Home-school Adventure: Watch out for flying ... - If THIS is motherhood

So I want to come here and tell?y?all that I?ve made up my mind. ?That I?ve decided to homeschool. ?That I know I can do this. ?That I?ll be giving my children the best I have to offer by doing so. ?That I have the patience and the time to do this. ?That I?ve got all my ducks in a row ? a plan in place ? and confidence in myself and my children.

Yeah right. ?All I?ve got is anxiety.

I have budget concerns. ?My husband isn?t entirely on board. ?He isn?t jumping ship or trying to sink mine, but he has doubts. ?I know I?m going to have to prove this is the best route. ?But how?

I don?t want to buy a curriculum. ?I don?t want to follow state?curriculum?s?but I don?t know how to pick up where public education will be leaving off. ?I don?t know how to plan lessons. ?Actually, I don?t know what lessons to plan. ?Planning the lessons is easy but aligning them so that The Professor is both engaged and adequately educated in the areas he needs to be?..yeah?.much harder than I thought it?d be. ?I feel stupid trying to read Standards of Learning guidelines. ?I feel even dumber trying to figure out what lessons fit those standards even a little bit but I feel like the standards would be excellent guidelines if only for providing The Professor with a balanced education. ?IF I could read them and correlate them with appropriate lessons.

I do know how to teach. ?I know how to offer my boys the open doors they need to learn. ?I know how to network. ?I know how to write my letter of intent. ?I know what I want my children to learn. ?I know they can learn. ?I know as a family we can do the Home-schooling thing, though I know I have a lot on my plate now, and sometimes wonder if I really have the patience for this.

But patience is a learned skill, is it not? ?Certainly if this is the best option, I can learn. ?Hell, I don?t know anything about being a mother but the kids are still alive and no serious harm or trauma has come to them so far. ?Or at least they aren?t in therapy for any kind of trauma. ?Yet.

My head is going to explode.

I know what I want. ?I know how to teach them. ?I know we would be excellent candidates for home education. ?I know studies show that home-schoolers test higher than public schoolers. ?I know they tend to be strong leaders with close family relations and plenty of self-confidence. ?I know as adults they tend to be more involved in their communities. ?And I know I don?t need to be rich, or have a masters degree because according to studies,?home-schooled?children excel despite their financial backgrounds, their family?s education or their minority status.

It?s ironic really, that we spend THOUSANDS of dollars per student in public school, yet their numbers get worse every year, while home-schoolers spend less than a grand and their children truly seem better off academically. ?It really makes you wonder how it is so easily believed that poor families fare worse in public education because they are poor. ?Those same poor children seem to be better educated at home for less money. ?Seems like a BIG flaw in our system. ?Word of advice: Stop believing that the nations poor education status has anything to do with financial or minority status. ?Certainly, if that were true,?home-schooled?children from poor families would fare the same, but it appears they don?t. ?

Once again, I?ve been doing my research.

And yet, I have no plan because I am having trouble with that part and don?t have a teacher that can help guide me through my first annual curriculum creation. ?And I don?t know where the heck to start.

But I REALLY want to do this. ?Without screwing my kids up. ?Preferably.

What I need more than anything else, is guidance to create a years worth of lesson plans. ?Do you know how much it costs to get this kind of assistance? ?Too much. ?So please don?t scoff in disappointment if a link to a home-schooling wish list suddenly pops up here. ?A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

I?m open to suggestions and guidance from other home-schooling families out there, or even teachers. ?Just leave a comment or email me at akazookeeper at gmail dot com.

In the meantime, I?m off to overwhelm myself some more by searching for resources and lesson plans I don?t know how to use. ?Wish me luck!

Source: http://ifthisismotherhood.com/2012/03/homeschooladventuremakeupyourmind.html

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