Homeschooling - Allen,TX

Margie's comments very closely reflect my experience as well. But, to counter my limitations as a teacher, we participate in a homeschool co op. It is a wonderful experience, and there are many mom's who have taught my kids things that I am not gifted in. For example, one of my children is extremely artistic in writing, painting, drawing, etc., and I am not...at all. They have taken co op classes and learned things that I am not able to teach them, including higher level subjects such as math and science.

We started homeschooling for academic reasons after K (kiddo was bored out of his mind and miserable) and have kept at it, because of sooooooo many things. I can't even list out all the positives (although I also have "Glad I don't have to deal with that!" list that just keeps growing as the public schools in our area get more and more bizarre... like only 1 bathroom break, 8-9 hour days... I call it my 'reason #xxx to homeschool' list. None are reasons that I would pull kiddo out (personally) but as the list keeps growing (over 100 now) the cumulative headaches avoided I just revel in.

((I should add... when *I* was in school, it was 6 hours a day TOPS, and we had over 100 days of summer vacation... 3 whole MONTHS. On top of 3 weeks of winter vacation and two weeks of spring break AND schools were absolutely THRILLED for parents to pull kids out to travel or for family based field trips... because they considered it educational. 90% of what *I* learned growing up I learned from my mother. She gave us the BEST education, and I'd planned on doing the same with my own children. I'd figured a schedule rather like my own: home at 1 or 2... a few hours to play with friends and then hours each and every single day spent with family. Pulling out of school for travel and field trips. Imagine my shock when Summer isn't 3 months, but 5 weeks... school doesn't let out at 1 or 2 but 4 or later, and 9 whole days a year are "allowed" absences (instead of 30 no questions asked, and unlimited 'excused' absences) and schools HATE it when you pull kids out even for them being contagious and sick, much less for educational or family jaunts. I was going to be DARNED to not give my own son the kind of education my own mother was able to give me!!!))

My *actual* list of positives and negatives change all the time. They range from the "Yuge" to the miniscule, and they change as kiddo's and my own needs change over time. ((For example, being on "opposite" schedules/needs as most other families used to be on the negative list... they're trying to cram in family time whenever they can and have to limit scheduling... while we're trying to cram in *more* activities and have family time in spades... it used to be hard. A disconnect. I don't know when that changed over the past 3.5 years, but at some point it did.

Socialization has always been a breeze (if you can socialize a toddler, there's no reason you can't socialize an elementary kid)... SociaLIZING is more difficult.

<grin> here's a quote from The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List (the whole list can be found here: http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschoo...

"
#2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
"
(Love her! The whole list is a gut laugh in practical living)

Socializing has been hardISH in large part because of the away school schedule in our area. School doesn't get out until after 4pm (kids home by 430-5ish if both their parents don't have to work, and then it's later), and then those kids have homework, dinner/family time, and bed. If they do any activities it's even harder. Saturdays and Sundays are the only times kiddo can see his awayschool friends outside of activities they share... and weekends fill up fast... because those are also the only time their awayschool friends can schedule playdates with each other. Plus it tends to be Sat Morn Sport, Sat Afternoon Bdays, Sun Morn Church, Sun Afternoon Family time for away school families...so it's limited to sat afternoons w/out bday parties. During non-sport seasons we cycle through kiddo's away school friends so we only see each of them about once a month (different kid each weekend). ALSO in part because homeschool families get BUSY. We laugh about this a lot with each other. Wait a second... where did all of our time go??? Aren't we supposed to have more time than "Next Tuesday before 1, or... um... the following Monday all day, Wed after 2pm"? But many of us just DON'T. We get these incredibly rich and full lives with classes, playdates, trips... and the calendar just gets FULL.

The 'incredibly rich and full lives' is why socialiZATION is a breeze. Kiddo has TONS of time with other children and adults... it's just "backwards". We don't have to sacrifice family time to do it.

The biggest truism I've found with homeschooling?

Homeschooling is easy, it's parenting that's hard.

My daughter just missed 6 days of school because she was ill. I picked up her school work to help get her caught up and she was done all 6 days of work in 2 hours. I thought "wow, imagine what I could teach her if she was home schooled." She would be so much further along. It is not for me however although I would do it if there was a major issue with the public school.

