When my first born was little I couldn't imagine handing him over to an institution for many hours each day. I wanted to homeschool him. I had no experience and even though I did much research on the topic, I didn't have the confidence I needed to take that leap of faith. I enrolled him in a hybrid program that consisted of 3 days of school per week on campus and 2 days of homeschool. I thought it was the best of both worlds and for awhile it was.
It didn't take long for me to develop a dislike of the curriculum materials that the school was using. There was very little that I found creative or inspiring. I knew that if I wasn't inspired to use these materials, I couldn't expect my kids to be inspired by them. One of the perks of the hybrid program was parental involvement and flexibility. I had the option to choose my own curriculum to work with on my homeschool days with my kids. The problem was that there was very little continuity between programs and although I tried to make it work, it didn't. So in the end, I conceded to using their materials and stifle my inner voice that they were all wrong. Things went along like this for awhile, until they couldn't. That was when I realized that one of my children was dyslexic.
The year long journey that brought me to homeschooling my girls is worth explanation of it's own, however I won't linger on that here. It's safe to say that the school we attended did nothing to help my dyslexic daughter, even with my advocating for her. I have a well documented case against them.
Skip to present time. I've chosen to homeschool my girls with the help of a fabulous charter school that facilitates homeschooling. My only feeling is that I wish I had done this years sooner. I've only come across advantages and no disadvantages, so far.
My dyslexic daughter is now receiving the academic intervention that she's needed for a long time. She has the benefit of a learning specialist who is trained in Orton Gillingham, Lindamood-Bell and Barton (the reputable interventions in the world of dyslexia). She has been with our new charter school for 9 years. Brooke is getting one-on-one intervention or being grouped with only 1 other child, at the most. Our previous school couldn't keep a learning specialist for more than a single calendar year, some leaving even before then. It's been difficult for my daughter to get to know each one of them, each year, only to start over the following year with someone new or worse yet, someone filling in until they found someone "permanent." I can't tell you how grateful I am to watch someone systematically working through a scientifically proven method to teach my daughter vs having her complete random worksheets printed from a free, online website (yes, I did an observation in one of her special learning sessions at her previous school and that's what they were doing).
Not only do I see hope on the horizon for my dyslexic daughter, but there is a world of fabulously engaging curriculum materials to choose from in the homeschooling world. One of my favorites is Fun-Schooling with Thinking Tree Books. These books marry well with the philosophies of Charlotte Mason who believed that learning was more of a lifestyle.These books serve as a template for learning and creativity. They are open ended and can be used in many different ways. They encourage using the library and utilizing books to study various things, as opposed to being a "canned curriculum." They overlap in subject area, such as Language Arts, Social Studies and Science. For example we are using a book called "Pignapped: From Factory Farm to Family Farm." This book is the story of a pig who goes from being in a factory farm to living on a family farm. The book looks at how our food is processed (Science) with the history of how factory farms emerged from family farms (Social Studies) in a workbook that provides opportunities for vocabulary work, essay writing, comparing and contrasting (Language Arts) along with opportunities to draw and color.
Another one of their books, "Yum-Schooling," is a cookbook that provides recipes and instructions, but also opportunities to answer questions about the recipe, such as, "What was difficult about making it? How could you make this better?" etc. There are also vocabulary activities, thought provoking questions about food, opportunities to create a recipe of their own, documentary suggestions about food and opportunities for further research. All of these books are interactive and engaging. Some of the books will end up being family keepsakes. For example there is a "Film Study" book which is full of pages in which to write down movie reviews. I bought this one with the intention that the whole family could contribute to it. The pages (in all the fun-schooling books) are very graphic, as opposed to just being typeface based. Simply speaking, they provide opportunities for writing in a non-laborious approach.
In addition to the fun-schooling books, we're using some computer based learning. I couldn't be happier with our math program, Teaching Textbooks. Read Naturally and Lyrics 2 Learn are reading comprehension programs and L2L uses music and song, to teach comprehension.
We're also learning about US History, using the Liberty Kids series along with a series guide that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers. I combine that with working through a Fun-schooling book about U.S. Presidents and watching some Disney and Peanuts documentaries about U.S. History and Presidents. I love that I can overlap and reinforce learning by providing the same information with multiple types of media. We even made a point to watch the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction at Disneyland on our last trip.
Literature Units are wonderful and I don't know why the public school doesn't use this amazing approach. In our previous school we were bombarded with Reading, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary and Writing jobs. None of them were connected. Each one was a separate activity with it's own reading material, most of which were tedious, non-fiction reading with too many technical terms and dates. There was no psychological investment in any of these Language Arts jobs. Enter the Literature Unit. The girls and I are reading, "Island of the Blue Dolphins," together. The literature unit work encompasses all areas of language arts. After we read the chapters, we work through vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, writing, etc. and they are all related back to the reading we did in the book. There is an investment in learning because there is connectedness. There is a logical progression and flow to the work we do. I have been wanting that for a very long time.
Another benefit of homeschooling is the opportunity for field trips. Even though our previous school hosted field trips, from time to time, they were rarely educational and they were rarely led or directed. No supplemental materials were provided to connect the field trip to classroom work or activity. They felt like dangling, lost opportunities. I have found a couple of fabulous Field Trip Journals to document our field trips. We are planning a visit to the King Tut Exhibit that I have prepared for by lining up a Literature Unit for The Egypt Game along with a book full of hands on opportunities to learn about the pyramids and other parts of ancient Egypt.
We are not just homeschooling. We're fun-schooling and learning so much. Me too.