Today is Q & A day here, focusing on homeschooling. Have any questions about how or why we homeschool? Ask away in the comments.
When I have time here and there throughout the day I will try to answer the questions, adding both the questions and the answers in this post. If I don’t get to your question or it seems that I passed over it, chances are the answer is too long so I will make a whole post about it. If that’s the case I’ll leave a reply to your comment in the comment section letting you know the question will be answered later.
What do you want to know?
Q. What kind of curriculum you use?
A. For my elementary and middle school children we use Sonlight Curriculum. It is a history/literature based curriculum with LOTS of good books to read for every age level. We use Abeka Math for K – 4th grade, then Saxon Math with Dive CDs for 5th-8th grade. My second daughter used Math-U-See because she was a very kinesthetic learner.
My high school aged daughters did BYU Independent Study. It is a terrific program but it got to be too expensive. Now they are doing Nevada Virtual Academy, an online program utilizing the K12 program. It is free! And perfect for out situation.
Q. Do you school year round?
A. Yes! Here is a link to a post I did detailing our year round schedule.
Q. How do you do school with a newborn?
A. Part of this can be answered in that post I linked to above. Another answer is this article written by Diane Hopkins – The Baby IS the Lesson. Basically, I rearrange our schedule so we will have at least a month off after the baby is born. Then we reduce the amount of school work for another month while we get used to having another baby in the house.
Q. Do you do cutesy preschool stuff with your kids 4 and under? To me it just seems hard to find the time espeically while trying to teach the older kids, ages 6 and 8.
A. Our school day is divided into segments where I help each pair of kids (those closest together in age and school work) for an hour. While I’m not helping them each child has school work they are required to do on their own. You can read more about our daily schedule here.
There are some days when I do more “cutesy” stuff with my preschoolers. But most of the time we just read, read, read, books together, do some math and letter recognition, and call it good.
Q. How much computer {educational games} and TV time do you give your kids during the week?
A. We have computer and tv/movie coupons that I give out at the beginning of each week – four 30 minute computer coupons, two TV coupons, and two movie coupons. They have to turn in a coupon if they want to play a computer game, watch a 1/2 hour TV show, or watch a movie. The exceptions are they can play educational computer games (we defined exactly what those games are), watch the news, or watch a movie with the whole family (dad included). There is a monetary value attached to the coupons (very small monetary value, like 50 cents a coupon) so if they choose not to play on the computer or watch TV or a movie they can turn their coupons in for the cash value instead. Most of the time they opt for the cash. =)
Q. Have you encountered any subjects yet that you aren’t well-versed in and struggle to teach or help your older girls in? How do you deal with upper-level subjects on your own?
A. I am a nerd, dork, geek, whatever you want to call it. I LOVED school and cried when it got for the summer. I went to college when I was 15. I LOVE math and science and wanted to be a high school history teacher when I grew up.
So far we haven’t had any problems with subjects I do not know. What I had problems with was how to teach children who learn differently than I do. I didn’t know there were different learning styles until I tried teaching my second daughter. She is very kinesthetic. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t get concepts the way her older sister did (who learns like I do). We had a very rough year of tears and struggles. Once I figured out that she learned differently I was able to cater to that and change my style of teaching her. The second year was so much better . . . and happier! I wrote a whole series of posts about learning styles. {That link is to the first one. It contains links to all the others.}
Every homeschool situation is different. Utilizing homeschool co-ops is a terrific way of having someone else who is more knowledgeable on a subject teach your children. Look for others, particularly of the senior population who do know subjects and ask if they’d be willing to teach. My older daughters were given sewing lessons by an older woman from church. She enjoyed coming over every Monday morning. My girls loved having a “grandma” around teaching them sewing skills.
As mentioned earlier, my daughters in high school took correspondence courses from BYU. Now they take online classes. The teachers are available for tutoring online, through e-mail, and via phone. I’ve also found that I really am able to remember things if I truly learned them in high school/college in the first place.
Q. What about homeschooling an only child? There is concern with no sibling or class mates that he will be negatively affected socially.
A. Obviously I am not the ideal to answer this question. But I do have friends who homeschool with only one child. They take advantage of homeschool co-ops or groups as much as they can to provide bi-weekly, if not daily, social interaction with others. If there isn’t a homeschool group near where you live, take the initiative and create one! They can be a lot of fun for both children and parents alike.
