I'ts "meme" time at Heart of the Matter again! This week's topic is "What I Wish I'd Known" during your first year of homeschooling.
In a way, I was lucky. I knew before marriage that I wanted to homeschool my children. So their entire childhood was approached with the idea already firmly fixed. And when my kids seemed so bright and capable of learning easily, I was just over the moon! In a way, that was actually unlucky. Because of planning to homeschool, I was too eager to get started when my son was really too young.
I started when he was 4, trying to teach him simple things. I didn't push a lot, but it was too much for him. He's not a "paper" kind of kid. He didn't do well at it, and I tried too hard to make him. This set us up early for confrontations over schoolish expectations. It's my biggest regret, and I often wonder if he would be more amenable to school now if I hadn't pushed too early.
Love your kids, and respect their boundaries and abilities. Some children are ready for school at 4, others not 'til they're much older. Just like you followed their cues with food, naps, walking and all those baby things, follow their cues when it comes to school. Take a good look at what they are learning without you even having to try too hard, and know that the school stuff will come in its own good time as well. Trust your heart - and theirs.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
HotM Meme: What I Wish I'd Known....
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6 Comments:
A very helpful post, I tried making our homeschool too much like real school in the beginning. I found out that being like a real school didn't work for us.
Ah, I never thought of the downside of deciding early to homeschool! Isn't that just like moms? I would have done the same thing with my oldest. It takes more kids to make us relax! Wait...I did do the same thing! I sent my oldest off to Kindergarten when she was still 4 (she turned 5 before the deadline to start)because I was so sure she was ready.
I think a lot of moms make this mistake. I know sometimes I catch myself thinking I am not "teaching" Aspen enough because we're not doing anything formal. Then I have to remind myself that she is only three and that she will only be three once, and put away the ABCs and get out the finger paints.
I made that mistake too. But luckily our kids can overcome many of our mistakes!
yep, I agree a lot of us do this, but so do schools in a way. I mean my oldest was so turned off to learning when he first came home. I feel it was because of all the "busyness" of school that makes kids hate it.
He now has a passion for reading and is getting more of heart for learning, simply because I took the "busyness" out of it, and put the fun back in!
I never thought about that, either! (At least not in the homeschool sense.) I think we tend to "experiment" a LOT on our oldests - - I hope mine will forgive me some day!
Thanks for sharing!!
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