Part Six of Seven

Part Six of Seven:

“I have heard so many say that what we do with children from 9:00-3:00 can be done successfully at home in a couple of hours. Sure, you can do worksheets and read, but believe me there is SO much more offered at school daily to help children reach their full potential!”

Most homeschoolers I know who follow a curriculum finish in a few hours, often well before lunch. This is actually true in schools, as well, except that it’s broken up by everyone getting ready and settled, Johnny needing a new pencil, Suzy forgetting her book, the class lining up, the time in the halls between classes, the recesses, the assemblies, pep rallies, health screenings, substitute teacher days, days the teacher doesn’t feel well, days the lessons don’t go well and the teacher bags it, field trips, field days, etc. It just looks more efficient in a homeschool environment because it’s easier to see and calculate.

Many people who haven’t homeschooled or are new to it, conceive a tiny school in their minds. You’ll see this clearly on pinterest if you search for homeschool schoolrooms. Newbies get small desks for their children, and a big one for themselves, a whiteboard or chalk board on the wall, and a flag and a globe — the whole shebang. It’s adorable and it makes you want to do the same if you’re new to homeschooling. And I think that’s probably the thought the OP had — that “homeschool” is the part of the day where the children do their “worksheets and read.” And that’s it.

But it’s not. Even the folks who work from a full boxed set curriculum don’t homeschool like that — that’s just their framework — the base, as it were, to their homeschool day. Sometimes they only use that to appease a spouse or the children’s other parent (and/or the courts).

Homeschooling is so much more than that — even for the families who follow a set curriculum. Homeschooling is the travel we do, the adventures we have, the nature we explore, the people we meet, the experiences we have, the internships we take, the questions we ask, the interactions with the world at large — the heart and soul of homeschooling is the stuff beyond the page.

~Jen