Thursday, February 21, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses that I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool. I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response. There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.

(You can find part one of this series, here.
 You can find part two of this series, here.
 You can find part three of this series, here.)


I get this response about as often as the socialization issue.  It is very surprising and very sad...  "I don't have the patience to be with my kids ALL day!"  It is then that I begin to wonder...what do you do during the summer months?  What do you do to get them ready for school in the morning?  What do you do to get them to do their homework in the afternoon?  What do you do to get them to take a bath and go to bed every night?  If you don't have the patience to be with them and teach them, then how do you have patience to get any of these things done on any given day?  Schooling is not the point if this is the problem...discipline might be.  Besides, children ARE a GIFT from the Lord...He will give you all that you need!

Yes, I ENJOY being with my kids all day!


Along those same lines,I also get this response.  "I would like to homeschool, but I really like my time alone while my kids are at school."  Yes, we all enjoy alone time now and then.  It is good for us.  It is good to get alone with God.  It is good to get alone to think and pray.  Housecleaning is SO much easier when the kids are not "around."  Is this what most parents do with their "alone time" though?  From what I know about our world today, I seriously doubt that most stay-at-home mom's do this in their "alone time."  I get alone time...although it is rare.  I can get up earlier, go to sleep later, and get alone time then.  I also, from time to time, go out alone after the children are in bed and my husband is home...usually to a bookstore!  (It is usually quiet there, and I love books!)  So, I do enjoy having some "me" time now and again...but what I enjoy more is the look on my child's face when he/she learns how to read, how to add, how to spell a difficult word; coming to me in "uncertain" situations; having daily Bible reading and prayer; learning scripture; and so much more that I would not see or be able to do if they were in public school.


Linking up at:

The Homeschool Village

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool.

I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response. There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.

(If you missed any of this series, you can find part one, here.
You can find part two, here.)


This is probably the second most popular reason that I hear for not homeschooling (second to the myth of our anti-social children).  "I don't have enough money to homeschool.  You have to have a lot of money to homeschool." 
 
If you had to have a lot of money to homeschool, I wouldn't be homeschooling!  We do not have a lot of money. Let's use an example that many people may be able to relate to.  There are a set of dishes that you have had your eye on for some time.  You begin saving a little here and there, missing your trip to the salon for your "mani" and "pedi"--sacrifice!Eventually, you save up enough to buy the dishes.  Why did you save?  Why did you sacrifice the things you would have liked to have?  Because you really wanted the dishes.  If you really want to homeschool, you can cut back in certain areas, save a little here and there, sacrifice!  Last year, I was able to all of my son's books used for half of the cost of new ones!  Many of the books that I find at used curriculum sales are FREE!  You ask around, look online, find great deals and jump on them, buy some books now and some later.  Homeschooling frees you up to schedule how you'd like, so you don't have to have every book for every subject as soon as September rolls around.  Some of our subjects do not even begin until 2 or 3 months into the school year, so I don't have to have all of my supplies ready on the first day of school.  Be creative...and you won't have to spend a lot of money on homeschooling!
 
Linking up with:
 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I have been thinking lately about all of the responses I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children. Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..." They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool.

I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children. I will then share my feelings on that response.  There are such a variety of reasons that I have heard, that I decided to do a series on it instead of one very long posting.  (You can find part 1 here.) 


Going along with the socialization myth, which I discussed last week, I also hear things like, "Homeschooling is just sheltering them from the 'real world.'  Your children will not know what to do when they finally get there and out from under your roof. You are just doing this out of fear. Your children need to learn how to work with people who are not like themselves...

What is the real world to any age student in public school? Their world is their school and their friends.  They are at school more hours of a day than they are at home, and for more months out of a year than not. The "real world" of school begins early in the morning, includes the teaching of reading, writing, and 'rithmetic (and others), following the rules set by the teacher(s), recess, lunch, an occasional outing or activity, and then returning home. Our homeschool day also begins in the morning, teaching of all applicable subjects (according to age/grade level), rules for our home (including school time), recess, lunch, occasional outings or activities, and then settling down for the "end of the day" things (i.e. daddy returning home from work, dinner, bedtime, etc.).  Our day really is not all that different from other students’ days.  It is just done at home. 

"Oh, but they don't get to interact with anyone outside of your family," I get as a rebuttal.  There are LOTS of homeschool groups in just about every city, town, and/or county throughout the U.S. I have heard of rural groups that consist of only about 17 families and larger cities that have 200+ families in a group. The children are able to interact with other children their age, their parents, siblings, and any others that they may be in contact with throughout the day.  We also go to the library often.  My children talk with and interact with the librarians as well as the other children. They are also able to interact with others at church. There are times when we have been in a store or restaurant (in the "real world") where the children saw or heard something that they either had never heard of before or that they knew was "bad" or "wrong." They reacted exactly the way I hoped that they would in this "real world" setting. They talked to me about it. How many parents would LOVE for their children to talk to them about things that happened during the day that they were unsure of? 

With friends and a baby shark at the pier...

I am not doing this out of fear.  I am doing this to train up my children. Training doesn't end at 5 years of age when they go to Kindergarten, or at 6 for first grade, or even at 16.  From whom do you want your children to get their training, teachers and other students that you know very little about? Even in smaller towns where "everybody knows everybody," you cannot know what your child will see and hear in any given day. With the best teachers, there are still unruly students. 

