To homeschool G or not to homeschool…
That would be the question…that plagues our thoughts and minds and hearts and energy now. That and a cold virus.
His continued speech delay and other factors lead us in this scary, exciting, daunting direction.
Any advice?
Well, we homeschooled Ethan for several years – it’s hard work! It has incredible benifits, and for things like speech development and being in control of their little hearts and their friends, it is priceless. However, it requires a lot of time on your side, and you end up getting no breaks from each other. It would be an opportunity for you and G to grow closer, OR for you to start to grate on each other!
An added difficulty we faced was that Ethan was done with his work in 2-3 hours, so we always had the rest of the day to fill. This was difficult when all of his friends were in school and I always felt like a cruise-director, trying to plan activity and fun for the Entire Day Every Day.
You do seem like you are a better stay-at-home mom than I was, so this may not be an issue for you!! We ended up putting Ethan in school this year, and since we didn’t plan ahead he is in public school. It is TERRIBLE, but our situation changed and we just couldn’t homeschool anymore. Looking at it nearly a school-year later, I am sad that we miss our days together, but with the addition of a break from each other we actually get along better when we are both home. I am very sad about some of the kids he goes to school with, because I don’t think Ethan is strong enough to be a good light to others, they end up influencing him.
The actual academics aren’t difficult, because there are SO many good curriculums out there that you can find what works for you and him and run with that. It’s everything else that we found hard
Over half of my dearest friends homeschool & I feel that it will be the right decision for me when the time comes. I feel so blessed to be learning from them.
Many of my friends homeschool in co-ops so that there are “days off” for mom. Co-ops are great because they arrange field trips & science projects & picnics, etc… Also moms just about two days off a month. Yay!
One of the most fun projects I’ve been a part of was a space shuttle. They build a mock space shuttle & ordered experiments from NASA & actually did an entire mission with walkie talkies etc… I had so much fun working in “mission control” and the kids still talk about it over a year later.
A big consideration is the style of homeschooling you want to do. All of my friends are doing the Thomas Jefferson Education model or a modified version of it.
To me homeschooling makes so much sense. As a mother I want to be able of influencing my own children. A a child I left home at 7 am & got home at 3:30 pm. I was home & awake for about six hours but much of that time was spent outside playing with friends, girl scouts, church, etc… I only spent about three hours a day with mom. I’m not complaining but I just want more time with my own kids when I get around to having them.