Let's See What's Out There! (Electives and Extras)

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you!

Welcome to "Enriching Our Learning" and the final week of the 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair, hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds! 

Each week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair has a theme, and this week's question is "What do we do for enrichment?" There are so many ways that homeschoolers add enrichment and extras to our learning, including pursuing special interests, arts, field trips, service and mission opportunities. I've decided to share about our electives - and maybe a few other extras we do - since I focused on just the academic core subjects last week.

To recap, this is what our graduation requirements are:

English - 4 credits (must include Literature and Creative Writing) 

Social Studies - 3 credits (US History + 2 others)

Math - 3 credits (Algebra I + 2 others)

Science - 2 credits (Biology + 1 other)

Bible - 2 credits

Phys.Ed. - 1 credit

Technology - 1 credit

Fine Arts - 1 credit

Health - 1/2 credit

Electives - 5-1/2 credits

Total Credits = 23

Literature and Creative Writing

Although these disciplines can be included as part of a general English credit, they are worth a mention here because we do award Lit credits separately. Kennady has already earned a credit in Brit/World Lit by doing a combination of things. This year will be another half credit in Brit/World Lit as part of her Exploring World History course. Next year she'll be doing Exploring America from Notgrass, which means she'll also be reading American Literature. It's likely we'll do about half the novels on the required reading list for that course and make that a half credit, but we'll decide when we get there! There is a full credit Literature course, using Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide by Sharon Watson, being considered for co-op next year, so that's another option. 

My related post: Lots of Literature (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

So far we haven't done a separate course focusing on creative writing, but some of her writing assignments definitely cover that aspect of writing. I haven't given it much thought because she does creative writing on her own - short stories and serials, some of which she has published on Wattpad; and some poetry and music. We are considering the One Year Adventure Novel course for next year too.

Bible

This is obviously required by our homeschool group and not by the state! Since we use Notgrass for high school history, the two Bible credits are built right in as part of Exploring World History and Exploring America. 

Phys.Ed.

This was an easy credit thanks to our co-op gym class over the past several years! We counted hours to complete the credit, which many homeschoolers do. Between two full semesters of gym class in each of her first two years of high school and plenty of other sports activities, I awarded a half credit for phys.ed. in her freshman year and another in her sophomore year, so that is done. We didn't have time in our schedule for gym class this year anyway, but the fun and socialization it offered are sadly missed.

Technology

This one is still up for debate as to exactly how we'll fulfill it. Possibilities being considered include: combination of Thinking Like an Architect from Innovators Tribe and  Introduction to Architecture from SchoolhouseTeachers.com; or maybe Graphic Design or Image Editing. All of these options would appeal to her creative bent but are technology based studies.

Fine Arts

This is where Kennady has loaded up on credits! She has been in the advanced group in the Children's Chorus since her Freshman year, so she's earned two full credits already, with another in the works this year, and a fourth planned for her Senior year. This is a full music education program with intense rehearsals and several performances each year. Much of the music this group performs is college level choral music. She's traveled with the chorus for choral festivals and adjudications to Philadelphia, New York (performing at Carnegie Hall!), and New Orleans.

Outside Carnegie Hall, before the chorus performed
in June 2015

Jackson Square in New Orleans for the Crescent City Chorus Festival

 She's also an intern with the Chorus this year, assisting the Director of the upper elementary age chorus, which will also earn her a credit. Hopefully she'll decide to do the internship next year as well.

But we're not done with Music credits, because she also takes guitar lessons, and plays guitar and ukulele with worship teams at church. We do count the hours for lessons, worship team rehearsals and performances, which is way more than enough for one full credit each year without even trying to count her personal practice hours. So four total credits by the end of her senior year. At least.  Clearly, she is looking into careers that involve music.

leading worship during her Freshman year

a new ukulele at the end of the Sophomore year

a little guitar practice at the beginning of her Junior year

More Fine Arts credits come from her interest in art. Mostly she has played with art during her high school years, but has focused on it enough using some art instruction programs we've reviewed (ARTistic Pursuits, Creating a Masterpiece, and ArtAchieve) that I've awarded at least a half credit for art in her Freshman and Sophomore years. Both years she also designed and painted full size backdrops for the children's Christmas plays at church - large scale projects that took many hours of planning, creative design, and even managing her assistants!

