Home School

Considering Homeschooling? This One’s For you. {A V-log}

Hi Friends!…

Well, I’m happy to say that by the time you read this, I’ll either be on the airplane to Canada, or maybe even cruising the Canadian Gulf Islands on my parents’ boat. (I’m so excited!! I have been dreaming of this trip for years!) Before leaving home though, I’ve had a lot to do..So much to do to prepare for the boys and I to travel, to prepare to leave Dave alone at home (awww,) and also preparing for the homeschool year that begins just ten days after we get back! Wow. Just wow.

So in this hectic state, I hope you’ll understand that this video is very unscripted, and casual. There is so much more I could have said…So much I would like to add…

But (like I say in the vid–) I really wanted to post it before I leave town because of the timing:
It’s summer. Some of you (raise your hand,) have been thinking…talking…praying…losing sleep over…whether or not you might just want to take the leap and try homschooling your kid(s.) And a few of you have requested that I share a video about homeschooling.

So here it is! A scratch on the surface of some of the honest reasons I love homeschooling.

This is how I talk when a friend stops by to visit and says “So…I’m thinking about homeschooling…I’m not sure I have it in me…But go ahead—Tell me some of the things you love about it.” It’s not scientific, or refined. I’s just me being real.

Of course for every point I made, I can imagine a number of follow-up questions. Feel free to leave me those here or on my contact form. I’m likely to do a follow-up post when I get back.

I so hope you’ll consider sharing this on Facebook, Pinterest, with your husband and your neighbors…Someone you know might need this right now. 🙂

You also might want to check out my other homeschool posts: The one about our “Good, bad, and slightly awkward” homeschool life, here. Five Myths about homeschool families here (Huffington post version, here. :))

Hopefully, if the internet cooperates, I’ll check in midway through our trip. I’ll have a crew of young photographers on board, happy to capture the amazing scenery while I nap on deck. 🙂

With much Aloha!

Grommom

PS Subscribe to thegrommom to receive email notices each time I post, OR a weekly update only… Mahalo! 🙂

Homeschool Confessions: The Good, the Bad, and the Slightly Awkward

by Monica 13 Comments

Well friends…You know I only post about homeschooling about once every two years, right? So bear with me while I finish what I started last week when I responded to the hottest question in the homeschool world: “What curriculum do you use?”

Today, I share a quick and honest look at some of the things that stand out to me when I think of our homeschool life. Some of the stuff that us homeschoolers don’t talk as much about.

As homeschoolers, we tend to get super defensive (or maybe it’s just me?) about things like that “socialization” question, and I think it causes us to hold back from just giving honest evaluations of how things are going in general. SO I want to give the full story. At least from our experience.

(By the way, I did address that “socialization” question as well as other homeschool stereotypes in my “Five Myths about Homeschool Families” post, which also found its way to the Huffington Post.)

So here is an honest glance at the Good, the Bad, and the Slightly Awkward in our homeschool life.

THE GOOD:
I think I’ve been pretty clear that though I was the last person to imagine homeschooling my kids, I actually LOVE IT. Besides the curriculum, and how it works for our boys’ (surf) life, there are many other things that I cherish about homeschooling. I love how tight our family is. Sure, we get on each other’s nerves and the boys squabble like any brothers, but for the most part we get along really well. We spend a LOT of time together, and it shows. My boys are all very, very close. They are very best friends. I also feel extremely comfortable talking to my boys about anything, and so far, I think they still feel really good talking to me as well. There is no awkward distance. I could go on and on about the relationships between the siblings or between Dave and I and our boys…That alone makes me so happy for the chance to homeschool.

They also can freely express themselves in the classroom. Which looks different every. single. day.

There are plenty of other things that I thank God for in our homeschool life: I am thrilled to that the boys can pursue their passions, like photography, videography, and other hobbies; Bird-watching, studying rocks and minerals, the solar system, and the list goes on. All of that just works because they are home, and therefore can include their passions in their daily routine.

