lack of preparedness as a homeschooler (bad).

What Your Kindergartne... E.D. Hirsch Jr. Best Price: $0.25 Buy New $4.99 (as of 01:00 UTC - Details)

I knew I wanted to home school my kids. I had had fantasies about being educated by a governess when I was a child. The freedom home education provided was a major allure: freedom to follow my own interests, freedom to learn at my own pace, freedom from harassment by other kids. I considered these factors as I thought about teaching my own children. As the time approached to actually begin home schooling I realized I had accepted several false beliefs pushed by the educational establishment. I needed to deal with these before I could begin.

First is the belief that learning takes place in a controlled classroom setting. This is simply not true. Certainly not at the kindergarten level. So, I decided, most of my kids early learning would not, in fact, happen at her desk. Rather, over lunch while I'm doing the dishes we talk about words, lots of words. "How do you spell u2018from' Mommy? How about u2018table'? How about u2018lamp'." On and on the questions go. I have her sound out words, write down words. We made flash cards with words and hung them up around the house. My house looks like a Richard Scarry word book with each item wearing its name. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that my daughter is ready to learn how to read! Neither does it take a teacher's degree, which brings me to my second false belief: you have to know how to teach, and that requires a teaching degree. Wrong! I know at least a half dozen mothers who taught everything from Latin and French to Trigonometry without having mastered these subjects themselves ahead of time. They simply learned right along with their kids staying at least one or two steps ahead. I expect, however, even with this kind of commitment to learning there will be subjects that I simply won't be able to, or want to, teach.

The Well-Trained Mind:... Susan Wise Bauer, Jess... Best Price: $2.63 Buy New $12.00 (as of 02:30 UTC - Details)

This brings me to another false belief; home schooling means I am on my own – as are my children (no socialization). If I find, for whatever reason, that I am unable to teach a certain subject to my children I can rely upon the rich resources of my community. For instance, I use a talented young lady who attends the university up the street as a "mommy's helper" once a week. She is not only a very capable baby-sitter, but a decent dancer and pianist. She is studying accounting, but teaches piano lessons on the side. Since learning piano at this time may be just a little more than I can do, we will most likely go to her to teach that subject when the time comes.

I spoke earlier of having joined the "co-op" of home schooling moms at my church. This is a group of moms who have volunteered to help teach each other's kids various subjects once a week using the church building. Of these mothers, three are bilingual, one was an engineer, and another a nurse who currently teaches classical education at a private academy on the side. I have a master's degree, 15 years of music training as a violist, and currently sing with the church band. What a wonderful resource we can be for each other! The added bonus of opportunities for friendships with other children is wonderful.

Last is the issue of curriculum. The false belief that you must have a specific curriculum to successfully teach your child is the one that I most recently let go. Certainly, I need to have some kind of plan for my child's learning, but a set curriculum is not necessary. I have established my goals for the year: teach my daughter to read, introduce basic addition and subtraction, study the Bible (our decision to do this is based on the long term goal of giving our children a Classical Education involving the use of "great books" as a main teaching tool), and introduce a second language. We intend to purchase classes at a French immersion school. Science/History/Geography are as near as our back yard, local zoo, science center, and local library. That's my curriculum. I've spent about $30 on materials. Other materials were gifted or shared by the co-op moms. Most of whatever else I need is found on the internet. The book loaned to me, What Your Kindergartner Needs To Know, is a rough guide. I say rough because a seasoned home schooling mom cautioned me not to burn my kids out by trying to teach too much too soon. Rather, just go with the flow and let my child's natural curiosity be my guide. A more formal, structured curriculum will become appropriate later as they get older.

Such a deal! I know parents who are about to spend $14,000 per year sending their kids to private school for kindergarten to avoid using the public schools. I get that, as a libertarian. I don't want to use public schools either, but $14,000? Granted, homeschooling takes time, and it's certainly a trade off. One wonderful thing about it: you are not locked in. You can homeschool one year, and send your child to school the next when you can afford it. I recommend homeschooling when they are younger, and sending them off when older as the curriculum gets harder as they age.

So, here I am. Ready as I'll ever be to begin this newest journey in my life. I'm excited. I'm thrilled! This is the education I always wanted for myself, and I get to gift it to my kids.

Some helpful resources:

Starfall.com – language arts.

Peepandthebigwideworld.com – science and math.

Pbskids.org – all subjects.

Preschoolpalace.org – free worksheets on letters, numbers, colors, shapes, plus suggested monthly preschool curriculums all printable.

Usbornebooks.com – amazing books, amazing. Love them. You could piece together many grades worth of curriculum here.

Activitypad.com – mazes, connect the dots, color by number.

Triviumpursuit.com – website extraordinaire by a mom who schools using the trivium.

Kidzone.ws/math/kindergarten – lots and lots of math worksheets from number recognition to word problems.

Essays and Books:

What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know – by E.D. Hirsch and John Holdren

The Lost Tools of Learning – Dorothy Sayers (can be found on line)

The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home – by Susan Wise Bauer and Jesse Wise

September 9, 2009