Mom Is Teaching

Ok, so I know I haven’t been very homeschool friendly necessarily lately but I did try with the Valentine’s crafts.  But, now, now I must make my admission of geography illiteracy.  I am not kidding you.  Once while on vacation with my best buddy from high school, we sat bikini clad on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.  We were imbibing a little and taking in much sun.  We had already been to the Bahamas and back and were headed to Disney in a few days.  So, as you can imagine, much money was being spent.

So, when a radio DJ approached us with the following task, “Name this ocean and I’ll give you $50 right now”.  I guess maybe since were somewhat thin, frail and dumb looking he figured it was a good choice and a way to keep his $50.  He was right.  Neither of us had a clue what ocean that was.  I was more than a little embarrassed.

My friend quickly retorted, “but she (meaning me) can say the counties in Alabama in alphabetical order”.  He was shocked I think.  I did it.  He laughed and kept his $50.  Just FYI, we were forced to learn them in our senior democracy class and well, that was something that stuck with me…unlike most geography which went totally over my head.

I told you all that to say this….go check out this interactive map of the United States…..it is awesome and obviously I have failed miserably at it for several hours now…oops!

Before anyone accuses me of being a dummy, I’ve put a lot of thought into this post, so just know I am not throwing this out here without any thought.

Ok, I do not think that I could adequately teach my child past the seventh or eighth grade.  And, again, not because I’m dumb, but simply because that’s a lot of material to be responsible for.  I’ve taught seventh and eighth grade Earth and Life Science before and I taught tenth grade biology as well.  I have a minor in chemistry, so I’m no dummy.

I keep reminding you guys that I’m not dumb, does that not just speak volumes about my self-confidence?

Anyway, even when I taught those sciences, I was only responsible for those classes, not the entire curriculum.  I know that curriculums are available in a lot of places.  I’m just curious if buying a curriculum and enrolling with the online schools or academy’s makes it any easier to teach all the academics? 

And, with that, I know that many of you have also traveled extensively and are believers (as I am) that traveling and learning is as important as sitting with a book in hand.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower is way better than reading about it for 12 years, right? 

Also, I do not consider this little trip to the beach educational for my child, just want to clarify that this is for fun, educational trips are what I’m asking about.  I am sure we could find many ways to make this an educational trip but the fact of the matter is, we all want to rest and relax and that is just what we are going to do.

So, the questions are this:

1.  At what age do you quit home schooling or do you go through high school graduation?

2.  What curriculum to you use?

3.  If you have used different curriculums over time, which ones do you like the best and why?

4.  What do you do if you are like me and don’t feel qualified to teach your child trigonometry or calculus (although I made A’s in both) or Anatomy and Physiology?

Discuss.

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Monday was a great day on the homeschool front. It was one of those perfect days where everything falls into place and everyone stays happy. We all woke in good moods, which is a rarity around here. Morning is not our favorite time of the day. My oldest helped me make pancakes while the youngest played with the toy pirate boat. After pancakes we curled up on the couch to read a story. After reading it “one more time” three times in a row I managed to persuade them to get dressed and out the door for a morning walk.

It was beautiful! The air was cool and crisp and there were multi-hued leaves everywhere. Nature provided plenty of opportunities for my oldest son to show off his growing sign language skills. We have ben using the free online ASL University to learn signs. Orange pumpkins, yellow grass, brown and red leaves. He is learning to sign colors right now so any chance to point them out is taken.

Back home we ran around the yard, acted out Jack and the Beanstalk on the slide, and the boys jabbered an older neighbor’s ear off when he came out to walk his dog. As clouds rolled across the sky I ushered them inside. They managed to play without fighting long enough for me to get a little writing done that I had forgotten was due (oops!). Once done we crowded around the table to color a few pages. Well, my oldest worked them and my youngest just scribbled and applauded himself. LOL But it was productive still.
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I’ve talked before about kids using online programs for homeschooling, but since then I’ve thought a lot about homeschool kids online in general.

There are a lot of parents out there who blog about homeschooling their children, but there is also a growing number of homeschooling kids who are blogging themselves. Some use social sites such as MySpace or Facebook and some set up their own blogs at places such as Blogger and Wordpress. The level of maturity out there on the web makes me wondr a bit about how these kids handle the web. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying homeschooling kids are not mature. Actually it’s the rest of the world that often seems to be lacking in maturity.
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I read a great article calledHomeschool Goes High Tech from Homeschool World. While the point of the article is to remind us not to get so wrapped up in all the glitz of the computer age, it did remind me that many homeschoolers are embracing the modern ways with a gusto.

Online programs are popping up all over the place to help homeschoolers who want to gettheir education online. From the K12 or Progress Academy or even Laurel Springs the number of places to go for online homeschooling are growing each day. Secular, Christian, relaxed, or structured there is something for everyone. Don’t believe me? A Google search for “online homeschooling” produced 1,590,000 results.

But why are so many parents looking towards using an online homeschooling program? I was looking for an answer to that queastion and came upon a great article, How - To Choose And Use An Online Homeschool Curriculum. In the article I found this quote on why some parents may prefer to use an online curriculum for their homeschooling needs.

An online homeschool curriculum can work to supplement your own individualized curriculum, and can also provide a complete learning solution for a variety of subjects. While homeschooling can sometimes feel like a lonely endeavor, online homeschooling resources provide plenty of ways to feel connected.

I also found this interesting short article on The Benefits Of Cyberschooling. Though that article clearly points out that there can be drawbacks to using online homeschooling as well as benefits.

These cyberschools are a great way to ensure that your child is learning what they need to know. This can provide you with a little help if you need it. At the same time you will also be able to place your values into the hands of your child. However, you will not be able to teach your child what you believe that she should know. So, as you can clearly see, there are both benefits and drawbacks to having your child attend a cyberschool.

Do you use an online school for homeschooling? I would love to hear why you made that choice and if there is anything you think other parents should know.

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