Home Schooling...Together?

We live within the glorious DeKalb County School System, where things were so bad recently that the governor of Georgia had to step in remove the school board. Fun stuff. We have zero interested in sending our kids to the local elementary school (ranked as one of the worst in the state). We checked into Montessori school (and even applied to one) but after a series of lousy financial months we now can't afford tuition (and financial aid deadlines are long over).

So we are thinking of home school again. Frankly, that was what I wanted to do all along, but since my wife will be the teacher I wanted to explore all the options. I have heard of home school groups that meet regularly (even as much as a few times a week) so the kids can learn together and socialize. We are thinking of using the assets we have in living close to downtown Atlanta as an advantage. Science class outings to Fernbank Science Center (and maybe the event facility known as the Fernbank History Museum), art class at the HIgh, history class at the Atlanta History Museum, and probably the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for biology. My father-in-law is a retired biology teacher and my mother-in-law is an art teacher, and both want to pitch in.

I know several of you here home school. What were your biggest hurdles in making it work? Do I need to set up a separate area of the house for a "school" of sorts? Any costs that you didn't anticipate? Did you home school by yourself or were you part of a larger group? What grades were the hardest to teach? Any time management tips? Were both parents involved in teaching?

I know many people would just say "move to a better school district" but that really isn't an option.

Can you just get a few more families together and hire a teacher or teachers (like your FIL) ala how school was done before Roosevelt's New Deal? All the benefits an experienced educator and none of the part where you have to do the work :)

We've not done it ourselves, but have watched friends who have.

Be realistic about your own teaching abilities.

Group together with other like minded parents and pool your knowledge resources. If you're good at math, teach a math class for the pool.

Talk to the community college. Many times they work with home schooling parents providing the upper level resources you need when sharp kids are getting into highschool science and such.

There are many co-ops that sponsor classes for specific classes for home schoolers. Museums, colleges, and many churches also sponsor home school programs.

My wife stays at home and handles the education duties of our minions. She was a chemical engineer before staying home and is highly competent in math and science. I don't think an advanced degree is absolutely necessary, but an ability to think critically about education, learning styles of your kids, and curriculums are absolutely necessary.

My twins start first grade in the fall. This will be our fourth year of homeschooling. Our biggest difficulty was realizing that 3 hours with mom and dad gives them way more instruction than a day at school. We would skip a few days of school and she'd feel guilty about getting behind but in the long run it didn't matter. We will be done with school before the beginning of June this year.

Get the kids out of the house, one way or another. Socialize. Get them to interact with other kids their age from beyond their home-school environment.

About 2/3 of the home schooled kids I know are home schooled because parents are overprotective (IMO, no kids of my own), and grow up a little awkward around other people largely because the only people the interacted with regularly were their immediate families and maybe the kids next door.

I definitely only want to home school if we can find a group. I don't want kids who grow up in a bubble. If anything we are quite the opposite. My wife already has a stay-at-home mom's group that gets the kids together, but soon most of those kids are heading off to either public school or private school.

My wife taught for several years at a local high end private school, plus she has been a youth pastor. We both have 4-year degrees. I've seen her wrangle a group of kindergarten kids and it is almost spooky how well they respond to her. If we get into a group I can fully see my wife teaching a class or two.

We know one family who plans on homeschooling because the mom can't stand be be away from her kids. Ummm, that's not healthy.

slefain wrote: I know several of you here home school. What were your biggest hurdles in making it work? Do I need to set up a separate area of the house for a "school" of sorts? Any costs that you didn't anticipate? Did you home school by yourself or were you part of a larger group? What grades were the hardest to teach? Any time management tips? Were both parents involved in teaching?

Your questions deserve much more time than I can give right now. We have homeschooled for 17 years, been President of the local Home Schooling Association, and coached many, many newbies.

Here are the short answers:

1- Biggest hurdle- the teachers (us)

2- Separate area?- Depends entirely on your style. Helps some people delineate, waste of time for others who are good at studying on the sofa in their PJ's.

3- Unforeseen costs?- Yes. (but not insurmoutable). Your plan (of so much museum activity, etc.) will cost much more than you realize, but there is a happy medium.

