Back in the spring, a student in Illinois reached out to me regarding homeschooling. She was writing a paper and wanted to interview me, and I’m very embarrassed to say that I never saw or replied to her email… until today. By the time I’d finished answering her questions, I thought it might be helpful to put them together here on my blog, as they’re commonly *wondered* but not commonly *asked*. If you’ve ever been wondering about things like “how much time does it take to homeschool”, or “aren’t those kids gonna be weird”, or “what do you even teach them”, this is a good starting point. But just like any kind of education, one blog post doesn’t show it all; feel free to send me more questions you’re interested in that may not be answered (or at least not answered as deeply as you’d like).
Below you can read my entire letter:
Jennifer,
First, I need to extend a huge apology for my very late (and obviously unhelpful to your bibliography) response. I remember your teacher reaching out to me in the spring, and I’m unsure how I didn’t see your email. My only thought is that we were knee-deep in school, new chicks, garden transplants, and a puppy. Definitely not an excuse, however, and I sincerely apologize for not helping in a timely manner.
I’d still like to answer your questions, as you had mentioned it as a possible interest to yourself in the future, and to be honest, anytime someone asks about homeschooling, I love to talk about it; it was an unexpected path in our parenting journey, and has brought more joy than we could have ever expected! I’ll put your questions below in bold print, and my answers in normal print following.
– How many hours in a day do the students sit down and learn?
My children are learning all day – from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep. The sit down portion of that varies for each of my kids; my 4th grader spends about 3 hours per day on his work, my 1st grader spends about 1-1.5 hours per day on her work, and my preschooler spends about 20 minutes per day on her “work” (hers looks so different from the other two, I put it in quotations). The sit down portion includes things like: hymns, folk songs, Bible stories, foreign language, artist study, composer study, drawing, history, science, math, writing, reading practice, literature, poetry, and handiwork (sewing, woodwork, etc.). Some of those have a bit of overlap between sitting and moving about – like singing hymns and folk songs, or going on a nature walk for science. The portion of the day that is not sit down still includes lots of learning, like: chores and caring for their selves/the home/the animals, cooking and cleaning up, gardening (or shoveling/winter care – depending on the time of year), sports, serving others who may be sick or older neighbors, playing well with siblings and friends, free play, and exploring interests that need my assistance.
– How do these families incorporate music, physical activity, or social interaction into their lesson plans?
Music has been on of the unexpected delights of our chosen curriculum. We sing a hymn every other day, and a folk song every other day. We alternate the selection of hymn and folk song monthly. My youngest has surprised me very much with these – she’s memorized several hymns and folk songs at only 3. (If you’ve never heard of Red River Valley, that’s one of her favorites – look up Stevie Nicks’ version on YouTube.). We also have Spanish songs that we rotate in our foreign language curriculum. I find the kids singing periodically throughout the day, completely unprompted.
Physical activity is also something happening throughout the day. Their morning chores require taking out trash, filling up water for the chickens, helping with dishes, bringing in the eggs, vacuuming or sweeping, and cleaning up their rooms; simple but natural movements. Rambunctious play outside usually happens right before school starts; the kids either climb the playing dome or playground outside, or play on obstacle courses in the basement (my middle kiddo loves obstacle courses and sets them up nearly daily). They also each have their own sports in the afternoons; my son has hockey or jiu jitsu, my oldest daughter has ballet, and my youngest daughter is just starting swim lessons. We expect them to have one sport going at all times, for physical health, but also for a lot of the great character-building that happens in sports.
Social interaction is, again, throughout the day. They have plenty of opportunity for conflict resolution as siblings (I got up from this email to help in sharing when a couple kiddos couldn’t work it out on their own). They also visit neighbors to drop off baked goods or say hi, come to the library and have their own conversations with the librarians, go to the park to meet new kids, help check-out at the grocery store, and any other opportunity where I’d naturally be out in the community, or where we have people in our home for dinner, staying the night, etc. Those are all obviously spontaneous opportunities for social learning, but we have scheduled times too. We meet on Sundays and Wednesdays for worship or Bible study, Mondays we have a play date with several other families, Fridays we have nature walk/journaling with another family, and Monday-Thursday (plus occasional Saturdays) we have sports. I was very concerned about this aspect of education when we began homeschooling, but personal experience and research has shown me that kids who are homeschooled tend to be able to relate to and carry on conversation with a wide variety of ages.
