Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Top Eleven Reasons that We Homeschool

[Ok, so I actually stole this off Jennifer Georgia's blog, but I agree completely! For many more great resources from Jen, visit her site at The Georgia Times.  Scroll down and look for her lists and articles in the right hand column. -K]

11 - It’s Fun!  We can do all the fun things that happen at public school (field trips, band, orchestra, drama, art, choir, sports, geography and spelling bees, science fairs) with homeschool support groups, community groups, or (many of them) with the public school.  We can also do things that they can’t, like doing school on the trampoline on beautiful days.

10 - Freedom from bullying classmates, screaming teachers, classroom apathy, moral relativism, the homosexual agenda and the wacked-out environmentalist agenda taught in schools, bad language and inappropriate behavior in the halls, pornography, drugs, prostitution rings, pedophiles and kids with guns.

9 - Freedom to study what we want, when we want, take a family vacation whenever we want, and be around nice people of all ages, both LDS and not.

8 - Home schools are “Drug-Free Zones” - children with ADHD can run or bike around the block whenever they get antsy, children with Inattentive ADD aren’t continually distracted by 25 other children.

7 - We can incorporate our LDS lifestyle into our school.   We learn our own family history and LDS history as we study  world history.  Scripture Study, Personal Progress, Faith in God, Duty to God and Scout requirements are all a part of things we do for “school”.  We earn Merit Badges in our science co-op.

6 - We ALL learn together.  My education is just as important as theirs.

5 - Our children don’t develop peer-dependency, and aren’t impacted so much by negative socialization. 

4 - We can have the “butter and honey” (see 2 Ne. 17:14-15) instead of the mediocre and the foul.  Instead of studying  mind-numbing textbooks and reading morally-degrading assigned books, we can read the classics and can learn from the great minds of the past and present.

3 - We can teach true principles that are not politically correct, such as the proper role of government, free-market economics, true environmental stewardship that isn’t anti-human, and the principles found in “The Proclamation on the Family”.

2 - We can customize to the needs, wants, interests and abilities of each child.
1 - Family, Isn’t It About ... Time???




Three Homeschool Requirements
1 - You must be able to read.  

2 - You have to like your children (in addition to loving them).

3 - You have to be able to relax, be patient, laugh, and trust your children.

Three Non-Requirements
1 - It doesn’t take any more time than sending them to public school.  Think of all the time spent in transportation, class-helper assignments, PTA and other meetings, fund raisers, accompanying field trips.  Think of supervising the three hours of homework that people tell me their third graders come home with.  I spend 1 to 3 hours a day actually sitting reading to them, or doing  math, science, history, Spanish, Latin, or whatever else the day brings.

2 - It doesn’t have to cost a lot.  Private schools run $5000 to $15,000 per year, but you can have your own private school at home for free if you use the extensive resources available in the library and on the internet.

3 - No formal training in education is necessary, in fact, it seems to make homeschooling more difficult. 

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY:

Earlier is not better, complicated is not better, more is not better.

Structure time, not content (early years).

Help children set and achieve academic goals (later years). 

Enrich the environment.

Enjoy the journey, go with the flow.

School is life, and life is school.  There is no artificial division.

Encourage the child to make observations and generalize them to new things.

Reserve for the child the moment of discovery.

Avoid pushing the child into the “frustration zone.”

Children will reflect the social, educational and spiritual development that their parents possess, so be a good example.

OUR HOMESCHOOL GOAL - That our children leave the Georgia Academy as happy people with strong testimonies and self-confidence, who are academically prepared for any university course of study.

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