This particular post is not a post to recognize or provide thanks to those who helped me along the way. This is a post to provide insight into where home education can be a success during the increased interest of Covid-19, the coronavirus pandemic. If you are a parent trying to decide if home education is right for you, maybe I can help provide some insight during this troubling pandemic about what homeschooling can be, and if it might be something you want for yourself. I am going to start with earlier grades, some of which my wife and I now have experienced ourselve , and move into middle and high school towards the end off the post.
Let me preface all of the following with this simple statement: all parents, children, and families are different, unique. Problems faces by one family may be entirely didn't from another. With that in place, let's proceed.
The early years, kinder through 2nd are both the easiest and the hardest in many ways. In these early years, setting habits, figuring out personalities, teaching the building blocks for later use - all while by yourself can be a daunting task. Questions of socializing your kids, of whether or not they have enough taught to them - these are all hard. But the subject matter in the other hand - it's fairly straightforward. Most of us parents use and remember everything we learned in elementary school and the teaching aspect is what is new for us. There are curriculum available for this piece. I grew up under the Abeka curriculum. It's a daunting curriculum and covers pretty much everything. It's definitely not free , and it requires a lot of work as a parent. Depending on how closely you adhere to it. But the subject matter isn't the only item to worry about.
Personality of yourself and your child come into play in extremes. If you have a temper tantrum throwing child prior to school , that will continue and become more pronounced during school. I've often heard the term "strong willed child". It fully applies. This is the hardest to homeschool. Where a public school setting allows a divide and conquer approach. Homeschooling can be Battle of the will. All other types of child are easier at this stage. If you have a strong will child, the early years are the hardest. I was the highly ambitious child. My mom often said that if my next brother had been oldest, she would have given up on homeschooling. He was a strong willed child.
After the early years come the years before highschool. Depending on personality, your child might be able to go through a lot of bookwork on their own. Or, in the case of a strong will, you'll still be fighting to get them to do school work. My son, for example, could read and do the math work fairly well in public school at the 5tg grade level. We tried to get him to do some simple math /reading assignments and he immediately came back saying he didn't know how to do those things. Naturally, we called him out in this, and now he is actually doing assignments.
My son is also one to be hyper stimulated by electronics, has a terrible temper, and can be incredibly manipulative when he doesn't want to do something. He is highly intelligent, and a pain to homeschool. He's also the oldest. My wife worked with him through 2nd grade and we ended up sending him to a private school for 3rd and 4th because of extenuating medical circumstances. He went to public school for 5th - but now, at middle school age , we are pulling him back to home education as the "virtual" classroom the schools are imposing was terrible for him. Hyperstimulation from computers and teachers that were just checking in and not teaching. We're not doing that garbage again.
6th grade is where more complex foundations start getting laid. Writing complex paragraphs, basic math equation reduction, advanced reading. All things that go into a 6th and 7th grade class. If you find yourself terrible at math, consider hiring a tutor, or studying up on youtube. Myself, I skipped 6th and went straight to 7th. Math was hard. I ended up not being supervised enough, and went through the summer making up for work I'd skipped. By the time 8th rolled around I was ready.
It was during this time when other homeschooling friends of mine started going to public school. Many parents feared socializing needed to be increased. I didn't feel this myself , I was highly engaged in church and other homeschooling activities. And for me, I could largely get through a day's worth of Abeka curriculum in an hour or two. I liked my freedom.
For this age group, and for any age group really. Just as with public school, the goal is to pay attention and know what is going on. I. E. Be a parent. If you're working a full time job, and teaching school in between, and trying to be a parent, maybe this is too much. Burnout is a real thing.
High school was a time my mom asked a number of times if I wanted to go to public school. I vehemently opposed this idea. I saw my friends from middle school and what happened to them after going public. I wanted none of that myself. I worked myself diligently through highschool. I was highly competitive and could often solve math story problems faster then my friends with calculators. I could read faster then any if them, and just picking up new things, I was like a sponge. I ended up graduating at 15,and decided I wasn't ready for college. My parents agreed to a foreign exchange program, my idea. I'd already taken the ACT, my second standardized test after the written driving test.
Long story short. I got back from my foreign exchange and went straight into college at 16. This was where things got a bit tricky. But not really. You see, my score in the ACT was high enough that I qualified for scholarships and financial aid. My final transcript from highschool followed the required courses from Michigan. And the university had other homeschooled kids that had graduated and been exemplary students. Suffice it to say, the only tricky part was a minor in a college setting. I ended up walking out of more then one class my freshman year.
I've ended up fielding a lot of questions about being homeschooled in my professional career. Not by the employer, but by co-workers and people in breakrooms. Professionally, I've only ever met one other person home schooled. I can honestly say she holds the same type of ambition professionally that I don't see in many people.
I won't say this path is for everyone. But I will say a year during a pandemic isn't going to hurt education wise any more then the virtual school option, and, in the best scenario, will likely show a far better form of education.
I'd love to answer questions people have. This is largely an overview. Not a full set of information. I'm proud to have been homeschooled, but I know enough understand that my viewpoint won't necessarily answer questions you might have.
