Homeschool

The curriculum is ready.  The lesson plans are in order.  All core subjects are covered.  It’s going to be a great homeschool year.  Please, don’t forget the arts!  As a homeschool mom who also holds a degree in music, I’m here to stress the importance of music education. Music and art can be very easy to add to your homeschool, but don’t let them just be an add-on.  Learning and training in the arts is very beneficial to your children.  Numerous studies show that learning music is wonderful for the developing child.  Music Education leads to greater academic success, this includes the verbal and auditory development.  Learning to play an instrument helps to develop fine motor-skills.  There are many other benefits. Adding music to your child’s education can be easy.  In the early years, parents naturally sing little rhyming songs to their children.  As they’re growing, you can add rhythm to the songs.  Teach them to clap along to the beat, or get a little drum.  If you can’t sing well, you can use sing-a-long tapes with your children.  These are free to check out at your local library.  You can make some homemade instruments or purchase them. Until the age of seven or eight, teaching children songs is a great way to learn music.  They may also participate in a children’s choir or class.  They don’t need private lessons yet.  Children’s choirs use a lot of rhythm with hand-motions, etc.  When your child reaches the age of eight, they may be ready for private lessons on the piano.  If they learn to play the piano, they will also learn many technical things that will carry over into all of their musical life.  They will learn to read notes and understand how music is composed.  They may want to make up their own songs. As they grow older, children can train to play other instruments or consider vocal training.  Choirs are still a wonderful way to learn and provide fun, too.  Many cities have homeschool choirs, city choirs, and your church choir.  Instruments can be purchased “used” for a more frugal beginning.  Let your child explore their musical side, even if they don’t appear terribly musical.  They will probably improve a great deal.  Unless your child is a rare prodigy, they will need to be taught.  Learning to play an instrument takes work and dedication.  This discipline that they learn in music education will carry over into their academics. Art education isn’t my specialty, but teaching art in your homeschool can still be easy.  The beginning years, of course, can consist of paper and crayons.   Don’t worry about the talent, just let them draw.  Get them paints and brushes and brag on their art.  They can sculpt things with some play-dough, and when their hands are stronger; beautiful clays.  The sky is the limit with children and art!  Keep an art center (or at least a box) filled with creative stuff.  You could have colored paper, white paper, crayons, paints, clay, feathers, little odds and ends, toilet-paper ends, etc.  Add scissors that are appropriate.  Children will get very creative. In upper grades, I found that the Charlotte Mason style of art education was very good.  Simply Charlotte Mason explains the method very well.  We tried to do this often.  If your child seems to have great artistic talent, it’s important to help them pursue that.  They may want art lessons.  At the least, provide them with good quality brushes and paints. I hope you’ll explore the arts in your homeschool.  The benefits are worthy and the best part is the fun!@ 2016,copyright Lisa Ehrman

Because I’ve completed my years of homeschooling, I have the benefit of hindsight.  I also like to be completely honest, and not just write to get lots of readers on my blog.  So, today I would like to talk about some of the negative things that can happen as a result of homeschooling.  They may or may not happen in your home. Some children can grow up to be unhappy with your choice to homeschool them.  They may seem happy when they’re young and at home.  When they’re older and look back on things, their opinion may change.  Maybe they might feel that their education wasn’t adequate to prepare them for the job market or college.  They might feel that they missed out on other things in life.  I’ve personally seen these things happen.  Some children aren’t provided a top-quality education and therefore miss out on job opportunities.  I’ve seen this happen far too often, and it’s very sad. One other thing that is a negative is that mom is also a teacher.  It’s hard to wear two distinct hats with your children.  For me, I was a certified teacher.  This made it even harder.  I felt the teacher within me very strong.  I come from a long line of teachers, and always wanted to be a teacher.  So, was I supposed to “Be” a teacher until 3, and then “Be” Mom after 3? This was a little weird.  Over time, it got easier.  Homeschool moms have to find that middle ground.  We need to be mom, but also a firm teacher.  There should be a plan in which your “students” succeed in learning everything that is expected of them.  The student must be accountable for what needs to be learned.  And, we do it with the love and understanding of a mom who really “knows” how they learn.  This enables us to teach them better than anyone else.  What a job! No rose-colored glasses here.  It was tough job, but I loved homeschooling my children.  God bless you as you do the same. @2016, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Homeschooling and dual enrollment: it seems to be all the rage now. We’ve tried it in our homeschool in the past. It was successful as far as the grades went. Our student received all A’s in their classes. But, I don’t recommend it to anyone else. Here are my thoughts on the subject. And, yours may be totally different. Dual enrollment can help your student take a high school course and earn college credit at the same time. This occurs when the student signs up for a college course in a general studies course, such as English 101. Now, if I use this class for an example, here’s my problem. If Johnny is a high-school senior he would normally take English 4.  For my student, in English 4, he studied Grammar and Composition 4, as well as Literature 4. This was a very rigorous course, that prepared him well for College classes (not just English, but for all of his writing assignments in other courses). So, he is better off with a tougher class in High School (IMHO). Dual enrollment also takes your student out of the high school environment a year or two early and places them with college-aged students. Your homeschool student may appear mature (you’ve raised them right), but they are not as mature as the 19-22 year-olds on the college campus. My choice is to give them all the time possible before they’re plopped down into a campus with thousands of students who’ve just left mom and dad! It’s not about trust, but it’s a totally different atmosphere. 16-17 year olds aren’t ready for college. Are they ready at 16 to face professors who may want to subtly change their worldview?  You may think that three to four years won’t change them.  But, what if you’re wrong?  These are just things to consider.  We decided to let our children grow up a little longer and live with us during those questioning years.  I would rather them be at home when they have questions.  We’ve had some very interesting family talks, and I bet you have, too.   Why rush them? They have their whole life ahead of them. Those advanced courses in high school are more important than taking English 101 or College Algebra for Sr year. Let them take the highest math and science courses or more electives, instead. You may disagree with me, and that’s fine. After graduating my three children, this is just my opinion. And, it’s certainly shown true in their SAT scores. How about you? @2015, copyright Lisa Ehrman