There are so many reasons that we chose homeschooling: better education, better socialization (interacting in the real world versus the negative socialization that occurs in schools--bullies, etc.), bonding more closely as a family, and trying to ensure that my kids keep their love of learning instead of rote memorization and teaching them how to ace a test every year. My kids learn so much about the world from playing in the backyard, from doing science experiments at home, playing educational games, in addition to the workbook pages and reading we do. The kids can work at their own pace of learning. We attend a weekly homeschooling parkday group, and the group also has field trips and moms organize other activities for kids to participate in. The kids avoid the negative socialization from schools (bullies, peer pressure, etc.), and socialize with other homeschoolers and us. I love being with the kids all day and watching them as they learn, and being directly involved with the process of their learning.

Definitely join a local homeschooling group if you can. The one I participate in had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, one mom organized a trip to the zoo, and another mom has a weekly playdate at a park for kids that are similar in age to my children. It's a lot of fun, and it's nice to have other homeschoolers as support for any questions you have, and to just talk (because mommies need to socialize, too! :-) And it also helped me to find books about homeschooling at the library; I found that the more I researched about homeschooling, the more it made sense to me to do it. One book I recommend is The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling by Rachel Gathercole. It addresses the idea of socialization, and calmed any fears I had about my kids not being in a regular school. Good luck in your decision! (and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me, I'd be glad to help in any way I can) :-)

I have been homeschooling my almost 8 year old for 4 years. We started when she was 4 and now she is about to finish 2nd grade. We love it...the true time flexibility it gives us is unmatched. In my opinion, she gets more socialization than public/private school kids because we spend a lot of time doing things outside the classroom. We only "do" school for about 3 hours a day and then we are out an about. On Monday, she plays tennis, Tuesday is library day, Wednesday is Park Day with other homeschoolers, Thursday my 2 year old goes to Gymboree and then we usually hit Going Bonkers and Fridays we do whatever. So while public school kids are behind their desks, we are out having fun and learning things outside the home.

As far as groups go, we are a part of HorizonsHS which is in North Fort Worth and we are a part of the HomeTX group which is in Lewisville/Flower Mound/Highland Village area. Let me know if you would like to get together or help you get involved with any of these groups.

R. D.
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WorkAtHomeLike.Us

I used to live in North Ft Worth / Keller and man, there was a lot available to homeschool kids!!! There's a homeschool center in Watauga that has a full lab, computers, and instructors to assist you with some of the Science stuff. Fossil Rim has homeschool days, either once a week or once a month, where it's discounted and they do special lessons and interactive educational opportunities there. Can't think of the name of the gymnastics place my son went to....it's in Keller....but they had homeschool days where there were days/times that were just for homeschoolers to go in to get their PE credits in the gym, or the older kids could take gymnastics as an elective, all discounted. We went with a homeschool group to have an in depth tour of the new Cowboy Stadium (saw all of it! all the luxury boxes, got some time to play on the field, the locker rooms, all over the place) for a ridiculously low price. Pretty much anyone you can think of out there will do tours as field trips (the U.S. Mint, the only place besides DC to make our currency, downtown is so loaded with SO much to learn and see out there it's not even funny, the stockyards have some really educational shows that are great for TX history, there are student art, pottery, theater, music, history, science, geology classes....I used to go have lunch with my husband at his work regularly and we saw little groups of children coming on site to take samples of water or do some geology project all the time....Mrs Baird's is really big and they do tours and stuff....there are too many museums to list but a lot of them will have a program or free day....the Astronaut Museum in NRH was very cool, and open almost exclusively for homeschoolers during the school year (it was supposed to be a summer only thing, but the man told me they just kept getting homeschoolers so it stayed open, and the boys I was caring for were very impressed with getting to put on the suit and stand on the zero gravity table and try to walk around in it)....DFW is awesome for raising kids in general, but also very open to assisting homeschooling families. I heard there were homeschool little league baseball teams too. There are a lot of groups, but I honestly don't know enough about any of them to recommend one to you. My friend's children are homeschooled in Granbury in a co-op, and she is hispanic and a native Spanish speaker. She teaches Spanish to several children and then they go to another lady for art or music, etc. I know that once or twice a year they hold homeschooling conventions around the DFW area and I would recommend that if you're curious, go to one! Before moving away, my plan was to join a co-op and learn everything I could, even though my boys would start in public school, and that way on weekends and summer breaks we could have fun, exciting, educational ideas to do together as a family. I'd see how it went on breaks, and make my decision then about homeschooling them or not. I was on the fence because there were so really cool opportunities there, but just wasn't ready to say for sure yet. I would get a copy of Suburban Parent from Tom Thumb or a doctor's office (free), AND also go to fortworthchild.com and click on the left menu for the calendar. Click your county (Tarrant?) and say May 1 to May 30 (I always do a month at a time) and pencil in things that sound interesting to you. You'll be able to find out about conventions, childrens theater, and all the upcoming family events and see what's gonna work for your needs and schedule.
As for "socialization": for elementary ages, it'd be the same as I'm doing now, to me. We're involved in our church, and my oldest attends awanas at another church on Wednesdays (kind of a vacation Bible school meets cub scouts kind of club), he plays soccer during soccer seasons (fall and spring), summer swim lessons and swimming at the neighborhood pool or beach, and we work on charitable projects. He's in kung fu all year long, that's permanent. When he's old enough, he'll be in boyscouts. (Oh---Irving has the national boyscouts headquarters and a museum that is quite enjoyable....I took my son when he was 3, and he had a lot of fun, but it was for an 8 year old scout that I was babysitting, and he liked it too). There's plenty of opportunities for socialization, just keep your eyes open. In DFW I think the challenge would be more in narrowing your choices down than in finding one. Right now we've moved to a much more rural area, and I've listed 6 places my son gets socialization, 7 when he's old enough, and that doesn't count the neighborhood games at the playground or the playdates you get when you meet a mom you like at one of his sports events or parties. My 17 month old.....he enjoys moppets (the little class for his age in church while I'm at mops club (mothers of preschoolers), church, playdates, kindermusic with me, storytime at the library, and soon, swim lessons (only things that cost money are kindermusic and swim lessons). Not bragging...just saying that homeschooling doesn't mean trapped at home, pasty white children, who don't know what to do with other children. There are those families around, but they don't have to be like that.

