Homeschool Myth #1- Homeschool curriculum can't be as good as public school
One of the first things I often get asked when someone finds out that we choose to homeschool is, "What do you use for your curriculum?" I think this question gets asked not just out of curiosity, but really I think they're asking to see if I am in fact actually teaching academics. When I spout off my favorites like, "All About Reading, Math U See, The Good and the Beautiful, Story of the World, Mystery Science, etc. ", their eyes kind of glaze over and I swear I can see a faint hint of disbelief that any of that could ever measure up.
Unfortunately, what I don't say is how much we learn WITHOUT any curriculum at all. It's a scary thought. Most people if they heard that would threaten to call DCFS on me. What I observe is how my children grow exponentially when they are able to touch and experience the world they live in.
No one is going to tell my 6-year old that he has to wait to learn about rocks and fossils until he's in 5th or 6th grade. He has loved rocks, minerals, and bones for a few years now and I dare say he is more of an expert on these than I am. However, in a conventional setting, he would be told "not right now" or "maybe later" because it's time to do something else.
So you'll understand my feeling of pure happiness when we pick up on a beautiful Wednesday morning with a group of nature co-op friends and go hike the nearby national park.
We had the ranger all to ourselves, and she (as well as a few of us parents) were quite impressed at just how much our kids knew about beavers, the Virgin River, grey foxes, condors and habitats. Grant even showed her just how a coyote walks. She was very kind and engaging for our group of 30+ 3-12 yr olds.
After the Jr. Ranger presentation, we went off on our own to explore and hike.
It didn't take long before we found little pocket gophers popping up to say hello. Luckily for us, my dear friend, Amelia (whom we affectionately call, Ranger) was there with us and gave us an educational tour on our walk.
We rode the tram, visited the museum and enjoyed being together. There were almost 10 families and keeping us all on the same tram proved a bit of an obstacle. But leave it to a group of determined homeschool moms to make things happen!
This was our group at the end of the day. We had already lost a few by this point. I'm kicking myself for not getting a group picture at the beginning of the day! I sure love these humans.
At the end of the day, we love that we don't have to be enclosed by 4 walls to learn.
Homeschool Myth #2- Homeschoolers are SO unsocialized
Ha! This one makes me laugh. It's the one I get most often and it's also the one that I think is so opposite of our homeschool experience, that it says more about the person asking than it does homeschoolers themselves.
The truth is, we have SO many social activities that we are forced to say no to many of them. From field trips to service projects, theater and dance productions, sports groups, park days, just to name a few!
I understand that most people ask this because they may have encountered the awkward, unsocialized homeschool some years ago (honestly! When I ask it is never someone they have met recently). I have to admit, I was the same way and we had good reason. The reality today is though, that families are homeschooling on purpose. For good reason and doing it intentionally for the benefit of everyone.
Today we finished our school work in the morning and then went down to support our friends selling goods at the homeschool handicraft fair. We have two of these each school year and can choose to either sell at both or chose to be a consumer at one and producers at the other. We chose the latter.
Cash couldn't stand the idea of not getting the chance to sell or trade, so he set up shop right in the middle of most of the tables. I need to make him a sign that reads, "Cash's Cabinet of Curiosity" to put up when he sells. From Coyote skin, shells, bones to Pokemon, he made a pretty good profit that day.
There was popcorn, games, yummy treats and all kinds of handicrafts our friends made.
One even brought their McCaw to play with. The kids loved holding him, getting him to say hello and even watching him get a bath.
I only saw Ava a bit at the beginning. After that, someone brought a box full of kittens and she didn't leave it once. She even talked me into coming and petting them. I would pay for that kind of therapy any day!
(notice Ava's cute earrings? She bought them at the handicraft fair!)
Some of the kittens must have been worn out from all of the holding, because they soon started to fall asleep in our arms. Ava couldn't stand the cuteness. She stole my phone and had to take a thousand different pictures of them all sleeping in different positions. Because we homeschool, we have time for things like that.
As you can see, not everyone was content to sit and pet kittens or hold birds. Some actually went and spent every cent of his $2 and bought (in his own words), "all the sugar!" Oh dear. He's going to be a fun one in about an hour or so.
Kurt spent most of his time trading for different objects and bookmarks he had made at home. I love this experience. I love to watch them haggle and barter. Having your own money to spend on whatever you want should be a right of passage for children. I am grateful we get so much of it.
"I have no special talent.
I am only passionately curious."
-Albert Einstein
When people find out we homeschool, one of the things I often hear is, "Well, you can because you're a teacher". Do you want to know a secret? Not much I learned in school or the classroom prepared me for homeschooling my children.
In the beginning, I tried to replicate my public school classroom at home. I soon found though, that most of our learning wasn't done in this one room. We are often outside reading on a blanket, on the couch snuggling together doing math or crowding around on the carpet playing a game.
In the beginning, I tried to replicate my public school classroom at home. I soon found though, that most of our learning wasn't done in this one room. We are often outside reading on a blanket, on the couch snuggling together doing math or crowding around on the carpet playing a game.
Sometimes just going to a park leads to more learning opportunities.
At the park this week, we found a cute little museum next to it and just HAD to go in and see.
It brought up a great conversation about school 100 years ago ("in Little House on the Prarie time!") and how we do school now. I always think of my Grandma Dessie teaching in the one-room school house in Littlefield. I often feel like she's with me during the day. I can't help but think she would LOVE all of these learning adventures we get to go on!
I don't want to sound preachy. And I don't want to annoy anyone who has made the choice to send their kids to school. We are each just trying to do right for our family. I just wanted to share a few of the common misconceptions about our experience and show another side of the joy of this part of our family.
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