Homeschooling By Lisa McCrea
I would love to tell you about my experiences homeschooling my daughter. I get up at six and finish cleaning my house before daycare starts at 6:45.
My 9 year old daughter rolls out of bed at 7:00 ready to meet the challenges of a new day and helps make breakfast and greets the daycare children as they come in the door. She showers and gets dressed and then heads for the office for a morning of work. She is very self directed and I lay out a fascinating assortment of work for her to forge through before lunch. She begins with math and after about 45 minutes takes a break and grabs some juice and a healthy muffin. Then she tackles her English, social studies and Geography lessons before practicing her violin. I f she has questions she comes out and discusses it with wither myself or very capable assistance. We have lunch and then spend the afternoon in the garden with the children watching her as she rides her lovely palomino mare around the green pasture. Ok, so I'm Lying. I'm entitled. I get up at 6:30 scramble into my clothes splash water on my face and unlock the front door just as the first kid comes in. My daughter gets up at the crack of ten and staggers out grouchy and smelly for breakfast just as we have finished cleaning up the kitchen. She eats and then picks up the baby and gives her a bottle while she wakes up. She is still wearing the same thing she wore yesterday and really needs a shower. She plays with the kids for a while and then goes and brushes her hair and changes clothes (cause she can't have lunch till she does). She staggers out with a load of what ever she has decided to work on for the day, once again I do not see any math in the pile. She takes over the sofa and spreads out her markers and paper and draws a beautiful picture of a field of flowers, she is into the impressionists at the moment and it really shows. I look over and she is deep in a book, I mean really engrossed in it, I check the title ì mystery of the black velvet maskî. Ok, so Nancy Drew is not great literature I see her other book is almost finished and it is another book on the civil war. She is really into the civil war right now so she is reading pretty heavily on it. Time for lunch Mac n' cheese carrots and apples yummy. She eats her apples and makes a piece of toast with butter. Grumbles about lunch and gives the baby another bottle after changing her diaper (really), she is very into babies. next, just as the toddlers are getting ready for nap she decides to practice her violin, in the middle of the nap room...oh well everyone makes it off to sleep. Kaileigh goes out to throw the ball for her dog and check the other animals. During nap we usually hang out and talk or make a warm snack for the afternoon. 2:30 the afterschoolers come in and they all head outside for some air. They like hide and seek and visiting the baby lambs next door best. We really do work in the garden if it isn't to muddy. Everyone goes home by six, except Kaileigh, and we have an easy dinner and watch jeopardy. Then while I check my e-mail she really starts her school work. Our friend, Peta from Australia, sent her some social studies and geography books from Australia and she is working on those. I still don't see any math but she tells me she worked on math blaster mid-day. ok. At nine I am ready for bed and we usually read out loud for about 1/2 hour and then I sleep. Then my daughter is just beginning. My child is a night owl. One O'clock is her dead line, she must turn out the light. She usually makes it to bed around 11:30. When she was in school I tried to get her in bed by eight, where she would lay and think scary thoughts until 11:00. Getting up at 7:00 was torture for her, this is just not her bio rhythm. Lots of people choose to work nights and do quite well. The real reason we homeschool is that she can do more work in two hours a day then she did in several days at school. She chooses what to learn about and how to learn about it. She doesn't do busy work or waste time waiting for other kids to finish their work. We can take a vacation when ever it is convenient for us. She is with me during the day, I know what she is doing and what she is interested in. She can work in the garden ,ride her pony (right into the corral fence), play with the kids, or read in bed. Her choice. In the evenings when it is quiet she tends to start what she feels is her work. Reading, computer games, discovery channel and writing in her journal. We do a lot of traveling and theater is our vice. She is free to do the plays she wants and to make rehearsals for the adult plays during the day. For merit means I do not worry that she will hurt by another child, ignored by a teacher, given a physical without my permission, made to read something that does not interest her, have her made fun of because she is smart, most of all she is not exposed to the kids that are forced into public schools. I don't like the language, the attitude, the disrespect, the aspect of punishment hanging over a group for one kids behavior, the group mentality, the lack of values and personnel responsibility, the loss of joy, the indoctrination into a system I don't agree with. I have control of my child's education and well being. Lisa McCrea
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HomeschoolingMonday, 12 January 2009 Homeschooling By Lisa McCrea I would love to tell you about my experiences homeschooling my daughter. I get up at six and finish...
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