I pulled my daughter out of public school at 5th grade and my son out at 3rd.
We do Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, homeschool art class, homeschool fencing, youth group at church Wednesday nights, summer swim leagues and camps through the park district. We also do piano lessons and homeschool band, soccer, baseball and football. THeir social calendar is pretty full.

I pulled my daughter because of her anxieties. She has done much better and we will be putting her into the public high school after next year, she is now finishing 7th.
My son I pulled because he asked. My hubby was deployed for another 7 months after just returning from a 13 monther. Then he retired and moved to VA while we were still in NC for another year. So lots of upheavals. He is now finishing 4th.

Positives: My kids do not have the influences from the public schools.
I know what my kids need to work on and I can take longer to do things they get stuck on. Like long division or story problems or 5 paragraph essays.
THey are both working ahead of their public school peers.
We are able to take field trips and every trip to the grocery store or restaurant they have to do the math. Tip, estimates, etc.
They can cook and do laundry and balance a checkbook.
My 4th grader can do things that I am teaching my 7th grader,
My relationship with my 13 yo daughter is priceless, she does not backtalk me like her older siblings used to, and still do.
My son listens to me and is respectful.

Negatives:
The kids each took a couple months to get used to me being mommy and me being the teacher.
ONce they got the hang of the routine then it has been pretty much smooth sailing.
I sometimes don't get done everything I want to done. So Science and History have fallen by the wayside for the last couple weeks.
THe house is a mess.
They bicker more.
Their education is limited by my creativity and knowledge, so some of the classroom teachers may have a different way of teaching a concept that might be more effective.
It can get expensive.

I wouldn't change it for the world. I have had to fight the public schools about content in the English books. I have had to fight for higher level work, by homeschooling I just move on.

In our house it is a job. We get up and by 9AM we are in school mode. THey do school until noon then if they have an activity we go and they read in the car. If not then we do science and history in the afternoon. Sometimes we do lunch on the road.
I do not answer the phone in the AM unless it's my cell and I can see who it is, even then I only answer if it is the school where my older daughter is at or my hubby.

Homeschooling is a serious commitment. It takes lots of time, not in the early years but by 3rd and 4th you have a huge amount of subjects to cover adn they start writing more and doing a higher level mathematics.

I have the book, The Well Educated MInd by Susan Wise Bauer. It has been my teachig bible.

