Homeschooling. I never thought I’d come to this bridge. I always figured the only people who did it were Amish or poor or a little weird. Ok, I did not just diss 3 groups of people at once, totally not my intention.
But the point being that I never saw myself as the homeschooling type. I mean, having spent 16 years going through our brilliant education system, I am most acquainted with its shortcomings like rigidity, lack of creativity and imposed clon-ish behavior. Even then, never once did I think of homeschooling as a better alternative. First of all, I would suck as an educator because I have the patience of a 2-year-old. Also, the thought of being cooped up at home with 2-4 kids doing math all day is not exactly my idea of fun.
Well anyway, if there’s a lesson motherhood has taught me, it’s that I usually end up doing the things I say I’ll never do.
In a nutshell, my plans to put the kids in school this year have stalled somewhat and I’m left to consider the option of homeschooling. Yay, me! At first, it was all about keeping them at home for a month while waiting for a confirmation from a preschool. Then a week in, I got to thinking that I could actually do this for an entire year, which was right about the time I started researching for curriculums and lesson plans.
It was also the time I started reading all these experiences on homeschooling by awesome moms like Ree Drummond, who made it sound interesting and fun and most importantly, doable.
To be honest, this world of flashcards and homemade crafts sounds pretty daunting to me. That’s on top of having to cook, feed, clean, play, sing, read, and do cartwheels. It would also mean that I have 24 hours with the kids every single day for the next 11 and a half months. Double yay, me!.
If I decide to go with it, I’ll have to force myself to quit stressing about the Montesorri/Shichida/Multiple Intelligence lesson plans and whatnots. Because on some level, I am that kind of competitive Chinese mother and I must remember that the point of this is not to make it the most unpleasant and stressful year for all of us.
In fact, I might just spend the first half of the year bringing them out to parks, beaches, malls then teach them whatever comes to mind when we’re out. We’re going to do spontaneous learning, like how to do a proper monkey bar or bury someone in the sand or eat an earthquake sundae without puking.
You know, the kinds of lessons you wished teachers taught in playgroup but didn’t because they spent all that time going on and on about the alphabet.
Or I might just cave and send them to school. We’ll see how this pans out.
Any thoughts on homeschooling, successful or otherwise?
26 Comments
homeschooled kids = social retards?
hahahahaha suen I think you just got yourself some haters.
Daphne,
I support this idea. I homeschool Yvette (only send her to accompanied playgroup till before I sent her to CC because I go to work.).
Jia You. Just don’t miss out the playdate part.
Homeschool kids is never social retards!
sunflower´s last post ..Our Childrens’ Laughter
Agree with the playdates!
We’ve lots of fun homeschooling while attending weekly 1-hr Shichida classes, since 14 months old to 23 months old now. It’s great to plan learning around child’s interest on that day and that time, lots of flexibility, so child always enjoys learning. We do plenty of games (esp memory and guessing), reading, singing, craft and exercise.
Son plays regularly with cousins and we organize playdates too. IMHO, children learn more about proper social behaviour from mature adults than kids.
Have fun learning at home, since you’ve 2 students in class! :)
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Thanks MieVee! 2 students = twice the homeschooling headache. It’s tough enough to make 1 kid sit still but 2 at the same time is even worse.
Most toddlers don’t sit still for long. The goal is to make the activities as fun as possible, then they’d be eager to cooperate. It’s ok if they stand around the table, squat on the floor, etc while you lead them.
Children can learn from all senses, so it’s sometimes ok even if they’re not looking at you or the materials. They can learn by listening only.
Make each activity very short and sweet: about 5 minutes each. Move on to the next activity once or before you sense boredom. This way, learning is always interesting.
Flashcards: flash very quickly (0.5-1 sec per card). In 1-2 minutes, already 100-200 cards. Then stop.
I’ve little time to make materials too, so I buy most from Shichida (only sold to students) and bookstores. Then I make the rest, with my boy around, doing craftwork or “helping” out. Also get lots of educational and versatile toys such as blocks, musical instruments, pretend play items, etc. I also recycle home items as materials: cardboard boxes, milk cartons, bottles, etc.
