It would be great to link to an article with your thoughts on and experiences with homeschooling - I did enjoy reading your response here.
I started homeschooling my son a few weeks into his fourth grade year. The funniest disagreement we had in the first months was that I wanted him to take Thanksgiving vacation 'off' from homeschooling.
He had decided to do a project where he would list all the state birds, and something else I don't quite recall. Whatever it was required him to use two different references, and I had my own plans for the four days.
His sister was still enrolled in school and she had a vacation, and I knew that my son was very aware of what school breaks were meant to be, so I pleaded with him, and then flat out told him he was going to take a break.
Well, of course he worked on his project every day for hours, on his own, and it turned out just how he wanted it to be. It was quite an accomplishment, and I'm still proud of the way he stuck to his decision as well as the quality of the work.
That incident told me more than I really wanted to know about my ideas about homeschooling, too! Why in the world would I ever want to hold my son back, discourage learning, and try to persuade him to postpone his project? Absurd!
I thought of that a few weeks ago when a newsmagazine segment on tv looked into the effects of branding on preschoolers and young children.
If I remember rightly, branding was so deeply instilled in the group of children featured in the show, that they would choose a banana over a candy bar as a snack if the banana had a sticker of a superhero on it - I think it was Spiderman.
I thought how wonderful it was for families of small children to learn that they could encourage healthier eating just be branding it with a sticker!
And then they showed children choosing a rock with a sticker on it over food for a snack! Argh!
My choice to discourage my son's interest in his Thanksgiving weekend project came from the same place as those children's choices of the rock over food. When I see preteens and adolescents - and especially young adults - make unfortunate decisions, I should remember no one is immune to whatever compels us to choose rocks for food.
Pam W
SE of Seattle
Down Syndrome and Diabetes Dual Diagnosis
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32543.aspWhy? My nephew is also on the spectrum and is going backwards at the public school (the same my son would attend in December if I was sending him there.) I have many of the same sensory issues that my son has and I went to the same schools.
I was basicly drugged to "conform" when I tried to explain that I can NOT learn in a classroom of 35 students and a teacher yacking away and that I learn best by reading the material and doing the busy work by myself I was told I was wrong.
I lost my love of learning attending public school. I spent 7 hours a day bored to death only to be expected to come home and do the work. I felt that this was wrong and I still do. Why waste 7 hours a day only to have to come home and do the actual work?
The 'social' aspect of school was not much better. I did not, and still do not follow fashion. I wear what I feel is comfortable and what fits. I did not feel the need to pretend to be someone I wasn't in order to be liked by people I really didn't care to be around.
How? My son will be three in December, the how hasn't been decided yet. It will depend on how he learns best and if he needs extra help structuring himself.
With homesschooling I can expose my son to real life. He gets to grow up with the same kids (except for people moving, the kids and parents don't change) he can explore his own interests without the peer pressure. Instead of reading about things he can go experience them.
If he is interested in covered wagons and the old west we will go visit historic sites, volenteer at an 1850's recreation townstead, take an overnight trip in a covered wagon, visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homesteads and anything else we can find. This is just an example of one thing. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Most everything we do is hands on and it works.
My son is into mazes. So I found some mazes for him, when he did all of them, I made some. I took him to see a maze exhibit where he gets to walk through mazes. Prewriting and critical thinking-or atleast for the mommy with no sense of direction.
He likes cars and trains, we count him toy trains and his toy cars. He realized that two sets of two cars is four cars. Math.
I taught him his colors by using cars one of his favorite things is for me to draw a cars on the outside of the galss to a icture frame and give him finger paint and water to make a car stain glass picture. Art.
Bugs are also an interest we go and find bugs, we watch them he plays with some of them. Science.
We go to several different religous centers for the different holidays. Social Studies.
I read to him everyday. Reading.
He's not even 3 and we seem to get everything covered <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Thank You!
I know your son enjoys his homeschooling even more than I enjoyed reading about it.
Your 'why' was very moving and gives us all a lot of food for thought.
Pam W
SE of Seattle
Homeschooling Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art45894.asp