Reviewing the why of it all....

Recent events have me reconsidering the "why" behind the decision to homeschool. I used to think that it was superior education. While I still believe I can give my kids a more tailored and generally better education, I no longer feel this is the driving force. I want them with me; with the family. Time is flying and soon I will have one graduating.
That terrifies me. I feel like I have missed out on so much because he spends all of his time away from the family and at school. I wish I could take back those days. Soccer Star and Mini Monster get along so well and I am afraid that he will flee the nest and lose connection with the littlest. What I really love about homeschooling the youngers is that they learn to live and communicate better with their siblings. I don't have that. I don't even speak to one of my brothers and rarely see the other. We have nothing in common. So much for the great socialization that public provided. I learned to disconnect from my siblings and my family is what I learned. I barely remember being at home once I could drive! I want more for my kids. I want them to be friends and have more than what I have with my siblings.
Another change in thinking is that I really don't value or put much stock in the overwhelming pursuit of a 4 year school. WASTE of money for the most part. So much can be done at CC for a fraction of the price.
That said, I do have 2 in public school and hate it every day they walk out the door. My greatest wish would be that they came home and spent their days with us, lunches outside in the sun, and impromptu field trips to fun places. I just miss them.

Happy Holidays!

With the holidays upon us I have time, okay maybe not have time, but I am taking the time to reflect on the year and the changes I have made to our lives. Please note that these are my personal feelings and as I do not judge the people who use public education(my own 2 older boys currently go to public school), I ask that you just read and not judge.
Homeschooling...where to begin. I feel this pull at my heart. I feel like I am compelled to take the education of my kids into my own hands. I feel unsettled that so many people accept the status quo that is American education today. I hate that parents just settle for something that is lacking because they can't understand the alternatives. Why have we come to accept education that is sub standard? Are we really okay with the testing and low standards? How did we get to this point that we are many, many levels below where we were years ago? How is it that in Civil War times the literacy rate, including slaves, was higher than it is now?
It pulls at my heart. This is NOT to say that there aren't many wonderful and dedicated teachers, because there are. I hope that I was once one of them. It is simply a case of their hands being tied by what is acceptable to teach and what is allowed. The standards are accepted, set, and taught.
Another really huge issue for me has been the total degradation of morality. What is now considered the norm revolts me. I'm not sure if it is the blatant lack of clothing that young girls wear, the nasty music they all listen to, or just the disregard for authority and decency that is the worst. When did it get this bad?
So they will be unsocialized you say? What part of school offers them the kind of socializing I really want them to have? I hear more horror stories than I hear success stories in all honesty. Should peer pressure be okay? Should I want my kids to mix in with children I would otherwise NOT want them to be friends with because it will make them "better people?" I'm sorry but that is not a risk I want to take. I have seen the village and I prefer it to NOT raise my kids thank you.
Lastly, school days are too long. Where did evening family dinners go? The ridiculous rat race to over achieve and be a part of 100 different activities for the sake of beefing up your college application has dissolved the very essence of family. How sad that we have to carve out time to speak to our kids. Is it any wonder that we lead the world in teen suicides? Our kids can't be kids. They are over scheduled, technologically terrorized, unplugged creatures that we don't recognize. Does it make sense to have your child spend more waking hours with strangers than yourself? Who shapes your child into the adult you want them to be when you see them for just a few hours per day?
At any rate, those are my reasons. I am not attempting to put my kids in a bubble and isolate them. I have just found that there are better ways for my kids to learn and learn to be lifelong learners. I like to be the central figure in their lives and shape them, especially my girls, into the best people they can become. Here's to the journey!!

Memory Work

Sounds old fashioned, right? Well it is! As old as learning your ABC's or your name. Memory work is a must for young kids because they literally absorb facts! Why not get them out of the way now so that down the road they are already on the shelves of their figurative grocery store?
I am employing two great resources for this. The first is the book Living Memory by Andrew Campbell. This provides tons of great memory categories including Latin Proverbs, poems, phrases, and math facts. I also use history facts and dates to keep them reviewing all year. The system is an easy index card box file! You can read about that here.
Soon we will be needing a second box for days 1-31 as we are filling the weekday slots with items we already know well. Is it working? It certainly is! There are times I move things back into more frequent positions but for the most part they are retaining and even my preschooler has blurted out random names like "Beowulf" and "Saxons"! I suggest it for all facts that kids need to study in various subjects. A simple 5 minute review everyday and long, arduous study sessions will be a thing of the past!
What are the merits of doing this though? Well simply put, children need the facts in their minds before they can begin to manipulate them. They need a frame of reference to put history facts into in their mental time lines. Andrew Campbell sums it up this way:
1. Memory is a basic human faculty.
2. Exercising one's memory brings better mental health.
3. Memory implies order.
4. A good memory is a key to writing.
5. To speak well, one must remember well.
6. A good memory is essential to mastering classical subjects like Latin and math.
7. Your memory is your personal laptop.
If your child is trained say by age 7 to know all the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts wouldn't life be so much easier? Then they can move ahead in learning to understand how math works by without being bogged down by trying to recall the facts. Wouldn't a basis in Latin words help an SAT taker decode unfamiliar vocabulary? Certainly! Even if your child isn't able to recall things off the tip of their tongue, it will be in their mental stores, on a shelf, to be easily accessed at a later time.

Why Latin?