And I don’t have detailed lesson plans. Just a brief idea of learning goals for the week. So far, we managed to cover a lot.
hmm..i always thought the more the merrier. my son seems to enjoy learning more when his cousins are around. i am trying some homeschooling method but he don’t seem to responds or laugh as much when i am with him alone. nevertheless, don’t give up. they may act nonchalant but in truth their ears are always open.
the difficulty i have is to keep up my self-motivation. it is hard to have a nice exciting, happy, interesting outlook to keep the child / children interested in heart when no one is reacting positively or so it seems……really, they are born curious and willing to learn or so i read. so pretend that they are ur great big fans even if they seems to be playing on their own while u sing your heart out. the next thing you know, they give u some surprises when you less expect it.
Agreed! I think their attention span is still really short so I’ve given up making sure they pay close attention throughout the whole lesson. Most days, I try to engage them and if they want to do something else, we usually move on to another topic and come back later when they’re ready.
Hi Daphne,
My son hasn’t been to any preschools yet, except for a weekly hourly enrichment class. So I have been homeschooling him. I feel that homeschooling has a lot of flexibility and i think it’s constant learning throughout the day. I try to teach my son after lunch and evening. I prepare his materials the night before, comprising of motor skills, math, science and language. But not everything gets done the way I want. I still intend to put him to a childcare for half-day for socializing and learning, while the other half-day I get to teach him on my own or bring him out for activities.
Seriously, you prepare lessons every night? I can barely make it to bed by midnight as it is without having to prep anything. Then sometimes when I look at all the lesson plans, my head starts to hurt a little. I had no idea flashcards could be so intimidating.
I tried homeschooling (without any strict curriculum) when my elder is 2.5-3yrs and when she was 4 (when the whole family went overseas). Spontaneous teaching is my way because i like to catch her on the right mood and spur her learning at her own pace. Be it crafting/singing/ writing/language(mandarin)/ maths/ music/outdoors (motor skills/science) or getting her involve in daily chores and cooking. As for social skills, she played with neighbours and cousins. She was indeed an anxious kid when she 1st attended school but soon grew out of it. I think homeschooling never really stopped for me/her even when she is attending K1 in PCF now. I’m doing the same for my just turned 2 yrs old girl too.
Homeschooling is fun (if u don’t put the pressure cap on) and you will get to learn together with your kids!
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How did you teach without a strict curriculum? I mean, did u use like a whiteboard, chalkboard, books, flashcards? Yesterday, I made them sit down while I showed them pictures of animals on google.
(The following were things i did with my elder girl)
online is one of the resources to educate and keep my girl interests in learning. One of my girl’s favourite (when she was 3-4yo) was http://www.starfall.com that teaches alphabets and phonics in an interesting and fun way. My fav too actually and I sat with her most of the times to ensure she understoodd and was learning. She also learnt some computer skills like clicking on the mouse.
I do make her write her alphabets which I print them online most of the times or you can buy from bkstores. She likes writing so sometimes she’d even volunteer to write those alphabets herself. I meant no strict curriculum as I don’t have a set of teaching materials that she must accomplish for the day or week. When I ask my girl if she wants to do any writing and she says no even with some coax, then i don’t enforce it and would suggest other things like crafts which incorporates some learning. U may check out http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ for some ideas.
I have flashcards too which I do with her maybe once in a while as she don’t really like them. I also do my own flipbook which we cut out pictures from magazines and newspaper and which our flash cards do not have. She had fun choosing and pasting the pictures and even writing the words since she knows how to write alphabets. Best of all, she liked flipping them and saying the name of objects, characters and action words.
Games like card games, puzzles, board games which i find is beneficial for memory, maths, patience and best of all, teaches ‘u can’t win all the time’ mentality.
I play SNAP card games with her (pictures of birds so she recognized peacock, flamingo, kiwi, macaw and aware of other birds name even though she can’t recognize). We play GO FISH card games with pictures of sea creatures and We play OLD MAID with pictures of people in different occupation. U can also tweak the card games into memory games too!
