When Homeschooling Isn't a Good Choice.

I know my title may upset many but there are times where homeschooling isn't a good choice. There...I said it.

When I had my younger two children, there was no doubt that i'd be homeschooling. I had already homeschooled my older two through high school and I simply love doing it.

My reasons for homeschooling my younger two is that I simply love being with them and teaching them. This however, is VERY different than the reasons I homeschooled my older two.

With my older two, I was going to give the a better education, more God-centered. I was going instill in them the biblical and moral values I felt were important and more importantly , I was keeping the government from instilling their political and social morals to my children. This is what I would tell people....Now, here are some of the reasons in my heart.
*I was going to be a perfect parent.
*I was going to keep them from making the same mistakes I made
*I was going to have perfect teens who never rebelled.

I'm being very real, honest and open here. Now my reasons were WRONG. The ONLY thing that saved me was the fact that the Lord really was calling me to homeschool.

Here is what I quickly realized.......
*I am a sinner.
*My children are sinners.
*They did NOT see me as their academic authority
*I had no idea the fight I was in for.
*I've been humbled

When I first started homeschooling, my older two did not think I was really their academic teacher. I would hear things like, "That's not how my teacher taught us."... I would respond, "I'm your teacher now".
The first 2 months of homeschooling was hard. Not only did I have to reteach my children to obey me, I also had to teach them simple life skills.
Life skills you say?? Yes!!
They were in school for a bulk of the day.... So I cleaned, vacuumed, emptied and filled up the dishwasher, etc.
Once we started homeschooling, they had to make their beds, etc. These were things that they really weren't around for.
After the first 2 months things got much easier.
As we approached adolescence, It was CLEAR that my children were.... rebellious teens.

I had failed.

This is where faith, prayer , God's Grace and Mercy come in.

All this I share because i've seen the "homeschooling" Community change VERY much over the course of 18 years.
When I first started homeschooling and talking with other mom's, they were all homeschooling because they felt a clear calling on their lives. With the onset of Common Core , many parents are homeschooling for very different reasons. As homeschooling has gotten more popular, other reasons are creeping in. I'll talk about those in a minute.

Many parents are starting to homeschool because of the Common Core. One of the biggest things I say to them, "IF you can't get your children to make their own beds ,or clean up their room, chances are you're not going to get them to do their school work."

Why am I so harsh in my words?? Because I've seen JUST THAT!! Parents have lost control. Not all parents, but most.  When you start homeschooling, you need to really be ready to RETEACH your child and make them part of the family. Yes, Part of the family. The way society is set up, from the moment our children turn 3, they're in "Preschool", we start a separation. A "Me" vs. "We" mentality. This needs to be undone. This can be conquered but I find that many new homeschoolers have some unrealistic expectations. Once you get those right, everything else will fall into place.

Now onto some other reasons i've noticed.......
If you're taking your child out of school for social, behavioral and / or academic reasons, you MUST check your heart and your motives. This is one area that is not governed by the school district.

Social: I've seen parents take their children out of school because they simply don't get along with any of the children. This isn't a good reason. Unless there is psychological diagnosis, helping them THROUGH this and learning from it is probably better. Your child WILL Still have these issues with the homeschooling community. Yes, we're probably more likely to help you through it but if this is your ONLY Motive, you may want to rethink it.
**If you talk to the teacher and ask her to help and support you through this...they WILL. Teachers are wonderful and will help you...as long as you're not in denial and think your child is an angel. 

Behavioral: This is another area that's tough to talk to parents about. This goes back to the "If you can't get your child to clean their rooms....". I see many parents taking their children out of school for this reason. It's the "Teacher's fault", "The students fault", "They don't like my kid...." And the list goes on. Here is my rule of thumb for all MY children.
*If they're having discipline issues with EVERYONE....then MY Kid is the problem.
That's a tough pill to swallow. We don't like to think of our precious children being less than perfect, but taking them out of school WILL Help... It will help you from NOT dealing with it. Again... it's a hard pill to swallow but our motives speak volumes to our children.
**Again, humble yourself the teachers WILL Help you. They're not out to get your kid, they just need parents who are willing to admit their child has an issue that needs to be dealt with. 

Academic: Usually when children have issues like the two i've mentioned, their usually behind academically. I'm not saying that if your child has a learning disability not to homeschool. On the contrary, children with ADD/ADHD and Dyslexia , etc do MUCH BETTER with homeschooling. Nothing is more powerful than a mom who is teaching their own child with a disability. My older son has ADD and homeschooling really saved him academically. The problem is that if you don't have the authority, respect and control of your child, this is an area that will suffer. REALLY SUFFER.
I've seen parents use Homeschooling instead of signing their children out of school at 16.
All these things make homeschoolers....REALLY Passionate homeschoolers LOOK BAD. It makes homeschooling look bad!!

If your ready to start homeschooling, and your'e afraid...then you're in the right place!! Taking on this much of a responsibility should be fraught with worry, research and a passion. More importantly, it's a calling. Just as teaching as a profession is a calling, so is being a homeschooling mom.