The boys love to learn, and I love being around to watch them light up when they learn something new, or when they ace a test. I wouldn’t want to miss any of this! Another benefit is that I am the one to catch it if they do score poorly on a test or I see some area that is challenging them. Nothing “slips through the cracks.” I can then stop, help figure out what the problem is, and further their learning process, instead of having to keep up with a class and ignoring something that may become a bigger problem later.

They also spend a lot of time outdoors. Jumping on the trampoline, climbing trees, or just hanging out, having meaningful conversations with man’s best friends…

THE BAD:
Belonging: Sports Teams, etc.
I wish it were easier for my boys to be involved in team sports and other activities. Some of this has to do with where we live, so it isn’t necessarily just a homeschool thing. Josiah and Luke are most into surfing and skating, which are both individual sports any ways, but I think all three of my older boys would benefit from more team sports. I especially wish Jonah could get more involved in a variety of sports, since he doesn’t surf or skate as much. There are some team sports available (Jonah plays soccer every fall, and he has dabbled in other sports,) but as he gets older, there are less team sports available unless he is enrolled in a school. Since I grew up very involved in team sports, I guess this makes me a little sad.

Friendships:

I am NOT talking about problems with socialization. (Have I mentioned where I stand on that? 😉)

Honestly though, the friendship thing is tricky for all of my boys. SO far, they each have a couple good buddies who they get together with on and off…But between living up in the country (they can’t just run down the street to hang out with friends,) and not going to school every day, my boys are often just out of the loop. They aren’t in the middle of the social scene, and in some ways I don’t mind (or I am glad) for that, but it does hurt my heart when I know that they are craving more friendships, and we can’t just force that to happen. They see friends at youth group and at the beach but, that isn’t always enough. Kids have short attention spans–They think to call and hang out with whoever they just spent time with last, so if they have friends they just saw at school, they’ll get together with them before they’re likely to remember the Swanson boys up on the hill. (there are a few exceptions to that, and I send HUGE thanks to the school kids that do remember to call my boys after school to play on occasion!)

As far as this area is concerned, I have also been negligent to a large extent because it is SO easy to just let my boys hang out together. They have a great time, and it is easy. I haven’t put out the effort to get them together with other kids as much as I should…
Obviously, I will have to make more efforts in this area for Levi, since his brothers are so much older, and he’ll need playmates that much more!

THE AWKWARD:
I wouldn’t say that there is a lot of awkward in our boys’ homeschool lives. But I’ll be the first to admit that there might be a few holes in my homeschooling. And sadly, this usually leaves my boys in the awkward department. This hit me recently after two of my boys went to a youth group camp. They both came home and told me that there had been big games of volleyball at camp. As soon as I heard the word volleyball, my heart raced. Oh no. They didn’t even need to tell me. I KNEW IT.

First, let me back up to say that I played Varsity volleyball all four years of high school. I lived with Pepperdine Volleyball players in college. I love volleyball. I know all about volleyball.

My boys however…Um, haven’t exactly been taught much of anything about volleyball. Or football. Or baseball. SHOOT! How did we forget? I felt so bad. So, the boys might have had a few awkward moments of camp volleyball, and I take the blame.

I literally went out the very next week, bought a football, a volleyball, two frisbees, and an entire basketball hoop to set up in our front driveway.

Things will change.
I will make this up to you boys, I promise.

Of course I could go on and on, but those are the things that stand out to me in our homeschool experience lately. As always–feel free to ask questions! And if you’re a homeschool family, I hope you’ll share a few of your homeschool experiences as well.

Much Aloha,

Grommom

Homeschool Updates. {Part I: Curriculum.}

by Monica 13 Comments

For a homeschool mom-blogger, I suppose I don’t talk about homeschooling very much.

This is probably because I really don’t feel like a serious, professional, homeschool momma. There are other bloggers out there–Who share great ideas, create printables, and put together amazing curriculums. They get excited about homeschooling, and inspire me to do the same. Those are the homeschool experts. And next to them, I feel pretty lame.