I play board games so she can add up the dots on the dice. Opportunity for Addition Maths! We like SNAKE N LADDERS esp as my girl now learns to count 1-100 from there most of the time. She used to move the tokens everywhere but now she knows the sequence very well.
As for Chinese, I do buy some reading materials and make her write on the square line exercise books. Again no strict amount she has to accomplish. Sometimes 1 charater, sometimes more. Depends on her mood as I find pushing results in exhaustion, disinterest and ugly writings!
For Outdoors, i bring my kids to the playground, pool, park, cycling, library, grocery shopping and to playdates a lot. If weather permits, they go outdoor everyday.
I let my kids watch TV too. (max 4 hrs in a day, not one shot though). Particularly those good ones like wordworld and superwhy. I will sit down with them most of the times and ask questions about the scenes.
The most important I’ve learnt frm homeschooling my gals is to know what interest my kids and cater to the interest and spur them on, encourage and lotsa genuine praises. Alphabets and numbers are inevitable. Resources to teach and interest kids are aplenty if you have time to search.
It’s good to involve the kids too. My girl enjoys baking and I’d given her tasks like sifting the flour, beating the eggs, etc etc and she knows most of the terms involved. That’s learning through participation.
Of course, juggling 2 kids can be challenging. I’ll make use of nap times and if both are wide awake, sometimes I’ve to be like a social butterfly, entertain 1 a while and quickly go to the other one!
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I homeschooled my younger girl until she enrolls into nursery 2 (she is a year-end baby, so she skipped nursery 1). Although I work full-time, it is still possible to squeeze in 1-2 hours of quality teaching time a day plus more on weekends. She has since gone to K1 now, and I still do a lot of homelearning with the 2 kids. The elder one is now in P3, and I think parental involvement in teaching will encourage and motivate kids of all ages. It is fun for both parents and kids in homelearning – we learn about them as much as they learn about us!
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Respect! After a full day of work, you still can do 1-2 hours of quality teaching? That’s quite something.
I doubt I’d have the patience for it :(
M´s last post ..Weekends Make Me Go Ouch…
Hahahahah, I know exactly what you mean. =)
If you r really going to homeschool your kids, kudos to you. I dun tink I have the patience or time to do it. By the way do you enrol them into enrichment classes? Please share.
None at all. They do join the playgroup in church and have playdates with friends’ kids but no structured enrichment classes. Tru was in a 3-hour program every morning last year but Kirsten has been home with me since she was born.
Hi Daphne, from what you wrote about what you would like your children to learn at this stage, you might like to research the Charlotte Mason method that has less emphasis on drills and rote learning. Instead thereis lots of outdoor time, lots of interesting books, mini-lessons, lots of time for hobbies (and no flashcards). The lesson planning for the parent is also fairly easy compared to the Shichida method (http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html).
Just FYI, Charlotte Mason is critical of the Montessori method for various reasons (http://rusticanda.blogspot.com/2006/01/cms-letter-to-editor-regarding.html).
Good luck!
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Just remember that it’s not for everyone and a happy mummy is a good mummy! I for one will prob not be able to do it without losing my sanity!! Haha…
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How exciting that you are considering homeschooling your kids!! It can be very fun; it is what you want it to be only if you are relaxed a bit. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself or the kids. Sounds like unschooling might be your ticket. We semi-unschool by using an online curriculum and everyday experiences to learn. Google unschooling sometime.
Don’t let it overwhelm you. There are great homeschool groups and co-ops you can get involved in for classes you really don’t want to teach, for field trips, socializing…
We’ve been homeschooling since third grade and it has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I know it can all be overwhelming at first, though. One resource I recommend often to those who are thinking about homeschooling is a free e-book called Welcome to Homeschooling (http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool/welcome.htm). It is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and will make you feel less anxious about the whole idea. Wishing you the very best of luck on your journey!!!
Jackie,
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[…] started this year intent on homeschooling the kids. Never mind that it was born out of necessity instead of an epiphanic revelation about the merits […]
Chanced upon this through the links. I am thinking of homeschooling too…well for maybe the first few years….no idea exactly what to do yet though.
Wonder how it’s working out for you one year on? :)
oops just saw you had another later post on this about school…