The kids have been in school at the Academy of Tucson since mid-August; even though it's a good school my wife and I are praying about home schooling them again beginning in December. We've scoped out the program we want to use. It's called LifePac. They basically publish each chapter in a text book separately. It makes things really easy for planning the lessons and course work. Of course, Candi is the one doing the majority of the schooling (I'm there for a solid .5 to 1% of effort). I'm just excited because I love what home schooling did for our family last year. I believe that if a family can make the sacrifices to live on basically one income, it is well worth it! My family as a whole and kids are much happier when home schooled.
There seems to be a lot of factors that determine if a family will be successful or not at it. The biggest one to Candi is whether or not she has a support group. I can totally understand what she's saying. I guess it's kind of like the old rule that says we're afraid of what we don't understand. It seems the consensus from the world at large is that kids come out of home schooling unable to adapt and succeed in life because they haven't had the relational interaction necessary to cope with day-to-day real life. I can see that point, seriously. Why even today my daughter learned something extremely valuable. At school she has a "reading buddy." That's someone from an older grade that reads with you each week. Well, evidently Nori's reading buddy hits her, calls her stupid, and says that another boy Nori talks to is dumb. I can only thank the public school system that she learned that lesson before she got much further in life. How could Candi and I ever ensure at home that she's receiving all that important wisdom and experience?! (Did I lay the sarcasm on too thick?)
Anyway, any comments? Are we nuts for teaching them at home? Are we the best parents in the world? We'll see. Maybe they'll be 25 and blaming me for not knowing how to deal with someone at work hitting them.
God bless you all!
Coming from a homeschooling mom, NO you are not nuts. Just for research sake, another curriculum to check out is A.C.E. or school of tomorrow. I have some ACE and Lifepac stuff so if you want to check it out let me know. I also have Saxon math.
ReplyDeleteBUT you guys do what God is asking you to do and know that whatever you choose, you are great parents and will do well either way. You are in our prayers, have a great week.
One more thing, check out CHET-SE. It's my support group and I love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Angie for the encouragement. We do like the LifePac cirriculum. We used it for Nori's 1st grade math. I've never heard of ACE but, then, Candi is the one that does almost all the research; I'm just her sounding board. Thank you again for the encouragement! We'll see about CHET-SE. We're signed up and were part of it last year. Candi usually took them to the gym-day that they do at Udahl (sp?) park and that was pretty cool. It's good to have other home schoolers in the church, too.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are crazy, thats why we love you!!!! If someone hits them at work, just teach them about workman's comp. and finding a great lawyer. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteTravis