Homeschooling?

[stroseoflima]

I want to homeschool our children. But I am not sure the best way to sit down with my Husband and hash it all out. I am already a stay at home mom so it isn’t a huge leap to keep the kids home. Our oldest who is turning 4 will be going into Kindergarten next year. I still have a lot of time to decide all of this but I am always looking for (name removed by moderator)ut.

Quite frankly I am not happy with the local school systems where I live and am very wary of putting them into public school. The local Catholic school is very pricey and if we started sending one I would want to send them all. This would end up costing over 20k a year and our budget can’t make that much room. I realize that that $ would be slow to grow to that amount, but I wouldn’t want to have to change schools for them.

If you are homeschooling can you share some insight into your day? Was it difficult to adjust? I have three young children. Was it easy to work it into your routine or did it take a lot of planning? What curriculum do you use? Is it Catholic based? That is a major reason for me wanting to homeschool. I want something that will work all aspects of the Catholic faith into our daily lives. I am pretty sure I want something that is fairly well planned out for the first year. I don’t know that I have the time to plan everything out myself.

I am not worried about me being able to teach or that my kids won’t be “socialized.” We do a lot of activities already and are very diverse in our age ranges and people we spend our days with. This is unlikely to change. Also, any advice for finding local homeschooling groups? I am having a hard time finding other homeschoolers in my area to bounce ideas off of. I think that would help me really decide what I want to do.

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Thank you in advance for all your responses.

 

[kristacecilia]

I want to homeschool our children. But I am not sure the best way to sit down with my Husband and hash it all out. I am already a stay at home mom so it isn’t a huge leap to keep the kids home. Our oldest who is turning 4 will be going into Kindergarten next year. I still have a lot of time to decide all of this but I am always looking for (name removed by moderator)ut.

Quite frankly I am not happy with the local school systems where I live and am very wary of putting them into public school. The local Catholic school is very pricey and if we started sending one I would want to send them all. This would end up costing over 20k a year and our budget can’t make that much room. I realize that that $ would be slow to grow to that amount, but I wouldn’t want to have to change schools for them.

If you are homeschooling can you share some insight into your day? Was it difficult to adjust? I have three young children. Was it easy to work it into your routine or did it take a lot of planning? What curriculum do you use? Is it Catholic based? That is a major reason for me wanting to homeschool. I want something that will work all aspects of the Catholic faith into our daily lives. I am pretty sure I want something that is fairly well planned out for the first year. I don’t know that I have the time to plan everything out myself.

I am not worried about me being able to teach or that my kids won’t be “socialized.” We do a lot of activities already and are very diverse in our age ranges and people we spend our days with. This is unlikely to change. Also, any advice for finding local homeschooling groups? I am having a hard time finding other homeschoolers in my area to bounce ideas off of. I think that would help me really decide what I want to do.

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Thank you in advance for all your responses.

We homeschool! I have a 6 y/o, a 4 y/o, a 2 y/o, and I am due with #4 in a few weeks. We have been using a very gentle program called Catholic Heritage Curricula (www.chcweb.com) for the past couple years to help phase us into being a home educating family. It’s been lovely and has given me the confidence to branch out and develop my own curriculum for next year.

The biggest thing I think to remember is that, just because you are choose to try out homeschooling for a year, it doesn’t mean you are committing to homeschooling your children for all eternity right now. Approach your DH and tell him that you feel very strongly that you may be called to homeschool and you would like to try it out for one year- kindergarten is a great year to try it because it’s not the most academic year- and you are willing to re-evaluate at the end of the year… or half way through the year, or whenever he feels comfortable re-evaluating.

Listen to his concerns and try and accomodate him as much as you can. If he is worried about socalization, ask if it would make him feel better if you enrolled your child in a sports program, made sure to attend a local storytime or playgroup on a regular basis, made regular playdates with her friends, etc. Whatever makes him feel comfortable trying it out.

Hope this helps!

 

[bonniemarie]

I homeschool our 2 older kids . We have finished up k and 1st grade. My husband swore we would never homeschool our kids. After dealing with a not so great school for a semester we pulled our oldest out middle of k. It was the best thing we ever did.

Not sure where you live so homeschool laws vary by state. I live in Indiana so you pretty free to do just about anything.

My oldest learned to read using Starfall.com. My other one finally got it by watching Word World and Superwhy. I made them watch it as part of school.
As long as you have a printer you can homeschool for very little cost. There are so many free resources.

