I feel like we should create a post to compile tips for Pedes that have had to deal with their kids be freed from indoctrination camps/schools.
So I'll start. Please fellow homeschool parents, jump in.
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Do NOT try and recreate public school. PS is designed to teach en mass, typically a one size fits all approach. Why do that when you can customize each child's learning to their personal strengths, deficits, and desires. A kid who excels at reading should be pushed to read more challenging stuff. A kid struggling at math should have more time and resources dedicated to that.
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Get a guide. Seriously, unless you are a teacher, we often dont know what to teach and when. Guides are helpful in setting benchmarks and giving ideas on how to approach it. You are not beholden to them, so you can and should alter it to fit your kid. We started with a book called "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Bauer.
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Teach more than just academics. Everything is educational. Teach them about your faith, running a household, maintenance of vehicles, rhetoric, home repair, anything that we hear others complain that schools don't do.
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Seize the little moments. Use everyday things to teach an academic lesson. Cooking uses math and also teaches task management. Dinner time discussions become etiquette and rhetoric lessons.
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The internet has loads of resources for homeschool. Sift through them to find worthwhile ones. Some are trash or leftist influenced so be mindful of it.
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Get them involved in a sport outside of the home. Its easy to focus on the mental and neglect the physical, dont.
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Keep them connected to peers outside the home somehow. Kill the excuse that homeschool kids arent socialized (read: corrupted or groomed) unless they are in PS. By keeping them in positive peer settings, you get all of the benefits and none of the downsides. Ex: Church youth groups, Trail Life or American Heritage Girls, sports leagues, hobby groups, homeschool groups.
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Do not feel like you need to spend 8 hours a day on lessons. A couple of quality hours of lessons at home beatsa full day of PS. The rest of the day can be filled with little natural learning moments.
That's what I have to start with. What else does everyone else got?
Don’t panic. Research shows that ‘unschoolers’ (people who actively DON’T try to teach their kids ANYTHING) score on average only a single grade level away from public schooled kids. Public Schools present kids with less than 15 minutes a day of individual attention, and only about 45 mins of actual educational lecture. If you were doing homework with your kids, you were already doing most of the heavy lifting.
Keep detailed records.<— this is essential documentation to protect yourself from accusations of neglect.. Look up the school subject requirements for your state and label your blocks accordingly, keeping a daily log of subjects studied and progress made.
Use Multimedia. You can use tools like Google Earth, YouTube videos, and math/science explanation animated gifs to support your instruction in a way that few teachers are able to. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y741QbT1YEo
READING, READING, READING. The single most important attribute that defines a child’s later likelihood of success is developing a love for reading. Read to them, make them read to each other aloud, read to themselves silently. Let them choose their own books; don’t try to censor. Comic books are ok. Picture books are ok, too, especially at first. Books on tape are good to help overcome initial resistance. Adventure books, Horse books, etc. Enforce an hour a day for silent reading - they don’t have to read but they can’t do anything else.
DON’T try to always be ‘right’.. Your goal is to teach them to explore, research, learn, and think. At first you will know more than them about everything. Give them every chance to become experts, avoid saying ‘I already know that’. Ask questions that make them think. Teach them to look for dissenting viewpoints, and show them that contradictions and viewpoint-dependent truths exist.
Go slow at first, and ramp up. Whatever you plan on doing, start it so easy that they have a couple of weeks where they ‘can’t fail’, where there is no ‘excuse’ or dependence on software, computer cables, more instruction, more pylons, etc. establish the habit of getting it done before you start making it challenging.
Keep to a schedule. Have an endpoint that is achievable. Work in 45. Min. Blocks or less. Add fun elements, and flexible breaks. Make rules and penalties you can stick to, and a FAIR system for waiving requirements/making exemptions.
Financial, LEGAL INFO, and other resources - http://www.quaqua.org
Best single ‘all-in-one’ software solution: https://www.ixl.com. Use as your base and supplement as desired. (No affiliation)