What is your experience with home schooling or self-directed educations?

Question

I am a successful professional but was an utter failure in school. I now have two kids that are approaching school age. For my own learning I can be very intense about learning a topic when I want to but I don't do well on someone else's structured curriculum.

I would love to instill in my children a passion for learning and I would hate to see them begin to see learning as work. I am tempted by articles I have read about allowing children to pursue topics that interest them at their own pace.

Do you have positive or negative experiences with this kind of education? What would you recommend I read/do to learn more?

Answer 1

Having homeschooled my own three children beginning in 1984 and now working with my preschool grandson, I would say that you can instill this love of learning in your children better than anyone else.

Your children are at a perfect age to begin. Although you have already been homeschooling since the day that they were born. Now is the time to let them explore this world. See the wonders it contains.

Begin by giving them all the experiences you can. This does NOT need to be expensive classes like ballet, gymnastic, preschool, etc. Just let them experience life WITH you. Show them the grocery store, laundromat, flea markets, the parks, museums, etc....even the backyard! Include them when you do dishes, sort laundry, plant the garden, exercise, take walks, etc.

READ, read, read...and read some more. Read to them. Take them to the lilbrary and encourage them to find books on topics of interest to them.

LISTEN to them and WATCH. Are they fasinated by an ant on the sidewalk? Then get down and WATCH it. Talk about it. If the interest continues consider: getting some books to read at their level. Books with interesting pictures at any level. Build an ant farm and collect a few ants and watch them tunnel.

Play games with them. Games teach great social skills like taking turns, being a good sport, and talking with others. Games can be used to TEACH. Homemade educational games can be made to teach or drill ANY subject. By starting to play games with them now, they will see games as a part of their learning. Check out my Games For Learning website to get some ideas of games you can make.

http://www.angelfire.com/wi2/GamesForLearning

or join Games4Learning yahoo group to discuss making educational games with other parents and teachers.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Games4Learning/

The most important thing for now is to ENJOY YOUR CHILDREN and show them your love of learning. Show them things you are interested in. Your excitement will be contagious.

Answer 2

Homeschooling is the perfect atmosphere for instilling a love for learning in your children.
continue to research, especially the types of home education that interest you. The best homeschooling experience for your family will be the one that best suits the needs of your family and not necessarily what other people think will (or won't) work best for you.
My daughter thrives under a very structured format, yet others wag their heads in dismay over this type of teaching.
My experience has always been, do not be so devoted to the IDEA of homeschooling that you lose your devotion to your children. I have seen families that probably should not be homeschooling, or at the very mininum should switch styles of homeschooling, but were so locked in to what they were doing that they were making everyone miserable.
Our experience has been very dynamic, changing a bit each year to suit the ever changing needs of our children.
A great source of information, with tons of articles on everything from socialization to learning styles can be found at homeschool.com
If you look at the bottom of the navigation bar on the left, there is a search box. Type in socialization and see what the experts are saying. You will see the naysayers on here are just parroting things they have heard and have not put two seconds in to finding the truth.

Answer 3

I home school my girls in the USA. I was raised going to public school, I was very social and very active with sports and friends. I decided that I wanted something more for my girls. My oldest daughter is 2 years ahead in school and very very very social. She has been involved in T-ball, Karate, Tap and ballet, Hip-hop and Jazz, the AWANA program, Sunday school and so on. My youngest daughter is only 20 months old and is rather social herself. She speaks very well and is already saying the sounds that her letters make, she is going to be very smart like her older sister. My girls receive a lot of positive attention wherever they go because they are outgoing, friendly, sweet, caring and giving. They are pretty cute too. My girls have more time to enjoy their day, play, not be corrupted by children who learn bad things at home and bring them to school, go on field trips and get hands on experience about what they are learning, spend time with their mom, learn about God, meet new people of all age groups and so on. I am not the smartest person in the world and I was a pretty average student but the program I use is fool proof and everything is laid out for the parent to teach. All the research is already done for me, the lessons are prepared for a 5 day week 36 week year and all the books and materials are provided. The great thing is that it only takes a couple of hours a day and I can add my own stuff that I want them to learn on top of what has already been prepared. I will admit, I have met some socially weird people who were home schooled but being that I went to public schools my whole life I met a lot more socially weird people there than I have ever met with home schooled people.

Answer 4

It's amazing how many people will answer these homeschooling questions when they have never homeschooled, and are only writing in to bash homeschooling, and not to answer the questions...

I've hs'ed for the past 9 years. We use traditional curricula but the kids are free to pursue their own interests on their own time. They have extra time because we can finish up the other school in the morning, and they are still sooo far ahead of their peers. [My husband and I are both Mensans, which is one reason we chose to hs.] Some people do 'unschooling' because it allows more time to pursue interests.

There are different schools of thought on this, so I'll just share my own opinion, although I do realize it is only my opinion...

