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| Home / College Guide / First person | Homeschooling: How and why it works for us |
| Posted on Monday, April 06 @ 00:00:04 PDT |
We were living in a city just south of Atlanta and the school district was huge.
I went to Meadowbrook High School in Byesville, and graduated with less than 120 people. I couldn’t wrap my head around the number of students in some of these schools. It was at this time we started to consider homeschooling.
We researched the school district we would be living in, including the curriculums and the co-ops that were going to be available in our area. We spoke to other homeschoolers and family members, who understandably had a lot of questions.
We knew that we were in a growing group of people choosing to homeschool for reasons not solely based around faith. The idea of the denim-jumper, anti-social homeschooler, was a thing of the past. In the end, we went with our gut and jumped right in, absolutely terrified and excited at the same time.
I quickly became overwhelmed.
Do you know how many different types of homeschooling methods there are? Almost endless. Roadschooling, secular homeschooling, religion-based homeschooling, unschooling, the list goes on. I also had to choose a curriculum.
One of the reasons people homeschool is the ability to choose what we use to teach. Homeschoolers don’t have curriculum provided to us, like in a traditional school setting.
Those decisions are on us. We have to research, scour the web, and invest our own money into what we hope will work best for our family.
We still have to teach the same subjects that our public school friends do, but we have total control over how we do that. You can use a boxed curriculum that comes with everything you need, or you can piece a curriculum together from various sources. Homeschooling also allows us to add in subjects that may not be offered in our local school district.
What kind of homeschoolers were we?
I wasn’t sure. We had been given a full kindergarten classical education curriculum. It came with a planner and a course outline. It utilized beautiful works of childrens literature, classical music and famous works of art. It spelled everything out for me and I loved it. I envisioned days full of learning and laughter. Enrichment beyond my wildest dreams. But, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I became painfully aware that what I envisioned for my child and the way in which she best retained information was dramatically different. This was a hard lesson to learn. How could my child not love the exact same things as I do?
We could also finish the whole days book work in just a few hours.
Something didn’t seem right. How could this be? Where were my hours upon hours of learning and teaching?
I realized that without distractions, we could accomplish more in less time. Having a one-to-one student-to-teacher ratio also helped, and giving my child more hands-on projects seem to engage her more. Those first few months made me appreciate public school teachers even more.
Life happened and we found ourselves moving back to Ohio after being Georgia homeschoolers for three years.
Each state has different requirements that need to be met in order to homeschool. For some states like Georgia, it’s a simple online form and then providing test results every three years. In Ohio, homeschooling is a legal right for anyone who wishes to do so, as long as they have met the states requirements.
Notifying your school district’s superintendent is one of those requirements. Typically, it’s a pretty easy process. Ohio homeschoolers also have to agree to provide 900 hours of instruction, but we can fill those hours however we deem appropriate. We agree to cover certain subjects, as well.
Heading to the park for a family hike? Those hours can count as physical education.
Spending the day at COSI covers science. The same way public schools take educational field trips, homeschoolers do, too.
We are held accountable for our child’s progress on a yearly basis. Each subsequent year parents must provide a yearly assessment of the child’s work to the superintendent. This can be by nationally standardized test results, an evaluation of the child’s progress by a certified teacher, or another method agreed upon by the superintendent and the parents.
The biggest concern that we encounter is the socialization aspect. There’s a stigma around homeschoolers that we don’t get out into the world and our kids don’t have friends. That’s the farthest thing from the truth.
Homeschool kids are in 4-H, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They go to youth groups and sing in their church choir. They take dance lessons, karate lessons, art lessons and music lessons. We talk to our cashiers, restaurant servers and bank tellers. The librarians know us by name. Socialization happens at the playground, co-ops and out in the world.
Over the years, we learned a lot and to be honest, we’re still learning. We fought a lot and there were many tears — both from the student and teacher.
I’ve had to adapt my teaching style and get creative with things, because it’s how my daughter learns best. If she wakes up one morning and tells me she wants to be a veterinarian, we can put our regular bookwork on hold and focus on this topic for a few hours. We can research how to give our poor cat an exam. We can watch documentaries about veterinarians and the different types of work they do. We can call our local vet and schedule a time to discuss what her job entails.
The world is our classroom, and we utilize all we can. Whereas the public schools are dealing with closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, life for our homeschool hasn’t really changed. There’s still spelling work that needs to be done and math lessons to go over. Science experiments about germs have taken over my kitchen. We have had to cut back on some field trips, but it hasn’t changed our daily schooling that much.
A great starting point to research homeschooling is the Ohio Department of Education website. There is a FAQ section, along with information about how your child can earn college credit while homeschooling and even participate in the extracurriculars your local school district offers.
Another resource is a Facebook group called Ohio Homeschooling Parents. The group can provide easy to understand information regarding homeschooling, a law-aligned form to submit your Notification of Intent, and a basic primer to answer questions.
The biggest resource this group provides, is a reassurance that you’re not alone in this. Everyone has bad days or days when you feel like you just can’t get it together and you’re failing ... miserably.
Ask me how I know. What works for me probably won’t work for you, and that’s OK. After being a homeschool mom for five years, seeing the amount of work I put in for just one student, I can honestly say I respect public school teachers more than anything.
There is no typical homeschooler. My perspective about homeschooling is just that. My perspective.
We have friends that teach Bible and religion lessons, and some that unschool.
My daughter has friends of all ages. Some parents follow their curriculum to the letter, and some follow a more child-led approach. I asked some of my daughter’s friends what they loved about being homeschooled.
What I like best about homeschooling is that I can learn what kids in public school learn in a shorter amount of time, leaving me with more free time to read and play at the park with friends, Gavin Koscoe said.
Delaini Mull added, let your kids choose what they study about, and keep worksheets down to two to three per day.
Her brother, Elijah, likes that you can go at your own pace, and you don’t have to learn what everyone else is learning.
When I asked my daughter what she likes best about homeschooling, she replied, I get to stay home and wear pajamas all day.
I guess for some of us, the stereotypes hold up. Never miss a story
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