1. A report from a involuntarily homeschooling mother in Italy. This an excerpt from the Baltimore Fishbowl, a lively newsletter. Cara Ober interviewed Irene Woodbury, an American living in Italy. I lightly edited, to save space, this paragraph from the long mid-March interview:
We have no experience in Italy with homeschooling. I’m supposed to be a remote worker, working 4 to 6 hours a day, but I have my kids home and I’m supposed to be homeschooling them in Italian, math, and geography. My 6-year-old is in first grade. Even so, the school assignments are building up and his math skills are getting rusty because we have not been diligent, and now his teachers are sending more stuff. I don’t know how many hours I am supposed to teach him, but Monday through Friday I’m aiming to devote three hours a day.
But homeschooling for various reasons is already well-entrenched in some 2 percent or more of the population of the United States and Canada. Homeschooling families have been tackling the problem of keeping up with a government curriculum for decades.
2. A report from my homeschooling niece in Canada. An Oxford alumna (doctorate in English), she homeschools her three children, and has seven years of experience homeschooling.
One thing that's important with homeschooling is to take the long view. It's not a matter of cramming masses of information into a child's brain within a short space of time. Rather, figure out what basic skills you are trying to impart to your child over a given period of time (say, for at least the next three months, preferably longer), and decide which of those skills you will try to impart each week. Follow a schedule but don't feel you need to cover every subject every day. Observe your children to see how much repetition they need before they have grasped a skill. Don't force them to do unnecessary repetition. Schools give students a lot of busy work because they have to keep everybody busy until all the students are ready to move on. But your child can just move on to the next thing when he/she is ready.
If you're not sure what skills are appropriate for your child's age, check your state's curriculum guidelines, which should be easy to find online. Another option is to follow a recognized homeschooling curriculum, such as Seton [Seton Home Study School]. It's not necessary to follow their system slavishly – just take what's useful and leave the rest. We combine resources from a few homeschooling programs (Catholic Heritage Curricula is one of our favourites), and add our own too.
At the end of the day, try to enjoy the process. This is a unique opportunity to bond with your child – to learn how your child thinks. What really interests each child – that is a great discovery. Have fun, and don't stress too much! Your child will learn lots, as learning from parents is a very natural way to learn.
3. Some recommendations from Bethlehem Books. I asked Jack Sharpe of Bethlehem Books for some recommendations for homeschooling aids, based on his long exposure to the field. Bethlehem Books is a big supplier of books to homeschoolers. He gave three recommendations:
- Homeschool.com, a blog founded by Rebecca Kochenderfer 19 years ago and now edited by Jamie Graddy.
- Sonlight.com, a 30-year-old shopping site and homeschool curriculum.
- Time4learning.com, a curriculum that appears to offer the parent a great deal of flexibility. They promote the idea that their resources can be used for after-school of summer programs.
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