{"id":1019,"date":"2014-12-28T17:35:19","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T00:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=1019"},"modified":"2015-05-18T17:20:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T23:20:56","slug":"the-trouble-with-homeschool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/the-trouble-with-homeschool\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trouble With Homeschool"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Louisa_pottery\"

Louisa is enthused about the potter’s wheel!<\/p><\/div>\n

The trouble with homeschool is that there is no start and no finish<\/strong>, no report cards, no deadlines, no \u201chave to.\u201d<\/em> Of course, that is one of the advantages, but a time of reckoning is a necessary part of any endeavor, including home education. In the working world, employees are given \u201cquarterly reviews\u201d to assess their progress. How are we assuring progress is made in our children\u2019s learning? Maybe we need to do some measuring<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Do you start new ideas for school with a bang and then fizzle out before the project is really done?<\/strong> In my zeal to be flexible, I have been guilty of no follow-through. Perhaps that is because many of our best learning experiences have come about when we got sidetracked. Recently, for my son\u2019s writing assignment, I helped him choose an area of interest on which to do a research paper. The topic he chose was the history and production of magnetic tape (audio tape and video tape). After checking the library and finding nothing, we decided he could probably get information by contacting\u00a0Memorex company and other tape manufac\u00adturers. He wrote a lot of correspondences\u00a0and while he was waiting and waiting for replies, the whole project just sort of fizzled out. None of them ever responded and we lost our steam for the research paper, even though it was a great idea and was approached with a lot of enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

The cure for losing momentum is setting goals and deadlines with consequences.<\/strong> We have a natural deadline for every day\u2019s work, and that is lunchtime. My children have plenty of time and lots of help from me if they feel stumped or do not understand their work, but they need to be finished before lunchtime, or they have to work after lunch while their brothers and sisters are free. A short check of my child\u2019s assignment page at the end of school time is a good way to help him be accountable and report how he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

It gives a person a great feeling of accomplishment to return and report. Although I don\u2019t want to make my children dependent on praise, it sure feels good to me to have others notice when I have put out effort to do something well. (Have you ever made a special meal and received no notice of it?<\/em>) I also talk over whether or not he\u2019s enjoying his school work and what needs changing. A schedule can be a big help. Half of the battle is settling into knowing what to expect.<\/strong> When my children know that every single day they have to write in their school journals, for example, they don\u2019t fight it like they do when I am sporadic in what I require.<\/p>\n

\"Ammon

Ammon bakes bread!<\/p><\/div>\n

Self-motivation is great in studying an area of interest, but some basics must be done whether you are enthused or not<\/strong>. As a homemaker, if you love flowers and gardening, your own high interest level is sufficient to motivate you to weed, cultivate, plant, water, etc. However, whether you like it or not, at some point you will have to take out the garbage and wash dishes even if you don\u2019t fully enjoy it. For one of my boys, reading is the self-motivated \u201cflower gardening\u201d and math is the annoying \u201cgarbage chore\u201d. We approach it this way: you don\u2019t have to love or pursue math, you just have to learn it so that you can function well. Then you will be free to spend as much time as you want reading.<\/p>\n

A little planning before the school year begins goes a long way to guarantee success. I like to sit down with each child individually and look over\u00a0all the possible resources that could be used for this child\u2019s age and interests. For example, for the subject of American Government, my 10th grader and explore together the possibilities\u2014different textbooks, a DVD series, online courses\u2014and set a specific goal. We do this for each subject.<\/p>\n

My priority list for my children\u2019s education is:<\/p>\n