Homeschooling a large family can have many advantages! Not only do you have your own little house cleaning crew, hee hee, you have built in tutors! (Well, at least when the older ones are old enough to help the little ones!) Built-in babysitters is the part I like best! My family is not that large, but we know 3 homeschooling families that have 7 kids and up! It’s really cool to visit these families! Something is constantly happening…never a dull moment…loudness…chattering…clattering…laughing…giggles….I love it!!
You may wonder HOW in the world do they do it? Yeah, I wonder too! I loved watching the Dilley family (sextuplets) on TV recently! I wondered, watching the show, how the mom keeps track of all the kids’ school schedules, homework and activities…but then, when it showed that the kids decided that they wanted to homeschool, I sighed a heavy sigh of relief and just knew that that would be the way to go!!! YEP! The Dilley family now homeschools!! It just makes sense!
The other day I worked at the local Elementary School as a substitute paraprofessional.
My kids were home with Dad and did their required lessons without me. I was able to once again get a glimpse of the public school system.
I love working with kids. I work with kids who are in special ed-the ones who have behavior issues, ADHD, OCD, Autism, etc. I am assigned a specific kid or kids and then help them one on one in their classrooms, or at lunch and recess.
I have to say that at times I wish I could be there working again daily. I love the different classrooms! I love all the educational posters, the strategies teacher’s use to control the class, the classroom management, the creative ways they teach. (Some of them, of course).
As I visited different classrooms yesterday, helping the children I was assigned to, I was impressed by one teacher who doesn’t believe in worksheets. When this teacher was teaching math, she passed out small white boards and markers to each child and they wrote their answers on their boards. I confess that I am a worksheet fiend, and I usually feel like I need paperwork for proof that we did something, but this inspired me to change things around at times and not do the same boring thing everyday.
She also doesn’t have rules for her 1st graders when they are at various “centersâ€. For example, at the penmanship center, kids are encouraged to write about anything they want. If they can’t think of a topic, they can copy from posters, words on the white board, or just write a letter to mom. Their focus is learning neatness.
However, as much as I love the some of the teaching and classrooms, the problem is the socialization!
I saw a first grade girl get mad and kick another girl under the desk, and the girl who got kicked, almost start to cry, but the teacher was busy teaching, so she didn’t intervene. Another kid shared with other 4th graders about what a wet dream is. Lovely.
Kids gang up on other kids at the playground, and get away with bullying other children.
Teachers are not perfect and get frustrated—they can be rude, sarcastic and demeaning to children. School is not always fun and happy for children. There are days when it is a struggle for kids to just not get hurt or picked on. So do kids just need to “toughen up� Is this real life?
This is one reason why I homeschool. Maybe I am overprotective. I just don’t want my 8 year old having to defend herself all day. Or, having to be a robot in class. Because the kids who squirm, need to stand up, need to walk around, they are the “problem kidsâ€. They are the kids who disrupt the class and the teacher’s concentration-and it isn’t fair to the robot children. But, if your child isn’t a robot child, then this learning environment isn’t fair to them!
I came home yesterday to my daughter who had a peaceful day at home, learning, playing with her brother, and reading her favorite books. Not once did she get physically hurt by a mean kid, get talked down to by a frustrated adult, or get teased by a group of other girls. Sure, we have sibling rivalry and my husband and I get frustrated at times. But we aren’t sarcastic and mean to our kids. I think this learning environment is better. Today, we have gymnastics with other homeschoolers who seem to know how to treat others with respect. The way we socialize our kids has far more advantages than the socialization they get in public school. Isn’t it funny that that is the #1 question we homeschoolers get asked? “What about socialization?†We should respond with, “Yes, that is a concern for us. We don’t want our kids socialized the public school way!â€
I don’t have anything against the teachers I work with. However, there are some wackos out there. This video isn’t really about Homeschooling, but it is about many teachers out there in the public schools…enjoy!
http://homepage.mac.com/lesleyu/iMovieTheater.html
Having had my kids in school and then out, back in (in a different state) and back out, I totally agree with Alvin Toffler and Bill Gates. Very interesting and controversial opinions here. It’s a good read!
Did you ever wonder how those darling child actors got their schooling done AND worked all day?
Years ago my kids did “extra” work in California. We were called out on jobs almost daily- shooting movies, T.V. shows, music videos, commercials, etc. around the San Fernando Valley where we lived, and at the big studios in Burbank, Hollywood and Studio City. Many of our homeschooling friends did this also and we had a blast getting paid to “act” normal in the background of some of our favorite T.V. shows-such as 7th Heaven, The Amanda Show, The X-Files, Judging Amy, etc.
We “extras” were usually treated well, and the craft services (free food) was to die for! Unfortunately some of us moms gained a bit of weight eating and sitting all day!
We met a lot of child stars and our kids got to play and hang out with them. That part was great—and the kids learned a lot about making movies and all the behind-the-scenes stuff.
One requirement was that all the kids had to be “in school†on the set for 3 hours per day. Studio teachers were assigned to be “social workers†for the kids-helping them with their schoolwork (kids had to be in a “classroom†which was a trailer usually) and being in charge of their well-being. Once school was over, the kids belonged to the parents again. We didn’t really have any problems with this set up-we supplied their schoolwork and the kids got stuff done-We moms got to sit, eat and talk—well, it did kind of get boring sometimes.
Anyway, while some child actors go to school when they aren’t working, most of them have private tutors. In fact recently on Larry King Live, Bindi Irwin spoke about being “homeschooledâ€â€”she loves it and said that her favorite part of homeschooling was having a close relationship with her teacher—ok, private tutor. However, some of the child stars like Dakota Fanning and her siblings were- and I am guessing still are homeschooled!Â
Kids today that do extra work make $100 per day. My two oldest kids have around $2000 in required trust accounts that they have access to when they are 18. That was only a percentage of their total pay. Pretty awesome when it is time to buy their first cars!
Stephanie was a wonderful interview and Luke was adorable and so smart! On this last video of their interview, see how well Luke reads and watch as Stephanie sums up her homeschooling experience so far.
My daughter and I were still in the “learning how to videotape” stage for this show, so we realize the lighting isn’t perfect…bear with us as we learn and strive to make future videos better than ever!!
In this show, Stephanie, our homeschooling Aunt, tells us about her circle of homeschooling friends and we discuss Luke’s Switzerland presentation for Christmas Around the World. They also made a Jesse Tree-what a great resource for Christmas!!
Another thing Stephanie mentions is that she take pictures of Luke’s artwork. Then the picture can be placed in a scrapbook, saved and viewed forever…I just love this idea and I wish I had done this a long time ago with my kids’ precious art work!!
Hello everyone. We are very excited about the growth in viewership - particularly over the past two and a half weeks. We view it as both encouraging and as a responsibility to provide great content and information.
Laura had to fly back to California - we just got back a couple of days ago - for a family matter. Hopefully, she can get the next Janke Family video ready to go while out of town. If not, we’ll just have to wait.
In the meantime, we’ve been adding some features and information to make improve your experience here at HomeschoolVideoBlog. We have a lot more in the works and will be releasing information and features as they are completed.
First, we’ve added a form for you to subscribe to our site via email. This is the method still used by many of you. However, continue reading because we have also created a tutorial on how you can be notified of updates to our site and others without giving away your email address.
Hopefully, my tutorial will help demystify some of the confusing jargon behind this technology - called RSS. It is also know as syndication and subscription technology. But no more jargon for now…
To find out about this technology and to get a specific tutorial on a free software that you can install to receive updates from this site and others, visit our Site Guide.