Here are a couple of articles about homeschooling an only child, written by ones who know all about it!
Make Time for Friends
Homeschooling an Only Child
SimpleHomeschool: The Pros and Cons
Q. How do you get started? How can I feel it out and see if it is for me? Would a packet curriculum make it easier? Or should I wing it? I guess I just don’t know where to start.
A. I wrote a basic post about getting started homeschooling here. There are other packaged curriculum not mentioned in that post that are good to use too if you feel a need to go in that direction.
Sonlight (K-12) – mentioned earlier in the post. It is a bit expensive but SO WORTH IT in my book. Especially is you want everything laid out for you as far as a schedule of what to teach and when. If you purchase the core packages you get everything you need except science and math. I can’t recommend Sonlight enough!
GuestHollow – free curricula guide, you must find all the supplies.
Q. How do you find reading material for your kids that is both enjoyable, moral, inviting, and exciting?
A. Here are the links to all the lists I trust for good books for my children.
“Boys” Book List – by my friend Meg, divided into age groups
“Girls” Book list – again by Meg
Ambleside Online – Links to booklists by school year are on the left sidebar – extremely thorough!
Arthur Henry King’s Reading List for a Lifetime – for middle school to adults. If you can get through this list you will definitely be one smart, well-read individual!
Sonlight – requesting a catalog is the easiest way to see all the books for each grade level
And if those aren’t enough School of Abraham has loads of links to browse through.
Q. My question, though, is about my mom, who has started homeschooling my 12 year old sister this year. It seems like my mom and sister get into lots of battles about home school. When in public school, she never fought with her teachers. What do you do when kids don’t want to do home school?
A. Hmm..this could be attributed to a variety of factors. Here are a few ideas:
How long ago did she start homeschooling? Many times there needs to be a “detox” period {for lack of a better word} between coming out of public school and when homeschooling actually starts.
At this age too, children are ready to begin taking some responsibility for their own education. I allow my children to decide what subjects beyond Math and English they want to study. There has to be some type of Science – but I allow them to choose. When they study what they are interested in they are learning how to learn and not just being educated, if that makes sense.
What are the battles over? When school needs to be done or assignments completed? What to study? My second daughter likes to do her school mostly in the afternoon and even into the evening as late as 10pm. She actually does better, especially with her math at that time of day! Of course, she realizes unless she wants to take all night classes in college she will have to change those habits. She is slowly working on that {she’s a sophomore} but for now I allow her to study at those times rather than the typical time of day. It has avoided plenty of fights!
Q. How much school time do you require of each child and at what ages do you increase school time?
A. Here’s the average time spent on formal schooling {sit down work} each day for our family:
Preschool age: 1 hour – Reading with Mom (usually me reading books to them) (30 minutes), Writing (10 minutes), Math (20 minutes)
K-2: 2 hours – Reading (45 minutes), Math (20-30 minutes), English/Grammar (20-30 minutes), Other subjects of science, history, social studies, art, or music depending on the day (20-30 minutes)
3rd-5th: 3 hours – Reading (60 minutes), Math (30 minutes), English/Grammar (30 minutes), Science/Social Studies and Geography/History (45 minutes) these get rotated throughout the week, two subjects per day, Art/Music (15 minutes) rotated per day.
6th-8th: 4 hours – Reading (60 minutes), Math (30 minutes), English/Grammar (30 minutes), Science (30 minutes), Social Studies/Geography (30 minutes), History (30 minutes), Art (15 minutes), Music (15 minutes)
High School – 6 hours per day – Sometimes this is less, sometimes more depending on the projects, essay assignments, science experiments, reports, etc that are required from their teachers.
These time frames don’t take into account any extra activities such as science experiments, music practice, field trips, etc. Also there is a lot of overlap. For instance the reading times include when I read aloud to all of them out of our family read aloud book. They don’t include all the extra reading my kids love to do. Music doesn’t include practice time on the instruments but rather listening to and learning about music.
Keep in mind that some states require a certain amount of time for formal schooling each day. Find out what your state’s laws are and make sure you can provide proper documentation if needed. We are lucky in that Nevada has some of the loosest laws regarding homeschool.
Q. The problem at our house is motivation and keeping on task. I can’t seem to keep our kids doing what they are suppose to. The wind blows and they get distracted! Math is the big hang up @ our house. The things they are working on aren’t things they can’t do, they just take FOREVER to get them done.
