I've been homeschooling and blogging for nearly a decade now, and I am finally coming to terms with a realization that has been in front of my face all along. I'd say the light truly came on when I read this blog over at Homeschool and Etc. She admitted that most homeschooling curriculum is kind of annoying. I SOOOO AGREE!
I'm so sorry to tell this to any homeschoolers who just eat up the Bob Jones and Abeka homeschool materials. I just find it grating. The thing is, when I sit down to teach my kids, I want to teach them the material. I don't
want to distract them with theology and character training. I've got that covered in the way we live and the way we worship. I like to keep academics academic. Likewise, I don't go to homeschool conferences because the seminars seem to be more about how to raise children than how to teach them. I don't know about anyone else, but I can handle parenting. It's math I need help with.
My biggest place of disconnect right now is in college prep and earning early college credits. I strongly believe in earning college credits during high school years, but not for the same reasons as others. For me, the purpose to earn college credits or take Credit By Examination through CLEP, DANTES, and AP is to earn credits wherever possible, but also to show colleges that they are able to conquer college classes. The story is different for many of my fellow homeschoolers who also have their kids take these tests. On my email groups all I hear about is the kids earning credits so they can bypass college altogether. Many feel college (Even Christian Colleges) is not the right environment for Christian Homeschoolers... I disagree.
So, yeah, I know that my approach to homeschooling is different from many others. (Especially since I have problems with HSLDA, who are the voice of homeschooling, more or less.) I've really known it all along though, even as a homeschool blogger, and I have felt that I write my homeschool blog more for people who are thinking about homeschooling than those who actually do homeschool. This is also clear to me when homeschool blog awards get handed out each year.... Sigh... I will probably never be nominated. But that's Ok.
As homeschoolers, we like to point out that we are from every walk of life... I guess I am just from that other demographic. Never mind that fact that I am Christian just like 70% (or so) of homeschoolers, and my approach is Classical/relaxed which is also very popular. But besides all that, I guess I'm just a rebel.
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12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong
We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript. Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...
6 comments:
I can relate to this post. I have purchased so many materials that are full of a religous slant that I don't agree with though I am Christian. Its a challange finding material I want to teach my African American males. HS is truly a labor of love.
I'm with you.
Yep! I'm a proud HSLDA member, think what they are doing in defending/ supporting homeschoolers is great but I'd like the focus to be more on homeschooling and less on OMG gay people/ Democrats/ whatever cause of the week.
Also? I sympathize with the Swedish people who want to homeschool but can we please get better laws in VERMONT before we worry about them and send our money overseas? You know?
EXACTLY!
I LOVED reading this!!! I am right there with you. We tried BJU. And we were miserable. Horribly so. I hated having to back track in a math problem because my 6yo needed a little help with the corresponding Bible verse. :/ On top of that, we hate workbooks and textbooks. We feel very fortunate that we found Time4Learning. It's secular and online, so it just fits well with us.
We live in a very rural area, and telling other homeschoolers that we are secular homeschoolers, never goes well, lol. Never mind that we ARE Christian in faith, I just chose not to have a religious curriculum.
It's ok. We've gotten used to judgements. And we are happy with where we are in our homeschool journey, and life in general, so things are all good. :)
Again, I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing! :)
Katie
Looks like we have a lot in common Kat. I prefer non-secular materials even though I am Christian... and we used time3learning through 6th grade! Loved it.
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