I just decided to home school my preschooler (her older sister attends regular public school, but I want to get the younger one prepared) What do you suggest instead of a focused classroom type set up? I don't want to do unschooling (as covered in mistake 4) because it know it won't work for us, so I planned on doing something similar to what my older one does in her kindergarten classroom. If it doesn't work in a home school setting, what does?
Here is my reply. I'm afraid I said a little more than I initially intended:
I want to devote a whole blog post to this, because it's a great question that begs to be answered. For now, let me just say that I'm not trying to bash everything that is done in a typical, classroom setting. For example: standing in front of a 100-number chart and counting out loud is very helpful. But do you really "need" the 100-number chart to do school? No. You can print one off the computer and put it in the child's folder to have them use daily. The same goes for calendars, weather graphs, and etc...My point was that so many families "need" these things posted all over the wall, to "feel" like they're really teaching their children. But you don't. The unschoolers have this right: every moment of the day is an opportunity to teach your children. Whether you're counting to 50 while beating the eggs, singing geography songs in the car on the way to the grocery store, or just laying down on a blanket in the backyard and marveling at God's creation-- every moment is a teaching one.
You don't need to spend lots of time and money on teaching equipment in order to teach your little ones. Moms that go overboard in this, frequently end up quitting, because the task is just too enormous.
Any thoughts on this from other homeschoolers?
Other posts in this series:
Homeschooling Mistake #4
Homeschooling Mistake #3
Homeschooling Mistake #2
Homeschooling Mistake #1
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