THE DEFINITION OF HOMESCHOOLING or AFTERSCHOOLING IS NOT HOMESCHOOLING! (Please! Get it right!)

A friend told me recently that she is "homeschooling" her children after school. She told me they are doing something called "Afterschooling." I was taken aback by this revelation and believed her to be very confused.


Two weeks later, I was told by another parent, that they "homeschool during the summer." I gasped inside and probably, inadvertently, gave quite the scowl and indignant look.


I tried to recover my usual relaxed emotional state, however their comments....the very idea that they could even THINK that they are homeschooling...is beyond my ability to grasp. Their idea of what homeschooling is, is so flawed that I realized quite quickly that a definition for homeschooling is not only needed, it is demanded! I am here to set the record straight!

We don't "Do" Homeschool. We ARE Homeschoolers. Our children ARE homeschooled! Homeschooling is NOT done...It is Lived!!

------------------

I will tell you right now that what those two parents are doing doesn't even belong in the same zip code as homeschooling. They may wish they were homeschoolers, but the reality is that they are not.


Is a homeschooler educated at home? Yes. Are all people who learn at home, homeschoolers? No. Because, homeschooling is a lifestyle.


HOMESCHOOLING: HOMESCHOOL: HOME SCHOOL:

Dictionary.com meaning: to teach one's children at home instead of sending them to school.

This is a nice beginning description but I must elaborate on this condensed, sterile definition.

Homeschooling is not only the act of teaching our child at home, but about the responsibilities parents and their family accept when we do not send them to a traditional school. We live a very different life than those who choose the traditional road. It begins with the choice to brave the legal hurtles and continues through the tears of worry and the triumphs of success. Homeschooling is about the road the entire family is traveling. We, as a Homeschooling Family, accepted the reality of our choices and live with the good, bad and the ugly that result from that choice.


There are some (not all) parents who blame the public school system when their child fails in a subject. There are some parents who take all the credit when their child succeeds. Homeschooling parents have only ourselves to blame either way.

We have the full weight of all the successes and failures on our shoulders; no matter what. ALL homeschooling parents have to carry this load. All of us. We can’t in any way, shape or form, be let off the hook. We are scrutinized more and judged more often than those who send their children to school. That is the lifestyle of a homeschooler.

The idea that my mother “homeschooled” me when she helped me with my homework is laughable, but there are some who believe that every parent who helps their child with homework is homeschooling. However, their children, unlike their wishful thinking parents, know whether they are homeschooled children or public/private schooled children.  If someone were to ask the kids where they go to school they would say, Roosevelt or wherever. A traditionally educated child knows they have to go to school, sit, learn, then come home and sit, learn more. 


To them, “homeschooling” may be a pain in the hiney because it’s above and beyond their “other” schooling lives.  It is supplemental to their “real” education. “Real” meaning the day long life they lead away from home; the reality of their educational lives. Until the child is actually homeschooled they know they are actually Public Schooled children or Private Schooled children. They live it. They are being educated at school and enduring yet more forced work as a "supplemental" education at home.

I can see how the idea of homeschooling full time would make some parents uneasy. I’ve been there. I’m thinking that maybe these baby steps are how they allow themselves to warm up to the idea of actually jumping into the home education world. It’s a process of sorts like…Maybe if they say to themselves, “Ah, see, I’m homeschooling right now as I help with homework so maybe I can teach a subject.” Then they buy a bible class or history curriculum and teach that after homework and say to themselves, “See now I’m actually teaching from a book so maybe I can go on and think about taking the kids out of school” Then they think, “ Oh my goodness, no I can’t do that, that’s crazy so maybe I’ll just do it during the summer” and then they see that they can do it during the summer so one day they all of the sudden feel empowered and jump! Voila! Process Complete!

All of those ways allow the parent to “homeschool” gently (in their mind) in their home while coming to terms with whether they are capable (in their minds) of homeschooling full time. I understand the want and even the need to say the words, “I’m homeschooling.” It becomes a familiar word that the parent can “own” so they can eventually create the reality in their home. However, while they may indeed be on the road to homeschooling, they are NOT a homeschooling family or even homeschooling at all.


