Homeschoolers united!

[IronMike]

Alternatively are any of you willing to answer some of my Qs by PM

PM me any time!

[Elsa Maria]

It is probably difficult to quantify but how much time do you spend on *lessons* as homeschoolers? I mean delivering & working through the activity? I realise that there can be prep and study outside of lessons, not to mention learning is a constant process.

Also, are there any forums or websites you use for discussing homeschooling. I seem to be on one of my little kicks and I'd like to read more.

You are welcome to PM me about homeschooling, but I will try to answer a bit here as well.

There are at least as many ways of homeschooling as there are of language learning. You can probably think through your language learning methods to glean an idea of how you would want to homeschool. If you get a kick out of spreadsheets and schedules while learning a language, then you will probably use such things when homeschooling. And the reverse is equally true

A few types of homeschooling are: classical, unschooling, and Charlotte Mason-inspired. Many of us, myself included, consider our homeschools to be eclectic. By calling myself an eclectic homeschooler, I mean that I mix the methods to suit my child and our current circumstances.

I saw upthread that you like learning about older methods of education. Charlotte Mason would be a good name to research. She was a British educator (d. 1923) and has inspired plenty of homeschooling forums and curricula. CM = Charlotte Mason on message boards. The Simply Charlotte Mason website is a good starting point.

Simply Charlotte Mason
https://simplycharlottemason.com/what-i ... on-method/

John Holt (d. 1985) is worth researching if unschooling interests you. He wrote several books, and I am sure there are ample websites dedicated to his approach.

Susan Wise Bauer's book, The Well-Trained Mind, has been a huge influence on many homeschoolers. The associated community forum is the biggest, most active homeschooling forum that I am aware of. WTM= The Well Trained Mind.

Well-Trained Mind
https://welltrainedmind.com/

Keep in mind that homeschooling is illegal in some countries. State laws vary a lot across the USA. I would advise taking a look at local laws well in advance. If homeschooling is a priority, you will want to think about that if/when relocating.

I didn't really answer your question about lesson prep. But I am homeschooling high school, and that is vastly different from homeschooling young children.

Last but certainly not least, theoretical children are much easier to educate than the actual ones you live with. Flexibility is the key!

[Xenops]

I was homeschooled for my first nine years, and then went to a public high school for grades 10-12. It was a culture shock, to say the least. If anyone has questions for me, I can try to answer them.

[Speakeasy]

BJU Press - Foreign Languages for Christian Schools (French, Spanish, Latin)
While searching the Internet for language-learning materials, I happened upon the website of the "Bob Jones University Press (BJU Press)" which offers three sets of what-appear-to-be elementary through lower intermediate language courses, for homeschooling, in French, Spanish, and Latin.

I have created a separate post under the “Language Programs and Resources” sub-forum. I was wondering if the homeschoolers might know anything about these courses and, if so, if they might wish to add a few comments. Here is the LINK to the discussion thread:

BJU Press - Foreign Languages for Christian Schools (French, Spanish, Latin)
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&p=97850&sid=b4a83f9006fd358e94b9c05103e9c14a#p97850

[Soffía]

BJU Press - Foreign Languages for Christian Schools (French, Spanish, Latin)
While searching the Internet for language-learning materials, I happened upon the website of the "Bob Jones University Press (BJU Press)" which offers three sets of what-appear-to-be elementary through lower intermediate language courses, for homeschooling, in French, Spanish, and Latin.

I have created a separate post under the “Language Programs and Resources” sub-forum. I was wondering if the homeschoolers might know anything about these courses and, if so, if they might wish to add a few comments.

Bob Jones University is fundamentalist Christian. Whether or not that's a good thing depends on your perspective but I personally wouldn't go anywhere near their textbooks. Apart from the ideological content, my experience (based on looking at samples and friends' textbooks rather than using them myself!) is that the quality of educational content designed for fundamentalist homeschoolers is not very high.

[Soffía]

It is probably difficult to quantify but how much time do you spend on *lessons* as homeschoolers? I mean delivering & working through the activity? I realise that there can be prep and study outside of lessons, not to mention learning is a constant process.

I was an unschooler so spent practically zero time with formal "lessons." When I was elementary-school-age, my mother used to sit down with me every day to do math with me – maybe 15 minutes or half an hour? By the time I was a teenager I was working my own way through my math textbook, which took me maybe 45 minutes a day, but none of that was lessons with my parents, it was independent work. Most of my education was through independent reading, informal discussions, being taken to museums and the library, watching documentaries on TV, etc etc. None of which I would class as "lessons," so I suppose the answer is "almost no time at all." That may or may not be helpful!

[Ani]

I was an unschooler so spent practically zero time with formal "lessons." When I was elementary-school-age, my mother used to sit down with me every day to do math with me – maybe 15 minutes or half an hour? By the time I was a teenager I was working my own way through my math textbook, which took me maybe 45 minutes a day, but none of that was lessons with my parents, it was independent work. Most of my education was through independent reading, informal discussions, being taken to museums and the library, watching documentaries on TV, etc etc. None of which I would class as "lessons," so I suppose the answer is "almost no time at all." That may or may not be helpful!

Would love to hear how you feel about that education, here or PM. I've never met a grown up unschooler. My 7 year old has a workload this semester that would rival most highschoolers while my 9 year old... Umf. Just been thinking a lot lately about how much to push vs provide.

[Soffía]

Would love to hear how you feel about that education, here or PM. I've never met a grown up unschooler. My 7 year old has a workload this semester that would rival most highschoolers while my 9 year old... Umf. Just been thinking a lot lately about how much to push vs provide.

