Does anyone here home school? I have worked in higher education (college) and am interested in home schooling. We are having a baby in December, so we have lots of time to prepare, but I would be interested in speaking with parents who are doing it now!
@allymansfield:
Congratulations! I'm assuming this is your first. Homeschooling is such a privilege, and something I never thought I would have an opportunity to do. I envy the time that you have to prepare. The beauty of starting with a newborn is that the idea of schooling them starts right away. I was so excited to teach my first child everything. When I brought her home, I took her from room to room and told her what everything was. I would read books to her every night. Then my 1st husband got laid off when she was 6 months old and I went back to work. After a year of him not even trying to find another job, I decided that I could handle being a single mom. I had started teaching her baby signs at 12 months old and I would spend every weekend with my then 21 month old teaching her the alphabet and other concepts. For her 2nd Christmas, I bought her all toys with no batteries: blocks and wooden train set, etc. She was such a calm and creative child. By the time I remarried and had 2 more, I lost my zeal. I wish I had not allowed the stress of my 2nd marriage to steal my joy and my determination to teach my children. Don't get me wrong, they are bright, but just haven't had the same attention to their education that their sister had. More than a year after I married my 3rd husband, and already pregnant with my 4th, we had been discussing home schooling here and there. One day, he made the decision that it was something he wanted me to do. I thought I would wait until the following school year, but my children had been so ill, catching everything from their classmates in their new school, that the principal was threatening to hold them back due to attendance. Two high-performing, straight A students who both qualified for the gifted program... held back for attendance. So, we made the decision to withdraw them right after Spring Break.
There are days that I know they are learning concepts way ahead of schedule. There are days they THINK they want to learn advanced concepts and then get frustrated. There are days when we want to take it easy because someone is sick (very rare since they aren't exposed to classmates). But most days, here lately, with new baby #4, I feel like we will never get into a good routine. There are so many ideas out there on Pinterest and blogs about how to organize and build stations. I just get interrupted about a minute after I sit down to look at this stuff. If you use the time you have now to do all the research, you'll do great. And there are lots of moms in the community who will answer your questions along the way.
Good luck to you. Keep us posted about your beautiful Christmas present. 4951