Wednesday, April 28, 2010

How do we home school all of these children? Good Question

We have been home schooling now for over 25 yrs... Our first group of kids were taught at home and have all graduated and gone to college, technical training, and/or are running their own business. When we first had Laura Jeane our oldest we always wanted to teach her at home... Home schooling was just beginning as a movement back then and it took us a few yrs. to "jump" into it but we have never regretted our decision. We do feel called by God to teach our children and there are several verses I can quote ... but to be honest my main other reason for teaching them is because I love being around them.... yes ... all of them. When LJ - home schooled since 4th grade, Jenn-hs since 2nd grade, Molly only went thru 1/2 day kindergarten and Abraham was hs for up to only one half of his 4th grade-( Yes you can even home school your special needs children well- there are lots of support for this) would be out for the summer I loved it and when they would go back in the Fall I was down.... I would shudder when I would go thru the grocery store lines when I heard other mom's saying things like, " My kids are home and I don't know what to do with them." or " Yey they are going back to school" . I honestly never have felt these feelings . I love teaching my kids... and helping them to discover right along side of them. Now it is more of a challenge with as many children as we are teaching and with the needs of our children... but it works well for us.

These are some pictures of our school room area... shelves from Ikea are great "cubbies" - one for each child to hold their own books. We study in a very natural way and a purposeful way too. We have lots of maps around and study the world... especially since we have so many children from diff. countries...

We've raised fish ( guppies - anyone need some? Ours are very prolific-as well as we have had our birds-parkeets lay eggs) . These have been great science lessons. Jonas is helping Ben with a project for his college class. Abraham has taught music lessons and here Rachel and Caleb are reading the Bible to him and going over it. Even Gracie has been taught how to use the computer and she surprised us all :)

I want to open this post up to questions about home schooling... so please comment and I will try to answer....

We are doing a radio show next Wednesday about home schooling ...






































































9 comments:

Difference2This1 said...

Very neat to read/see how you organize your study areas! We have those same IKEA "cubbies" for our kids to hold their school stuff (reg. school and home projects we do)...planning to get some more for the boys coming home! :) Do you use a formal curriculum....what have you found to work best for older kids with little previous education?

Penny said...

I guess it's not much different than teachers teaching 20 or more all day in a small room. :)
I teach 19 Kindergarteners all day~ might be easier if they weren't all the same age. lol
It's sweet that you want to spend so much time with your kids.

Stephanie said...

Have you ever homeschooled a child & then had a job placement done? We have 7 children(3 later this year). We've homeschooled before and now are going to be pulling some out again. The oldest will not be able to attend college & is currently on an occupational track in 9th grade. We're pulling her out but am very concerned about how to homeschool a highschooler that is not college bound. Have you done that before? If so, any advice/ tips? Thanks for sharing everything. Helps growing big families learn.

Kathleen said...

Someday I would love to meet your family and see your homeschooling in action. Thanks for sharing.

Mary B. said...

Hi Jeane,
I'm still trying to figure out how to educate all 4 of my little ones when they are all at different stages and ALL still need my undivided attention. We have not reached a stage yet where anyone will work independently so unfortunately the little guy gets the least attention. Any hints on independent work for ages 3,5,6, & 9 (not a strong reader)?
Love you, Mary B.

Jodi said...

The homeschooling is where I need help/advice.

My 7 yr old is so NOT motivated to sit down and do his school work. He is smart, and loves watching the history channel and discovery etc. and he remembers what he learns there because it interests him.
He doesn't pay attention to his online program or when we sit down to do work. It's frustrating.

I certainly don't want to send him to school, and I probably won't. But it's stressful wondering if he is learning enough or what he 'should' be learning.

I feel pressured to 'make' him do better, or try harder and it doesn't go so well around here at times.

To make matters much worse, we had a nosey and probably mean spirited neighbor call who ever it is you call when you want to stick your nose into other peoples business, and two officers came to my door last week to say " we got a call that there are a lot of kids here and that they aren't going to school"
Our neighbors all know we homeschool. We live on a culd de sac. Nice.
They came in and took down all the personal information for all our kids, including Artiom, who was in his high chair, barely able to feed himself, and they asked when we plan on sending HIM to school.

I wasn't happy at all.

So now I feel like I have people 'breathing down my neck' watching what my kids are doing.

Do you use any specific program? Maybe you said, I have to go back and re-read it.

I'm rambling now, so I better fill up my coffee cup and let my blood pressure go back down :) :)

Jodi

Christie M said...

We too love home schooling our kids.
We used to have 4 in all different grades. Now we have 3 in the same grade.:)

They are all doing well, and I know what you mean about the "sending them away" comments. I really like being around my kids all day.

We really do have fun.

Unknown said...

I don't home school, and unless I'm forced to live in the States again, I won't home school, but... a few days ago I was talking to a friend about your blog and she was like "How can she home school that many kids?" I think the answer is... the only sensible thing with this many kids is home school.

mommajeane said...

Hevel... you are right. Can you imagine how many meetings we would be attending for these kids? I am sure I would live at the schools... there would be multiple schools because we have all ages... and in the evening the only thing we would get done is doing homework... no thanks.Been there done that one just for a few years... it was not the family life that we wanted. Life is so much simplier and richer to us by home schooling. Thanks for sticking up for us.