In those instances the family is "playing house" if you will. They are pretending to homeschool. They are hoping to homeschool. They are going through the motions of the mechanics of homeschooing but they are not yet homeschooling. They don't know what it means, how it feels or how they will be treated when they ARE homeschooling. They won't know until they ARE a homeschooling family.
 
Are "afterschoolers" learning at home? Yes. Are they “Homeschooled Children?” No. They are Public or Private schooled children who have parents teaching them above and beyond their traditional schooling. Their parents are educating them, as any parent should, but they are not homeschooling. They are teaching them, reading to them, helping their children along with their lives. They are parenting. They are helping to supplement the education they've chosen for their children. That's it. That is a beautiful family choice and great parenting, but they are not homeschoolers and they are not homeschooling.

The difference between a homeschooler and a private/public educated child is that homeschooled children are living a different life than the average bear.  Homeschooled children are living their lives outside of an institutional setting. They do not sit in classrooms with a group of children and learn from a teacher. Homeschoolers learn at home, all the time….whether physically at home or on various outings…they are home. 


Their lives are completely different than a traditionally educated child. A homeschooled child knows that their lives are very, very different than a public/private schooled child. If you ask a homeschooler where they go to school they will say, "I AM homeschooled." They won't say, I homeschool! They ARE homeschoolers. Homeschooling is so much more than being tutored. It is more than having a parent sit with their child to teach. Parents who do this are wonderful parents…but they are not homeschooling parents. 


Homeschooling is about our lives as a family unit being untouched by the confines of those that would impose their rules on our family. We are able to move freely through our lives without checking our calendar to meet an institution time-table.  Homeschooling is a pronouncement of difference, acceptance and pride. Homeschooling is freedom! 


For a parent to say they are a homeschooler or are homeschooling, when they are sending their children to private or public school is unsettling to those of us who live the lifestyle because they are assuming that homeschooling is something that is done.They assume that our lives are not very different when, in fact, our lives are so very different. I am not saying we are better. I am, however, saying we are different. It is respectful to acknowledge that fact. 


We are educating our children, full time, without a safety net handily in place each day. We took on the responsibility and we deserve to claim the name of Homeschooler! We will NOT give that name to every parent who opens a book and reads to their child. We are so much more than that! We do that AND everything the school does for those wishful thinking parents. Until you do it ALL, you are NOT homeschooling...you are parenting.  Please, Acknowledge the difference.

Homeschooling is not done. It is lived!

RESTRUCTURING OUR HOMESCHOOL DAY

Every now and then, in a homeschooling household, there comes a time when the current system has to be rearranged. As with most things in life, things change. Kids grow older, a parent's role in their educational life changes and the system of yesterday becomes the system that has ceased to have any worth what-so-ever to the family it serves.

I have recently found our household in this position. Our old system is out of date. It's time for a restructuring of our homeschooling day and I have to be the one to do the deed.

In our old system, our 16 year old son Kazz is on his own doing his college work. Brise, our 12 year old, waits for me to tell him what to do each day. Vinze, our 9 year old, does the same and our twins, Daxx and Kole, frolic around until they decide they want to "do" school.

They are not quite old enough to be in full-out Kindergarten so I allow them to run the show at this stage. They know they have books. They know I'll teach them if they ask and they know they don't have to do anything at all until September of this year if they don't want to. Oddly enough, they ask to do work at times and love it when they work. That system has worked well, until now.

As we go along I have a feeling that Brise and Vinze could really benefit from having more responsibility on their plate. I need to figure out how to plan the day so they know exactly what they are doing, in what order and for how long, without me watching their every move.

Truth be told, I need them to do this as much as they need to learn this discipline. Why? Because I will be teaching 2 little boys how to read, write, reason and rhyme next school year. That will take much of our homeschooling hours. My time can be better spent with the wee ones, while the older boys learn time management and self-discipline.