Really, why Latin? It is a dead language no longer spoken isn't it? This seems to sum it up.
Dorothy Sayers says it best:

I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this not because Latin is traditional and medieval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent.
-- From the National Review .

My girls currently do Song School Latin and Prima Latina. They are 2 different approaches that start with intro to vocabulary through songs, chants, and a bit of grammar mixed.


It is an admittedly light intro to Latin but that is where we are starting and it can't hurt, right? If only the schools would stop concentrating on comprehension, history, and science in the early years are REALLY build strong foundations the results would be remarkable. Beginning language in middle school is far after the prime age for learning that type of thing. Please PUBLIC ED, stop testing and start researching!

Why??????

How can a former public school educator turn homeschooler? Have I lost my mind you ask?After reading a fabulous homeschool blog, and her reasons why she homeschools, I was prompted to explain our reasons.** It is really this simple. Public education has degraded terribly. Morals are gone and teachers are forced to concentrate on the almighty test. There is no differentiation except to pull up the students that will keep a school from meeting certain criteria!
**The Accidental Homeschooler

If you were to see your child struggling to get their shoes on what would you do? You would stop and help them, right? If your child were in danger of being hurt wouldn't you without hesitation throw yourself in the path of that danger? Of course you would. Why do we just, unthinking, accept that pushing our kids out the door onto a bus every morning to spend the next six hours with total strangers will benefit them? Why should I let my kids spend more waking time with strangers? Is the few precious hours we get in the evening really enough time to learn who they are?

In a room with as many as 24 children they are exposed to a variety of "colorful" personalities and lifestyles. I don't know about you but I carefully consider who my kids spend time with socially so why should I let one of my kids be paired up with an unruly and terribly behaved child during class activities? So that they can develop tolerance, thick skin, maybe learn something? Seriously? Is this what school is for? Please excuse me for thinking that it is for education and not for social lessons. Do you ever remember sitting in class, and wanting desperately to speak to your friend? It's kind of hard to concentrate on the lessons when you're bouncing around trying not to talk. Have you ever had a teacher who rearranged the seats to prevent talking and splitting up friends purposely? Were you ever caught passing notes?

Correct me if I am wrong but aren't children repeatedly told that they are NOT in school to socialize? Is the small 20 minute recess, assuming they haven't had it taken away to walk laps, really adequate social time? I can tell you what it gives time for. Unseen fights and scuffles that lead to whole class admonishment. Time for a girl to single out another girl for being fat, ugly, dressing poorly...whatever. Please stop me when I come to something that my kids need for healthy social development.

Now are there wonderful and loving teachers out there? Certainly! But why should I stress over whether or not my child's teacher is nurturing? How odd it seems that WE turn to the teachers to ask if THEY notice any changes in our child's behavior when things go wrong. We seriously consult with strangers? This implies that they know more about your child than you do! Does that sound right? I choose to not be selfish and give my kids my time. Soon enough they will be gone and I will have all the time in the world to myself. I choose to share my knowledge and learn along side them instead of pulling out bits and pieces in the afternoons IF they even bother to say anything about school. YES I choose to shelter my girls from the blatant lack of morality in school, especially middle school. I don't like what goes on there and it is NOT real life. Back stabbing, lying, boy chasing.....yuck. Middles school girls are NOT there to learn. Coming out of middle school unscathed by peer pressure and catty witches is not my goal for my girls. Who wants there child to go through that on purpose?

Here is an excerpt from an article called We Don't Believe in Socialization" that addresses some of the myths that children need to go to public school to learn to live "in the real world".

"Now- flash forward to "real life." Imagine the following scenes:

Your Employer is auditing the Inter-Office Email system and comes across a personal note between you and a coworker. You are required to stand at the podium in the next sales meeting to read it aloud to your coworkers. The Police knock on your door, and announce that because you and your neighbor have gotten so close, they're separating you. You must move your home and your belongings to the other side of town, and you may only meet at public places on weekends.

You're taking your parents out for an anniversary dinner. After you find a table, a waiter tells you that seniors have a separate dining room, lest they "corrupt" the younger members of society.

You go to the grocery store only to find that since you are 32 years old you must shop at the store for 32 year olds. It's 8 miles away and they don't sell meat because the manager is a vegetarian, but your birthday is coming up and soon you'll be able to shop at the store for 33 yr. olds.

You'd like to learn about Aviation History. You go to the library and check out a book on the subject only to be given a list of "other subjects" that you must read about before you are permitted to check out the aviation book.

Your Cable Company announces that anyone wishing to watch the Superbowl this year must log on a certain number of hours watching the Discovery Channel before they can be permitted to watch the game.

You apply for a job only to be told that this job is for 29 year olds. Since you're 32, you'll have to stay with your level.

In a group project, your boss decides to pair you up with the person you don't "click" with. His hope is that you'll get learn to get along with each other, regardless of how the project turns out.

Many people had a friend who they stayed friends with all through grammar school- WHY? Because their names were alphabetically similar, and they always ended up in line with each other. As an adult, have you ever made friends with someone simply because your names were similar? How long would such a friendship last and how meaningful would it be, providing you had nothing else in common?"

Yes my oldest boys go to public school but could come home at anytime if they wished. As for the little boys....they will join their sisters in the ranks of the "weird homeschooled children". But be rest assured that when asked "Quid Agis?" My kids will answer "Sum bene." (for all you nonhomeschooled kids that is "How are you" in latin, answered with "I am fine" because yes my kids are just fine!)