Too much time at home and too much responsibility?

Today my worry is that because my children are home all day with me, do I expect too much of them? I truly believe that children should be taught to do chores, work together and know the value of hard work but I also know that it is okay for them to simply be kids, surrounded by kids their own age.

I worry mostly for my oldest because he is a typical oldest child. He takes a lot upon himself and even though I try to not overload him, he does have the most responsibility which is just the true nature of life and birth order.

Should he be going to school for hours each day to be a "typical" kid? But then, didn't we choose to homeschool so we didn't have "typical" kids? This is not to be negative at all about other forms of education so please don't take it that way. We personally homeschooled because my son was born right around the time of the Columbine High incident and I didn't want the bullying, the attitude, the extreme expressions of self that start earlier and earlier every year. I didn't want kids consumed with name brands, trends, cell phones, online socializing, etc. This is not to say that my kids are sheltered from all of this but I think there is more moderation and very little focus on these things.

Sorry to go on and on. Our family dynamic has changed and life has caused me to need more help from my kids lately. I worry that they carry too much and just want to be sure that there is balance. As with most days, I will give it time and think it over. I will watch them and try to get a feel of what the right path is for them and I will take it one day at a time. After all, that is the key to homeschooling. No matter how you do it, you have to take it one day at a time.

Homeschool Abroad

My family is in an interesting situation. My husband has joined the military a little later than everyone else (age 37) and he has just received orders to his duty station in South Korea. The interesting thing is that it is for three years. So, with our four children we are taking this huge leap into the unknown hoping that it will be a grand adventure, help our children educationally and culturally and let them have the best of both worlds.

Naturally, because I have not been to South Korea (or many other places for that matter, I am not normally an adventurous traveller) I am nervous. However, I have told my children that without stretching our limits or comfort zone - no growth comes. I hope I am right that this "adventure" will be what is good for them as a growing experience.

Part of what I find attractive about this experience is learning so much about the country of South Korea, it's people and history. I am also intrigued by the climate and geography of the country. It will be a wonderful place to be for inexpensive travel to so many places on that side of the world that we would normally not have the opportunity to visit. Places like Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan and more.

I am hoping that at least for a little while I will be able to continue our current homeschool curriculum and lifestyle. I will be enrolling in online classes for myself as well. It will be nice if I have to do a few general education classes (despite my previous college credits) because it will give me a chance to figure out what I would like to focus on with my degree. I can't imagine anything better than getting my education along side my children and showing them that even in your mid thirties it is never to late to have your grand adventure!

6 Year Old Homeschool Boy Suspended in Iowa!

A six year old boy who isn't even part of the public school system was "suspended" because he brought a shotgun shell to a weekly meeting held at a church.

The state is claiming that homeschooling does not make the child exempt from following the same rules as public school children. The parents argue that they found the shells in their home when taking down a wall and had no idea the little boy even had it with him when he went to his weekly activity at the church.

While there is a place for standards that we should all be held accountable for I think that there are some things were a little discretion should be used. This was a six year old who is NOT in the school system. Hard to say that you can suspend him. How does a homeschool parent even follow that order? And age 6? If he had pummeled a fellow student at a public school I can see the need for intervention but this was not a weapon or even a bullet. It is pretty obvious what a shell is and what isn't and without exposing children to subject matter which is too advanced for their age how do you tell him why this was a bad thing to take to school?

This is not to say that homeschool kids should be allowed to just do anything but homeschool groups should have set guidelines and clear messages and perhaps they should be made to follow such rules. The hard thing in this instance was that no one was hurt or was potentially going to be hurt. This was strictly someone picking a bone in my opinion.

Homeschool Incentives and Rewards

In a perfect world we wouldn't need to entice our children to do what is simply expected of them and hopefully this is usually the case. Many child psychologists are against rewarding good grades in school and think that a child's education is just what their work is during childhood. While I agree with that to an extent and will not be rewarding a child's grades I do know that it is hard to keep up self motivation while homeschooling. This comes from homeschooling my children since Kindergarten (I now have a 7th grader).

We all become disenchanted with our lots at some point and we need some sort of change of pace and incentive to get us through at times. With this thought I started a new program with my kids today that I thought I would share. We came into this new year behind in science so I was trying to find a way to get my kids excited about catching up because quite frankly, the idea of just being caught up isn't doing it for them any longer.

This morning I made a list of this weeks educational goals and told them that if they achieved these (music practicing included) that we would go to a movie at the end of the week. When I say movie I should clarify. We are lucky enough to have a $2 per seat theatre in our town and so for under $15 we can all go to a movie at a theatre. And we were lucky enough to get gift certificates for Christmas.

The goals for this reward were not just science related. As I noted, we added music practice in but they also had all of their other daily assignments as well as personal reading time included. This means that they have to stay up on current work and get an extra science lesson in each day to get their reward. It will also be a reward for me! Win - win!

For those the unschool or don't do a boxed curriculum as I do you can do your own incentives. I'm sure there are many ways to mix things up for just about any homeschool style. I am a fan of just about all methods of homeschool and have tried many but I know the reality that we all at some point get bogged down in how large the task seems. It is good to have something to look forward to and it is always good to go do something fun as a family. The reward does not even have to be called a "reward" and most definitely wouldn't have to cost a dime. My children would be just as thrilled if not more so if I told them we would spend an hour or two at a park for an outing. Children of all ages are generally pleased with the more simple things in life, it seems that the adults tend to complicate things.

So what will you do when you are in a bind? Will you entice your kids by having something to look forward to?

Homeschooling Program Blog

Welcome! We have put this blog together to help all involved in homeschooling to navigate their way through their homeschool experience.

Here we will review homeschool curriculum, provide free homeschool curriculum ideas, free homeschool resources, homeschool tips, and more.

It's back to school time and we have some wonderful ideas for homeschool organization, homeschool record keeping, help for different subjects and more. So, please check back often. We will always have new and exciting ideas and information.