Blah, Blah Blah, Another HomeSchool Post

Did I say homeschool is hard? I met another homeschool mom in the library yesterday as we were both getting books to prepare school for the upcoming week. I chatted for a few minutes. I didn't have much time. But she said something that rang true. "Homeschool is a full time job." That's it. That is why I am so tired and feel like I am extremely over the top busy. I felt like just having eight kids was a full time job. That was no big deal because having 8 kids was my full time job. Compared to John's full time job, with taking care of the home and our 8 children, I put in as much time into family and work as he did. I didn't have another job. Now I have two full time jobs. I am a teacher and a full time mother. It is very tiring. There have been times, when I have felt like giving it all up. BUT... I am finding so many good things about homeschool!


The first but, I am astounded at how much better the education is. Now, I am not an unschooler. My personality is very structured. I like to be organized. So our school is very organized. Each child has thier assignments and lessons that we do every day. On Friday's and Saturdays I spend about 4 hours preparing lessons and assignments for the entire week. The older kids are handed a syllabus and they have to check each thing off with me or John everyday before they are allowed to end school. The little kids have their worksheets labelled for each day in their folders. I have each younger child scheduled in for lessons with me. Our school is very structured and my kids are making leaps and bounds. The education, without a doubt, is far superior to what they were getting in public schools. For example, Johnny is studying ancient civilizations this school year. After two weeks he has completed reading around 300 pages about Ancient Egypt. He has been required to write about everything he reads. Look at any history textbook through the 12th grade and you will not find anything so in depth. (Have you read your kids textbooks? You ought to take a look, but that is another blog all by itself.) It is just not there. Now, Johnny is in fifth grade. No fifth grader in the public schools gets anything so thorough and in such a short time during school hours. Another example is Ruth's Shakespeare class. She is required to read 7 Shakespeare plays and she will be preforming one with about 15 other homeschooled teenagers. And she is loving it! You cannot find such an in depth study in any eighth grade class in the public schools. One more example is I am doing Spanish with my younger children. Rachel knows the days of the week in Spanish better than English. They are learning to write in Spanish along side English. I am pleased to beable to give my kids foreign language experience so young.

The second but is time. Not my time, that is, but my children's time. All of their studies are finished during the school day! There is no homework as such. There is no wasted time. Most of the kids even eat lunch while working because then they will have more free time later.

The third but is well my kids. I know my kids better. I know their strengths and weaknesses better. I know what things they have picked up from being in school and who they just are. Ruth changed at the end of 7th grade last year. Instead of being the nice girl who enjoyed helping out and spending time with her parents and siblings, she became the teenager who was yelling at her parents and being mean to her younger siblings and well just acting like the textbook teenager. By the end of the summer she was back to just Ruth. She is still back to herself. She spends near to 12 hours a week with friends at church, her Shakespeare class, and select friends hanging out and swimming. But she is still just Ruth, not Ruth's friends.

The fourth but is Johnny. We have noticed that about all he learned in his four years in public school was how to waste time really, really well. He was never given enough work to keep him busy, and he learned how to waste a lot time without causing trouble or being noticed. We cringe to think what this bad habit could have done to him as an adult. Johnny has enough work to keep him busy and I am taking notice and making sure he is occupied in a good way.

I could go on with other buts, like Adam needing extra help with reading and not having to do that after school time. Suffice it to say. There are enough good buts to continue the exhausting hard work of two full time jobs.