– How do you think these students differ socially from children who go to public school? Do you think homeschooling helps students socially or lessens their development?
I think homeschooling helps more with social development, for several reasons. Kids who homeschool are required to work with sibling personalities (often vastly different) for years; patience, understanding, and communication have to be developed, at the interest of the relationship. Because they get a few hours of free time every day, there is plenty of opportunity for misunderstandings, working things out, compromise, forgiveness, and learning to do better in our own interactions with each other. I also think kids who homeschool have the opportunity to socialize with a very wide range of ages: from babies to the elderly. They learn to help the baby carefully turn the pages of a book, or encourage a toddler to share, or throw the ball with kids their own age, offer to shovel the driveway of an elderly neighbor, etc; these very natural, seemingly insignificant moments give great opportunity to learn about interacting with a variety of ages.
I’ve seen within both public and homeschooled kids, that it really comes down to the parents. What kinds of character traits are parents instilling in their children? Is there respect, honesty, kindness, patience, etc.? Those are learned at home – regardless of the choice of schooling.
And on a similar note, I’ve noticed that children’s personalities, and their parents social habits, greatly shape the children; again, regardless of choice of schooling. Naturally shy children tend to be naturally shy anywhere, and naturally outgoing children tend to be naturally outgoing anywhere. I have a mix among my kiddos; one will stand back and watch at the park for a bit to get a feel for who is there before jumping in to play, and one will immediately run up to another child they’ve never met and ask to play.
– How much of the curriculum is determined by the students’ interests or what they want to do, if any?
My kids get to explore their interests outside of our curriculum, but I determine our curriculum. In the words of Charlotte Mason (a British educator who has a great set of books on educational philosophy), I “lay a wide feast” before them. Just like when I make dinner, I expect the kids to “try a bite”. If they don’t care for what’s offered, that’s fine – but it will be offered again in the future. We address daily subjects like writing, math, reading, music, poetry, science, and foreign language; and we address at least weekly subjects like art, handiwork, composer, and drawing. Because I keep our lessons short (because homeschooling is like private tutoring, long lessons are not needed), they are done by lunch time with our “table work” or sit down lessons. This gives them several hours to explore their interests. As I write this email, my oldest is writing a letter and my daughters are playing house with their dolls. All three have also been doing puzzles, playing with the dog, building a city with magnets, and reading books. I’ve seen them use this time for cooking and baking, playing outside, working in the garden, learning to use a microscope, playing with playdough, building forts, pretending to be pirates, making gifts for others, setting up a menu for a holiday celebration with friends, playing board games, etc.
If you would like to share any more information about how homeschooling has affected the students socially, academically, or developmentally, please feel free 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think about it!
Academically has been very interesting – and one point I guess we haven’t spent as much time on. I’ve noticed that my children don’t think of themselves as “not good at math” or “not a reader”, etc. They don’t see themselves as failing in things, though there have definitely been moments or days of frustration and tears over one or several subjects. But in general, they view themselves as learners, on a continuum of their own; which has made them diligent to keep going when they meet with something frustrating.
My oldest, in 4th grade, is reading books that are often cited as middle school level; my middle child, as a 1st grader, can do a 300-piece puzzle by herself in an hour; and my youngest, at 3 years old, has such a wide vocabulary, someone new comments on it nearly every week. Each of these kids also struggle with certain things: math or phonics or sharing (I’ll let you guess who is that last one). But within academics, they don’t label themselves as “bad at math”. In fact, my kiddo who is technically one grade level “behind” in math is also the one who always tells others it’s their favorite subject!
My hope for my kids is that this attitude lasts their whole lives; that they see themselves as learners, always, and dive into the things that bring them joy, and diligently plod along in the things they may struggle in (perhaps also with joy).
Now my turn to ask you…. do you have any more questions for me?
Sincerely,
Laura
A Little Golden Thread 