Apologies for the late reply - work has been absolutely hectic this week. But I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, either here or by PM or email.

I'm a fairly grown-up unschooler... I started at the age of 6 back in 1988, back when very few people had even heard of homeschooling, and was unschooled until I was 18. At that point I went on to do an undergrad degree, masters and PhD at the University of Oxford, which I would argue demonstrates that it didn't hamper my academic potential! (In fact, teaching at Oxford is built around independent study and one-on-one teaching, so to some extent it fit better with my preparation than school would have done.)

I loved unschooling. I've always been someone with a love for reading and learning (I wouldn't be here on this board if I didn't...), and it gave me the freedom to pursue my own interests and enthusiasms. Being 'pushed' by my parents would, I think, have damaged my relationship both with them and with learning. (I'm a stubborn soul, let's say.) For example, barring a brief interest in the US Civil War, I basically refused to study history until I was 15 or 16. My mother has since confessed that she was a bit worried by this. But it turned out OK in the end... I have a PhD in History! So you never know about how people's enthusiasms will develop. Now that I think about it, I was completely uninterested in studying languages either. I started learning Icelandic aged 30.

[PeterMollenburg]

Would love to hear how you feel about that education, here or PM. I've never met a grown up unschooler. My 7 year old has a workload this semester that would rival most highschoolers while my 9 year old... Umf. Just been thinking a lot lately about how much to push vs provide.

Apologies for the late reply - work has been absolutely hectic this week. But I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, either here or by PM or email.

I'm a fairly grown-up unschooler... I started at the age of 6 back in 1988, back when very few people had even heard of homeschooling, and was unschooled until I was 18. At that point I went on to do an undergrad degree, masters and PhD at the University of Oxford, which I would argue demonstrates that it didn't hamper my academic potential! (In fact, teaching at Oxford is built around independent study and one-on-one teaching, so to some extent it fit better with my preparation than school would have done.)

I loved unschooling. I've always been someone with a love for reading and learning (I wouldn't be here on this board if I didn't...), and it gave me the freedom to pursue my own interests and enthusiasms. Being 'pushed' by my parents would, I think, have damaged my relationship both with them and with learning. (I'm a stubborn soul, let's say.) For example, barring a brief interest in the US Civil War, I basically refused to study history until I was 15 or 16. My mother has since confessed that she was a bit worried by this. But it turned out OK in the end... I have a PhD in History! So you never know about how people's enthusiasms will develop. Now that I think about it, I was completely uninterested in studying languages either. I started learning Icelandic aged 30.

Hey Soffía,

Thanks so much for sharing this, I just read it all to my wife as we are both very interested in all kinds of homeschooling ideas with regards to our children. And thanks Ani for asking the question!
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On another note, I have recently found this large resource, and although I haven’t fully explored it yet, it seems promising as a homeschooling resource from a French perspective (i’m looking at buying their book at some point):

L’école à la maison

[Xenops]

I thought I would share some thoughts about homeschooling, and "unschooling".

As I understand it, "unschooling" means that the student is self-directed and she independently studies and manages her time, and gets her studies accomplished. My sister could be an example of this: she was homeschooled for the first 10 years, and then entered the public high school for the last two years. She continued onto college until she reached her master's in math, and currently teaches at a community college.

And then...There's me, who refused to learn how to read for her first 10 years. I hated the early readers, and I still hate Dr. Seuss. I find his art grotesque and nightmare inspiring. I imagine I thought "if this is all there is to read, why should I bother?" Here on the forum I regularly read about how people hate graded readers for their target language. I hated them for my first language. It wasn't until my sister got into Archie comics did I decide to take reading seriously. Rather than action-packed comics like Spider-man, Archie comics are heavily dialogue-based, and if you can't read, you can't get the stories. Despite my late start, before I entered high school for 10th grade, I had already read the Iliad, Roots by Alex Haley and the Lord of the Rings. I then took advanced placement courses in English.

I struggled with math, and it didn't help that my mom didn't understand it much either, and my dad's method of teaching was either boring or intimidating. Like reading, I didn't see the point, and having parents that couldn't teach it, it was frustrating to everyone. Unlike my sister, I never "got" math. I was placed in dummy math classes in high school, and took remedial math classes at the community college. I'm not sure what motivated me to do it, but I challenged myself to take precalculus and finally calculus. I got C- in both classes, but hey, it was far more than I thought I could do. It was a huge confidence booster, and I continued to take challenging science courses, until I got two undergraduate degrees in microbiology and medical laboratory science.

Now, mind you, I think my sister and I are rather oddities. In Idaho, I had known many other homeschooled kids, and they had no drive to continue their education. Off all of the kids I went to youth group with, the only other person I know that got a college degree was an associate's in nursing. In my young adults group, I was the only girl that got a bachelor's, and I can only think of two guys that got their bachelor's. It could be the culture: the church culture in particular either ridiculed higher education (those "secular institutions"), or had traditional ideas of what a grown woman should do with her life.

I guess my advice would to 1., find something your kid would be interested in. He doesn't like Dr. Seuss, but he likes the Harry Potter movies? Maybe help him read the books. My second point would be 2. it's okay to hire a tutor if you struggle with a concept. I know that in regards to math, I took the subject much more seriously when the teacher wasn't a parent. Parents are familiar, and can be manipulated to some extent, or the kids might not respect them. With an outside adult, the kid can't play games, and the kid might want to prove that he is capable to the teacher.