Both of my kids love to learn, as, coincidentally, do their parents. I have always tried to make learning as much hands-on as possible, and have taught in as interesting of a way as possible, and have kept our learning positive. I have also been a 'fun mom' that spends LOTS of time with the kids - hiking, painting, cooking, playing tennis, playing board games, etc. This has helped the learning atmosphere, because the kids are really agreeable to whatever I say, and not resistant.

I do know a few unschoolers, and those who do unit studies, and what I've found is that most of them do not do as much learning as my kids do. I am not trying to offend any unschoolers out there, because I know many are doing fabulous jobs, and I commend them. THe ones I have known do not have any type of schedule for what they should do in a year, so they go at their own unhurried pace, and only cover a couple of topics from Sept-May, taking Dec off for Christmas, a week off in the spring and fall, Fridays off for hs group, and the summer off because of course it is traditional to be off school during the summer.

Most of the people I know doing this are also not following the CHILD'S interests - they are following their own. If I were doing this, we'd be doing all kinds of mechanical engineering and physics projects, plus drafting and painting. We'd not do a single thing with botany or biology or, well, anything at all in history other than WWII...

Also, learning IS work. It should not be a dreaded chore, but it is work, and if all the child does is follow his own interests, then I am not sure if that will prepare the child for life, which is a whole lot of doing what you don't feel like doing. I am not sure that any child would have well-rounded interests.

There should be time allowed for kids to do their own thing, but there should also be those elementary years of building the framework of knowledge so that more detailed facts can be hung on this framework as the child gets older and does more complicated work.

At any rate, I did not say these things to offend anyone who uses child-led learning. I am sure that some people can make it work very well, esp in early childhood.

Answer 5

I have been homeschooling my kids for 3 years now. I had pulled them out of public school because of a lot of things but the main one being that they were seeing school as a CHORE. There are so many resources available because of the internet and there are homeschooling groups and other things you can do. If you are willing to devote the time it takes it is the best thing you can do for your kids!! The "no socialization thing" Is NOT an issue for most people. Because if you are involved in your church , local community or homeschool group your kids will get plenty of socializing. If someone is complaining about it more then likely they don't know anyone who actually homeschools it is always someone who knows someone who was homeschooled years ago... Also look up your homeschool laws for your state at www.hslda.com there is alot of info there for each state. Anyways in my opinion LOOK into it!! Best thing I ever did for my girls!!!

Answer 6

I have a 10 year old that I considered putting into home schooling, simply because she was struggling. We were in a bad school syustem. I did not do it, and we moved. She is now in a good school, and doing well. She enjoys going to school, and I have seen her face light up at the fact that she can understand things she couldn't before. SO to be honest, I think it depends on where you are. Check out the school systems where you live. See their ranking and talk to the officials. Let your kids go there first, and if you or they are not happy with the school, try home schooling. Good luck!

Answer 7

We follow a mix of directed and self-directed learning. It really is wonderful to see them following something that really interests them. My ds has a passion for science-related subjects--likes to flip through chemistry dictionaries and science encyclopedia. He's just starting to read and can't read these books, but he's got lots to tell you and to ask about. :)

If you really want to know more about self-directed learning, I'd recommend reading things about the Sudbury Valley school (they do have a website) and the Albany Free School or other similar schools in addition to unschooling websites and books.

Answer 8

I have mixed feelings about home schooling and self directed education since I am a staunch supporter of private education. When parents are paying for their child's education many kids are going to be less likely to mess up. I spent kindergarten through college in private school and it was a great experience because I had a lot of opportunities to travel and was involved with student clubs which helped me build my resume for my professional life and I am currently in graduate school.

Some private schools do allow kids to pursuit their own interests which is a bigger advantage than public school since that's what my life in that environment was like since we were encouraged to be creative and artistic and we had more personalized attention when we applied to colleges and what support and opportunities job and otherwise we could take advantage of. I could say this the $51,498 I spent at the private catholic college I graduated from was worth the money since I had smaller classes and more access to my teachers and a more family like environment with people who I have developed great friendships with and who I still keep in touch with nearly 3 years since I graduated.

I would do research on private education because some of what these schools offer that parents look for are the ability to prepare their children for college and the workforce if some choose a vocational or trade school program. Also giving them more access to support and opportunties for jobs and other educational resources. You're also paying for teachers who are well qualified in their area of expertise since the issue with public school is that they seem to focus more on getting kids through instead of explorinig their potential as students.

Answer 9

If you are going to home school your children I suggest that you do it from the beginning. If they go to public school for awhile and then you decide that home school is better and change they may not be so receptive. My husband and I tried the home school thing with our children after jr. high - bad idea. They didn't like it so much - being alone alot. We finally allowed them back into public school where they did great.
If you decide to home school - be sure to find a good support group. Kids need interaction with others their own age.

Answer 10

I am in 9th grade and have been homeschooled from the beginning. I personally think it's a better way to go than Public School. People always tell me and my siblings that we are actually smarter and more mature than people who go to public school. It's also alot of fun.