A. I think every homeschooling parent has struggled with this issue! We still do from time to time. Here are some things we do to keep everyone on track:
*Use Timers. They do not race against each other but try to beat their own time from the day before. This works especially well for those pesky math dawdlers!
*Incentives {bribes}. If they get their school work done by a certain time they can do, get, earn ___________. Fill in the blank. Usually my children just want an extra 15 minutes with mom to do something together one-on-one which is why they were really wanting mom’s attention to begin with even though they really didn’t need the help.
*Set the example. Many times my children are just following what they see me do. If I allow myself to get distracted and not stick to the tasks that need to be done they will follow suit.
Q. (from facebook) How do you transition from a learner that needs mom constantly to a more independent learner?
A. Very slowly! =) In all seriousness the transition happens a lot better when the child has learned to read really well. I can’t stress enough how important reading is for a child! It will happen at different times and rates for each child which can be frustrating for parents at times.
For my kids the transition has occurred sometime around 3rd or 4th grade. I start by assigning what needs to be done each day for everyone. There are usually some things even the younger children can do on their own. When my children come to something they need my help with they just skip over it until it’s their turn for mom to help. (see our daily schedule for more info on help times) Gradually as they get older it just naturally falls that they need less and less of my help. When I know a child can work something out but they think they cannot I will have them read the directions to me and then tell me what they don’t understand. We will go through each step of the instructions together. Usually doing this helps them to realize they CAN do it without mom’s help.
Of course, there is always something, even the high schoolers, need help with, “Mom, I can’t figure out this Algebra problem!” or “How is this Chemistry equation supposed to go again?” A mother’s/teacher’s work is never done!
Q. (facebook question) How do you encourage children to WILLINGLY or at least CHEERFULLY help out with their chores?
A. Ha! If anyone has this figured out let me know too!
Actually we have a few girls that really do love to do their chores…or at least like having the result of chores done which is a clean home. We’ve found they are more willing, sometimes cheerfully so, when there is a lot of positive encouragement, focusing on the good job that was done instead of nagging about all the stuff that wasn’t. What goes around comes around….The other day I deep cleaned the laundry room. Fudge (9) came in and started looking around, checking under stuff, looking in the closet, etc. She turned to me and said, “Good job, Mom! You even did the broom closet!” It was pretty funny.
We do have a rule that morning chores need to be done before breakfast so if they want to eat hot food they know what they need to do! It’s not always done cheerfully, especially when someone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, but the chores do get done. . . .usually.
Q. (facebook question) How do you teach children to not be selfish?
A. This is an on going process! We are ALL selfish by nature, even with how we spend our time, so it is something we are constantly working towards. Sharing a bedroom, not buying toys just for one child (toys are community property around here, except for the American Girl Dolls), having them work together on chores, teaching respect for one’s private spaces, sharing, trying to show by example – are just some of the things we do.
Q. I know you live aways from town but are you a part of any co-op or support group? Are your kids part of sports or take lessons, and how do you juggle those schedules?
A. There is a homeschool group in town that does swimming, library time, field trips, etc. We did that for one year until the gas prices started to rise dramatically. We don’t do any sports and I teach them piano lessons. My kids do take swimming lessons either in the spring or summer. Usually those are every day for two weeks. Driving to town by the end of those two weeks gets really monotonous! We are ready to be done by the time those two weeks are over.
My teenagers are involved with Young Women (youth group at church) every Tuesday. Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday evening Truffle and Fudge also have Activity Days (for 8-11 year olds at church).
Q. I was wondering if you are familiar with Thomas Jefferson Education- Oliver Demille etc.. and what your thoughts on those methods are.
A. I’ve read A Thomas Jefferson Education
The wonderful thing about homeschooling is the availability of so many methods and curricula. I LOVE trying to find this little bit here and that little bit there to pull into our learning. I am very eclectic but do use Sonlight Cores. as my base. I don’t follow one particular method but just try to follow what I feel the Lord wants for my children.
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I am a homeschooling mom of 4 and sometimes I feel guilty becuase I should be working harder with my littler ones, ages 3 and 1. I see all those cute ideas for preschool fun for those ages on pinterest and wish I could fit in the time to do some of that. Do you do cutesy preschool stuff with your kids 4 and under? To me it just seems hard to find the time espeically while trying to teach the older kids, ages 6 and 8.