Health

This is a required half credit for our group, in keeping with some state guidelines. We used a BJUPress curriculum that she completed in her Sophomore year. Mostly read the text and answer some questions - call it good.

Electives

In the "Other" category? This year she completed a half credit course in Speech and Presentation at the co-op - which she loved, by the way! There's a rumor that there may be a Speech II class offered next year and she's already said that she wants to take it if it's available. Part of the course was based on the book TED Talks but most of the class time was spent practicing their speaking skills with both improv and prepared speeches. They also worked on preparing and giving powerpoint presentations.

And another course at the co-op that she is really enjoying is French I. And we are planning on her taking French II next year. One or two years of a foreign language is a requirement of some colleges, and Kennady was very interested in learning French when the opportunity came up through the co-op.

Extras

Although the extra things we get to do as homeschoolers may not find their way onto report cards or transcripts, they certainly can be described as enrichment for our homeschool. We've found that there are fewer field trips that interest us or that we have time for during the high school years, but we still do a few now and again. Seems like most of those field trip type things actually happen as part of family outings and vacations though! Some interesting places we've visited during Kennady's high school years include a cartoon museum and library, a commercial greenhouse during poinsettia growing season, zoos and aquariums, an exotic animal rescue facility, an art museum, and many historical sites. Even the trip to New Orleans with the Childrens Chorus included a visit to an aquarium, plenty of opportunities to explore sites in the historic French Quarter, and even a class at the New Orleans Cooking School.

How do you enrich your learning with electives and extras? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers as we all share thoughts about "Enriching Our Learning" in this week's Virtual Homeschool Fair.

This post is part of the Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018. This year the Virtual Homeschool Fair is hosted by Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. Visit my fellow bloggers listed below and find out about "Enriching Our Learning" (all posts will be live by 8am EST on January 29, 2018)! Make a special point of visit our hostess at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and thanking her for organizing the Virtual Homeschool Fair, and the Virtual Curriculum Fairs in years past. Susan has done a lot of work pulling these blog events together, and this is the last Fair under her leadership, so be sure to show your appreciation to her!

Celebrating 7 Years of Homeschool Support & Encouragement by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
All of the Extras by Christy Schaefer @ Unexpected Homeschool
How To Explore Special Interests In Your Homeschool by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Learning outside of the box by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Putting the Heart Back into our Homeschool by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Adding in the Fun by Michele @Family, Faith and Fridays
The Electives We Use in Our Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
The Fun Parts of Homeschooling by Annette @ A Net in Time
How we add in the fun stuff. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Running - for fitness & fun by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
Adding in the Extras by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
What About the Fun Stuff? by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
And the Learning Goes On, And On, And On by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
Let's See What's Out There! (Electives and Extras) by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

This post is part of a #breakthrulinkup at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us!  This post is also linked at the Encouraging Hearts & Home Blog Hop hosted by Apron Strings & Other Things; and at the Homeschool Linky Party on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

 ©2006-2018 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Use the Force and Complete the Course

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! 

Welcome to "Our Homeschool Curriculum" and the third week of the 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair, hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds! 

Each week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair has a theme, and this week's question is "How do we cover it all?" Honestly, it's next to impossible to truly cover it ALL so we have to decide what subjects are most important and figure out how to cover those, and then move on from there. We're homeschooling high school, so the essentials are the core academics and the required credits for graduation. So that's where we start.

