are you smart enough to homeschool?

Question

I ask this becasue my sister in law were discussing homeschooling and she replied "I don't feel I have enough education to properly teach academia to my kids."

How do you respond?

Bettee62...1. because we were having a discussion, and that usually requires both parties respond.. 2. I homeschool, she doesnt.. so we were offering up both points of view.. in disagreement of course.. so I am asking others how would they respond..

Bettee62...1. because we were having a discussion, and that usually requires both parties respond.. 2. I homeschool, she doesnt.. so we were offering up both points of view.. in disagreement of course.. so I am asking others how would they respond..

Answer 1

I'd say "Wow, I think it's really sad that you have so little self-confidence that you don't believe that you could learn anything that your child is going to learn eventually anyway."

I think she's been brainwashed into thinking that only people with degrees are smart, when it's been shown that intelligence has nothing to do with education. In fact, one study has shown that test scores in children DECREASE with additional years spent in school. Nice huh? SO what does that say about a person who goes for a four year degree in college LOL!

Answer 2

With a Masters in Education and over twenty year's experience teaching, I can assure you that I can homeschool--and I have tutored homeschoolers when their parents felt they weren't up to the task.

But I can assure you you CAN homeschool if you understand that it takes:

1. Discipline
2. Planning
3. An understanding of what is involved and a willingness to do what it takes to make it a successful experience for your child.

1. Discipline means that you have to not only structure your child's day, but yours as well. Always have a set time when instruction begins, when studies are to be done, and when physical exercise should happen. Actually, a parent knows, better than anyone, their child's habits and learning styles. Is he/she a late riser? Take that into account when you plan the schedule. But keep the schedule consistent. Most adults who work find that they either have to follow a schedule their boss imposes on them or they must impose one on themselves if they are self-employed. This discipline is one of the most important lessons to be learned.

2. Planning means not only organizing lessons but also understanding them. I have found I always learn more about a subject after I have taught it, because I have to understand it thoroughly so that I can explain it in more than one way (never think that a child will always "get it" the first time). One key to planning is knowing HOW TO LEARN. The key to any curriculum should be teaching these steps:
a. observing and understanding the problem given
b. learning how to use resources (such as a dictionary) to help understand a problem that is incomprehensible
c. using resources to solve the problem

3. Understanding what is involved means that sometimes a parent has to let go and ask for help. As I said, I have tutored home schooled students; they were usually ones that had trouble learning how to read; since my MEd was in language arts, I have learned and applied a variety of methods to help even older students who couldn't read to be able to read. Your sister might not have a special needs student, and will do just fine on her own, but if she's weak in a particular subject, she might see if there is a tutor, another parent who is homeschooling, or someone else who is more comfortable with the subject to be taught.

Answer 3

Well, for a lot of it, if a 10 year old can understand it, I can teach it. Once you get to the higher grades I think that you might need to review some of it before you teach it, but I got good grades in school, and algebra and biology have not changed. And people who major in kinesiology and coach basketball are qualified to teach high school science. Most teachers do not have a lot of extra schooling in the area they teach. They have college degrees in education. I mean my mom and mother in law are teachers, and they are very smart, but there are a LOT of teachers out there who are just average people.

I think the only thing that I would say I have discoved I am a little behind in are things like the rules of spelling. Like "The phonograms: b c d f g h j k l m n p qu r s t v w x y z 1) Q is always written with two letters, qu, when we say “kw.” The u is not considered a vowel in this case.
2) C before e, i, or y says “s.” When c by itself has a sound, it always says “s” if followed by e, i, or y (cent, ci ty, cy clone); otherwise its sound is “k” (cat, cy clone, mu sic).
3) G before e, i, or y may say “j.” When g has a sound by itself it can say “j” only if it is followed by e, i, or y. When followed by any other letter, it always says (hard) “g.” “Get,” “girl,” and “give” show that e and i do not always make g say “j.”
4) Gu before e, i, or y says “g.” In order to keep g hard before e, i, or y within a word, a “u” is added after the g, as in guest, guide, guit ar. The u goes with the g and does not act like a vowel in this case. Most words containing gu are from French and Spanish."

I don't think I am stupid, I was just never taught this. I was taught spelling by memorizing a list every week. I am using this book's approach for my son starting next year because it seems like knowing the rules would make it easier to learn how to spell.

