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Welcome back to the 5 Days of Homeschool Blog Hop! My fellow Crew members and I are sharing all kinds of ideas, encouragement and advice about many different aspects of homeschooling, and we hope you're enjoying this event as much as we are. I'm talking about the rewards of homeschooling teens all the way through high school. We all know there are challenges to the task, and that parenting teens can be a challenge all on its own. We can find lots of how-to information about choosing curriculum and coursework for high schoolers. I've written some of that kind of thing myself! But this week, I'm putting the focus on some of the rewarding aspects that make this homeschooling high school gig worth the work. The payoffs and dividends along the way, not just in the long-term.
Now here's something that's a payoff for both parent and teen:
The Reward of Time.
Do we really have more time to work with? Of course not, but we have more control and more flexibility with our time, and what a benefit that can be!
Homeschooled teens have time to study their interests, and to be able to use it for high school credit. We're very flexible in tailoring education to what our students want to pursue after graduation, and in designing courses of study that make the most of their strengths. We also know where our students are struggling, and can figure out how to work through those areas in the best way possible. Teens that decide on a career path early can often get a great head start, because their time is flexible enough to allow them to start working or studying in that field. Teens that don't know for sure what they want to do as adults have time to at least try on some career possibilities and see what fits.
Parents may be out of their depth when it comes to all that goes with college applications (I know I've often wished for more guidance in the whole getting into college thing), but we do have the time - and the invested personal interest - to help our teens figure out their best choices among all the college and career paths open to them.
Homeschooled teens have a flexible schedule that sometimes gives them the advantage in part-time jobs. My boys were able to work part-time while in high school, spending one or two full weekdays each week at their job. I know a lot of homeschooled teens with part-time jobs that can work hours during the daytime.
Theoretically, a typical school day for a homeschooled teen doesn't need to take up as many hours as a public school day would. I say theoretically, because in my homeschool, we're not very good at time management, so we haven't benefited from this as much as we could have. Still, my kids rarely have to do homework. (Well, I guess it's ALL homework, right?!) We have our lesson plans to get through and even with our time management issues, we can get through the work pretty efficiently. We don't lose time over things like attendance, moving from one end of the building to another, or waiting for everyone else in the class to settle down. We do not need to be interrupted by the clock telling us it's time to close our history book and scoot off to our algebra class. When we're finished a science assignment, we can move on to our English assignment without waiting for class time to end. Homeschooling means working at our own pace and setting our own timetable.
Homeschooled teens have time to sleep. Teens need as much sleep as toddlers - did you know that? They do. There's a reason teens have a reputation for sleeping in, and it's because they need more sleep than they typically get, because of course they also like to stay up late. Homeschooling allows my kids to start their school day a little later because they don't have to catch a bus at the crack of dawn. That allows our whole family to have a little more flexibility in the evenings, because we don't necessarily have to make sure a kid is home in bed early so they don't miss the bus or fall asleep in class the next day. Also, falling asleep in class isn't actually that big a deal! (Unless they are in a co-op class or something!) If they are extra tired or not feeling well, they are allowed to adjust their day so they can have a nap.
We can go on vacations or just do stuff during the day when it works for our family. No worrying about whether the students will be missing midterms or whether we'll be reprimanded by a school official for an "unexcused absence". Since Kennady has been in the Children's Chorus, we definitely plan around those rehearsals because it's important that she attends, but we still have taken some vacations during the school year. And we can do spontaneous day trips without yanking her out of classes, so we do that.
Naturally, all that freedom we can exercise with our time means we spend more time together as a family, so this particular reward leads to the other rewards too!
Now here's something that's a payoff for both parent and teen:
The Reward of Time.
Do we really have more time to work with? Of course not, but we have more control and more flexibility with our time, and what a benefit that can be!
Parents may be out of their depth when it comes to all that goes with college applications (I know I've often wished for more guidance in the whole getting into college thing), but we do have the time - and the invested personal interest - to help our teens figure out their best choices among all the college and career paths open to them.
Homeschooled teens have a flexible schedule that sometimes gives them the advantage in part-time jobs. My boys were able to work part-time while in high school, spending one or two full weekdays each week at their job. I know a lot of homeschooled teens with part-time jobs that can work hours during the daytime.
Theoretically, a typical school day for a homeschooled teen doesn't need to take up as many hours as a public school day would. I say theoretically, because in my homeschool, we're not very good at time management, so we haven't benefited from this as much as we could have. Still, my kids rarely have to do homework. (Well, I guess it's ALL homework, right?!) We have our lesson plans to get through and even with our time management issues, we can get through the work pretty efficiently. We don't lose time over things like attendance, moving from one end of the building to another, or waiting for everyone else in the class to settle down. We do not need to be interrupted by the clock telling us it's time to close our history book and scoot off to our algebra class. When we're finished a science assignment, we can move on to our English assignment without waiting for class time to end. Homeschooling means working at our own pace and setting our own timetable.
Homeschooled teens have time to sleep. Teens need as much sleep as toddlers - did you know that? They do. There's a reason teens have a reputation for sleeping in, and it's because they need more sleep than they typically get, because of course they also like to stay up late. Homeschooling allows my kids to start their school day a little later because they don't have to catch a bus at the crack of dawn. That allows our whole family to have a little more flexibility in the evenings, because we don't necessarily have to make sure a kid is home in bed early so they don't miss the bus or fall asleep in class the next day. Also, falling asleep in class isn't actually that big a deal! (Unless they are in a co-op class or something!) If they are extra tired or not feeling well, they are allowed to adjust their day so they can have a nap.
We can go on vacations or just do stuff during the day when it works for our family. No worrying about whether the students will be missing midterms or whether we'll be reprimanded by a school official for an "unexcused absence". Since Kennady has been in the Children's Chorus, we definitely plan around those rehearsals because it's important that she attends, but we still have taken some vacations during the school year. And we can do spontaneous day trips without yanking her out of classes, so we do that.
Naturally, all that freedom we can exercise with our time means we spend more time together as a family, so this particular reward leads to the other rewards too!
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3 comments:
Thanks for this preview into the benefits I can look forward to enjoying with my little guys once they reach high school!
We don't do well at time management either!
I also have begun letting the kids sleep in; they're both night owls like their dad, so sometimes we even have school at night. Like you, I love the flexibility of homeschool when it comes to time :)
You are so right! Our oldest is graduating in a few weeks and he's worked almost FT for 2 years and has been attending community college this year. Our middle is a freshman and likes to sleep in and stay up:) It's a different ballgame when they are older!
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