Hello and welcome to my homeschooling blog!
Firstly let me start off by introducing myself and sharing about how I came to begin this journey in de-schooling my children.
Most of my friends call me Kym, and i'm a stay at home mama of 6 kids! I started thinking about homeschooling actually when 6 kids was only 3. My oldest son was in the 3rd grade and one thing I began to start taking notice of was the "behavioral" trouble my son was getting into every single day; from the time he was in kindergarten. This cycle was almost repetitive until it became like clockwork, everyday I would go pick him up from school and the teacher would be so ecstatic to tell me about the terrible behavior he was having each day. I know it sounds like I am exaggerating but I assure you, I wish I were! The things he would get in trouble over were things I would probably find myself in trouble for as a child; things like talking in class, excessive talking, being stubborn and just refusing to do his work. BUT COME ON GUYS... IT WAS EVERY STINKIN DAY lol. What did it for me and what ultimately made me start considering homeschooling was when his teacher suggested that I not only put him on medication so that he could "better focus" in class, but she actually recommended a medication AND a child phycologist. At the time, I had been doing a bit of research on laws especially pertaining to the schools and the Board of Education and so from that moment on I decided that any all all further meetings suggested by teachers or the principal needed to be documented on paper and a copy sent to me via certified mail. During this same time I also started weighing my options as far as homeschooling and how I could remove him from institutionalized learning to a home setting. My efforts and my first attempt left me utterly confused and disappointed. At the time I thought my only option was to either pay for a private school where he could use an interactive classroom platform, or go out and buy all the books the teachers have. Because that was not an option for me I had no choice but to reluctantly keep him in school and save up for what I thought at the time would cover a years worth of learning = $2500.
My second and final attempt came this past school year. It is actually amazing what a little bit of digging can do once you have at least one resource. What sparked this motivation was believe it or not, the common core agenda. After researching and talking to other parents who were equally concerned with this agenda I received some information to look up about a local homeschooling group in my area[ We live in NY]. My first step was to get to know the NYS-Homeschooling regs.
After reading through the regs I think it is safe to say; my confusion went from a level 5 to a level 18! What I did not know, and later found out is that although there are regulations on what your child has to learn: at least here in NY there are absolutely no regulations on what teaching material has to be used. And because there are no regs on the material, the learning experience goes from one of restriction and repetition to one of a broader and more exciting nature! The second step for all New York homeschoolers is to submit a letter of intent to the superintendents office. This letter basically states that you intend on removing your child from XXX school and intend on educating him/her yourself. The last step to starting is to complete an IHIP form, templates can be downloaded from various blogs or from google. The IHIP form is basically an instruction form for the year. So you will create a curriculum for your child for the year and include what you intend on using to instruct them.
After you have completed this you are all set to go! Depending on the state you are homeschooling in, you may be required to submit a quarterly report. There are some neat little sites that you can use to help you organize your child's grades and attendance hours. The one we are using currently is time4learning.com. This site allows you to monitor and keep track of your child's work, store the grades or download them for record keeping, and it gives you the parent a full report of their strengths while learning. Now because NYS is one of the few states with such tight regs, we use this to fulfill the boy's state requirements. The one thing that I enjoy about this site is that it is very interactive and almost every lesson on the site is in a game form. And because my kids love playing games, it is a lot less painful to get them to cover 2 subjects a day when they think they are just playing all day.
NOW HERE COMES THE CHEAP PART!!!!
For 3 kids on the site I mentioned above, it is costing us 48.36 a month. Because I originally intended on keeping my children's learning Afrikan centered and still intend on it I also invested in a curriculum http://www.kamaliacademy.com/ to help detox my little one's from the institutionalized method of learning. This curriculum ran us 39.95 [be advised, this is a pdf form]. The very last thing I went out and splurged on [not necessary but can be helpful] was an array of dollar store items.
YES YOU HEARD RIGHT.. THE DOLLAR STORE!!! OH HAPPY DAYS
Here is my small but never the least very exciting haul/ and soon to be stock pile of dollar store goodies.
And the grand total!!!!!!!! Drum roll please==========
$60 whopping dollars.
Okay so you got me! Maybe that wasn't a great come up, but hey what can I say. Had this been a blog on couponing perhaps I would have been on to something.
*Disclaimer
I am purchasing for 5 kids so depending on the size of your family and your budgeting skills you may hit a better deal. In that care please contact me immediately and teach me everything you know about couponing and smart shopping to save :)
So in closing this ridiculously long blog, my thoughts and main reasoning for choosing to homeschool my own children
1. Nobody is going to treat your kid/kids better than you expect them to be treated [based on experience but thats for a later post]
2. Public school and institutionalized learning settings have become so marginalized with political correctness which has resulted in the mass filtering of vital subject, historical events, and people which ultimately has resulted in exclusion and the alienation of specific topics and people.
3. I have the determination as well as the patience to keep my kids home while learning
4. I changed the way I view the school system
- By this what I mean is I think the public school option is for some but not all. I used to think of school hours like a break away from the boys, some down time if you will before they come swirling into the house at 230 like 5 angry tornados on flat ground. Once I got sick of the way my kids were being treated, not only by alienation through behavior modification but through bogus acts such as "no child behind" and "race to to the top" giving credit where it wasn't due or neglecting to correct academic errors as if behavior doesn't stem from lack of maturity. Once it truly registered that the quality of education my kids were getting would ultimately fail them- because the work is wrong and because children love to be corrected, and these children will soon be teenagers who will begin to stop caring about effort and getting things right, learning things the right way, or the cost of hard work with determination!
-These are what made me look at the school system very differently. What I can see very clearly, many of these teachers who are teaching common core standards could not possibly care about my child's future. I believe they are just there for a paycheck and partially some, because of a passion for teaching.
5. I love my kids SOOOO much, there is nothing else that I would rather do than to spend every waking hour with them....
So, there you have it! That is my story and I am sticking to it. :) If you liked this blog go ahead and sub! Its free.
For any vet mama rockers or new mama rockers check out the homeschooling-on the cheap
