While my title of this article may sound somewhat confusing, but by the term Generic Education I am referring to Public Education School Systems, not private ran institutions. Now with that clarified I will go on to talk about what I know about Home Schooling.
I home schooled my son during the second half of first grade through Second Grade. Currently he is progressing well in 4th grade in the Public School System and I personally feel he has not had the educational experience these past 2 years that he would have had I not taken a part time job due to financial strains.
State Laws differ from State to State, and it is a must that these laws be followed by the book so to speak. I filled out the forms required by the State of Tennessee, and sent in the proper documents proving my educational background and received authorization from the State to conduct HomeSchool for my child.
Tennessee requires that you keep attendance records the same as if the child were attending public school. The guidelines offer the number of days and hours a child is required to be in class.
After obtaining the educational guidelines from the State *note, the State of Tennessee does not provide a curriculum for home school, but will provide a list of required studies It is up to the parent to create the curriculum of study designed for the grade level of the student.
I purchased my educational materials from several different sources. Most major bookstores will carry home school materials for each grade level. The Internet was also a very good source of educational materials and support. There are homeschool web sites that will provide materials, support, and chat with other parents who homeschool. You can learn a lot by talking with other parents and sharing ideas and materials that you use.
Being that my homeschool experience was with a first and second grade level student, I had no problem finding vast amounts of materials. Once a week we went to the public Library which has a small reading room designed mainly for homeschooled children. There we will often meet other parents and children who will sometimes even have a group session with parents and children. The children loved this activity and several of us formed a group that would meet on the same day every week and the parent/teachers would take turns reading to the children and letting them read to us.
Our community has a small parents advocate group of homeschoolers so we would try to meet at least once a month to plan group activities so that the children had a feelling of classroom education while still in the homeschool program.
Our local Community Recreation center allowed the parents to meet in one of their meeting rooms free of charge and during this meeting one or two parent volunteers would take the children to the Gym to play basketball or some other game physical education activity.
We planned field trips such as touring the fire station, local newspaper office, a tv station, or an afternoon at the park again where the children were always supervised by an adult volunteer. During this time the parents would discuss new ideas, techniques, and plans for upcoming activities.
Homeschooling is NOT for everyone. First it takes a lot of devotion and pre-planning on the parents part. I don't feel a parent who works outside the home can provide the time needed to conduct a homeschool environment. If there are parents out there who have accomplished this, my respects are given to you, because I don't think I could manage to hold down a job and conduct a home school at the same time.
Second the benefits of homeschool also depends on the child! There are some children that just do not have the motivation to be taught at home. It's very easy for the child to become distracted at home. They may not feel that the parent is a disciplinary figure, therefore not taking the homeschool process as serious as they would in a classroom with a teacher.
My main suggestion is if you want to homeschool, set yourself aside the time for nothing other than school. Meaning don't give your child a reading assignment, then run off to wash dishes, or do laundry. You are the teacher, so you must stay with the child during classroom time. Use the quiet time when the child may be completing a reading assignment or math work sheet, to prepare the lesson plan for the next day.
My Typical Day in Home School
The State of Tennessee requires 4 hours per day, 180 days for a school year.
Up at 8:00am light breakfast, waking up time for the child, even some TV, or self Play. Class starts at 9:00
9:00 - 10:00am Math
Because Math is my sons weakest subject, We started the morning with Math when he was fresh and concentrating. I used a dry erase white board for demonstrating problems and as a work sheet.
10:00 - 10:30am Spelling
Spelling was a fun subject to teach. I did obtain a teachers Edition of a spelling book used in the public school. We had a different activity for each day with a practice Test on Thursday and a Final test on Friday.
10:30 - 10:45am 15 minute break
Use this time to relax, grab a glass of juice, use the facilities, or simply get up and walk around.
10:45 - 11:30am Reading
Reading is fun for a young student. We would take turns reading to each other, then comprehension of what was read. Comprehension seems to be harder than reading the actual word for a first grader because they will concentrate more on what the word is than what it says in the story.
11:30 - 12:00 noon phonics
Phonics follows along side reading in many ways so that is why I placed these two studies back to back giving over an hour to reading and phonics. I used the program Hooked on Phonics which also gave video instruction along with workbooks and a series of cards that followed up with assignments.
12:00 noon - 1:00 pm Lunch break
1:00 - 2:00pm Miscellaneous
The Miscellaneous time was used for science introduction, Social Studies, Computer time, craft projects, review of the days work. On Friday the last hour was used for Library visits, or group activities with the home school advocate group.
Final Tips
Have a designated area for class room studies. Do not try to teach sitting in the living room with the tv on, phone ringing, dogs barking, or other distractions. Our dining room was the classroom. The only modification to this was when using a video for educational materials, that was handled in the living room because most families including ours does not have a tv/vcr in the dining room.
If you are lucky enough to have a spare bedroom, this is the ideal place to set up a home school class room.
Keep good records. The attendance chart must be turned in to the local board of education at the end of the school term. Depending on the grade level of the student, some states require outside testing at the end of the school year in order to receive credit for that level of Education.
Chart the childs progress by keeping records of test papers, progression reports, work sheets, and completed assignments.
My Representation of a day of homeschool is not meant to be taken as a schedule for others to follow, only as an example to show the time, devotion, and intensity that it takes to conduct a homeschool environment. Overall homeschool is a rewarding experience. While challenging at times, the time spent educating your child will be a time of bonding, sharing, and learning together.
In closing I will say, research the pros and cons of the situation depending on the individual child. Weigh the benefits as opposed to obstacles you may have to overcome. Do your homework as the educator, but most of all enjoy the experience of having the time to devote to watching your child learn a quality education.