One of the first things I would like to do is buy some customized stamps. I'm going to have some made for Brise and Vinze so they will have their own to mark their work, books, carrying cases, notebooks and various other items. They are going to have to organize their work area. Other stamps will be ready made to mark their progress with dates, times and words; like "done" "corrected" "2nd chance worksheet" and so on.

Once I have the system down, I will have the stamps made. That's one idea. The next has to do with shelves/drawers that my friend Stacy has begun to implement. Each drawer holds an assignment and they must be done in order....but THAT is a post for another day.

Wish me luck! I'll need it!

SCARY HOMESCHOOLING QUOTES or ANOTHER REASON WHY WE HOMESCHOOL

On average, home school students in grades 1–4 perform one grade level higher than their public and private school counterparts. The achievement gap begins to widen in grade 5; by 8th grade the average home school student performs four grade levels above the national average. (source)

---------------------------

The battle for humankind's future must be won in the public schools by teachers who correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old & the new, the rotting corpse of Christianity with all its adjacent evils & misery, and the new faith.
~ John Dunphy, The Humanist magazine

Parents give up their rights when they drop the children off at public school.
~ Melinda Harmon, U.S. Federal Judge, 1996

You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others, will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself - educating your own judgment. Those that stay must remember, always and all the time, that they are being molded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this society.
~ Doris Lessing

The state will take youth and will give to youth its own education and its own upbringing. Your child already belongs to us... What are you?
~ Adolf Hitler

It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry.
~ Albert Einstein

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom.
~ Albert Einstein

It is no wonder at all that home educated children out perform four grade levels above the national average. Most are taught only 2 1/2 hours per day. The rest of the day they are free to learn.
~ Shelly M. The Mom With Brownies

VOTE: SHOULD PARENTS BE CERTIFIED TO TEACH AT HOME?

COSTCO has asked its members if parents should be certified to teach their OWN CHILDREN at home! (page 16)

You Can Vote "NO" Now My Homeschooling Friends!

I would hope that everyone would want to keep their rights as parents instead of handing over their rights to the state state, but the votes are not showing that right now.
It's about 50/50!

Good Grief!

Let's all Vote NO on COSTCO's silly poll, want to?

HOMESCHOOLING OPPORTUNITIES

Oh my goodness! I would totally do this! LOL

I can just see the homeschool lesson that would occur if my children were with me, as I'm pumping gas into our 1 ton, 15 passenger van...

"Boys, what is wrong with this sentence?"

Yes, I'm that woman. *sigh*

HOMESCHOOLING MOMS

I started writing about our Ice Cream Social and this spilled out of me. So here you have it. My thoughts about my homeschooling sisters are this...

---------------------------------

There is an unspoken softness found in a homeschooling mom. It is found right between the grit to fight for her children and the nagging fear that she will fail. We are different than the status quo . We know what we do matters and the outcome lay square on our shoulders. There is no teacher to blame or system to fight. We raise our children. We educate our children. We do it. That's where the buck will lay.

When I meet a homeschooling mom, THAT handshake transcends usual boundaries found in acquaintances. I am immediately relaxed because I KNOW she is not even about to pretend she is put together. I know her home sometimes looks like something exploded in there and I know she has days when she thinks she will lose her sanity.

When I meet a homeschooling mom, I know there will be no jockeying for position comparing grades and sporting trophies. No amount of make-up, Guchi bags or painted nails can pigeon hole the elite into one group or working class in another. Homeschool moms are past that in our lives. We are past the fake illusion of appearance and right in bed with the realness of life. We chose to step out of the mold so we could march into reality. We want more for our children than the status-quo and we have committed our lives to finding it.

