It is hard to believe today marks the beginning of year 23 of homeschooling. I was a reluctant homeschooling mom that first year. Devastated at what I was seeing at our school on base in Germany the day I went to register our oldest child. When I returned home that day and looked around our living room, I realized we had already been schooling our Duck for the last year. I felt I was educated enough with my college degree to handle a 5-year old who could already read small words and could count and add.
Add to this confidence, I had heard that the little neighborhood kinder-school would allow American children to enroll in the kindergarten up the hill from our apartment. So with a talk with our Brave Leader, the plan was set to homeschool for the years we were in Germany.
I will never forget the first day I picked Duck up from German kinder. She told me that she was going to teach the German children (and teachers) English. I told her the idea was to teach her German. Her response was that she would think about it. Then I took her home and sat her in a desk to begin her real schooling.
No one was around to tell me what homeschooling was supposed to look like. I just assumed that is would be like a school setting in our living room. Turns out our sweet little 5-year old had her own ideas of what school should look like too. So being a newbie at this whole idea, there was a lot of give and take AND tears that first year on both sides of that school desk.
What I learned that first year has stuck with me for the next 20+ years. So here are my top five lessons for first time homeschoolers:
1. Don't bring the school room to the home school.
It tuns out that there really is no need for a school desk in your living room. Children learn just fine on the couch, at the dining room table, or even in a vehicle traveling down the road to unknown destinations! Our Duck even taught us that a child can memorize Shakespeare upside down hanging off said couch (She told us she could remember better that way!). Whatever works best for you and the child is what works best!
2. You do not have to do what everyone else is doing.
The year we started home schooling we did not know anyone else doing it. So I could not compare with others. And it was the greatest gift now that I look back at how I was given that freedom to work out the details on what home schooling meant to us. I struggled...I cried...I wondered if we were doing the right thing...but in the end it was our school and we made it work. By the end of the first year, I had Duck tested by a professional company and they sent back the results that our now 6-year old was ready for third grade. My reaction to our Brave Leader...WHAT HAVE WE DONE??? I knew that day that there was no turning back...it took another five years for me to finally admit that truth. I would start every summer telling everyone that we would make a decision for the next year during our break. I always realized by the end of the summer that we were enjoying the experience too much to go back to public or private school. We had made homeschooling a lifestyle that we loved (or could live through the times when we did not love).
3. Every Child is different.
One thing I learned quickly...no two children are alike...which means no two homeschooled children are alike either. We found that as we added another child to our homeschool roster the experience was like falling off a tricycle going 100 mph on a zipline! We made adjustments to the curriculum we had available and made it work. However, we also learned that it would only work if we were open to the idea that the child was leading the way...guided by a parent who loved them and wanted them to succeed. Sometimes this was forgotten over the years. However, once we slammed ourselves into the brick wall at the end of the line, we were reminded of this and the adjustments were made. Everyone was happier and the homeschooling continued.
4. Every School Year is different.
One of the joys of homeschooling was knowing we could take it with us where ever we went. In the past 22 years, we have moved several times and homeschooled through all of those moves. We have schooled in:
2 countries (Germany and United States)
2 states (Texas and California)
and
12 different houses in 7 towns
(Hutten, Caldwell, Livingston, Lufkin, Pollok, San Antonio, and Monterrey)
Through all of our moves and even when we stayed in the same place for several years, we realized very quickly that things change. We learned to be flexible. Along with every child being different, every year we start out with a look at our location but more important the dynamics of the children we are schooling. There were years when we designed our own curriculum, took advantage of other homeschooler expertise in a subject, joined co-ops, left co-ops, etc. However, in the end, we learned to be flexible with the circumstances we were given and make it work. With each new child, there are also changes that had to be made to fit in time for each child.
5. Take advantage of resources.
In all of our moves, we have always settled into the area by finding two places...the church and the library. Once our spiritual needs were met, we focused on finding the one resource that has stayed true to our love of learning. We have never been to a library...or met a librarian...that was not helpful in our quest for books that would help us in our studies.
Other areas of interest such as museums and historical sites have always been a part of our schooling as well. In fact, our children have grown accustom to our road trips to various locations to learn the historical, scientific and social influence of a location and how it relates to what we are learning. We love to travel and explore the areas surrounding our new home and beyond.
Along with civic resources, we also have taken advantage of other homeschooling parents and their knowledge of a subject. We have also given back to other families over the years. If a parent knows a language that our child found interesting we were glad to send them to study under that parent. Duck learned to speak German, Spanish, Latin, and Greek thanks to other parents. Our other children have also taken classes from other parents. I have taught math classes to many children at all levels of study. This is a great way to tap into subjects that we were not able to teach adequately. The homeschooling community has always had the ability to share.
AND so we begin year 23 of homeschooling just a newbie with experience. We look forward to seeing what the year will bring us. We have now graduated three children plus helped a fourth along her way at the end of her schooling. Successfully sent two away to college and one to trade school.
This year we are down to three students...an 11th grader, 5th grader and 2nd grader. We spent the summer deciding what this would mean for our family. We have a lot of adjustments to make with me working full time at the church and getting older child to work also. But we got this!
Wolfgang
Snookems
Little Miss