I homeschool for many good reasons, but I am far from the poster-mom for homeschooling. I make sure my boys are getting a good education, and I LOVE to see them learning, but I usually feel like I just get by. I was the happiest woman on earth when I found a curriculum that I didn’t have to “teach,” and I find every possible way to simplify my role so that my boys hardly depend on me. (I know, I shouldn’t brag.)

But then it occurs to me that a few of you out there may actually relate to me. Maybe you too, don’t think you’ve got “homeschool mom DNA,” but you’re still considering…inching forward perhaps…to deciding to teach your kids from home. So, maybe a few of you will be encouraged to hear that I’m far from a die-hard homeschool mom, but honestly–I DO LOVE homeschooling my boys! I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. (at least most days! :))

And if you’re considering homeschooling, I encourage you to go for it! No, homeschooling is not for everyone, but given the right attitude, and a good curriculum, you will probably love it too.

So today I am just giving a quick update on what we’re doing now! And I decided to stretch this topic into two or maybe three parts…

Today I will share about the curriculum we use.
Then, I will come back to share an example of a typical school day…and perhaps one more post with some of the PROS and CONS of our homeschool life. (Because I love what we do, but let’s be honest–Nothing is perfect.)

CURRICULUM: I get lots and lots of emails asking me what we use for our curriculum. We’ve used many in the past, and I’ve loved something about every single one. But this year we are all settled in using ABEKA (ONLINE). I have never been happier! I plan to use this until my boys graduate high school. Or maybe college. (I wish.)

What I love about it/How it works:
1. in a nutshell: Abeka provides an excellent education. It requires very little of me as teacher, and it is organized in a way that works for our family. The boys watch a video which is taken IN A REAL CLASSROOM. They literally observe the class as though they are sitting in it. (An entire school year has been filmed of each class, so the teacher and the students remain the same all year long.) The teacher speaks to students in the class and then also refers to “students at home watching,” in a way that makes the kids literally feel that they are IN the classroom. They are assigned homework, which they do in books and workbooks.

MY JOB as the “on-site teacher,” is to keep them on task (biggest job! :)) to grade their work, and to keep records of it. If they have struggles, I am there to help, but everything they do in their homework have answers worked out in-full in my teacher book, so I don’t need to be an expert. Also, the teacher goes over ALL homework the day after it is assigned, so kids can always clear up any confusion at that time. There are the dreaded science projects and language arts essays that I must correct and grade, but the teacher’s manual is even extremely helpful in guiding me through grading those things.

2. Abeka has Biblical messages throughout every class. There is a daily Bible class. God’s in History, too. Math? Yep–You’ll even get little spiritual lessons in Algebra. God is very naturally in all subjects–NOT in a forced, or out-of balance way, but in a really cool, relatable way…Which is how we see God.
(**Side note: You can always choose to skip the Bible lessons if you want to, as they are not a state requirement, but you’ll still hear Biblical principles throughout the subjects.)

3. Time well spent/Positive peer pressure. Obviously, Abeka uses their most excellent teachers and students to film for these videos. Which means: My boys never have to wait for a video teacher to discipline a student, or deal with inappropriate behavior. It simply doesn’t happen. The kids in the videos are well-studied, respectful, dressed appropriately, and always on task. This sets my boys up to think that is normal, and expected. (hehe, positive peer pressure.)
No time is wasted. You’ll never find a movie shown instead of a lesson, and there are no interruptions for assemblies, or field trips. Every minute of every class is used to the fullest. (Though my boys would think they died and went to heaven if a teacher just popped in a DVD one day.)

4. You have a year to do the curriculum, which lets you figure out your own schedule, travels, holidays, surf days, etc. Can you say: FREEDOM? FLEXIBILITY? Those are words we like a lot!

CHALLENGES:
1. Abeka is hard. I’d have to say that it has a very challenging curriculum which is absolutely college-prep style. If they do everything assigned (which I try to make them do,) then it is a very full, and challenging school day–every single day. This is not a “con,” obviously, but if you’re looking for an easy curriculum, Abeka is not it.

2. Each student needs to use a computer. For us that means that all three of my boys are using all three of our computers every day. And if the internet is down–Well, that is like our “snow day.” 🙂

COST: I think it comes to just under $800 a student for the entire curriculum for the year.