Or maybe teaching their child the basics of reading. That is a gift. I think anyone can do it if they work at it, but there are teachers out there who have a system and a skill that is incredible. My son had 8 months at a Montessori preschool and it gave him such a strong foundation in phonics that it was easy for me to build on and made reading something he went into feeling confident.

Other than that, I feel smart enough. And so far, I have not had any problem. I would say a bigger problem for me is the scheduling and patience it takes to be sucessful. That I could see people saying would be impossible for them.

Answer 4

Considering that I've already taught my child to read, yes.
I know I can teach him superior verbal and written skills to those displayed by a lamentable majority of the population.
I know at home we'll cover a far greater spectrum of world history than what was offered by the public schools I attended.
I know that due to the efficiency of homeschooling's low student to teacher ratio we'll cover far more material than is possible in a classroom full of thirty kids.
I know that I'm smart enough to seek alternatives if a time comes when the material at hand is beyond my capabilities.
I also think it's a good life lesson, not a travesty, for a teacher to admit there is something they don't know yet, and student and teacher work together to find answers.

Answer 5

I have a Master's degree in Education, so have noticed that when I mention this people seem very relieved as if that means I am smart or qualified enough. I do feel though that if you have a high school degree you should be qualified enough. The truth is, even history professors that teach college level don't know everything in history, religion professors don't know everything about religion, Literature professors don't know everything about Literature. They specialize and tend to learn one small area because there is too much info to learn in one lifetime. It is also true for secondary and high school teachers as well. They hopefully do learn the text or texts they are teaching, but so do homeschool teachers.

I and other homeschool teachers are just as qualified as any teacher to teach most subjects. I did have very poor math teachers in my junior & senior year in public high school, they were PE coaches, so consequently I do plan on having my children dual-enrolled in community college to take their college math courses like calculus & trigonometry. I think that will be good for them, it's free in our state once they turn 15, and should be a good intro to college life for them. I also have had my children occasionally have music and other sports lessons like gymnastic lessons taught by other people (since I have no gymnastics knowledge). We homeschoolers are smart enough to know how to teach a class well or find other good teachers to help us!

Answer 6

IMHO you don't need more than a high school education to homeschool your children. However, you must have a commitment to the task, the determination to follow it through and the patience to learn to teach to each child.
The difference between you and your sil's feelings is confidence. You feel confident enough to homeschool, confident in your commitment, determination, intelligence and patience... I would say your sil lacks the same confidence in at least one of those areas.
The thing to remember is homeschooling is not for every family...without that commitment, etc...it really can't and shouldn't be done. Homeschooling is a wonderful option for families, but is a very personal choice. Perhaps your sil wishes she could homeschool? You can offer encouragement and understanding to her, allowing she and her husband to make the choice if they see fit.

Answer 7

If someone close to me said something like that, I would probably ask them if they felt capable of teaching their kids basic things, like counting, writing numbers, learning letters, etc. I'd then work my way up through the ages/grades until I hit the point where they felt it would really breakdown for them. I would acknowledge their fears and say something like, "Yeah, I can see how that could appear really daunting. It's great that there are a lot of programs available that have the information instead of me needing to know everything." Or I might share something where I didn't know something they were to learn and I learned it to be able to work it out with them. Always in the light of understanding where the other person is coming from. Then it wouldn't come across as me trying to convince them of something, just sharing.

Answer 8

i absolutely agree with micheletmoore's response. I am homeschooling my kids, my 5 year old attended public school for 2 terms and i was appalled when i discovered that they were learning to read by memorizing a list of words every week. This would mean they would only ever be able to spell and read the words given in those lists, what about later in life when you come across a word you have never seen before?...how are you going to know how to read it if you don't know the rules.

Answer 9

I especially liked what Karen and Glurpy said!

Everyone teaches their own child to walk, talk, eat with utensils, dress themselves, say please, etc - but when it comes to things taught in schools, people have believed that only the 'professionals' can do it. You have to ask yourself, "Have the professionals been doing a good job?" In some cases the answer is 'yes,' but in the overwhelming majority of the cases, the answer is 'no.' Once you can accept that, then the issue that you are referring to becomes more plain. When teachers in school prepare to teach a subject, they do not know everything there is to know about that subject. They plan lessons and read the material and plan ways to apply it or write about it - you can do the same thing at home, with the same materials used in schools.

Answer 10

Motivation and dedication are more important than IQ or education when considering Homeschooling.
A parent willing to HS loves their child enough to want the best for them, and there are plenty of resources and other HS families to reach out to for help.
Good luck.