Our graduation requirements at present are:

English - 4 credits (must include Literature and Creative Writing) 

Social Studies - 3 credits (US History + 2 others)

Math - 3 credits (Algebra I + 2 others)

Science - 2 credits (Biology + 1 other)

Bible - 2 credits

Phys.Ed. - 1 credit

Technology - 1 credit

Fine Arts - 1 credit

Health - 1/2 credit

Electives - 5-1/2 credits

Total Credits = 23

Once we know what we need to cover, we can plan how to spread those credit courses over the four years (maybe five if they take credit courses during Grade 8; and maybe as few as three if they plan to graduate early), and we can choose curriculum that is a good fit with our priorities and for our style. Then, we "Use the Force" to adapt where needed so that we can cover it all!

English

In Kennady's first two years of high school, her English credits were somewhat cobbled together, and to be honest, I wasn't exactly thrilled about how much we covered. We used a combination of materials from Institute for Excellence in Writing for the most part - Student Writing Intensive Level C and Fix-It! Grammar in Grade 9, and the High School Essay Intensive in Grade 10. Last year she also started on The Power in Your Hands from Writing with Sharon Watson, but put it on hold to work through during Grade 11. So last year, the composition portion of her English credit seemed a little light overall, because most of it was done at the very beginning and the very end of the school year.

This year Kennady has been doing a Writing class at our co-op. Since we'd decided on The Power in Your Hands for this class, we'd stopped using it last year. The co-op has been helpful because of the  firm deadlines for assignments to be completed. (Did I mention that I'm the teacher? I enforce deadlines in my class, but have trouble doing so at home.)  So by the end of this year, she'll have three of the needed four credits, and that's not counting the credits for Literature. We haven't decided what we'll do for English next year. Options include another class at the co-op, a class at the community college (dual enrolled), just using the writing assignments from her history text, or maybe the One Year Adventure Novel course at home, since she enjoys writing fiction. 

Social Studies

In Grade 9, Kennady chose a course in Cultural Geography. Actually, it was one those courses that was intended to be on year, but we spread it over two years. She started it in Grade 8, and we took it a bit slower and added quite a bit to it, so it made a lot of sense to spread it into two years and then award the credit. 

We have a bit of a habit of spreading courses over two years, it seems. That's one of the ways we "use the force", I guess! It was not in our original plan to spread Exploring World History from Notgrass over two years, but we were moving a lot slower than we should have been during Grade 10. Rather than make it harder than it needed to be, I reworked the course description and she completed the first half of the course and called it Ancient and Biblical History, since we included other things along the way. The half credit we had originally planned on for Literature included selections from the Notgrass course as well as some additional study of Shakespeare thanks to a Lightning Lit review.

So this year, we're finishing up Exploring World History, along with a few additions to make sure it's still worth a full credit. The Bible portion of this course is still be a full credit and the Literature portion is a half credit. Most of the full-length novels for the Lit portion fall in the second semester, which should work out well, since she's just finished one of her electives at co-op and theoretically has a bit more time! At the end of this year, she will have three History credits, but still needs US History, which we will do next year, using Exploring America from Notgrass. That will also be a Bible credit, so she'll have at least the two required.

Math

Ugh. This is where we most need "the force". In fact, I wish there was a force we could use that would make this subject a lot easier! For me and for Kennady. In Grade 9, she was doing pre-algebra, and because she didn't like it and it didn't come easily, she had a tough time getting any momentum going that year. She needed to take math slow and steady in order to get it - and the "steady" part of that equation is still a struggle. So that first year was a combination of Life of Fred, extra worksheets on occasion, and some review from A+ Interactive Math mini-courses.  

  

Things went better in Grade 10 as Kennady continued to use Life of Fred, but with the Fred's Home Companion to help give structure. At the end of the year, we got to review No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials to review and it was a good fit for Kennady, so that's what she is using this year. Next year, she will do a full credit Consumer Math course - at present I'm leaning towards  Money 101 - so she will have at least the three required Math credits. We're considering the possibility of the first year college math if she does dual enrollment, but that will depend on several factors, not the least of which is whether she'll be able to test into that level.

Science

In our homeschool community, a lot of students do their required Biology course in Grade 9, but Kennady did a General Science. We used Survey of Science History & Concepts, an overview course that covers mathermatics, biology, chemistry, and physics. 

