I recently had the privilege of sharing a bit about my homeschool journey with our local group of homeschool moms. I thought I'd share on here, too, for any other homeschool moms who are interested in knowing what my mom did right and what we could have done differently on my homeschool journey. Also, if you're not a homeschool mom or a homeschooler at all, maybe this will put some of your questions at ease. :)
First of all, I am SO glad that I was homeschooled. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I remember in maybe 5th or 6th grade, I was behind in some of my school work. It was around Thanksgiving, and my parents told me that if I didn't catch up by Christmas, they were putting me in school in January. That was possibly the worst punishment, in my opinion, and I got down to work and caught up on that school! :) I realize that homeschooling isn't for everyone, but for me, it was the right thing.
My dad is actually the one who wanted us kids to be homeschooled. My mom was a public school teacher for 12 years until my sister was born (I was 4). I went to public school for kindergarten, but after that, my mom pulled me out and we started homeschooling.
One thing I have to put to rest is that YES, homeschoolers have friends! This is a common misconception - one that actually prevents other kids from befriending you. The majority of my friends were also homeschooled. I can only name two other people who were friends with me in spite of being homeschooled. But, right after starting to be homeschooled, we started attending a local homeschool co-op where, twice a month around 30-40 families got together for three hours and the parents taught/supervised and students went to three different classes. The classes changed throughout the years, but they included a geography class when I was younger, a logic class (my personal all-time favorite), science, creative writing, gym, art, and as high schoolers, we got a game hour to just have fun with each other. It was a great place to meet new friends and build that initial foundation of friendship.
I also attended a discipleship group for girls with several friends, before I started my own when I was 14. Going to this group was a highlight, twice a month, where I learned more about living a life for Christ and also got to spend more time with friends. But besides, those structured times, my mom was
really good and purposeful about getting together with friends for my siblings and I. We had friends over all the time, whether those friends lived in our neighborhood or 30 minutes away. My mom recognized how important socializing was and made every effort to help us develop friendships. I remember one year, my mom did a creative writing "class" just at our house with 4 or 5 of my friends and we got together for maybe four sessions and at the end had a mother's day...day where we presented our moms with an acrostic word project we'd made. Every Christmas for a few years, my mom would organize a mother-daughter Christmas Tea with several other mothers and daughters we knew. We'd have a couple games, a devotional, singing, and had amazing food! Because we didn't celebrate Halloween, we would invite about seven other families who also didn't celebrate it and just have a "harvest party". This event often included a potluck, a campfire, and night games.
My mom was also big on birthday parties, which she often allowed me to help plan! I remember having a water-park birthday, a Hello Kitty party at a playground, a scrapbooking party/sleepover, a Nancy Drew computer game race birthday, a mystery dinner party, a soccer-themed party, and then my extremely memorable 16th birthday (which was a surprise). She even let me and one of my best friends plan that soccer-themed party all on our own! By helping plan those parties, I learned what all went into party-planning: invitations, RSVPs, decorations, games, food, cleaning, etc. And now that I plan about a half-dozen parties for
LIVE every year, I realize how important that experience was for me! And as you can see, I never lacked time with friends.
When I was in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, I went to band at the public school, where I played flute. I had a good friend who had started full-time public school the same year I started band, and although she was a year older, it was fun to be able to see her after school. However, after 7th grade, I quit and just took private lessons. People create stereotypes and oftentimes, all it takes is one person. Just as it might take one homeschooler for every public schooler to be against them, it can take one public schooler for every homeschooler to not be so positive about them. In 7th grade, we were supposed to play
seven songs at the Spring concert. By the time the concert came around we could play three or four. That year was the worst! My band director walked out crying twice because the kids were so disrespectful, I hardly learned
anything that year, because the majority of the kids were disrespectful, and not enough students practiced at home nor paid attention in class to learn the assigned songs. It was very frustrating to me, and I know that not every class is like that, but I was very glad that year that my parents homeschooled me, because of that experience I had.
There are many things that, had I gone to public school, I would
not have been able to do. One of the biggest things is leading my discipleship group. I started when I was 14 with girls in my neighborhood and it was then that I started writing curriculum, too. I loved leading the group and those girls were so special to me! My family moved in 2011 and that's when I started
LIVE, with girls from our local homeschool group. I
cannot imagine what it would be like not having these girls in my life! College has crossed my mind a few times, but the primary reason I won't go is because I would no longer be able to lead
LIVE.
Another thing is traveling. My family has always taken vacations at least once a year with several camping trips crammed in, especially when I was younger. Lots of families take vacations, I know. But we would be able to start school a few weeks early and then, once school had started for everyone else, we would pack up and get out of waiting in lines and having those crowds! One fall, my parents made the very hasty decisions to purchase a vehicle online...in North Carolina (and the funny thing is, that wasn't the only time, either!). After they won the eBay bid, it went back and forth about who was going to go pick it up. First, it was just my dad. Then, I was going to go with him (I was 10 at the time). In the end, two weeks later, all five of us were on a plane to NC. But it wasn't just to NC that we went...we ended up driving to Williamsburg, VA! That was one of the best vacations, ever! In fact, we even decided to stay longer than originally planned because we could!
