It seems like in today's world parenting and education is a race and competition to be the best or first. Keeping up with the Joneses has pushed kids to the brink. With the constant focus on achievement, milestones and grades kids today are being diagnosed with Anxiety at an alarming rate. So much so that joy has gone out of learning and extra-curricular activities. Kids just need to be kids and as recess and play based learning time gets smaller and smaller public school may not be the best fit for all kids anymore.
Working At Their Own Pace Brings Back A Love of Learning.
When we allow kids to go at their own pace we allow them the opportunity to dive deep into the things that fascinate and delight them. There are also so many ways to infuse the less desired subjects into the ones they like so that they are still getting in all the work and skills needed. M, for example loves ancient Egypt and Mummies we learned math by creating and building our own pyramids, we learned science by studding the mummification process and did our language arts by a mixture of copywork and vocabulary. By being able to ignore state standards and get to things in our own time and way it has sparked curiosity and allowed them to become experts in their favorite things. In public schools each year a specific curriculum has to be taught in a specific amount of time with no opportunities to really dive deep and expand when its something that fascinates them.
Going At Your Child's Pace Allows For Mastery Of The Skill
In the public school the curriculum has to be taught at specific speed in order for kids to know A-Z by a specific date so they can pass a test. A test that determines funding for the school so everyone is forced to learn at one speed. In homeschool we can slow down and back track where and when we need to and make sure we really understand before we move on. This has been invaluable to my daughter when it comes to math. We discovered Math U See when we started homeschooling and it has been a blessing for our family. We started with Gamma and as both kids have already studied multiplication in school. A, had been receiving an hour of intervention everyday in math at school to no avail. They weren't teaching to her learning style and she was just falling further and further behind. We backtracked went over the concepts again and she went from getting every problem wrong to acing not only all her multiplication facts but multi digit multiplication problems as well.
Kids Can Speed Ahead To Avoid Busy Work And Boredom
Have you ever had your academically advanced child come home complaining about being given worksheets while the teachers helped their classmates or coming home with bad marks in conduct from behavioral induced boredom? I know my poor niece sure did. The public schools are not equipped to handle these students until middle school when there are more options. The beauty of homeschool is we aren't restricted to just one grade level per year. Have a budding scientist you can do more than one level in a year, have an avid reader who reads at an eighth grade level in the third grade like myself go ahead and beef up that language arts curriculum and have a math prodigy on your hands go ahead and skip a level. Getting to not worry about levels and teaching to your kids level helps to build confidence and instill that love of learning.
The Family Has Time To Stop And Smell The Roses
The normal school schedule does not always coincide with a families needs and style. If you want to take a family vacation to a theme park while its not packed with almost every other family doing the exact same thing at the exact same time good luck. The only way to do that is to miss class time and have the kids be overburdened with makeup work upon return. Have a job in the service industry and you usually can't take off during those peak times. Homeschool allows for breaks when they are convenient for your family without the worry of the things that will be missed. It also allows for those days when you just need a break from the rigors of schoolwork. When you homeschool the world is your classroom and a hooky day to the zoo or a museum can become a fun day of learning without even knowing it.
So if you feel like the public school is just not working for your child, or that they are just another cog in the wheel they are just passing along. If you feel like your child has lost their love of learning, know that it's never to late. Homeschool maybe the answer you're looking for and even if you feel you can't do it if you find your tribe anything is possible.