She did Biology in Grade 10 with Biology 101 from Answers in Genesis. We had trouble sticking to a schedule with it though, especially since we had to be creative with adding reading and extras in order to round it out to high school credit level. Thankfully, near the end of the year, we reviewed Nature's Beautiful Order from Memoria Press, and that helped us out by providing that needed reading and some written work. Kennady has both her required Science credits, and unless she surprises me with a Science elective she wants to do next year, we are calling it good. But to be honest, I think this is the course where we've skimped and part of me worries that we really haven't done enough.

   

Next year?

Right now we're at the midway point of her Junior year, and we know what we'll need to cover next year. Kennady will have technically have the four required English credits, but that includes two half credit courses in Literature. So she will still do a full credit English course that focuses on Composition - we just need to decide what that will be. She has three Social Studies credits, but still needs US History, so we're planning to do Exploring America from Notgrass. That will also provide another Bible credit, and does have a full credit Literature component as well, if we choose to use it. If all goes well this year, she'll be finished with Algebra, and we'll plan on Consumer Math next year, and will have the option to take math at the college if we decide that's a good idea.

And the electives?

That's a whole new post! Next week the Virtual Homeschool Fair will be focused on enriching our learning, so I'll be discussing our electives and some other extras then. 

My related posts:

Junior Year (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

How are you covering it all in your homeschool? Do you do the complete curriculum or pull things together "using the force" the way we have been? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers as we all share thoughts about "Our Homeschool Curriculum" in this week's Virtual Homeschool Fair.

This post is part of the Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018. This year the Virtual Homeschool Fair is hosted by Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. Visit my fellow bloggers listed below and find out about "Our Homeschool Curriculum" (all posts will be live by 8am EST on January 22, 2018)!

Our Homeschool Plan for 3rd, 6th, 8th, & 12th Grades by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Our 10th Grade Plans by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Planning Out Our Unschooling Studies by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
The Details of Curriculum by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Reflections of a Curriculum Junkie by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Freedom through nature journaling. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
How I pull together a homeschool curriculum without packaged curriculum by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Our Favorite Curriculum and Resources - An Annotated Bibliography by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
Our 2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Top Home Educating Resources by Sarah @ DeliveringGrace
Homeschooling Curriculum We Are Using This Year by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
Use the Force and Complete the Course by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Choices, choices - how to choose your curriculum wisely by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
Our Curriculum Needs - grade seven by Annette @ A Net in Time
The Heart of Our School by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Curriculum We Have Loved Using - Virtual Homeschool Fair -Week 3 by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
How to Avoid Gaps in Education by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
Tricky Subjects and Starting the Decision Making Process by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
High School Syllabus by TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy @ GoldenGrasses

This post is also part of a #breakthrulinkup  at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us!

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

 ©2006-2018 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Captain's Log, Supplemental - Our Homeschool Days

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! 

Welcome to "Our Method of Homeschooling" and the second week of the 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair, hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds! 

Each week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair has a theme, and this week's question is "How do we homeschool?" Some will share about their philosophy of education, or the methods they follow. I don't think I have the time to describe my homeschool philosophy in any detail - I feel like that might lead me into a wormhole! As for our method, the easiest thing is to call it eclectic. That means we take the ideas that work for us from several different methods and cobble it together into something that is mostly getting the job done. So I've decided I'll be one of the Homeschool Fair bloggers that invites readers to have a glimpse of what a typical homeschool day or week looks like at our place. 

It's understandable that we want to put our best out there when we blog about our homeschool experiences, so usually our blogs are full of great art projects and exciting field trips and cool science activities. And our cute kids. I'm here to tell you that this was much easier for me when my kids were much younger and we did those fun projects way more often. As the students advanced and spent more time studying independently, there have been fewer nifty hands-on projects to display. As they got older, they also got kind of weird about being in pictures so there have been fewer photo ops. So what's a homeschool mom of teens to blog about? Well, I've always tried to be careful of my kids' dignity and privacy, and to strike a balance of being real but not embarrassing them. (Their idea of what would embarrass them is not always the same as mine though.) But it's true that you'll now find fewer pictures of my kids, and fewer details about their lives and the specifics of their schoolwork. Still, because I think it's a good thing to present a realistic view of homeschool life, I try not to gloss things over and make it seem like we've got it all together. We don't. I'm not even sure where all of it is, so I can't begin to put it all together. This, folks, is an attempt at describing a fairly typical homeschool week at my house. 

