Hi, I’m Linda, and I’m an accidental homeschooler. I’m the mother of a 9 year old daughter, who is not quite half way through fifth grade.  Homeschooling was never part of the plan.  Sometimes plans change.      Kindergarten, day one:  My impulsive, bright, hyperactive, and opinionated daughter decided public school was for babies.  She came home and told me that they still took naps and asked “What’s up with that? I thought I was going there to learn, you lied to me.”  I thought I had until her teenage years to be accused of lying. Apparently, I was mistaken.  Kindergarten was a repeat of what we had already learned at home. (Wait, were we already homeschoolers and just didn’t know it yet?) Did I mention that she hated repeating stuff?  My sweet preschooler had become an incredibly difficult kindergartener overnight.       Kindergarten, day 180: The kindergarten teacher should be canonized. We had finally gotten my daughter to agree to working quietly in class, with the promise that first grade was going to get a lot more interesting.  Because she was engaged, we continued with first grade work over that summer between K and 1^st grade.  I still haven’t decided if that was excellant planning, or incredibly poor planning.       First Grade, day 10:  We had already covered this work in the summer, which meant everything was a repeat.  I did mention that she hated repeating stuff, right?       First Grade: day 30:  She refused to do much of what they asked her to do.  Nothing would sway her from her refusal.  They started attaching labels to her like “oppositional” and “defiant”.  From a parent’s perspective and a teacher’s perspective she was a nightmare incarnate.  When you look at it from a six year old point of view, I have to admit that it makes perfect sense.1.      It is not fair.  If I work really hard, and finish my work they make me do early finisher work.  That’s the same stuff I just did and they try to make me to do it again. I’m not doing that, Mama.2.      What is the point of busy work?  If the teacher doesn’t grade it, it’s worth nothing.  If it is worth nothing, then why waste my time? Give me something worth doing.3.      They must think I’m the stupidest kid on the planet.  Really.  How many times do I have to repeat the same spelling words?  Every day for a whole week? Why can’t they just test me on Monday?  If they think I’m stupid, then I think they are stupid.          See how fast this was unraveling? Her mouth and her attitude kept her in trouble, her self-esteem dropped into the negative.  Trust me when I tell you that you never want to hear your six year old say, “I’m so stupid I don’t deserve to live, you should just kill me.” I never want to hear that again.       I spent many days up at the school, talking to the teacher, the behavioralist, the principal.  At home, we fought, screamed, threatened, begged, pleaded, bribed, and punished.  I mentioned she’s opinionated, right?  Our family was in chaos and self destructing.  That is not an exaggeration.      Three things finally forced my hand to try homeschooling. First, the school said that the only choice was to suspend her, or paddle her, for her refusal to participate in class “like the other students”.  She was 6, principal was a 6 feet tall man, going to come at her with a 2 foot paddle.  I’m thinking…NO!  Second, the school assured me that she was too immature to go on to second grade, so they were probably going to hold her back.  See my above statements regarding her love of repeating things.  This choice piece of news came about October.   They gave up on her… in October…of first grade.   Third, well, let me set this one up for you.  She was out sick the week before Thanksgiving break.  I went to the school on Friday to pick up her entire week of missed school work.  I expected workbook pages, reading assignments, maybe a test to give her, you know, school work.  I picked up twenty pages.  Of those 20 pages, 12 pages were pilgrim parts to color: arms, legs, body, and head, of both a boy pilgrim and a girl pilgrim.  There were two pages of Native Americans to color.  One page of turkey body, and a page of turkey feathers, feet, and beak, to color and assemble.  Sixteen pages of coloring work. For this they were willing to suspend, paddle, and hold back my strong willed child.  I’m not in denial. She is, at times, quite difficult to deal with.  She is also bright, and hungry to learn. 

     Public school was not working.  Private school would have been the same song, much more expensive verse. I spent Thanksgiving week near hysterics because I realized I was going to have do something.  Like a person starved, she spent the week voraciously consuming lessons from second grade Time4Learning.  By the end of the week I realized that this engaged child was the one I knew and loved, the one I wanted back.  It hasn’t all been a bed of roses, she is still strong willed and opinionated.  I have no doubt, our lives are much better because we became accidental homeschoolers.

Looking back, most people wouldn’t say that writing essays and term papers was even in their top ten favorite memories of school.  But I would.  But I just happen to enjoy writing.  As a homeschooling mom, I figured teaching my own flesh and blood to write would be a piece of cake.  I mean, a love of writing is surely a trait passed down in the DNA, right?

