My husband, Michael, and I home schooled our daughters for the first 10 years of their lives. They transitioned into public schools after our move to California and carried with them the love of learning that they got from their home schooling experience. Here's some information about our personal experience with home schooling (written 2005): Why did you originally decide to home school the girls? How long will you home school them? All the way through high school? What about the social limitations of being isolated at home, without peers? Do you have a special place in the house where you do school? Do you follow a certain curriculum? Do you have to inform the school department so that they are not considered truant? How do you do it? I just don’t have the patience, and MY kids would never listen to me. What are the benefits and disadvantages? Why did you originally decide to home school the girls? In 1999, when we started to look at schools for Sawyer, we realized that the quality of the public schools in Rhode Island was unacceptable, and the cost of the privates schools was unaffordable. The obvious alternative was to home school. At the time, I knew little to nothing about the process, so Michael and I set out to educate ourselves. We read a lot of books on home schooling and talked to many people in our community. It was really a surprise to see how many people in the small state of Rhode Island were already home schooling. How long will you home school them? All the way through high school? Until I lose my sanity or until it does not work for our schedule or our daughters. Right now it is working, even though there are days that I would disagree with that statement. We see our daughters growing and learning, and we get to be a part of that process every day. Sawyer has made it very clear that she wants to attend high school, but Cydney is still in a phase where she does not want to go to a formal school. What about the social limitations of being isolated at home, without peers? None. Both our daughters are members or a Girl Scout troop, and they participate in many “after school” sports and activities. They have been members of our local YMCA swim team for the past four years, they play baseball in the spring, and they take art classes through Rhode Island School of Design. Sawyer takes guitar lessons and participates in a weekly guitar group. In addition, we have three other home school families in our neighborhood, and we get the children together for group lessons, in art, science, gardening, and sports, on a weekly basis. Do you have a special place in the house where you do school? We use the whole house. Mostly, we sit down at the kitchen table, but other times we like to snuggle on the couch and read to one another. Sometimes we go out in the yard or up in their bedrooms – when they want to be alone to read or write. Do you follow a certain curriculum? There are many different curricula available through mail-order or on the web, but we have always made up our own. Each month Sawyer and Cydney choose a topic that they want to study, and everything revolves around that: spelling words, reading, history, field trips… We have studied everything from “space” to “candy” to “Rhode Island history” to “bugs”. That way our daughters learn to love the learning process. Michael and I really split the teaching 50:50. I teach the girls in the morning. We do spelling, reading, music practice and field trips. Michael takes over after lunch and recess, and he teaches math, science, history and he takes them to all their after school activities (That is when I see my art therapy clients). Do you have to inform the school department so that they are not considered truant? At the beginning of each school year, we must inform the Alternative School Department that we intend to home school our daughters. That must be approved by a board, and we must show documentation of their work and attendance. No one comes to the house, and they are not required to take the standardized tests, although I do intend to have them tested to make sure that they are receiving a wide range of education, and we are not somehow limiting their education. How do you do it? I just don’t have the patience, and MY kids would never listen to me. There are days I just do not want to do any teaching, and we may skip schooling, and just go for a bike ride. There are other days when the girls are very independent, and I just have to tell them what to do, and they do it. They know not to turn on the TV until after 4pm – no matter what. Most days it’s a lot of fun, and I learn as much as they do. There are some subjects that Michael and I are not able to teach, and then we hire tutors. We have a Spanish tutor come to the house for an hour and a half every week. Benefits: Disadvantages
Pamela M. Hayes |
