Homeschooling 7

We just finished up our first year of homeschooling.  I guess there are those out there who would call what we did this past year “public school at home” since we were enrolled in  K12 through a local school district.  Whatever it was called it allowed us to take charge of our children’s education.  It allowed them to actually progress  instead of sitting around at school for most of their school day.  It was exciting to see them work at a pace that was challenging.  Next year there will be changes in how we do things.  But all in all, I’d say we had a pretty successful year!

As I mentioned before, we were involved in K12 last year. While I liked some things about this program, there are other things I did not like. We chose k12 simply because I knew it was time to homeschool, but I was not familiar with any homeschool curriculum. I could either leave the kids in public school while I researched and planned, or I could go with K12-which was all planned out for me. My husband and I decided the kids would get more out of K12 than public school, so we pulled them out of public school and enrolled them in K12.  I am still not a homeschool expert, so next year we are continuing with the things we liked in K12 until I find something that will work better. Here are a few of the things I liked and didn’t like about K12:

I love that everything is planned out each day. It didn’t involve a lot of work on my part.

I like that they kept track of lessons as they were completed. I knew exactly where everyone was in their studies and how much pogress they had made.

I (and my kids) really enjoyed their science program. They had fun lessons and experiments. The history lessons were enjoyable as well.

Now for the things I didn’t like:

Everything is planned out each day. I know I listed that on my “like” list, but it also made the day a little too structured. I think part of the fun of homeschooling is being able to be spontaneous and flexible. I want to visit Native American ruins and museums when we are learning about Native Americans without worrying that we are getting behind schedule.

It was a public school curriculum. In some ways that was good. I knew we were covering all the district requirements. It also made things just a tad boring.  Next year I hope to spice things up a bit.

I could only adapt lessons so much to fit each child’s learning style and interests. Again, part of the fun of homeschooling is being able to be flexible.

I was not crazy about the math program. For the first time my kids decided they hated math.  I see they have a new math program for the 2010-2011 school year, though so I may try it.  If it is still not working we can try something else.

Overall, it was a great year. I know next year will be better, and I am excited about the things we have planned. Homeschooling has been a great experience. Even though I knew it was the right thing for our family, I truly didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I thought I would fall into bed each night emotionally exhausted, thinking, “I don’t know if I can do this one more day!”  But guess what? Even though I was physically tired at night (which was to be expected since I was expecting our 7th child), I couldn’t wait for the next day! Our current plan is to send our kids back to public school for their High School years. That way they will have a transcript and some college credit. However, we all enjoy learning at home so much I wonder if I will be able to send them back when the time comes. I guess we’ll see.