I can't tell you how much I admire you, Hope. I have no idea how you manage to homeschool all your kids, much less with so much grace.
And: "An open-minded person can read something that contradicts their beliefs and figure out a healthy way to interact with it." Yes. Thank you for this, and for your note on worldview overall. I felt incredibly alone as a homeschooler (I still can't forgive myself for any of it, even though it was only a year and it's in the rearview now) and a big part of that my frustration over religious *and* secular curricula.
You are honestly the #1 person I was thinking of when I wrote that about open-mindedness because I think you do that super well ❤️
Nothing from 2020 counts because it was weird, hard times for everyone 😅 Homeschooling without community, field trips, and freedom to choose your approach your teaching style shouldn't have to count as homeschooling but just as a VERY hard time 😉 You try your best in everything you do, and your kids know it, and they knew it then, I'm sure!!
Thank you for saying that -- I try! I am an open-minded person to begin with, but I think there's always room for improvement.
"Nothing from 2020 counts." I am going to repeat that to myself again and again 😂 Homeschooling in Wisconsin is 110% anything goes -- there is literally zero oversight, from anyone. And while that offers a lot of freedom, I shudder to think that there are some kids here who are, as you pointed out, simply uneducated. And personally, maybe I would have benefitted from someone checking on us (I did keep super careful records and even wrote a report of how our year went just in case, and ended up sharing some of it with my daughter's 2nd grade teacher, when she returned to traditional school). I think -- besides all the ways I feel like I failed my kid by not being a good teacher -- what upsets me the most is how far short I fell of my own expectations. Who would have thought Charlotte Mason homeschooling two children (one of whom was a preschooler, so things for her weren't formal in any way, she just tagged along with family learning) was so hard? But I was jamming it in around a 40-hour-a-week work schedule, when I was working from home and we couldn't go anywhere or do anything (I still managed to circumvent that by figuring out how to get private tours of the historical museums and fire station in our town), without a single other person who was doing it the same way (don't even get me started on all the people who said they were homeschooling when their kids were still enrolled in the district and they were just sitting them down in front of a computer to be taught virtually by someone else -- I am still not over it).
Anyway, thanks for listening. (This is literally a therapy topic for me, but my therapist has no experience with homeschooling so sometimes I think she has no idea what I'm talking about...)
Wow, you really did work so hard to thrive for that year 🥹 Crazy that Wisconsin doesn’t require anything at all! Tennessee has requirements but they’re all so easy to lie about and kind of just pointless. (Taking attendance? Submitting grades? That means nothing.) I really like how Florida required either standardized testing or a portfolio review proving progress. It’s a good exercise not just as a teacher but as a parent to take note of ways your kid grew (academically and otherwise) throughout the year.
That sounds like an extremely hard year! Pretty sure being made to work from home is the factor to blame, mostly, because (in my opinion) it’s like the worst of both worlds 😅 The kids have to be ignored most of the day and they just make the house messier lol AND the parent doesn’t get any real breaks! The definition of overstimulating, especially if you’re an introvert. Double demands! It has to happen sometimes but WFH parents sure can give themselves extra grace ♥️ I’m glad that season seems to be over for you!
Not knowing a single other person who is educating their kids the way you are is yet another factor that would make homeschooling feel impossible. Wow. Hugs upon hugs. ♥️
I can't tell you how much I admire you, Hope. I have no idea how you manage to homeschool all your kids, much less with so much grace.
And: "An open-minded person can read something that contradicts their beliefs and figure out a healthy way to interact with it." Yes. Thank you for this, and for your note on worldview overall. I felt incredibly alone as a homeschooler (I still can't forgive myself for any of it, even though it was only a year and it's in the rearview now) and a big part of that my frustration over religious *and* secular curricula.
You are honestly the #1 person I was thinking of when I wrote that about open-mindedness because I think you do that super well ❤️
Nothing from 2020 counts because it was weird, hard times for everyone 😅 Homeschooling without community, field trips, and freedom to choose your approach your teaching style shouldn't have to count as homeschooling but just as a VERY hard time 😉 You try your best in everything you do, and your kids know it, and they knew it then, I'm sure!!
Thank you for saying that -- I try! I am an open-minded person to begin with, but I think there's always room for improvement.
"Nothing from 2020 counts." I am going to repeat that to myself again and again 😂 Homeschooling in Wisconsin is 110% anything goes -- there is literally zero oversight, from anyone. And while that offers a lot of freedom, I shudder to think that there are some kids here who are, as you pointed out, simply uneducated. And personally, maybe I would have benefitted from someone checking on us (I did keep super careful records and even wrote a report of how our year went just in case, and ended up sharing some of it with my daughter's 2nd grade teacher, when she returned to traditional school). I think -- besides all the ways I feel like I failed my kid by not being a good teacher -- what upsets me the most is how far short I fell of my own expectations. Who would have thought Charlotte Mason homeschooling two children (one of whom was a preschooler, so things for her weren't formal in any way, she just tagged along with family learning) was so hard? But I was jamming it in around a 40-hour-a-week work schedule, when I was working from home and we couldn't go anywhere or do anything (I still managed to circumvent that by figuring out how to get private tours of the historical museums and fire station in our town), without a single other person who was doing it the same way (don't even get me started on all the people who said they were homeschooling when their kids were still enrolled in the district and they were just sitting them down in front of a computer to be taught virtually by someone else -- I am still not over it).
Anyway, thanks for listening. (This is literally a therapy topic for me, but my therapist has no experience with homeschooling so sometimes I think she has no idea what I'm talking about...)
Wow, you really did work so hard to thrive for that year 🥹 Crazy that Wisconsin doesn’t require anything at all! Tennessee has requirements but they’re all so easy to lie about and kind of just pointless. (Taking attendance? Submitting grades? That means nothing.) I really like how Florida required either standardized testing or a portfolio review proving progress. It’s a good exercise not just as a teacher but as a parent to take note of ways your kid grew (academically and otherwise) throughout the year.
That sounds like an extremely hard year! Pretty sure being made to work from home is the factor to blame, mostly, because (in my opinion) it’s like the worst of both worlds 😅 The kids have to be ignored most of the day and they just make the house messier lol AND the parent doesn’t get any real breaks! The definition of overstimulating, especially if you’re an introvert. Double demands! It has to happen sometimes but WFH parents sure can give themselves extra grace ♥️ I’m glad that season seems to be over for you!
Not knowing a single other person who is educating their kids the way you are is yet another factor that would make homeschooling feel impossible. Wow. Hugs upon hugs. ♥️
Happy to listen anytime, Sarah ♥️