Also how much computer {educational games} and TV time do you give your kids during the week?
I want to know what kind of curriculum you use. Do you school year round? How do you do school with a newborn?
Why did you choose to homeschool? I realize you live at a distance from your local schools and that you want to teach your children your religious values, but I wonder what else led to your decision to do this. Would you share your rationale?
I started to answer this in the post but realized as I kept typing that the answer needs its own post. Great question!
My Lonely Only is only 4 years old. I go back and forth about homeschooling. I want to homeschool because knowing I won’t have more children, I am selfish and don’t want to send him away to strangers all day. I want him home. But then I worry about him being an only child all day at home with only me. Also, I worry I can’t hack it. I get overwhelmed at the idea of homeschooling. I guess my question is, how do you get started? How can I feel it out and see if it is for me? Would a packet curriculum make it easier? Or should I wing it? I guess I just don’t know where to start. Thanks!
I have no experience in this but have asked a friend with 5 kids and home schools. She even told me she wasn’t the brightest student herself. Anyways I was feeling the same way as you and she told me that you start little time each day and you’ll get the hang of it. The best advice she gave was to stick with one style. Example- same company of books for working or sticking to the same schedule for them. Not sure if this helps but good luck!
I don’t homeschool ours and am comfortable with the school we’ve picked for them, but I do a great deal of summer work/refreshers and additional enrichment throughout the year. I do have a quandary concerning reading material for teens. I have a 13, almost 14 year old boy and a 10 year old boy. Both are voracious readers and I long ago gave up trying to keep ahead of them in books. I have a difficult time finding subject matter that is appropriate for their ages while being appropriate for their maturity. I know you don’t have boys at that age group yet, but I would suppose the same issue exists for girls. There is too much romantic, kissy, princessy, junk out there (I am not talking about Harlequin either, it’s in almost every girl book out there!)
So that’s a long way to ask, how do you find reading material for your kids that is both enjoyable, moral, inviting, and exciting????
I’ve been considering and praying about homeschooling for several years now and I’m still waiting to receive direction one way or the other. For now I just keep thinking about it, weighing options, and researching. There are a lot of things that aren’t so much holding me back as they are just making it hard to decide! Our kids go to a great school and have a lot of great opportunities there, but I know that homeschooling would be equally great. The thing that seems to be holding me back the most is the social aspect. Ha! Of course someone had to bring THAT up! Until recently I haven’t been worried at all about the social part of homeschooling. I think people make way too big of a deal out of it. But certain recent situations with my kids, as well as some spiritual direction, have made me realize that the social aspect of public school is good in some ways. My kids get the opportunity to learn how to navigate friendships, how to deal with bullies, how to stand up for what they believe, and how to be respectful and kind to others. Sometimes it is hard, especially for me as the parent looking on, but I feel that it is good for them. They learn how to socialize with many different types of people and personalities. Of course there are also times when the social part of school only seems to be having a negative influence and is distracting from their education, but again, that is also a learning experience for them – to figure out how to balance it all.
So what are your feelings on the social aspect of homeschooling and how do you provide opportunities for your kids to learn how to socialize in a variety of situations? I never thought I’d be a socialization critic! Am I just overreacting and worrying too much about it?! I just want my kids to have the skills and abilities to function well in life and reach their full potentials.
This a GREAT question! I think I’ll dedicate a whole post to answering it as there are so many aspects to socialization, etc.
Ha! I’m going to continue on with Angie’s comment- she’s my sister! I’m going to try homeschooling next year and I’m concerned about finding social opportunities too. I’m shy and a homebody, so I know that if I don’t work on it- I’ll end up just staying home with the kids all the time and they’ll never see anyone except on Sunday at church! As you live so far from everything, how do you find social opportunities for your kids? I’m sure it helps that you have a large family, therefore more people and personalities to learn to get along with. I agree with my sister and most homeschoolers that the social issue is overplayed, but it’s still important.
My other question would be, have you encountered any subjects yet that you aren’t well-versed in and struggle to teach or help your older girls in? When it comes to the higher math and science stuff I’m sure I’ll struggle (though my husband could teach it.) How do you deal with upper-level subjects on your own?
I am in the same boat as Nicole with just one little one. We do homeschool preschool- along with a little preschool group with some friends from church. I really want to homeschool him when Kindergarten rolls around (especially since he will barely be 5) but my husband is concerned with no sibling or class mates that he will be negatively affected socially- Any suggestions or thoughts?
