I would like to start this new blog not dwelling on all the negative reasons that people, I, choose to homeschool. Thats very very hard. All the violence and abuse and neglect I read and hear about and saw myself in public schools. Does this mean I think homeschooling is right for everyone? Certainly not, but I know it is right for us. Having children for a system to raise never felt right to me.
So Dear Hope is 7 years old and my shinning star. From age 4 to about a year ago we homeschooled her in an unschooling way. We found it too extreme in the end though and giving a child all those options without a fully developed mind and body and experience to make them did not feel right either. So we changed. Where we wrong to try it? No. Do we think it does not work for anyone? No. Just not for us. It opened our minds and will always have a place in our lives because some things did work. Just not everything.
We tried to go traditional homeschooling and that did not seem to fit us either. Finally we came across Waldorf Homeschooling. We are still very new to it. We hired a consultant, have lots of books, and are really enjoying it. We need to work on our daily rhythms though. In our zoo that is hard as we have 3 adults, 5 kids, (2 babies, 2 public schooled boys that are not mine, LOL) and then Hope. Not to mention the 9 cats, 2 dogs, Gerbils, and my snake!
Hubby is in Iraq and reads to Hope everyday over the phone. We have church that we are at commonly 3 or 4 days a week and lots of kids there, girl scouts, and 1 day a week homeschool co-op. Every 6 weeks we have ritual and drumming here the kids enjoy and soon there shall be a teaching coven meeting here as well and more kids to play and learn with. Being social is not an issue we have with Hope. But reading….
Now that is a worry to me. She is 7 and some unschoolers learn after age 10, but with Waldorf, many learn around the end of age 7 and so hopefully she is almost ready to dive into that world with me as I adore books!
We really are not that different then everyone else. We worry about our children, we want what is best for them. We make choices so I can be able to stay home and guide them and show them the important things in life. Others make their own choices, so be it. Who are any of we to judge. Judge about anything?
So this shall be a place for me to share our adventure in homeschooling. I could always be wrong, but my heart knows this is right for us.
Blessings,