Once they reach 3rd grade we might do something more structured. My son that was doing k was only doing k type of reading. He is a grade ahead in math. This is what i love about homeschooling. If you have a child that is really good in one area they can really pursue it.

 

[bonniemarie]

forgot to add that when it comes to socializing we have a homeschool group we belong to. It gives the kids achance to interact with kids of all ages( which i think is awsome). Also gives moms a chance to socialize too

 

[rick43235]

I have a cousin who home schools her two sons…currently grades 4 and 6. It is very, very hard work, and she considers it her full time job. They both have some minor learning disabilities, so she really has her hands full. However, I have no doubt they are doing better at home than they would be in a classroom full of kids at the public school.

The lower level of their house is the classroom, and when they go down there, they know it is to work. Mommy isn’t “Mommy” down there; she’s the teacher, and she won’t tolerate any foolishness.

Don’t know what curriculum they use, but I know it has no religious component. She gets a lot of support from the local school system. In fact, the school system has provided them with a computer for each student. I also know that they have to pass various standardized tests from time to time.

Good luck. Folks who home school successfully have my respect.

 

[nana3]

Hi, I also homeschool my daughter. I have been homeschooling her since the third grade. She is now in 5th grade. I use the Seton Home Study program. Go to setonhome.org/ and click under curriculums, then “grade school booklist” then just click on the grade level you are interested in to see the booklist and samples of the planner.

Seton is a difficult program, but very well structured. They give a lot of work, too much, more in the upper grades, that you don’t have to do everything especially if you see your child understands the concept. I found that out later, of course, when it took me 8-9 hours to homeschool her in 3rd grade. It was my first year and I learned as I went along and talked with others in our co-op group. That is a group you can get support from other Catholic moms who homeschool and where your kids can make friends that last a lifetime. The Seton program gives you everything. The planner, the tests and etc. Some other programs allows you to make up your own program, but I needed this program to start out with. I liked it that I don’t see any need to change. My only complaint is that they give a lot of work. I hear from kids that are in the high school program that when they reach college it is a breeze for them compared to the Seton High School program. So it is a difficult program. My dd seems to do well with it. We just don’t have much time for anything else, but I have learned to cut out some of what is not needed or repetitious to give her more fun time. For example, I know of another kid and I don’t remember what program his mother said she is using who does not have to do any book reports at all and he is in the same grade as my dd. My dd, with Seton, has to do one book report every quarter. In the Catholic School she was in, they had to do a book report every month, that was in second grade. She keeps in touch with some of her friends still and they are still required to do one book report a month. So Seton has high standards.

Check out the program and others and see what will work out best for you. This program has our Catholic Faith in every subject. You will hear it in History, Science and etc. I think the only subject might be math, but that is the math program she is using now, for the work problems she had in third grade also used our Catholic Faith or put God in there somewhere. I loved it!

As far as your husband, my dh was totally against homeschooling too. I wanted to start our dd in 2nd grade when she was in Catholic schools and having problems there. They were not teaching Our Faith and what we truly believe as Catholic, but he wanted to keep her in. It was during a parent-teacher conference that his eyes were open and he heard the teachers talk about our Catholic Faith. He just kept repeating, “This is a Catholic School.” We took her out and we have been homeschooling her since. I prayed a lot when my dh said no, so if your dh says no, prayer works. If this is God’s will, he will change his mind and it could be even when school starts. You never know the way God chooses to work.

 

[daisygurl4]

It is so inspiring to read about others who homeschool. I very much want to homeschool my children - although we have yet to be blessed with any I am still thinking about the future

I like the idea of homeschooling because you can control what your child learns (and I don’t mean in a bad way - my husband and I both very educated and hate what they teach kids in school like everyone thought the world was flat before Columbus, etc etc). You can also keep a pace appropriate to your child’s learning level - they won’t get left behind in subjects they struggle in or get bored in subjects they excel in. DH and I also love the idea of field trips with our kids to help them learn - we are both hands on learners. We were just in St. Louis 2 weeks ago and visited the Gateway Arch and both of us commented that it would be a wonderful place to bring our children someday to teach them about American history.

It is so nice to know that I’m not alone - all the people I know who homeschool are very conservative, non-Catholic Christians and the homeschool groups in our area are for these people (in that they don’t support the teachings of the Catholic church but conservative Protestant teachings).

 

[DJgang]

I encourage you to seek out homeschooling families in your parish and start getting to know them. Having support as such will help from the very beginning.

My husband hated public school. We did put the kids in the parish school and it was great (outside of the normal school stuff that you have to deal with) but it was in my heart so much to have them home and educate at home.

