Today we have a guest post from Jennifer Mitchell. She eloquently shares the differences between school at school and school at home. Thank you for sharing this with us Jennifer! You can find Jennifer on Instagram at this handle: @JENN28EBM
If you want to see what our daily homeschool schedule looks like, check it out here.
One misconception I have been seeing since we have had a huge influx of new parents join our Facebook group recently is how will I manage to replicate school at home?
Homeschooling does not need to be done 6 hrs a day 5 days a week. Think about how many minutes of a traditional school day is spent taking attendance, repeating instructions, sitting with the lunch monitor waiting for the other kids to finish eating so you can go outside. I'm sure you can think of more but I will not go on. A whole lot of time wasted and waiting. And that's even without the endless hours of busing.
Depending on your child's grade level, younger kids can get most of their mandatory curriculum done in an hour or two a day. Learning can also take place at any time and in any way. It does not require text books or worksheets. It can but it is not necessary.
We are programmed by society and traditional schools to believe that learning looks a very specific way. The truth is that it can be done well, if not exceedingly well, when we match our ideals to our children's needs and abilities. I have watched my child go from being sullen and withdrawn in school to being motivated and eager to follow his interests. If our main requirement as homeschoolers is to teach literacy and numeracy who says part of that can't be done in exciting platforms like Minecraft? If that's what gets my child inspired to build, count and read then I'm all for it.
I truly believe that if we take a step back and allow our children to take the lead, with some guidance on our part, they will thrive. Make this year exciting and fun. It will be a year like no other and a year to remember. Enjoy it...