Our FAQs Page

Quality over Quantity: How many friends does my child need?

What do you say to the people that insist that a homeschooled child will not have as many friends as a public schooled child?  I would first ask them to define friend.  This is a very important distinction.

I think there is an important distinction between quality and quantity in many aspects of HSing.  I don't school for the quantity of hours as PS but there is higher quality of instruction during the hours we do school.  I don't have the same quantity of experience as the teacher's in PS but the quality of our (the children and I) experience is greater.  

I think the same goes for friends.  You may have a child that is social and will claim all 25 students in his class as "friends". (Quantity) Drake was like that and he is very social.  Now he may only have 4 or 5 friends but they are real friends that he sees for a variety of activities and has a bond with them other than the class roster. (Quality) He has not expressed any need for more and anyone that knows Drake (and tried to get a word in edgewise) knows he would say something if that was the case.

Why do you think homeschooling is better for you?

Because it allows my children to develop at a rate that is normal for them.  It does not force them to perform a skill before they are ready and it doesn't make them NOT perform a skill because the "aren't supposed to be ready".  They are able to learn at their own rate, whether that be faster or slower than what our state deems normal.

Because it allows them to maintain their innocence as long as possible.

Because I feel the school system's educational philosophy sets children up for failure and I feel I can do a better job.

Because I don't like what labels do to a child.  My son is autistic which already makes him "less capable" in the eyes of the school system.  They expect less of him and would likely get less from him. He is currently blissfully unaware that he is "defective" in the eyes of some people.  I aim to keep it that way as long a possible.

Because a school classroom is about as far from a good learning environment as you can get.

Because the school has horrible time management skills (or maybe it is poor crowd control skills).

How do you create a Unit Study?

Using the example of alligators, I would start by looking up any alligator unit studies that have already been written.  I tend to look at as many as I can and pull what I like the most from each thing.  I do this the week or weekend before.

Monday we would go to the zoo and look at the alligators, spending as much time at the alligator exhibit as possible.  I would probably give them each a go at the camera and let them do a "photo essay" of the alligators.  On the way home we would stop by the library and check out any books on alligators.  We may or may not read one once we got home, but probably not.  I would then read one of the books every other day for the next week or so (how ever long the interest lasts).  After each book I would have them do a art project or hands on project relating to the book if possible.

I try to include map work (where in the world are there alligators), vocab, compare and contrast (how are the the same or different from crocodiles), mythology that may surround the topic, social studies or environmental aspect if possible (are they endangered, threats to the alligator), cooking if possible (you can get fried gator in a number of restaurants), applied math (maybe a comparison of population numbers over the last 100 years), art (photo essay, drawing, painting, sculpting), science (label parts of alligator, what part of the animal kingdom it is in, traits, habitat, life cycle, eating habits, etc.).

If your kids are older you can give them short research topics to work on on their own, either on the internet or at the library.

We are avid lapbookers so I would have them create a mini book for each thing they studied, as they studied it and then at the end of the unit assemble everything into a lapbook and review it one last time.  Then they can take it around and show it to dad or grandma and teach other people about what they learned.