Need to talk to your husband about the lifestyle. It’s not so much the education as it is a lifestyle.

Good luck.

 

[leonie]

if you can, attend a Catholic Homeschool conference.

catholichomeschool.org/conferences.php

 

[SpesInVirtute]

I recently was convinced by a friend of mine that homeschooling is quite a good idea. I was always respectful of it, but thought that I’d most likely want my kids going to Catholic school. But when she began reminding me of all the things that are thrown at children through the media and everything, even at Catholic grade schools, it made me reconsider. I went to a very liberal Catholic high school, and really not somewhere I’d want my children to go.
I’ll pray that whatever works out works out for the best!!!

My aunt homeschooled for a bit, and I came across her book that Kimberley Hahn co-wrote about Catholic homeschooling, and I’d definitely suggest looking into that. I thumbed through it and it looked quite good.

 

[bonniemarie]

It is so inspiring to read about others who homeschool. I very much want to homeschool my children - although we have yet to be blessed with any I am still thinking about the future

I like the idea of homeschooling because you can control what your child learns (and I don’t mean in a bad way - my husband and I both very educated and hate what they teach kids in school like everyone thought the world was flat before Columbus, etc etc). You can also keep a pace appropriate to your child’s learning level - they won’t get left behind in subjects they struggle in or get bored in subjects they excel in. DH and I also love the idea of field trips with our kids to help them learn - we are both hands on learners. We were just in St. Louis 2 weeks ago and visited the Gateway Arch and both of us commented that it would be a wonderful place to bring our children someday to teach them about American history.

It is so nice to know that I’m not alone - all the people I know who homeschool are very conservative, non-Catholic Christians and the homeschool groups in our area are for these people (in that they don’t support the teachings of the Catholic church but conservative Protestant teachings).

Our homeschool group has all types protestant and Catholic.

 

[Borealis]

Homeschooling is awesome. I homeschooled my oldest (as a single parent) for three years, but due to lack of time (three jobs) I finally had to give it up. He went back to school for Grade 5; the school didn’t catch up to him until Grade 7.

My wife took quite a while to come around to homeschooling, but when his latest school (last of five) started darkly hinting that her seven-year old son might have to be put on Ritalin, she pulled him out right away. Our baby (who’s now two, and will tell you so if you ask him) will not ever go to school; the schools in Canada have completely lost any credibility with us.

As for a curriculum, check out the Angelicum Academy at www.angelicum.net. I love this school, since it gives children (and parents!) such an amazing and comprehensive program, using different bits and pieces that you can choose from as you will.

 

[allblessings]

We have been homeschooling our 5 children for the last 9 years. Just finishing up 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade, 6th grade and 8th grade. Oh my! Our oldest son is going to continue homeschooling next year and will officially start high school here! Did not ever think we’d be continuing it this long when we first started. In fact, it was my husband who suggested the whole homeschool idea. I recall thinking he was nuts at first and fought it a bit. Thought our kids would “miss out” on all the “cool” school events, etc. Boy was I wrong!! I finally agreed to take it year by year and that’s what we’ve done as each year rolls on.

We have tried various curriculum…started with Our Lady of Victory then switched to CHC (Catholic Heritage Curricula), Angelicum Academy and then realized very quickly our hearts belonged to Our Lady of Victory in Post Falls Idaho. Very complete, easy to read and follow, structured lesson plans and complete curricula to access. Very solid Catholic foundations in every subject unlike several other programs. Very traditional. The staff have been the best to work with and the pricing can’t be beat by any of the other programs.

Having multiple young children shouldn’t be anything to worry about while schooling. Believe it or not, it is easy and more advantagous to start schooling while they are all young and are “trained” to know what the day entails early on!

Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions or need support! Many blessings to you and your family and if your husband needs time to digest and think about homeschooling, that’s a great first step!!

allblessings

 

[defenderoftruth]

I homeschool our 6 yr. old daughter and we have a 9 mo. old that won’t be ready for a while for schooling plus one on the way.

It’s so nice to just buy workbooks and walk through it with her she only spends like 2-3 hours a day on school instead of all day. She has spelling, reading, math, penmanship and I’m introducing science, history/geography next year even though she’ll only be in 2nd grade. I’ve heard from several people that she’s a very good reader for her age and very polite-I like to think it’s because I homeschool. My husband is Anglican but there are no Anglican schools around us (or much of anywhere really) so I looked into Catholic school that was waaay too expensive especially in a one income household.

I was terrified to do homeschooling at first but it’s worked out fine and she’s doing very good and has even started on next years Math book!