My children know about how the "world" is, come to me for advice when encountering "unknowns," and react accordingly in public. Just because we are at home for school, doesn't mean that we never "go out" into the "real world."

Linking up at:


The Homeschool Village

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A Word from The Word Wednesday

Answer
 
We have been studying Luke chapter 4 this week.  Early on in that chapter is the temptation of Jesus.  The devil tempts Jesus three times...once physically (He is hungry, and the devil tells him to turn the rocks into bread make his hunger stop), once mentally (the devil offers Him power), and once spiritually (the devil tells Him to "jump" and the angels will "catch" Him).  In each answer to the devil, Jesus begins with, "It is written..."  His answer, each and every time, is from Scripture. 
 
Our answer to temptation should always reflect Jesus' answer...to fight!  How did He "fight?"  He used the Word...  "The Word of God is our sword, and faith in that Word is our shield."  (Matthew Henry's Commentary)
 
What happened when Jesus answered the way that He did?  The devil went away.  "...if we resist the devil, he will flee from us."  Make your answer to temptation scare the devil away.  He will likely come back, at some point, but make your answer secure in the Word of God!
 
 
 
KNOW THE WORD so that it can be a "sword" when you are fighting off the devil.  Let your answers come from Scripture.
 
Lord,
        Thank You for Your Word...for it contains all of the answers that we will ever need.  Help us to use it wisely when we are facing temptations.  Help me to be more proficient in the Word so as to wield it as a sword when needed.  Help me to always answer with Biblical answers...and to always resist the devil so that he will flee.
 
In Jesus name,

Wise-Woman-Builds

Monday, February 4, 2013

A New Blog...and I LOVE the Blogger! :)

 
 
This handsome man is my husband.
His name is Mark.
I LOVE him!
He just started a blog!
I think you might like it...
so go check it out!!!

 
Click on the name of his blog above to be taken to his page. Leave him a comment...tell him that his wife sent you...and how much she loves him! ;)
 
 
 
Right now, he is blogging about our cross country train trip that we took in March 2012 on Amtrak.  His are different and unique from mine, which you can find at the links below...
 
 
Planning:
 
The Trip:

Saturday, February 2, 2013

REVIEW: "Is Homeschooling Really For Us?"

Every decision that we make will make an impression on our children. The decision on the type of schooling that they will have is one of the hardest and most important decisions that we have to make. Even after we make that decision, we often wonder if we made the right decision. Beth Cranford recently had the opportunity to interact with a mom who had become very frustrated in her homeschooling and had started to wonder if it would be better for her children to be in public school instead. After Beth read some of the answers and thought about the situation for a while, she ended up writing this book to deal with the question, “Is Homeschooling Really For Us?”

As I read this book, I could relate to so much of what Beth had to say. She has been through the difficult days of homeschooling, only to come through and say that it was all worth it. She is not beating you over the head and saying, “If you don’t homeschool, you are making the wrong decision.” Although she is a believer in homeschooling, she also believes that parents should make the best decision for their children. You will not find that she has a “one answer fits all” mentality.

If you are a parent trying to make a choice about what is best for your children in respect to their schooling, I recommend that you read this book. If you are a parent already homeschooling your child(ren), I recommend that you read this book. If you are a parent with children in public school, I recommend that you read this book. The information that she has included here is valid no matter what school situation you and your children are currently facing. Even if you are pleased and sure about the schooling decision that you have made for your children, I recommend that you read this book…because you may not always be pleased and sure about your decision. Beth will give you ideas on what to do if you find yourself in that situation.
 
The great news is that you can purchase the book RIGHT NOW for only $5.00!!! 
Just click here to order your copy from Beth's website!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Reasons to NOT homeschool...?

I was thinking today about all of the responses I get from strangers who find out that we homeschool our children.  Many times when other parents hear that we homeschool, they say to me, "Oh, I wish I could do that, but..."  They then proceed with reasons that they would not or could not homeschool. 

For the next few weeks, I am going to share with you some of the reasons that I have been told as to why parents say that they cannot homeschool their children.  I will then share my feelings on that response. 

Today, I will tackle the socialization issue...

We really are a friendly people...well socialized, with many friends...  :)

* Probably the most popular reason that parents say that they cannot homeschool...  "They won't be socialized! Spending time with their friends at school teaches them how to socialize."  From my experience, if the socialization that occurs in the public school is the "only way" to be socialized, then I would rather my children be unsociable.  On my very first day of Kindergarten at a public school, I came home from school saying a "really bad" curse word to my family...  As soon as my mother heard me, she pulled me aside.  She asked, "WHERE did you hear that?"  I told her the name of the boy that said it at school in the classroom that day.  He hadn't only said it once that day...he repeated it throughout the day.  I had never heard this word before, so I had no idea that it was "bad."  My mother explained to me that it was a bad word and that she did not want to hear me say it ever again.  I listened and obeyed!  Also, in a Kindergarten classroom, a boy was taken out of the classroom after using God's name in a "bad" way aloud during a game that he and his classmates were playing.  He "lost" a round, and his reaction to losing was to use this vulgar language.  These are two small examples of what children hear at school.  If this is what they hear from their classmates, what do they see?  After all, if the children are around other children all day, where are they learning their social skills?  From the other children.  So, when I am given this as an answer, it does not make an impact at all because socialization is not something that children should be learning from other children.  Socialization should be taught at home whether you homeschool or not.  Teachers do not have the time to teach a classroom of 20+ socialization skills!


Linking up today with:

The Homeschool Village