Ramblings...

So what has happened since I posted The Homeschooling Issue post? Well as readers of our family blog will know The Spouse came around. But how/why did he? And what does this mean for our homeschooling? Well after the post I collected the comments I received *thank you all very much!!* and put them in a word doc for him to read. There was some nodding, a few chuckles *that is ALWAYS a good thing with him*, and then a sigh of relief. He asked if I would be able to home school both of our boys and I assured him that I believe that I can. Then a few weekends later we went out and he purchased the two desks I had been wanting to get for our classroom, and he has frequently commented on how great the classroom is looking/coming along, and has even helped me with the plans to revamp the closet in that room ,so it is more useful for the purpose of that room, while not breaking any of the rules put in place by the housing office.

Of course having him onboard does come with some new challenges. Before I just had to contend with him not being thrilled with it, and it being a topic he didn’t really want to deal with, since he just assumed I would get off this kick when our oldest meet the age requirement for school. Now though he is very involved and wants it to be my main focus. Thus the reason for some of the changes I’m attempting to make over this weekend and this upcoming week. A lot of his questions now are “How will you work this in with schooling the boys?”, “What did you all get done today?”, and so on.

While I jumped one hurdle *a very massive hurdle actually* and we have moved to an area of agreement on the boys’ educations, we still have to learn the importance of balance. Yes I can still manage our home, have some shred of a social life, be a wife/lover/superwoman, and educate our children. It is just going to take balance…and a lot less time on Facebook.

But I am happy to have him onboard because,… I don’t think I could do this without a partner in the balancing act of home educating, at least not on the level I am aiming for.

Here’s to getting an A on the balance beam of homeschooling!

And just in case you are in need of some encouragement here are the wonderful comments I received.


Karen said...
Rayven and The Spouse,
Rayven...LAY OFF THE MAN! LOL Sometimes, "just because" means that he hasn't had the same amount of time that you have to research, think, formulate, and assemble his argument... ;-)
As for his arguments, though, I think that his fears are the "usual" ones. They are, actually, the fears of most parents, regardless of how one chooses to educate their children.
The Spouse is proud of his children and wants to stay that way. From the sounds of it, being proud in his family is scholastic success. It is the same in my family. Lots of disapproval here too.

HOWEVER, what can only be shown with time, the scholastic advantages are far less memorization and rote education and more critical thinking, creative thought, the ability to question, research, and seek out answers on their own. They embrace and welcome differences in people. We have very close friends of many different races, cultures, religions.

Just the other day, the kids were in the car with their public school cousins. The cousins called someone they disliked a "Jew", they made fun of a pedestrian's hair, and they said disparaging remarks about a black family walking towards the store in the parking lot. Seriously! *I* was steaming in the front seat. But I heard my kids say, "Well, we have friends who are Jewish, so we don't find that funny." and "His hair is different, but it's cool!" and "What is funny about people who are different?!" My kids were, in fact, shocked to hear the things the cousins were saying.

Also, I can speak of my kids and the other HS kids that I know: people are ALWAYS impressed with how mature they are. They are a wonderful combination of MATURE and INNOCENT. They can and do talk to ANYONE with confidence and interest. They also still sleep with their stuffed animals and play with them.

*grin*

So, while my kids can't name the capitol cities of Peru or New Jersey, they are brilliant in other ways, and they know exactly how to find out and to evaluate the efficacy of websites they are one. Also, *I* don't know the capital cities of Peru or New Jersey.

So, Holmeses, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And MUCH LOVE,
Karen


MOM #1 said...
Well, as someone who has homeschooled a son from elementary through high school, all I can say is where there's a will - there's a way.

It really depends on what state you're living in at that time and the requirements of the colleges you plan to apply to. I live in a state that's so ridiculously easy to homeschool in, it's just plain silly. All of our local universities actively recruit homeschoolers.

We also went the route of community college first and will transfer to a major university in a couple of years. I feel this is a way to get Baby Boy acclimated to being in a classroom since he hasn't been in one in almost 10 years. I don't want him to have his first classroom experience away from home with a bunch of strangers. I feel that would be irresponsible of me. We chose that route because we COMPLETELY home-schooled high school, as in only one outsourced class during his final year and no tutors, etc . . . so he has no classroom experiences other than a few years of elementary school.

Another benefit of this method, in my opinion, is that the high school transcript becomes inconsequential, although I know for a fact that universities do accept mommy-made transcripts all the time. When transferring to a university, they will be looking at his previous college transcript.

It's way too much to discuss thoroughly in a blog comment, LOL. ;-) Mom #2 and I just always knew we could do it, so we did. But we have inflated egos like that, I guess.

Everyone's education is so personal anyway, there's no way to actually standardize education. Children in different states, towns, even different areas of the same city are never actually all learning the same thing. We taught Baby Boy what we thought he should know, included stuff he wanted to know, and just kept an eye on our target university guidelines . . . it really isn't as hard as people make it out to be.

Email me anytime. Also visit the high school and college boards of the WTM forums . . . they are a WEALTH of knowledge.


Karen S. said...
Many colleges are actively seeking homeschooled students because they excel in academics and have proven themselves to be leaders on campus. My oldest attends a private university that recruited him because of ACT scores. My next son will be attending a state university. Neither schools had any problem with a homeschool transcript. No GED's for us either!!

Wendy said...
At the moment, I would like to homeschool until our son is 16, and HOPE he will go to college at that point (I'm so envious of Mom #1!!!). But, of course, that is our son's choice.

Anyhow, the plan at the moment is to homeschool until the age of 16, but we will revisit the issue of "how long" when he's old enough for middle school, and again when he's old enough for high school.

So we have a basic plan/hope/desire, but know that things could change and are open to analyzing each year. :)


Melonie said...
Rayven - I have some resources and hopefully some encouragement that I can share later. As others have already commented, though, there are schools out there who not only "accept" homeschooled applicants but actively seek them out and recruit them heavily *because* they are homeschooled. And some of them are Ivy League. So while I know that won't take away all of Mike's worries, I can attest to it (I've worked with some of them directly on their ad campaigns) and hopefully it will be a little encouraging.

With love, your right wing nutball homeschooling token LDS friend. *guffaw*

Oh wait, that might not encourage him.... heeheeheehee {{HUGS}}

PS (Mostly to The Spouse) For the folks at work who are either a) not familiar with homeschooling and just think it's "weird" but are actually curious about it or b) are uninformed/misinformed jerks who are way to nosey.... a good tactic for dealing with it is to simply say, "Actually home education has grown exponentially in the military community because it provides a security and flexibility in scheduling as well as a flexibility and opportunity for continuous flowing schooling despite PCS, TDY/TAD, etc that military families face throughout the years. There are multiple military sources that not only 'allow' disemination of information to service members about homeschooling but actively support/encourage families who choose to educate at home."

Military Spouse Magazine has run a pros/cons article, and The Griffon (which is "required reading") for the upper echelon of multiple Army units actually provides support/encouragement articles directly to troops/families that are provided by homeschool companies and homeschooling parents (myself included - they've run multiple pieces by me and I've also sent them edited pieces by other authors for a previous employer).

Oh yeah, and then there's that whole Rosetta Stone thing......a few military folks might know *that* name. LOL ;-P

Once he gets more comfortable with it and feels more statistically informed, I'm sure he'll come up with his own more personalized (to the questioner) response... but that's a basic start he might like to reflect on. When the high-mucky mucks are supportive of it, then it's either really good or really bad. hahaha (Totally kidding - it's a good thing.)