It should go without saying that my day always begins with coffee. No matter what time I get up or what's on the agenda.

travel mugs for work and co-op days

regular mugs for at-home school days

We have two young adult sons that live at home, so the morning schedules change based on who has to be at work at what time, but most days Kennady is supposed to be starting school around 9am. Two days a week, Monday and Friday, I am at work during the day, so once I've seen everyone else off and had my first coffee of the day, I try to make sure Kennady is awake before I leave. Because if she's not, she might sleep until noon! This is something she does need to work on - getting moving at a consistent time in the morning. Anyway, she does have to work on her own those two days, although I'm pretty accessible by phone or messenger if she has questions about assignments. I like for her to message me throughout the day just to let me know what she's working on, but that doesn't always happen. What I need to work on is probably checking her work every day to stay on top of grading and any problems that might crop up!

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are at-home school days. Or they are supposed to be. I usually have to run errands on Tuesday morning, but that's flexible. Our goal is to do schoolwork that she needs my help with on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But the truth is, she doesn't need my help for much - except maybe to check up on her to make sure she's doing it! 

Tuesday evening is chorus rehearsal night. Kennady is interning, so she needs to be there by 5:30 for that group's rehearsal, then has a half hour break before her chorus rehearses. It does make for a long evening, especially because I usually have choir rehearsal as well and Landon goes to Civil Air Patrol. The good thing is that all those things happen on one evening, so we can combine the trip to town.

Wednesday is an at-home school day with Kennady's guitar lesson plugged into the middle of the day. It makes for a nice break, and is late enough that she can do quite a bit of schoolwork in the morning, and not have to take lunch break early or have it rushed. In the evening we have church activities, which often include worship team practice, which involves our whole family. Kennady plays uke or guitar and sings with the worship team, and that's part of her music credit.

Thursday is our co-op class day. That means an earlier start for Kennady (and that my coffee is definitely in a travel mug!), as we have to be at class for 8am! Meaning we are out the door around 7am. In first semester she took French I, Writing, and Speech/Presentation. The semester just ended, and since Speech/Presentation was only a half credit course, we'll be done at co-op about an hour earlier. We haven't decided yet how that will affect our schedule, and this first week I have a meeting and we won't be leaving early in any case. In first semester, most weeks we either stayed at co-op to have lunch with our friends there, or stopped to visit friends right afterwards before we headed home. It's actually a good opportunity to do a little socializing, and maybe run a couple of errands since we're in town anyway. 

So as you can see, I don't have much say over how Kennady organizes her schoolwork during the day. And at this point, that's really as it should be. She is able to manage her own time and schedule her assignments in an order that works for her. Whether she does it or not is essentially up to her as well. Co-op is a nice discipline, because there's no negotiation over when assignments are due. Even in the class I teach! I'm hoping that discipline continues to spill over into the courses she works on at home, and that she takes deadlines a bit more seriously. In general, she likes to start her schoolday with History, and then move on to the other subjects. She'd like if she didn't have to do Algebra at all, so if there's a subject she avoids, that's the one. 

Do we do school in the evenings? Sometimes. It depends on how things are going. If I come home from work and find out that she got stuck in Algebra that day, there's a good chance I'll get her to break out the books after dinner so I can help her figure it out. Sometimes she needs to finish printing out assignments that she worked on for co-op on Wednesday when we get home from church. Same thing on weekends. We don't plan on doing school on weekends, most of the time, but there are times when we really need to in order to get back on track or finish something on time.

