A Homeschool Family

Socialization or Social Classification

I've only been homeschooling for one year, but I've come to the conclusion that homechoolers have a love/hate relationship with the topic of socialization. Everyone groans, rolls their eyes or sighs when the topic comes up for the 8,476th time. Yet, homeschoolers commonly talk (or blog) about it. We must love taking on the issue. We love to debate and discredit silly notions, don't we? Or, I suppose, it's because it comes up 8,476 times that we must talk about it. Either way, it's out there - lurking - snarling - lying in wait for the next opportunity to arise.

My son went to a birthday party last night. That got me thinking about it - again. To me, public school seems to be more about social classification than socialization. Within a school, the kids from better neighborhoods stick together - as do the poor kids. On a larger scale, compare the inner city with more affluent suburban schools. Poor neighborhoods = poor schools = poor kids. Mediocre towns = mediocre schools-= mediocre kids. Unless you live in a wealthy neighborhood, aren't you choosing a doomed, predetermined social class for your children when you send them to public school? If I live in a mediocre neighborhood, chances are my child will be mediocre. Why would people prefer that? Not only do they prefer it, but they ridicule people (like me) for trying to give my children something better.

Homeschooling Inherently Sexist?

I'm always griping about parents who outsource their parental responsibilities. Liberal feminism has purged traditional roles from society. A man and a woman have children together but neither think it is their responsibility to raise them. Some of us don't believe that is the way to nurture productive citizens, but now some "researcher" wants the state to step in and force liberal values teaching in home education. "Fluidity of gender roles" is one of "her" proposals.
I don't believe they mention the researchers name??

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player06.html?110707/110707_kellys_court&Americas_Newsroom&Kelly%2527s%2520Court&Kelly%2527s%2520Court&Law%2520Center&-1&News&0&&&new

Our First Year - So Far

My home schooled son is doing amazingly well this year. He is a happier person and we are all less stressed. He takes pride in learning. He has this drive now. He is soaring academically and making progress socially. He is enjoying the opportunities he has by being home. He's been on several trips with a homeschool group. We are lucky enough to have a woman who schedules some pretty awesome trips.
My cousin is a teacher and said she will do my son's evaluation at the end of the year. She is also going to look over our stuff half way through so I can be sure we are doing okay. Maybe then I can relax. I'm not as uptight as I was though. The past few weeks have been great. It seems like everything is falling into place and I can see how much he has accomplished already.

When I first looked at the Abeka Arithmetic book I thought it moved too quickly from one concept to another, and it does. But the thing is, it constantly reviews. I don't think he will learn it and forget it as a lot of kids do when they finish a chapter. Long division, multiplication and fractions are abundant throughout the entire book. I feel confident he will master these skills by the end of the year and retain them.
Spelling has been our biggest challenge. I think the Abeka Spelling is a more advanced level than what he was used to in our public school. I don't know what the most commonly used spelling curriculum is, but if all HS spelling is like this then it's no wonder all of those homeschoolers win the spelling bees. We are using sequential spelling as well so hopefully that will improve his skills. I'm looking for study methods or games to use with the traditional Abeka spelling.
My son likes the stories in the Abeka readers. He enjoys reading now! He likes the faster pace too. He used to spend a week on one story. Now he reads a story a day in addition to the short stories in the Read and Think sheets and the speed and comprehension reader. I like the idea of all the information he is absorbing by reading so many different stories. We read other books together, but even if he didn't get any other reading beyond his curriculum, he would be fine.

It's Official

We turned in our affidavit, so we are officially homeschoolers! I was elated the day we turned it in! When we went to get it notarized the woman at the magistrate's office said "you're homeschooling?" I said "yes". She threw her hands up to her head as if she had a headache, winced and shook her head. I asked my husband if he loved the way people so boldly display their disapproval with our choices regarding OUR children.
Other than taking care of the legalities, we have been spending time organizing and rearranging our "playroom" - converting it to our school/rescource room. It didn't take much work. It seems we've had a homeschool room here all along. Who knew? We have been picking up some supplies and ordering a few things from ebay for a few months. Now, we are going to start on the more expensive curricula. We are borrowing some of our school's materials, but it is incomplete. We will be using it as a review/ supplement. I want to make sure I cover the same material they do in case he goes back at some point.
They gave us:
Harcourt Math
Scott Foresman Reading
Voyages in English
We plan on using:
Math U See (Gamma & Delta)
The Story of The World Volume 1
Real Science 4 kids Level 1
Abeka Reading 4
Sequential Spelling 1.

The SF reading is okay. We are planning on completing the skills and vocabulary sections, but some of the stories are lousy so we will skip them and only read the good ones. My goal is to help my kids ENJOY reading. When I read some of what they are forced to read at school I think it is no wonder they hate it.

Harcourt Math covers a lot of material. We are going through it rather quickly right now and we will slow down later. It is great for showing me exactly wheat he knows and doesn't know. My goal in this subject is to increase his proficiency. Of course the schools are forced to focus on the standardized testing so the kids get a smattering in many areas. I like the idea of exposing them to a lot of information, but I would rather have him highly proficient in fewer areas than vaguely familiar with many areas.

Voyages In English - I like it. We are going to use it alone for now and we'll see what happens.


I'm also planning on starting early with our daughter. She is only 18 months old, but she loves school time! I am preparing "school" activities for her as well. So far she loves playing with a felt board and "writing". I think later this year she will do well with matching shapes, colors, and sorting. We might try Slow and Steady Get Me Ready.