Will You Start The New Year Homeschooling?
A friend of mine has made the choice to homeschool her sons and plans on pulling them out over winter break. I wonder how many other families decide this is the time to take action and homeschool? We often focus on the families preparing over the summer months, but there are many who sit through that first semester of school and say “no more”. It must be a mixture of fear and relief that first day back, when the neighborhood kids are packing on the bus outside and you are staring out the window hoping no one notices that your kids aren’t in line.
April of Lunablog must have been thinking the same thing when she decided to open up her free homeschool curriculum. The first year of lesson plans will become available on New Year’s day.
Some families probably think it is illegal. I know my friend feared that she had to complete the year before she could pull her sons out. Luckily here in Oklahoma the laws are very relaxed and it’s not a problem at all. Legally at least. It’s probably best to check the state laws first though, as some states may require you to jump through hoops before pulling your children out of school.
I also can’t stress enough that when pulling kids from the tightly structured school day to a looser homeschool day to give your kids time to unwind. Deschooling is letting them get it out of their system, to unlearn that learning is a chore to be avoided but instead a treat to be enjoyed. Don’t worry that they’re not doing much during that time, there is more than enough real world education they can get as they unwind. If that seems too unnerving for you maybe you need some Deschooling For Parents too.
And just a short note: unschooling does not mean unparenting. I know that most people can tell the difference, but there are always a few who don’t get it. If you read the comments there you’ll see a great discussion on how the two differ.
New year, homeschooling, unschooling, deschooling, free curriculum
December 6th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
That’s almost how we started - we pulled our oldest out last year over Thanksgiving break and took a month to “deschool” before starting in January. I suffered through 2 months of 1/2 day “afternoon” kindergarten in which she had to eat lunch at 10 am in order to catch the bus! Plus so many other little things (including 25 kids in her class with a teacher who couldn’t remember my child’s name at the Parent-Teacher conference that was set especially for me, how could she forget which kid she was supposed to be talking about for 5 whole minutes), that after 2 months I decided there had to be a better way. I had no idea that public school, even 1/2 day, would take so much away from our family. I thank God everyday that we can homeschool.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
You had me pegged! I did decide to go ahead and do a mid-year “release” of the lesson plans because I know so many families do pick the mid-point of the year to make the switch to homeschooling. I figured, why wait when people could use it now?
And, of course, even veterans can use a few new tricks to spice things up by this point in the year.
Now that I announced it, I better get to work finishing it up, lol!
December 6th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
[...] More of the story… « Robbie Williams ‘might rejoin Take That’ | [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
When we started homeschooling, we spent the Christmas break discussing the possibility with our son. I’d hoped that after the holiday things would improve for him in public school, so he went back. Two weeks later, we pulled him out and began the “decompression” period.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
[...] has a wonderfully helpful entry for those thinking about homeschooling their children starting at the first of the year. [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
We have had to go through some deschooling and it has been so needed for us! My dd went to school for 3 years and with this being our first year homeschooling we have had to take it easy at times so she doesn’t get overwhelmed by it all and simply enjoys it! Great post!
December 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
When we took our kids out of public schools 2 years ago it was during the school year. I had to get my daughter out of there due to some severe bully issues. I didn’t even wait for the holiday break. Looking back, the holiday would have given me more time to prepare myself, but my mama instincts took over and I just wanted to protect my child. As it is I had 2 weeks to notify the school and have my paperwork turned in. That’s in Iowa. Being a co leader for a local homeschool support group I can say that we see more emails during August and January than any other time of year.