1) Tell a bit about yourself and your family – how many kids, how long you’ve been homeschooling, your own schooling experiences, what made you choose to homeschool.
-Hi, I'm Liz. I am 40, expecting #8 in May. My children are ages 4-14 and have been homeschooled from the beginning.
- My decision to homeschool was based originally on my own horrible school experience. I was bullied for my shyness and lack of fashion, harassed by teachers for my older siblings troublesome behavior, and never felt comfortable in any scholastic endeavor. I vowed I would not let my children live through that; even if I never bought a curriculum, my future children would still be better off than I was in school.
My philosophy has changed since then. I no longer homeschool to shelter the kids from bad experiences as much as to give them a better family and learning experience.
2) What do you think makes you see yourself as a ‘relaxed’ homeschooler?
- we don't bow to a schedule. Our day is relaxed in that we follow a natural flow or rhythm.
We have done boxed curriculums some years and completely unschooled other years, and what I've learned is that while every child is different in learning style, all children benefit from low anxiety schooling or a relaxed approach.
3) Tell us about how your days flow and how you found your homeschooling rhythm.
-the early years were rough. It was me trying to impose a school at home approach -scope and sequence, meeting state goals - and my oldest wasn't capitulating...at all.
He fought tooth and nail against all convention and at 6 told me he doesn't want to learn to read. I sensed anxiety so I backed off and focused on his brother. Oldest did ZERO school until he was almost 9. He came to me and said he was ready. I started him out in 3rd grade curriculum and by the summer he was "on par". But I had learned that those standards didn't matter. That summer vacation he rose to the 6th grade reading level when only a year earlier he was a non reader. Currently he is pretty much upper high school level in everything but Math. Next year I am hoping to get him a low level college Math and see if it will help him in that.
Second son was not the same child, but now I knew you could wait until 8 to teach reading and still succeed, so we did. This one was a Math minded kid so we played card and dice games for fun. I couldn't find anything he was interested in reading though, and I worried I had failed him. No fiction kept his interest. But he would read his father's sports mags in the bathroom so I found some old popular mechanics magazines and he loved them! He reads airplane schematics I print out, and loves my old college physics textbook. All at his own pace.
My more structured children have created their own schedule almost in spite of my relaxed approach.
For example, My 11 year old is first awake, pulls out the biggest stack of eclectic textbooks and workbooks and doesn't stop until he's finished what he feels is a full day of work.
There are times he asks me to assess where he's at and where he "should" be, "test me mommy", LOL so it's kind of like a quarterly review. His system evolved completely from his own desire and tendencies, I never pressured him at all. He also happens to be dyslexic so all of this comes harder to him, but he taught himself how to overcome his dyslexia through creativity. He's a solid rising fifth grader.
His 9 year old sister seems to be following his lead, but she's not as dedicated as he is yet, doesn't care where she is in her workbook, spends more time on the subject she wants to that day. She's about a fourth grader in all her subjects except reading level where she's solid 6th grade.
My 8 year old DS and 6 year old DD are almost at the same level. He has sensory and motor skill issues I have to help him overcome. He couldn't hold a pencil and put it to paper until this year, and doesn't relate well to phonics yet but loves adding and subtracting. She however is all over her workbooks and loves sounding out words as well as numbers work.
Life of Fred is our Math of choice. They all love it and go at their own pace. We have constant interaction, teachable life skill moments and discussions throughout the day to help commit what they have learned to long term memory.
4) How do you incorporate your faith life into your homeschooling life?
- our day centers around the Liturgical calendar. We read from the bible, draw pictures, learn the saints, go to Mass, do appropriate devotions for the season, and often relate current or historical events to Church history and doctrine.
Morning prayers at breakfast, grace every meal, examination of conscience at night with Act of Contrition. Rosary for the kids who can handle it without me losing my mind. For Lent we have a sin basket and a bean jar. We write our daily sins on little pieces of paper to be burned on Good Friday, and we put a bean in the jar for any prayer/sacrifice/good deed done daily.
5) Can you tell us the most compelling or rewarding experience you’ve encountered yet while homeschooling?
- our local Catholic homeschool is a very scholastic/academic group. They all enroll their children in Seton, Mother of Divine Grace, Kolbe, and there's a lot of tutoring etc. going on. These kids are extremely book smart and academically disciplined, so to watch my kids interact and hold their own at our get togethers is at least confirmation for me that we are on the right track.
At the blue Knights 2 years ago, My oldest (then 12) had to give an oral report on St Athanasius. I showed him how to search the net for info. He wrote out the report but forgot it at home, forcing him to talk off the cuff from memory. His leader was amazed and impressed with his ability to both speak in public so easily and talk about the saint with no cue cards or paper. That was rewarding for him and me.
--additionally, and most importantly my kids are always being complimented on their behavior, attentiveness and kindness.
5) What practical advice would you give a newbie or someone burned out who wanted to change up her style of homeschooling?
--don't be afraid to take a break. Let them explore their interests without the pressure of performing to a standard. Love learning and they will love it. Teach them to communicate and love because your relationship with them is a greater indicator of their future success than any test result.
6) How do you respond to critics of your relaxed approach?
--I invite them to speak to any of my children. Just bring up a topic, ask them a question, and see where it leads.
The first thing people notice is the ease with which my children speak to adults - the certainty and maturity they approach a conversation with, and sometimes a passion for the topic that most school children lack.
Only then can they pass a judgement on my education style.
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