One year, in 8th or 9th grade, I did a research paper on the Amish. And that same year, my brother did a project on Gettysburg. So on our vacation to Washington D.C. (which, by the way was SO much fun and SO much learning! :D), we stopped in Gettysburg so Aidan could see his project practically come to life. And on the way home, we stopped in Ohio and stayed with an older Amish couple for a couple days and I learned so much after I'd done my paper! That same trip, we also went to Assateague Island and Maryland City.
Another year, it was a week and a half before Christmas and we got a call from my dad's uncle, who we didn't really know that well. He told us they had some vacation points that needed to be used within two weeks and they wouldn't be able to. He said he had two suites and asked if we knew any other homeschooling families who would be able to with us. Of course, we said yes and invited three other homeschool families and four days later, we were on our way! Oh, the joys of being able to drop it all and leave! :)
We've also gone to Colorado, California, Wisconsin Dells (on other occasions), Mexico, and South Dakota.
Last year was the first year that my parents allowed me to travel alone. I was able to put school (both high school and college, thanks to CollegePlus) on hold and go to Virginia for a week. I was able to take a mission trip to Haiti, go to Texas, leave on four days' notice to Florida with my dad, and in January/February of this year, I went to Colorado with three weeks' notice. Traveling is something I love to do and it looks like I'll be able to more of it this year!
Having a close relationship with my mom is something else that I don't think would have been possible had I gone to school. I began growing closer to her in high school, which if I were
in school, I probably would have been gone 9-10 hours a day, if not more.
Also, being homeschooled provided me with opportunities for some jobs! One year, a neighbor came over to our house to ask if I would be able to get her autistic son on and off the bus when she worked. He rode a different bus than his siblings, so it actually came later in the morning. If I had been at school, I wouldn't have had that experience.
One more big thing is doing CollegePlus. I did their CollegePrep program when I was 14 and by the time I was 15, a Sophomore in high school, I had 12 college credits. By the time I graduated high school in 2013, I had 58 credits and was a Sophomore in college, and I currently am a Junior with 81. I will be (Lord-willing) graduating in June of 2015 with my BS in Organizational Leadership through Thomas Edison State College.
There are some things that my mom and I wish we had done differently in my "high school career". I hope maybe it will be helpful to you homeschool moms. :)
Science. I am not a science person
at all. My mom found a science curriculum one year and I...strongly disliked it. :) I'm not sure what it was called, but it was boring and I didn't learn all that much. And, when the time came for me to take the science CLEP test to earn college credit, I did not have a very strong foundation in science. Yes, I did study (for four months, in fact) other resources for the CLEP, but honestly, I felt like I was starting completely from scratch. I ended up failing the Natural Sciences CLEP...twice. I realize that it's not
all the curriculum's fault, but I do believe it played a role in it. I think had we done Apologia, it would have been fine.
Math. So I'm not really a math person either. Let me rephrase that...I love math when I understand it. If it's easy for me...it's all good. So I loved math up until 10th grade. In 10th grade, we started Algebra II and I didn't understand it. So, we switched to Geometry. However, not only did we switch to Geometry, but we switched curriculum, too. And I didn't
not like this curriculum. I think it's important that you have a curriculum that your student can understand and enjoys. Otherwise, we're not going to get as much out of it as we should. And the beauty of homeschooling is that you have dozens of curriculum options for each student!
Foreign Language. My mom and I would suggest you allow your student choose their own foreign language. You can approve, sure, but let them choose. My mom chose for me...Latin. She thought that learning Latin would make learning any other language easier. I did not want to learn Latin the first place, which made those three years kind of miserable. I would have much rather learned French. Yes, Latin may have been useful had I been a science major, but as we discovered with the failing of two Natural Science tests, that was NOT going to be the case. :) Most people I know who have been out of high school for a couple years do not remember the foreign language they learned. So by the time I ever get around to learning French, if ever, that Latin wouldn't be any use to me anyways. Just something to keep in mind. :)
Deadlines. One thing, I wish my parents had been more strict on is deadlines. It wasn't that my mom didn't set them, I just usually got out of them if I wasn't finished with m paper by then. And when I started taking CLEP tests for college, there was no structure there, either. For those tests, I was in complete control. I ordered the books I thought I needed, I made my own study schedule, and set my own goals. Because CollegePlus is flexible (which is
awesome), my college degree could take me six months or six years...it didn't matter. Now, I'm not hitting the six year mark, but I certainly didn't get it done by high school which was the original goal. Because I was in complete control, I could push my goals further and further back over and over again. And by the time I had to take my first online course, I was like, "Wait, what? I have to get ALL this done by
midnight on Saturday?!" It was very stressful for me.
I hope you found this post insightful into a homeschooler's life and somewhat helpful. :) I am so glad that I had my parents as my teachers for my whole academic life, and that I get to have the SAME teachers for the rest of my life in all other areas. :)
In Christ,
Sierra