It would appear not.

My kids are more of the math & science type, like their dad.   Since we do much of our homeschooling online anyway, I started looking online for suggestions on how to teach reluctant writers.  I had my daughter do the online lessons, and she learned about writing business letters, and the differences in storytelling, creative writing, expository writing, etc.  It was all great stuff, but eventually you’ve got to just bite the bullet and go for the big one….writing a paper!

She chose a topic based on a class for homeschoolers we attended at a local park.  It was about the terrible flood our city endured a century ago, and it really caught her interest.  So she spoke to the instructor when class was over, got some recommendations for additional reading, and headed to the library.  We also toured one of the dams built to protect the city from another severe flood, and she had a great time.

She followed the steps she learned in her homeschool writing class, and soon she was engrossed in the task of writing, proofreading, editing, revising, and making a bibliography.  I sat by and watched, amazed.  It was working!  She was writing, and she learned it online!

I think the key was that she not only chose a topic that interested her personally. (No kid wants to write a paper on some boring, assigned topic…and neither did you!)  She was also able to get out and about, touring the dam and interviewing some of the volunteers there.  Learning how to write online worked for her because I was able to help her make the transition to real life.   She learned the skills online, and then applied them in a practical way in her world.

Of course, I feel completely relieved.  My child can write!  But does it work the other way?  I wonder if my daughter can teach me some math & science?

We all want a homeschool curriculum that helps our children learn. Each homeschooling family defines educational success in its own way. Most would say teaching to their child’s learning style is key. For my family, an excellent educational foundation in reading, writing,  and arithmetic is essential.

There are the visual learners (pictures, what they see), the auditory (listening, talking) learners, and the kinesthetic (physical, hands on) learners. Most of our kids don’t learn solely via one learning style. Many learn from a combination of two, or maybe even all three learning styles. Homeschool curriculum is expensive and most of us don’t have a ton of money to spend on it; buying a homeschool program like a “school in a box” curriculum for a certain grade level and finding out it doesn’t work is a major disappointment and a huge financial loss.

Interactive homeschool curriculum is one that many kids take to quickly, and it has elements in it that teach to all three learning styles; it fits in with the interactive games today’s kids play and is part of learning in the 21st century. My son, David, has benefited greatly from an online homeschool curriculum; it brought the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning methods under one umbrella which is perfect for him, since he learns all three ways.

Even better, you can usually get a trial period for these curricula; if it doesn’t work out for your child, you’re under no obligation. That’s good news during these economic times.

I never thought of myself as a particularly artsy and craftsy type of mom. Many moms are, and I admire them greatly. Despite my lack of art skills, my son loves to draw, is good at it, and has learned much from a how-to drawing book and an online art program.

Okay, when I first thought about it, online art sounded a bit strange to me; I thought, “Now that’s one subject you can’t learn online.” But then I thought about it a bit; I remember Microsoft Office WordArt and you actually could use it to draw online. My son tried it and liked it, along with learning some art basics. Now there are interactive programs that actually teach online art techniques, art history, and art theory.

When most kids think about art and drawing, it’s just a cool, fun thing for them to do. They usually aren’t concerned about art history and art theory; those interests are usually piqued later.

I wouldn’t say it’s time to throw the art books away, but I think learning art online, for some kids, might be an intro into the world of art and computers and actually lead to a career. For others, simply a fun break in the homeschooling day.

I’m sure that some parents of children in school wish they could afford tutoring when their child isn’t doing so well in a subject like Language Arts or Math. Schools sometimes provide tutoring through afterschool problems, but it’s rarely enough when your child is far behind her classmates or just isn’t understanding a concept.

Homeschooled children have the benefit of one-on-one help and extra time to study and learn lessons they have difficulty with, but their traditionally schooled counterparts have to keep up with the class or be left behind. Once a schooled child is behind, it’s nearly impossible to catch up, because his class has moved on to more advanced lessons. Well, if your child didn’t understand the previous lessons that the current work is based upon, how can he understand the harder work? This sets up a cycle, and your child can become discouraged and can begin to feel as though he just can’t learn.

An online supplemental program  can help both homeschooled and public/private schooled children as a supplement. It’s self-paced, it’s fun, and it gives immediate feedback on how your child is doing. She could actually do the lessons with little parental involvement; another way she could do the lessons is with you nearby, giving a little extra help and coaching as needed.

An online tutoring program is a great way for your child to catch up and restore his confidence in his ability to learn.