I should note that you can pay more and use the official ABEKA ACADEMY homeschool curriculum where you turn in your student’s work and the folks at Abeka grade it for you, give you report cards, transcripts, etc. We do not do that. I do all of the grading and recording, and we work with a local group here on island who do official report cards and transcripts for homeschool families. Bless their hearts. (This is another awesome part of our homeschool story, and something I would be happy to share more about in the future.)

So, I feel like I wrote too much, but I don’t know what I could cut out! Did I miss anything? Do you have questions? Let me know! I love Abeka, and I love homeschooling, and coming from this “I’ll never homeschool my kids” mom, that says a LOT! If you homeschool and have something to share, feel free to do so in comments!
As always–If you enjoyed this post I hope that you will share it on your social media sites! 🙂 Mahalo!

Much aloha! I’ll see you soon.

Monica

PS THREE WAYS to become a grommom subscriber….See them all here! 🙂

Five Myths about Homeschool Families

by Monica 14 Comments

I don’t write a lot about homeschooling because I don’t feel like much of an expert on the subject. That may sound funny, because I’ve homeschooled for eight years, and you’d hope that I know a thing or two by now, but it’s true. There are plenty of mom-bloggers out there who write curriculums, create unit studies, and share printables, and I consider them the experts. I homeschool my three school-aged boys with an online program, and my job is simply facilitator, grader, and warden of the classroom.

However, I have had a lot of people ask me questions about homeschooling recently. This last weekend, I had a few friends visiting whose kids are in various schools in California. When we sat down to chat, their questions came at me rapid-fire. I couldn’t believe how interested they were in what we do–what our day looks like, and how I could possibly homeschool my kids, while still maintaining a “normal” family. (that’s what I called us–haha–don’t blow my cover!)

I thought that this topic would be worth a quick post–even if mostly lighthearted–to help dispel a few myths, and give anyone interested a glimpse of what our family’s homeschool life looks like.

I am one of many homeschool moms in Hawaii. Some choose home education because it works well for competitive surfers and their need to travel. Many choose to homeschool because of the fact that Hawaii public schools rank quite low on National Standards. Some families homeschool through a public charter school program, which provides them with a curriculum, weekly access to a teacher, and a laptop computer for the student. I happen to use private homeschool curriculums, for a few different reasons. For one, I like to choose from the hundreds of excellent curriculums that are available, and hand-select what my kids will study based on both our values, and their learning style. This allows for interest-based learning, and opportunities to tap into the fabulous content found on the internet. (I’m pretty sure a kid could get an incredible eduction simply watching Youtube videos, Ted Talks, and utilizing sites like the Khan academy.) Also, homeschooling privately gives us the absolute freedom to schedule our year as we want to. We can work around my husband’s schedule, the surf season, and travel when we want to.

Since I know so many other homeschooling families, I tend to think of it as quite normal. However when I talk to people who aren’t familiar with homeschooling, I am reminded of some of the stereotypes that I used to have about homeschooling. So, I decided to scratch the surface and address some of the things that people associate with homeschool families.

***Keeping in mind that I speak only for my own experience with homeschooling, here is my list of…

FIVE MYTHS ABOUT HOMESCHOOL FAMILIES.
(and please read the very bottom of this post for a final word!)

1. Homeschool kids are socially backwards.
Not (always) true.
We have found quite the opposite to be true! My kids have been raised with a great variety of social opportunities. We have been part of a homeschool co-op that met weekly to do some school subjects together. Our boys have also been involved in team sports, and train on a team with a surf coach. My two older boys go to a youth group, and all of my boys play with friends every chance they get. I believe that being at home for their schooling allows my boys some social opportunities that they wouldn’t have if they were in a traditional school setting. For example, once a month my boys participate in a food distribution to the homeless and needy. This happens midday on a school day, and they work side by side with people of all ages, which is much more “real-life” than sitting in a classroom with 25 + students all of the same exact age. (when else in life will you do this other than in school?) In addition to that, my boys are around to observe my husband and I in our day-to-day life. They see how my husband and I deal with daily challenges, and they learn from it. They have been taught to greet people with a handshake and eye contact. They know how to start conversations with people of all ages, and they are in general extremely comfortable with people.