Even with all my imperfections, poor reasons and deceitful heart, homeschooling has worked for us. Why?? Because it's a calling. If you feel called to homeschool....enjoy it but be prepared for the ride of your life. If you DO NOT feel the calling to homeschool. It's ok...IT's great.. in fact... It's AWESOME!!! Do what you've been called to do!!! Check your heart and trust in the One who can turn ashes into beauty.

Laura

3rd Grade - Science & Social Studies #1027

These are starting to get fun!! I love looking up different things to add.

Science:
The sun, moon and stars
Tides and the Moon
The moon
All about Stars
Galileo
Hubble Space Telescope

There are so many youtube video's, I couldn't possibly list them all. I'll edit this list as I go.

Social Studies:

Continent Song  **I'm partial to this little gal**

North/South/East/West

Longitude and Latitude 

Longitude & Latitude song

Another great resource that I love are the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedias. These are great , year after year. You can find most of the topics in one of their books. I am not an Usborne Rep, and I do not receive any compensation for my endorsement. If you have a local rep, I highly recommend starting a library of them. If you don't, here is a great mom that I use. She's helpful and quickly answers your questions. You can also find her on Facebook. Here is her link: Jennifer Mason

There are so many topics that you can spin off on.

I would really love to keep track of what we actually use and blog about them week to week but i'm not sure that I could keep up with that.

Have a great School day!!!

Laura

ACE "Offices"

I know that many homeschoolers are told, "It's not school at home...it's homeschooling". For my children that doesn't work. They LOVE school at home and was made aware of that when my daughter fell in love with A.C.E, Accelerated Christian Education. I can't complain because she loves school, her reading has improved and her math is great. Not to mention it's one of the easiest curriculums to implement at home. When it's right...it's right!!

The other day my daughter ( 2nd grade, 7 y/o) said to me, "Mom, You know those offices that Ace gets to use at his school? Can I have one?"

I looked at my child and said, "uuummmmmm Yes!!!!"  "Hold on a minute".. My mind was racing with crafty goodness!!! I had a trifold science board down in the basement and my brain was whirling with ideas. *I know where my daughter gets her annoying love of crafting from. * 

I cut the board in half. One for her and one for her brother. They were thrilled. I then hooked her "bygel" pencil cup holder and she was set.

**Only........
My mind wanted better. I wanted to make something she could use for the year. I quickly posted a picture on the Facebook ACE group page and went on to thinking of ideas. *I really love those moms on the Facebook page. They're very encouraging and supportive. Gotta love that.* 

I decided to remake them that weekend and I DID!! here is the end results and we all love them.

I went to Pinterest to find some inspiration...NOTHING!! Nada!! I found a few for school centers and even for homework stations but nothing specifically for ACE.

I wanted something that would make it more convenient and help to keep them organized.

Here is my 2nd graders "cubby".

As you can see I decided to personalize them. Sarah has her name in the middle. on the left side is her pencil cup. She's a lefty , so I put it on the left. Above that is a 100's chart. Center along the bottom is her "Goal Card". I laminated it and put velcro on the back to hang it. I'll have a close up of that. On the right is a page protector that is up with velcro and on the sheet is all her memory verses for each subject that she is currently working on. We use this to discuss the comic strips and application of the scripture. The pink thingy is a storage clipboard with all her paces in it.


Now for the details......

This is the "bygel" cup from Ikea. This is holds A LOT!! She has pencils...all types including a "smencil" (Scented pencil), extra erasers, sizzors, glue and even a roller of an essential oil that she likes. We decorated the cup. *Could it be any girly??  I cut a rectangle, 4" long by 1-1/4 " with an exacto knife. Then you can slip the cup in. Keeps it off the table and doesn't waste room on the board.

This is her "goal card". I laminated this and put velcro on the back. I used a Sharpie to write in the pages she needs to do for the week and she crosses them out with a dry erase marker. At the end of the week I wipe it off with a magic eraser and write in the next weeks work. She loves to cross things off a list.She's a "box checker".  We were using these without the lamination but I couldn't find a way to make a pouch to hold the card that I liked. So I tried this and it works well. That said, I have no problems buying these from ACE because they don't charge much for them. This just worked for the board. 

**Tip** Put the velcro dots along the top of the card where you don't write so that they don't get in the way. 

If you look along the right hand side, there is a sheet. For this I used a page protector. I simply cut off the binder holes, added some velcro tabs to the back and created a document from word with her memory verses for the current pace she's working on. I will just slip this out and put in the new one when she switches paces every 2-3 weeks. 

I made one for David, my little Caveman. He loves it. He said to me, "Oh you gave me a goal card too?" He isn't ready for a goal card yet but I made one for him so that we have it when he's ready. I also have a page protector up on his left hand side for the future.

Caveman is a righty, so his Bygel cup is on the right for him. Right now he uses this when he does his math and reading. hanging on his with some clips are his Sunday School projects and his school work for tomorrow. 

Here is how they're used during our school day. Sarah is a lefty and I sit on her right side and David is on the other side, and I sit on his right side, so it works out well, When they're done for the day, they take their "cubbies" and put them on the shelf running along our white board. Then they have the table to play, craft and and to make a club house with blankets. 

Here they are stored in front of our white board. 

I hope this helps and if anyone has any suggestions to make these better, please put them in the comments section!! 

Enjoy!!

God Bless,

Laura