Homeschooling- Number #1

The other night I went out with a bunch of my friends and got me thinking, why do I love homeschooling so much? I have become an advocate for homeschooling lately because I have seen such good things from it, it has been a huge blessing in our household and I am very thankful that God softened my heart a couple of years ago and showed me that this was the way to go!

Here are some of my reasons:

1.  Time in school.

Requirements for homeschoolers: 1032 hours a year
Requirements for public schoolers: 7 1/4 hours a day, 188 days a year = 1363 hours a year

That is over a 330 hour difference! Now, my question is...if the state only requires us to go to school for 1032 hours, where do the public schools get the extra 330 hours? That's an extra 45 days of school!  I think they get it from money. Last year, Millard added on an extra half of hour to each school day- why? So they could get more money from the government to help "improve their schools." Have the schools improved? I'm not sure, we pulled Megan out. :)

Here is what my kids do here at home.
Courtney- takes about 1 1/2 hours for spelling, handwriting, reading, phonics, and math
Megan- takes roughly 2 hours for her read-alouds, math, history, English, writing, handwriting, she does reading on her own.

Together-takes maybe 1- 1/2 hours for science and Bible class

If I was just teaching Courtney kindergarten, she could be done in less than two hours a day.  We also use four day lesson plans (like many homeschoolers), so technically she goes to school about 8 hours a week.  That is as much time as public school kids sit in school in one day! And she learns just as much!

Megan takes a little bit longer because she has more subjects, but still, she goes to school about 2-3 hours a day.

Now you may be asking yourself...if they only go to school 8 hours a week, how does that add up to 1032 hours a year? 36 weeks x 8 hours a week =288 hours. that leaves about 750 hours left.

Yes, but school is much more than sitting at the table learning out of books!

Here is what we do:
1. Play basektball outside- PE class
2. Take dance/ gymnastic class- PE
3. Painting a picture- art class
4.  Learning how to brush your teeth- health
5. Taking a class at the homeschool learning center- history
6. Attending AWANA- Bible Class
7. Attending Sunday School- Bible Class
8.  Reading labels on cereal boxes- health class
9. Learning how to take care of ourselves when we are sick- health class
10. Singing along with the radio- music class
11. Singing and dancing as mom plays piano- PE and music class
12.  Learning the German alphabet as we drive in the car- German class
13. Learning why birds are slamming themselves into our windows at home- science class
14.  Learning what to feed Courtney's pet grasshoppers- science class
15.  Going on a field trip to the zoo- science class, PE
16. Visiting John Brown's Cave in NE City- history class
17. Making real corn tortillas- history
18. Writing a play about the first thanksgiving- history class, creative arts
Etc...

This is where we make up that extra time! Homeschooling is a lifestyle- my kids are learning all the time! If I technically kept track of all the hours that my kids are "learning", I'm sure we would hit the 1032 hour mark!

As for the times that my children are not "learning", they have time to be kids. Go play and be creative!! Life is not all about school, especially when you are a kid. You are going to have responsibilities soon enough! Go enjoy life!

2.  Interests

My children can pursue what they are interested in.  I do not have to do science with Courtney, they don't have science in the public schools until 2nd or 3rd grade, but since she has a huge desire to learn about science, I found a curriculum for her level and we are doing science this year! I can also combine Megan and Courtney's science class and do it together (since she didn't get much in public school anyway).

In addition to science class, we can also go to the library and check out books on things that she is interested in, we can find science experiments, we can visit the zoo, we can go on nature hikes, etc, etc.  I have time to do all these things!

As for Megan, she is my little historian (A girl after my own heart. :)
We can read about history for school and then we can dig a little bit deeper into the subjects. Again, we can go to the library, we can pretend play, we can do hands-on-projects to learn about history, adn go on field trips.  The possibilities are endless. 

4.  We now have time for school AND outside activities.  Since we have school four days a week, we have time to pursue outside activities during the day.  Megan attends dance during the day. We can go on field trips during the day.  We can have some downtime between school and evening activities, so we are not running from one activity to another without a break.  We have time to sit down and eat supper as a family before our activities.  We are not restricted to anybody's schedule but our own.