I have been homeschooling for 8 months. We have two daughters, ages 6 and a half and 4. Originally, we chose to homeschool because my 6 year old has a medical condition. To see her, you would never know that she has issues. But, it is a progressive disease, and we would have to keep her home quite often to treat "exacerbations". Of course, I know that she is protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act, and that the school has responsibilities, etc., but when considering the quality of my daughters life, all of that is nice, but beside the point. She is a "people person" if there ever was one. Last year, she would have missed over a month of school at one time. To pull her away from friends and activities would deal a huge blow to her. Plus, the only explanation likely to make sense to the other children would be that she was "sick". That wouldn't be altogether true, yet she would certainly get that label.

While I was still mulling this choice over in my mind, I enrolled her in some summer camps sponsored by the school district last summer. It would allow both of us to have a "dry run", so to speak. Not only were the camps unremarkable, but she was punched in the stomach, upset by a violent scene in a Disney movie, and never ate much of her lunch (a medical necessity!). I felt that the teacher handled everything as well as any normal human could, but the experience only showed me that it wasn't worth it for our daughter. I also recognized that the values emerging from the class were not in line with the path I hope our daughters will follow. Let me explain. Each child brings their upbringing with them to class, and as a group, the class forms it's own personality that the teacher can only influence just so much. I want our daughters firmly rooted in our values before they face the influence of so many media-parented peers. I see the biggest difference in the teenagers. A homeschooled teenager will look you in the eye as they have a conversation with you, and will be engaged in your response - or at least act like it! (hahaha - I don't have teenagers yet - just my observations.)

So, how is homeschooling going? Pretty good. It's not easy, but it's worth while. The things that make it difficult are that every room in my house is a mess every single day! Oh, well. I have to carve out time for myself with an Exacto Knife. Oh, well. I think the most difficult thing is that I'm a runner, and I haven't yet figured out how to work that into my schedule with our family dynamics. I won't bore you with those details. But, you can see that Mom sacrifices a huge amount of her personal time - alone time. I remind myself often, however, that when I was a career woman, some days were better than others, there were always "little fires to put out" coming across my desk, and I had little time for myself then, too. At least now, I can see exactly where my efforts are going, and I don't have to send someone else a monthly report!

The wonderful things about homeschooling are many. Socially, we were almost too busy the first four months. We joined a co-op in McKinney called MARCH, and I can only begin to tell you how helpful that has been! There is also Frisco HIS and Plano HIS. My experience has been primarily with Frisco HIS and MARCH. I have been amazed that the groups don't seem to duplicate what the other is doing. The organization, knowledge, support, and professionalism is remarkable! One can see clearly that these parents have professional experience outside the home in a variety of fields and have flipped the focus back to the home. I can think of six people off the top of my head who are former public school teachers. In fact, I'm thinking of one who taught for 15 years. If you're thinking of homeschooling, these organizations are the perfect place to start. Check out www.marchgroup.org for MARCH. Also, a book I recommend is The Big Book Of Home Learning by Mary Pride (she is a former mechanical engineer if it matters to you).

Here's what a general week looks like for me. On Mondays, we start a book from a guide called Five In A Row. We read that book every day for 5 days and pull out a new perspective from it: Geography, Social Studies, Science, Language, Art. Each book will have something unique, so some weeks will be more concentrated in one area than another. We read other books, too, it's just that I use the book recommended in Five In A Row for specific purposes. Then, each day we do a few math exercises and reading exercises. On Wednesdays, we also have dance class. On Fridays, we attend Enrichment co-op classes through MARCH (where my daughter participates in a money class, art class, and music class). On Saturdays, we have soccer games. My four year old gets in on all the fun as well. I give my girls breaks between subjects so that they can work out the wiggles, and to give myself a break. Since my oldest daughter's birthday is in September, I have her somewhere between K and 1st grade. I can explore what she's ready to learn rather than keep her on a strict curriculum. I don't get everything done in three hours, but that may come with age and experience. Some days, I don't hit all the subjects, but somehow I'm able to make up for it on other days. Life happens. You just have to make schooling a priority and get back to it. I'm only able to write this message as my daughter does her breathing treatments. Now that they're finished, I have to get back to work!

Best wishes in your decision for your family. Remember that if you choose to try homeschooling, and it doesn't work out for you, public/private school is always there.