My related posts:

From Monday to Friday - Our "typical" schedule as it looked in October 2017

The Real Homeschoolers series from 2015

5 Ordinary Homeschool Days series from 2014

What does your typical homeschool week look like - very structured or rather loose like ours? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers as we all share thoughts about "Our Method of Homeschooling" in this week's Virtual Homeschool Fair.

This post is part of the Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018. This year the Virtual Homeschool Fair is hosted by Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. Visit my fellow bloggers listed below and find out about "Our Method of Homeschooling" (all posts will be live by 8am EST on January 15, 2018)!

How Our Academic Co-op Completes Our Eclectic Homeschool by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
A Method to Our Madness by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Finding Our Homeschool Method by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
How We Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Give Us.... by Annette @ A Net in Time
A day in our Home by Sarah@DeliveringGrace
Lit-Based Education: How We Homeschool by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Overhauling Our Homeschool - Adjusting our "How" to fit our "Why" by Sabrina Scheerer @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler: Expectation Vs. Reality by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
How Charlotte Mason Transformed Our Homeschool by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Captain's Log, Supplemental - Our Homeschool Days by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
How we get it done. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
How to Organize Daily Curriculum with the School Cart by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Learning For LIfe by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
Eclectic Homeschooling: When It All Comes Together by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
A Typical Day? by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
This is the Way We Do Our School, So Early in the Morning by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
A Little of This and a Little of That: Eclectic Homeschooling by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
Still Classically Educating After All These Years by True North Homeschool Academy
So what exactly is Life Led Homeschooling? by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
The way we learn ~ 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Our Homeschool Routine by Joelle @Homeschooling For His Glory
Homeschool Methods – 8 Tips for the Journey by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset

This post is also part of a #breakthrulinkup  at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us!

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

 ©2006-2018 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

A Long Time Ago . . . Why We Decided to Homeschool

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! 

Welcome to "The Reasons We Homeschool" and the first week of the 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair, hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds! 

Each week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair has a theme, and we're starting with a theme that takes us back to our homeschool roots - answering the question "Why do we homeschool?" There are so many reasons for choosing home education to begin with, and often we find new reasons to keep homeschooling! Our homeschool story started what seems like a long time ago, and in a place far away . . .  Okay, not a galaxy far away, but in a different country at least.

The hubster and I were basically still newlyweds when a new family started attending our church, and we found out that they homeschooled their two daughters. Well, we were intrigued! We'd heard of homeschooling, but didn't know anyone who did it, or anything about it. Our brief acquaintance with this family got us considering the option though, and by the time we were expecting our first baby, I had pretty much made up my mind, though the hubster wasn't quite sure. Why were we considering something that was so out of the ordinary, especially when we'd both had fairly good experiences in public school? We knew the schools had already changed a lot, and more negative influences were creeping in, and even then we had some concerns about the social dynamics and about what was actually being taught. (For more on this subject, see my review: IndoctriNation - Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America)

Young children belong with their family.

Our oldest son was not quite a year old when we moved from western Canada to southern New Jersey. A co-worker of my hubby's was the head of a homeschool family, and that was a valuable connection when it came to making our decision. They steered us in the right direction for finding out how to homeschool legally - and that we could homeschool legally in all fifty states! - and how to get started. We were about 95% sure that this was what we were going to do, and then we realized that if Harrison was going to attend Kindergarten at the public school, he would have to ride a bus - the same bus that kids all the way through eighth grade would be riding. And for all-day Kindergarten. Ummm, that was a big bucket of Nope. That didn't seem safe, and there was something about it that struck me as unnatural too. Unnatural for my five-year-old to have to fend for himself on that bus and be away from home for most of the day. Decision cemented. About that same time, we were preparing for a move to another state, and our second child had joined the family. Moving and upheaval, new church, new surroundings, etc, and we knew my going to work and putting children in daycare was not an option anyway, so it made even more sense to homeschool. 

We can decide what our kids learn, and when.