God has allowed me to be surrounded by real women; Women who admit they lose their minds once in a while; Women who laugh when a toddler runs over to them naked holding a diaper; Women who drive cars that stall and new Suburbans; Women who cry at Starbucks allowing us to share a bit of their pain; Women who lessen my load by listening and carry bits of it with them in prayer; Women who smile through tears, sway with the gail force winds and hold steadfast, rooted to their commitment; Women who love each other; Women who are tired; Women who are triumphant; Women who laugh loud and openly; Women who let their guard down to let us in. We are all the same. We are all trying our best. We are all, homeschooling moms.

THE HOT TOPIC OF HOMESCHOOLING

I receive a lot of personal email from people who need information about homeschooling. Many times it's from families who are just beginning, but sometimes I get invitations to be involved in PhD dissertations and Master's Thesis papers.

Today I got a request to be a part of a PhD dissertation. The writer needed specific information about homeschooling and my homeschooling group's founding date, and so on and so forth. This is normal as far as questions go, however as I read her dissertation, I realized that she is not an education major but an ECONOMICS major! THAT is something new.

Oh how sweet it was to read her paper.

I have been speaking about the financial aspect of homeschooling as it relates to our government for years now and finally someone is batting the ball in that direction yet, I dare say, she is still not touching the base.

The Economics of homeschooling in my point of view turns to this. Homeschooling is growing by upwards of 40% each year! Can you imagine? The LOW estimates now are 2 million homeschoolers in the United States.

Her paper delves into the "why" parent's choose to homeschool and the "how" they attempt to get rooted and grounded in it, but it doesn't touch on the government's involvement in the issue.

Here is how I see it...PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong oh Economist/Teacher/Math readers of mine. I am not above learning and changing. Opinions are indeed mailable.

1. Homeschoolers save their individual States Millions of dollars each year. The government does not have to pay for our children to attend school. Our tax dollars are still spent for the school but our government does not pay for children that the school does not teach.

2. Homeschoolers test above public AND private school in every subject across Economic and Racial lines!

3. Homeschoolers are well rounded, have grown up and proven that they are actually BETTER socialized than children who have only been surrounded by people their same age 7 hours a day year after year, day after day. Homeschoolers are milling about in their community much more than their traditional schooled counterparts. Homeschoolers meet people of other cultures, beliefs and races during their escapades out in the real world as they grow up. They have more time for sports, jobs, community service, and play time. They do not wait until Summer Break and their high school graduation to live in the "real" world.

4. Homeschoolers have higher rates of community service, are more likely to vote and come from both one and two parents homes.

5. Homeschooling has been frowned upon in some states like Ohio and California so OUR GOVERNMENT implemented a GOVERNMENT FUNDED program called Connections Academy, so homschooled children receive Books, A Laptop and school supplies so they can be taught at HOME by their parents. They graduate with a diploma from public school!

You can surely understand why that has become the case, right? Low overhead+ better student test scores = win/win for everyone. The slippery slope can be felt I'm sure. Any thinking person can see that our government is slowly but surely doing away with...Shall I say it? ...Bye, bye Teachers Union. shhhh...




Ah, but you Laugh!

Here's a tidbit to chew on. What do you think auto companies are doing with the Labor Unions as we speak? I live in Detroit my friends. I'm watching my friends and their families leave this state one by one, because they were "laid off" from jobs that were "protected" by labor unions. Unions are going the way of the DoDo bird and nobody is yelling "endangered!"

6. Homeschoolers can educate their children for FREE thanks to the handy-dandy Internet and Libraries.

7. Homeschoolers can go to college at the ripe old age of 14 and graduate with associate degrees by the time they would be graduating High School, had they attended public or private schools!

Homeschooling is NOT the wave of the future...It is the "now." It is not "really" being shoved around by our government, it's being helped along.

Am I the only one who sees this?

I am a homeschooling parent. I am a very large homeschool group founder. I know teachers who have quit working so they can homeschool their children. I know teachers and principals who want to quit so they can homeschool. I am into homeschooling full force, while still holding out hope for our school systems...it's fading fast but I'm hoping.

Yes, I AM a homeschooling parent. I wonder if that is clouding my judgment or making it more clear? THAT is the question.