It is true….That some homeschool families choose to keep to themselves, and perhaps their kids miss out on some social training. Some families who homeschool their kids do so because of their desire to be separate from society and I am sure there are many examples out there of kids coming out of the homeschool lifestyle a little bit “off.” While my kids fill their school breaks skate boarding and climbing trees, some homeschool kids may not be as active and prefer to read books, fulfilling the stereotypical nerdy-bookworm homeschooler image.

I should add...That even if my kids were to lean to the side of being bookwormish or nerdy, quite honestly, I think there are worse things in life. Some (ok, a lot) of the socialization that go on in some traditional schools is much more frightening to me than the prospect of having a nerdy kid. If bullying, cussing, and talking about sex at eight and nine years old is being “socialized,” then I’ll pick nerd-status, any day.

2. Homeschool moms are the “teacher,” therefore creating a curriculum, giving instruction, and in general providing the education for all of the children.
Thank God, no!
Like I mentioned, I use an online curriculum for my boys, which comes with a big stack of textbooks, workbooks, and teacher guides for me. We have tried at least six or seven different curriculums, and quite honestly, I have liked every single one of them. Some require a bit more organization for the parents, some are online, and some are not. We are currently using ABEKA Online, and so far it is the very best fit for our family. It took a little bit of time and effort for me to become familiar with it, but I really love it. The boys’ school day requires very little prep work or involvement from me, which is really helpful since I have three to manage! I have to grade and record the kids work (using a gradebook–easy!) and I try to keep up in my teacher guide with what they are doing so that I can offer support and appropriate nagging. (:))

No–it isn’t easy. But it is not nearly as hard as most people would assume. I’m able to get away when I need to, and kids can carry on with their day independently.

3. Homeschool moms are frumpy women who do little for themselves, and mostly wear the traditional homeschool “frock.”
No way! This momma does NOT rock the frock.
(I mostly add this one because I confess to having had such a stereotype in my own mind growing up. haha, I never would have guessed I would be a homeschool mom one day!)

I happen to schedule my school involvement around working out a couple of times a week, and take time to take care of myself as much as most women that I know. Though I am mostly home with my kids, I have as much interest in clothes and style as anyone else, and do my best to feel good in my own skin.

4. Homeschool families maintain an alternative lifestyle in their homes: They grind their own wheat, sew their own clothes, and drive horse and buggies.
Hahaha…(Was that just MY stereotype as well?)
No. And no.
We do pick our own bananas, and we would love to live off the land, but who wouldn’t? My sewing machine hates me, but I’ll keep trying.

5. Homeschool families don’t have t.v., play video games, or in general, live in the real world.
No, again.
We have all of the above in our home. Fortunately, living in Hawaii where we are outdoors a LOT, we don’t have a huge battle in this area. We believe in limiting the time they spend on devices, but this has simply not been a big deal for us. We encourage our boys to use the internet for purposes of education, utilizing the amazing free sites that can teach them everything from guitar chords, to fascinating science facts, to how to build a tree house. I am thrilled to be raising kids in such an age as this where they have so many opportunities!

Before I close, please hear this: I would never suggest that homeschooling is right for everyone. Some people try it and find that it isn’t best for them. We may even change one day down the road, depending on circumstances. Homeschooling CAN be done poorly, and it is very sad when kids miss out on a good education OR a healthy social life because of POOR homeschooling. I am so glad for the FREEDOM we have in America to choose what is best for our own family. And for now, I am SO thankful for the amazing experience I get to have while my boys do school at home, and we all do life as a family. I wouldn’t trade what we are doing for anything.

What did I miss? Do you have questions? Do you want to add from your own experience? Join the conversation in comments below!

And if you have found this interesting or encouraging, please share it with your friends! 🙂

Much Aloha–
Grommom

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