There were a lot of little things that played a role in this part of our reasoning, but something that came up often during those first years living in the United States was that a surprising number of the people we met had so little knowledge about Canada. Not kidding, reasonably well educated adults made statements like "Canada is that state up north, near Alaska, right?" and it bothered me. I had long ago stopped saying I was from Calgary because it generally earned me blank stares. I just went with Canada. Yeah, it's a huge country, but since people didn't seem to realize that Niagara Falls is actually not near to Calgary at all . . .  And we wanted our children to know about the country we came from as well as the United States, and about other parts of the world as well.

We wanted our kids to be able to learn at their own pace. We were determined to educate them from a Biblical worldview. We believed it was our God-given right and responsibility as parents to direct the education of our children.



We can take the time to educate and disciple, and to enjoy each other's company.

There's no question that we are to disciple our children as they grow up, and education and discipleship are closely related. Discipleship requires time spent together if we're to talk about God's commandments at home and as we walk along the road, when we start our day and when we end it. We believe that having our children with us for the majority of their days is better than turning them over to an institution for the biggest part of their day.

Speaking of time, we actually wanted to spend time together as a family! I mean, that's how it's supposed to be, right? We should like being together, and when we go on family outings or vacations, we should enjoy each other's company. That was another goal of ours in choosing to homeschool - to be more in control of our time, and for family time to be frequent and important. As homeschoolers, we are in charge of our school year calendar, our weekly schedules, our daily routines, our sick days, our snow days, and our vacations. Selfish? Perhaps, but I sure like not having to get the school's permission to take a family vacation in October if that's what we want to do!

We can do what's best for us.

When it comes to education, one size does not fit all! We wanted to homeschool because our kids could learn to read at their own pace, and focus on studies that were most important and interesting to them. We could make our school schedule fit our lifestyle. We could choose the best curriculum or learning approach for each kid and for each grade level.

And I am not going to lie - I didn't want to have to get up early to put my kids on the school bus, or sit in my pajamas in the carpool pick-up lane. My kids wouldn't have wanted that either! We can sleep a little later, and we can stay in our pajamas during class. It's all good.

My related posts:
Why Homeschool? Why Not?
What's My Motivation Here?

What are some of your reasons for homeschooling? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers as they share thoughts on "The Reasons We Homeschool" in this week's Virtual Homeschool Fair.

This post is part of the Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018. This year the Virtual Homeschool Fair is hosted by Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. Visit my fellow bloggers listed below and find out about "The Reasons We Homeschool" (all posts will be live by 8am EST on January 8, 2018)!

5 Reasons to Homeschool High School by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Weird Homeschoolers by Kim R. @ Good Sweet Love
How We Make Homeschooling a Lifestyle by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Our Ever Evolving Homeschool Story by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
5 Reasons You Will Want to Homeschool by Michele@ Family, Faith and Fridays
How Our Homeschool Came To Be (and why we continue) by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
Home Education - 10 Reasons we keep going...even when it's hard by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
So... Tell Me Again Why You Homeschool? by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Week 1 - Why do I Homeschool  by Joelle@Homeschooling For His Glory
Homeschool Reasons: Bullies, Faith and More by Annette @ A Net In Time
In Pursuit of Purpose by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
A Long Time Ago . . . Why We Decided To Homeschool by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
The Why Behind Hopkins Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
5 Reasons We Love Homeschooling by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Why We Homeschool - It's What We Do by Kristen H @ Sunrise to Sunset
Why we Home Educate and Extra Benefits by Sarah@Delivering Grace
Homeschooling: The Big WHY? by Lisa @ True North Homeschool Academy at Golden Grasses
Regaining Your Homeschool Focus by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
Why do we homeschool? by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Our “Homeschool” Why by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
It's Worth it! Why We Homeschool, Even After All These Years by Hillary @ Walking Fruitfully
Because Life is Precious by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
1998 vs. 2018: Why We Homeschool by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

This post is also part of a #breakthrulinkup  at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us!

Visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog for A Round Up of Why We Homeschool, and find out what motivated other Crew members. This will be live on Friday, February 26th.

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