I’ve been homeschooling for a year and a half thanks in large part to you (I found your website 2 years ago, one week after I had a prompting to look into homeschool, and read everything you wrote about it.), so thank you!! We still have our good days and bad days, but I’m pleased to report there are more good days than bad. I feel it is important for children to play and imagine and explore but sometimes I wonder if I’m not doing enough school.
I should tell you that I taught in the public school for 4 years and my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc are teachers (let’s just say my decision to homeschool isn’t very popular). I want and can give them a public school education, but I want them to enjoy learning and not fight me all the way. My 10yo and 8yo have about 3 hours of school a day (sometimes less if they buckle down) and my 6yo has about 1 hour and my 4yo does about 15 minutes, but I can’t cover every subject. I have chosen the ones I feel are important and then we do small spurts of other subjects for breaks.
My question is timing, how much school time do you require of each child and at what ages do you increase school time?
My mother and sister are certified public school teachers. Both have taught and are excellent teachers. I am NOT against public school at all. I describe myself as PRO-EDUCATION, whatever educational approach is best for the child then that is what we pursue. Ours just happens to be homeschooling. =)
The problem at our house is motivation and keeping on task. I can’t seem to keep our kids doing what they are suppose to. The wind blows and they get distracted! Math is the big hang up @ our house. The things they are working on aren’t things they can’t do, they just take FOREVER to get them done. If I sit right by them the whole time, it helps, but I have things I need to do too. I don’t feel like I’m asking them to do too much, they need the review and practice with new concepts. Any help you can give me, would be very much appreciated!
I just have two kiddos, almost 3 and almost 1. My question, though, is about my mom, who has started homeschooling my 12 year old sister this year. It seems like my mom and sister get into lots of battles about home school. When in public school, she never fought with her teachers. What do you do when kids don’t want to do home school?
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer question and find links for us all. Enjoy your weekend! PS – I figured out Mr. Linky for Simple Pleasures….yeah me!
What are your opinions on the GED vs. homeschool diploma vs. online high school diploma?
My 17 yo. 4.0 online high schooler HATES school and wants to be done. She does not want to go to a regular college, she is into cosmotology, culinary arts and graphic design. With only 3 semesters to go for a full High School Diploma, I am worried that she will be “burning her bridges” for any chance to ever get a real diploma. Will it make any difference?
There is a lot involved with the answer to this so I will write a whole post about my thoughts. Thanks for asking!
I was going to try to ask yesterday, but it didn’t happen.
I know you live aways from town but are you a part of any co-op or support group? Are your kids part of sports or take lessons, and how do you juggle those schedules?
Thanks for your words of wisdom. I’ve tried timers and the child that has the hardest time staying on task isn’t motivated by ANYTHING! Disciplining him is a real challenge. I know there has to be something out there that will get him moving, I just haven’t found it yet.
I love your blog- thank you for all your inspiration! I was wondering if you are familiar with Thomas Jefferson Education- Oliver Demille etc.. and what your thoughts on those methods are. I homeschool my four children and love it- I started out only knowing about TJED- I love so much of what TJED offers but I am finding I like a lot of other methods too! I try my best to see what my family needs and incorporate all kinds of methods to accomplish and meet those needs- It seems you are a bit like this as well? Just wanted your thoughts and if you use any ideas from that method. Thanks!
Thanks for this post! It was very informative. I’m always interested in how other homeschool parents do things.
Thanks for taking the time to answer not only my question but everyone else’s- they are all so helpful! I felt like I had to choose one method and stick with it for some reason- probably because I feel so new to this, my kids are young- 7,6, 3& 1 and second guess at times. I am learning to trust my instincts, let heavenly father guide me more-{ Of course I always knew this but it has taken awhile to APPLY it! 🙂 } This year I have allowed my self freedom to not follow any certain method- incorporate them all- do it how I feel in my heart to do it and of course has been the best ever! 🙂 Thanks for all you guidance- love your blog. You are inspiring!
My daughter is struggling in her public school and I am deeply considering homeschooling. I would like to get her fathers support (the bi-weekend daddy) He agrees that we need to consider a change, but is more partial to private schools. He believes my life is too full to try and incorporate homeschooling into the mix. I believe it would be the best solution for my daughter. Any thoughts on how I can do this and still have her fathers blessings?