Several weeks ago I did a post called “Would You Ever Homeschool.” With our oldest daughter finishing pre-school and getting ready to enter kindergarten in the fall, we had started having serious conversation about our plans for her in the fall. It really was easy for me to make the decision to not send her to public school. I researched our other options with the #1 choice being private school. I applied for her to attend a local university laboratory school, visited a local private school and added homeschooling on the list as the last resort.
Fast forward several weeks . . . . she didn’t make the cut for the university laboratory school (644 applications for 26 openings in K-8th grade)and there were some things I was uncomfortable with regarding private school (primarily the cost). I should have known that my last resort would become the best choice for our family. So to answer my own question – Yes, I would consider homeschool. Honestly, as I researched and learned more about homeschooling, I found myself hoping that she wouldn’t be accepted into the laboratory program and it was easy to cross private school off the list.
Pre-school will end in less than a month and I’m spending the next few weeks researching more about homeschooling, trying to determine which curriculum will work best for the girls, finding homeschool groups and co-ops, and getting our ‘classroom’ set up.
Here are a few pieces of information I have recently learned about homeschooling.
– In the 1970’s, homeschooling was basically extinct. Today, there are approximately 2,000,000 school-aged children in homeschool programs. http://nheri.org/
– Progress Report:2009 reports that Homeschooled students consistently ranked at least 34 percent higher on average percentile scores than public school students. http://www.ehow.com/about_5371898_homeschooling.html.
– There is a wide variety of homeschool programs. Classical; DVD, Internet and Video; Waldorf Education Method; Eclectic; Charlotte Mason Method; Unit Studies; Montessori Method; and Unschooling to name a few. I’m quite sure we’ll do an eclectic style of year round school and I hope to begin in June.
– The curriculum available for homeschool families is enough to make my head spin, but I’m really having a good time trying to figure out the best curriculum for both girls.
– Homeschool fees and expenses are tax-deductible in the State of Illinois. BONUS!! I’m so happy someone told me about this.
– There are a lot more homeschool groups and co-ops in my area than I thought.
– There are gyms, music programs, etc. that have programs set up specifically for children in homeschool programs.
The World of Weeks Education Center is a work in progress. I’m quite sure we will experience a lot of trial and error, but as I discover and learn new things about homeschooling, I find myself becoming more and more excited about the opportunities and possibilities ahead. Hopefully I can nurture a similar level of excitement in Lili and Naomi which will most certainly make this new adventure a success.
worldofweeks 
Congratulations! It will be a journey to be sure, but I can honestly say it is one of the biggest blessings in my life as a mom.
I have a lot of friends from college who homeschool. Let me know if you have any questions and I can pass you along to them :). You will do great!
Thanks Nikki. I hope I can also pick your brain from time to time if necessary 🙂
It may be confusing and tough at first, but it will be SO worth it in the end. Teaching kids to love learning and getting to see each learning milestone are just a couple of the homeschool perks. I have one suggestion for success: Make sure your kids see YOU learn something every day, as it seems to make all the difference in teaching them to enjoy education. Personally, I think that I had slept through all of grade 1-2 history, as it was all new and exciting for me to learn it with the kids a few years ago. So much fun, and I think that is why it is the favorite subject of my oldest now!
That’s a great point Cassandra and it makes perfect sense. We’ve been obsessed, I mean learning about dinosaurs for several weeks. My oldest was already excited about dinosaurs, but as I discovered things I didn’t know before, my youngest became more and more interested as well. Now we have to read her Cat-in-the-Hat dinosaur book on a daily basis and she is regularly asking about dinosaurs.
If ANYONE can make this work, YOU CAN!!!!!!!! If you lived closer to me, I’d let you homeschool mine, too!!!! :0)