4- No home schoolers teach alone. It takes a village, whether you like it or not.

5- No grades are anywhere near as hard to teach as newbies think. I hear frequently, "How will I teach him calculus?", to which I answer, "He's 4. Try teaching him numbers. Then counting. Then addition. etc. etc." The teacher learns how to teach each subject immediately before (and with) the student.

6- Time management tip- manage your time. You will suck at it. That's OK. Try again.

7- If both parents are not prepared to be involved, don't do it. Involvement comes in many shapes and sizes.

My wife has a reasonably good website:

http://help-4-your-homeschool.com/

I PMed you my number.

It's the most important thing we've ever done. It's scary as crap. It's a blast!

slefain wrote: I definitely only want to home school if we can find a group. I don't want kids who grow up in a bubble. If anything we are quite the opposite. My wife already has a stay-at-home mom's group that gets the kids together, but soon most of those kids are heading off to either public school or private school. My wife taught for several years at a local high end private school, plus she has been a youth pastor. We both have 4-year degrees. I've seen her wrangle a group of kindergarten kids and it is almost spooky how well they respond to her. If we get into a group I can fully see my wife teaching a class or two. We know one family who plans on homeschooling because the mom can't stand be be away from her kids. Ummm, that's not healthy.

Sounds like you've got more than what it takes!

slefain wrote: What were your biggest hurdles in making it work? Do I need to set up a separate area of the house for a "school" of sorts? Any costs that you didn't anticipate? Did you home school by yourself or were you part of a larger group? What grades were the hardest to teach? Any time management tips? Were both parents involved in teaching?

this is our second year, with a 5th grade girl and a 2nd grade girl.

biggest hurdle was going from "can we?" to "we can!"

we do not have a separate area in the house, but we have added bookshelves and a multi-drawered organizer on wheels to the living room.

no unanticipated costs yet.

we belong to several groups.

so far, 5th grade math, but only because our 5th grader doesn't like math yet.

time management -- your biggest challenge will be to figure out what to do with the rest of your day, since you will achieve in 10 minutes what takes an hour in a classroom.

my wife is primary educator, i bring home the bacon. i don't teach any subject, but i involve them and explain to them what i'm working on when i'm working on something at home, from assembling prefab furniture to running romex to replacing brake pads. there's a free math lesson in every pizza box (cost per slice, how many people will 8 slices feed, etc).

AngryCorvair wrote: i don't teach any subject...

I would debate that, based on this:

AngryCorvair wrote: my wife is primary educator, i bring home the bacon. i don't teach any subject, but i involve them and explain to them what i'm working on when i'm working on something at home, from assembling prefab furniture to running romex to replacing brake pads. there's a free math lesson in every pizza box (cost per slice, how many people will 8 slices feed, etc).

I would also debate it because I've been in your home. But it IS a good point.

It usually takes 2 parents to homeschool. At a minimum, 1 to teach and 1 to agree. It's usually more than that. As Angry noted above, even though he "doesn't teach", he's constantly looking for ways to teach.

It becomes a way of life, not just a job, or a place you send the kids off to so the "professionals" can teach them.

(reads first post, then goes to comment box at bottom of page)

things could get really awkward if your wife is doing the teaching and a student develops a crush on her..

SVreX wrote: 5- No grades are anywhere near as hard to teach as newbies think. I hear frequently, "How will I teach him calculus?", to which I answer, "He's 4. Try teaching him numbers. Then counting. Then addition. etc. etc." The teacher learns how to teach each subject immediately before (and with) the student.

You don't need to know everything already. You just need to be 15 minutes ahead of the class.

You need to be 15 minutes ahead of the class IF your model of education is the transfer into your kid's brain of the facts that are currently in yours. OTOH, if your model of education is to teach how to learn, then it isn't a question of staying ahead of them, it's a question of being open to THEIR ways of acquiring the facts they need and finding the answers together if (when) their questions exceed your knowledge. I have never forgotten the Grade 6 science teacher who always congratulated a student for asking a question he couldn't answer.