Take a look at the story in the Lafayette Daily Adertiser about the new homeschool sports league that is being formed in the area, and make sure you look at the comments.  It’s really frustrating that the law in Louisiana forces homeschool families to re-invent the wheel in every area of life.  It doesn’t make any sense that the public school system keeps our children (the children of tax paying parents, let me add) out of extra-curricular activities.

My children aren’t being kept out of the system because I am afraid of it.  My children are at home for school because I feel like they can be offered some extra things here.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be able to take advantage of some things. 

The decision about things like the gifted and talented programs is left up to the individual school boards and the employees of the school board.  But the attitude that I have run into is along the lines of what I would expect from children–if you want to take anything from the cafeteria, you have to take everything.  Why? 

Essentially, the school boards of our state, charged with the education of our children, write off the children of people who make decisions that are not the norm.  For myself, I would be willing to pay extra for my children to have the opportunity to participate in the musical theatre productions of the local high schools.  But I am not given the option of doing that in Louisiana.

Like I said, it’s frustrating.

Posted: July 2nd, 2008 under opportunities, relationships with schools.
Comments: 1

This is the week where we make the final preparations for Joseph’s graduation.  We are trying to “formalize” the party that we had planned as just a celebration by including a couple of people to talk about him and graduation in general, and having Ruth and Martha perform a song in his honor.  I think it’s going to go pretty nicely, except that we’ve got a lot of work to do to get our house ready to receive the guests who are going to join us to celebrate this (sort of ) rite of passage.

I will only have two at home this coming year.  That in itself will be a major change for me.  And the two who are left are at very different stages in their educational journey–one will be in the ninth/tenth grade and the other in first/second grade.   I’m not sure what changes we will be making in our structure, but I’m sure that there will be some changes upcoming. 

I am thinking about the changes that will come to my son now that he is starting college.  I know that it will be very different for him–and will require him to learn some things that he doesn’t have a lot of experience with (like taking notes).  I’m sure that he will be all right, but it does make me nervous that there might be lacks in his education that I have created or failed to bridge.  He has always amazed me, though, by exceeding the (high) expectations that I have for him and doing really well when I was not confident.

One more starting a new stage of life.  It hasn’t been that long since he was too little to do school work.  Now he’ll be in college.  And another child to practice the easing into the parenting of an adult on.  I hope that I do as well as that as he will in college.

Posted: June 1st, 2008 under emotions, opportunities.
Comments: none

Here’s an article I missed from the Daily Advertiser on April 9th about homeschoolers and access to public school sports.

Posted: April 9th, 2008 under legal, opportunities.
Comments: none

There’s an article in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser about the informational meeting hosted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for homeschooling parents.  ULL has been working to improve communications with homeschoolers, and it’s been a real help to students and parents.

Posted: March 27th, 2008 under opportunities, relationships with schools.
Comments: none

Well, it’s been a long couple of weeks.  The children at home all had some flu imitation–we know that it wasn’t the flu because our doctor actually ran a flu test and the tests were negative for influenza.  In the long run, it really didn’t matter what they had, since all that mattered was that everyone was sick.

 And I know it sounds a little bizarre, but it provided a fair amount of opportunity for health and public health lessons.  We talked about incubation periods (as the children tried to assess blame on one another for being sick), herd immunity (and whether or not the flu vaccine would have helped, until we discovered that no one had the real flu), how viruses work, how diseases spread (and how to keep the parents in the family who weren’t sick from getting it)–in short, although the children didn’t do the school work that they would have done in the absence of being sick, they learned a lot.

The kind of learning that we did while everyone was sick is not something that can’t or doesn’t happen when “schooled” children are sick.  But homeschooling makes parents and children a little more aware of the chance to get something out of every event.  My kids were a little more involved in the subject matter at this point, and may have absorbed the information almost despite themselves, but they were given the opportunity to learn.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t calculus or chemistry, but it was very important and something that every member of my family will benefit by.

We’re finally back to the point where we have begun “formal” schooling again.  Child #2 is working on the new theatre project and currently off helping to build the set for the new play.  Child #3 is working on learning the anime/manga style of drawing and getting ready, I think, to start working on producing story lines for the characters.  Child #4 spent yesterday afternoon on a field trip learning about organic gardening–since organic food is very near and dear to this mother’s heart–and came home with a lettuce plant to tend and grow.

Homeschooling lesson for me this week?  A reminder that there are few things in life that don’t come with an opportunity to learn–it’s just a matter of taking the time to see what’s there.  We had to put our academics aside for a little while, but not our education, and in the long run, it’s the education that is really important.

Posted: March 1st, 2008 under learning, opportunities.
Comments: 1

Last week provides a good example of why I love homeschooling.  Child #2 left Friday morning to spend the weekend in New York City with friends.  Just because.  Two Broadway shows, the Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller Center, Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty….a fair amount of educational opportunity there.   And add all of the educational resources of New York itself–like what happens when the cab driver doesn’t like his tip or what wind chill really feels like. 

The freedom that comes with homeschooling, for both parent and child, is something that my family and I have come to treasure.   That freedom includes the freedom to use the programs that work for my children–each child individually.   I have used a different phonics program with each of my children, because I was able to evaluate each child’s particular strengths (and weaknesses) to help me to choose what would work for that child.  I was able to look at each one as an individual person–not as a member of a group of 20 ( or 20+) children, who all had to move together.

 I am also able to move at speeds that vary by subject and by child.  We have never had to wait for the rest of the class to catch up–nor has the rest of the class had to wait for my child.  Once we have mastered a subject, we have mastered it.  We move on.   If something in what we are learning attracts my child, we can spend more time on that–we can add lessons at will.

We also change subjects at the drop of a hat.  With the presidential elections coming this year, politics and the American system of government have become big topics at our house.  When one of the states is having a primary, we can take breaks and watch coverage–and then go back to science (or whatever the current “school” subject is).  We can discuss why the candidates say the things they say when it is happening, instead of two hours later, when everyone has lost interest.

But most of all, my children have had the freedom to begin to take responsibility for their learning.   I oversee the process, and make sure that they are applying themselves, but they know that what they put in is what they take out.  Because they share in choosing (to some extent–I know what needs to be taken over the long haul, and we always work towards that) what they are learning, it is easier for them to invest themselves in learning. 

And they all do, even when they are waiting for a bus at Battery Park.

Posted: February 19th, 2008 under learning, opportunities.
Comments: 1