Home school before school age?

[JessReplanted]

"We homeschool" sounds official and makes everyone feel better. I've tried "Oh, we do preschool at home" but they keep asking questions so I still have to say we homeschool. It's faster and less awkward just to come out and say so in the first place. I don't know why I get different reactions when they mean the same thing, but I do. I promise I'm not a loser who says "we homeschool" to try and sound cool :D

 

If people think not attending 4 year old kinder is shocking (and they do even though they know it is not compulsory. At least I think they know it isn't :confused:) it'll be even worse next year when she's 5. If she's not at school, she should be in kinder and the only excuse for not being in kinder is to be homeschooling. It's easier to get the conversation over and done with.

 

 

:iagree:

 

I do the same exact thing whenever we are asked (which seems to be often). People usually respond with "Oh.", but I know that are really thinking: "so you are one of those..." :lol: But at least it stops the barrage of questions about school.

[Guest]

I see both sides, and I am one who has used the homeschooling title when my oldest child was 3yo. And I do say I have been homeschooling for 3yrs. My oldest is 6yo right now.

 

I understand calling something homeschooling that is simply the ABC song and learning numbers and colors is using the term very loosely. I can see that people who are in the midst of Latin and Algebra would scoff at people claiming to homeschool who are doing preschool level work.

 

On the other hand, there are those of us with very precocious children who cannot find a way to fit anywhere! Homeschoolers dont want to claim us because our children are not old enough for compulsory attendance. (Which in my state would not be for another year for us.) Yet our children are clearly doing K-3rd grade level work. Some homeschoolers act annoyed by said precocious 3yo telling them about addition and subtraction, what echolocation is, and reading something they have printed on their shirt.

 

Then the preschool/play groups dont want us because we look too hard core. Statements such as "you are going to emotionally damage your child because you are pushing them and ruining their childhood" are flung around to deflect their feelings of inadequacy because they compare their child to mine.

 

So when you have a 2.5yo who is reading (really reading) and then they grow to a 3yo child who demands "school" or else!, what do you call yourself? I am a homeschooler. I have been homeschooling for 3 yrs now, real elementary, full curriculum homeschooling. I honestly do not know what else to call myself!

 

:iagree:Could have wrote this verbatim.

 

Y'know what's funny, Mergath? One moment the barometer is COMPULSORY school age, the next it's "whatever school age means to you." :shrug: I guess we need to start our own club, mothers that homeschool their littles, regardless of what other people want to call it. :001_rolleyes:

 

I'm in.

[mommaduck]

Oh good grief. Every other week I open another post telling me I'm not really a homeschooler, after all.

 

My dd will be three next month, and we've been doing a lot of structured academic learning for several months now, because dd loves it. A lot of what she's doing are things that I didn't learn until kindergarten. When people ask which preschool she's going to go to in September- which is not something that people don't do around here- we tell them that we homeschool. I've never once had anyone say, "Well, not really, since you haven't reached the compulsory age for education set by your state government."

 

I've been planning to hs and learning about it since I was pregnant, and by god, I'm going to call myself a homeschooler.

 

We called ourselves homeschoolers also when my oldest was only three. He was being taught and learning. I was studying methods while I worked with what I had. It was homeschooling. (and btw, there is a company that sell k3 and k4 material and call it that. I went to an Abeka school at one time and they had classes for k3 and k4. One of my kid brothers was in the k3 class; is the op going to say that he wasn't really schooling or in school?)

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

My oldest son was working through curriculum labeled "first grade" when he was 3 years old. He could read, write, add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

 

Since I was his teacher and he was learning the same things that children learn in school, I called it homeschooling.

 

When my second son was barely talking and not even sure of his ABC's at 3 years old, I said I was going to homeschool him.

 

I thought it was my right to define terms and describe our life, in both situations.

[Mergath]

As for the natural birth comment, if you are going to split hairs, then the only natural birth is with no medical intervention at all.

 

Lol, yup. And you have to do it squatting in a field. I mean, beds and birthing pools aren't really natural, right? :tongue_smilie:

[Mergath]

Y'know what's funny, Mergath? One moment the barometer is COMPULSORY school age, the next it's "whatever school age means to you." :shrug: I guess we need to start our own club, mothers that homeschool their littles, regardless of what other people want to call it. :001_rolleyes:

 

There we go. I vote we have a sister club- People Who Homeschool and have Taken Government Money At Some Point in Their Lives. Since they seem to be equally ostracized.

 

I'll never understand why such a large part of the hsing community is so desperate to find ways to exclude people. I mean, you aren't really a hser if you use K12- whether the government pays for it or not. You aren't a hser if your kids are under a given age. You aren't a hser if you aren't religious, because hsing "belongs" to Christians. You aren't a hser if your kids take some school classes or are on school sports teams.

 

It all makes my brain hurt. We should be trying include people. Instead, so many of us act as if we're an elite club, and you can't get in if you don't know the secret handshake.

[Rivka]

I'm fine with letting people self-define, but I was kind of nonplussed when I met someone at the homeschool community center who was counting down the days until her kids were old enough to enroll in public pre-K. I couldn't think of a polite way to ask "so what are you doing here?"

[Brindee]

I hear a lot of people mentioning how advanced their children are, that's why they call it homeschooling. My oldest and youngest were very advanced and we were doing a LOT of "school" things when they were very young as well. Again, because they wanted to. They asked to do those things, and loved it! If you see my previous post, you'll see that it was just what I had grown up with. The parent does what the child needs to help them learn and grow in knowledge and social skills, etc. We help them learn to walk and run and ride bikes, but I'd never heard it called homeschooling before, just parenting, no matter how much "academic" work was done on our part and their part.

 

Therefore, the first time I heard it called homeschooling, it surprised me! I thought that was just normal parenting, that parents ahve done for their children forever. However, there are more opportunities today, and I can certainly see how people could choose to call it homeschooling.

 

I don't want to be lumped in a group that is negative toward anyone who calls it homeschooling before school age. And I think a lot of us who initially feel or felt that way don't mean it in a negative way. We all come from different backgrounds, and come at these things from different angles. I did do a lot of work with my oldest and youngest before school age. My oldest went to K and 1st at a local Christian school, then we homeschooled him from 2nd grade on. I count my 13 years of homeschooling from that point, starting his 2nd grade year. I would be confused at where to start it otherwise. :tongue_smilie::001_smile: So maybe this is my 16th or 17th year of homeschooling? Wow, cool! :D

 

I agree that we all should just accept each other at whatever we choose to call homeschooling. Does it matter? Nahhh, there are much more important things to worry about! :001_smile:

[Brindee]

So don't say it. But also don't be judgmental of someone who does. While I realize that some who have had absolutely no exposure to homeschooling and who doesn't plan to homeschool for the actual school years probably isn't saying it with the same meaning, someone like Lionfamily, who has had lots of experience with homeschooling over the years, does have a reason why they would label it this way.

:iagree: with the non-judgmental idea for sure!

 

I see how some can feel judged for calling it homeschool when others feel they wouldn't call it that. But with some of the "attitudes" in some of the posts, aren't those who feel they are being judged for calling it that, judging those who feel they don't want to call it that? :001_huh: Not pointing any fingers, just curious. Seems that those who don't want to call it that have a right to their opinion, just as those who DO call it that have a right to their opinion!

 

 

Anyway, as I said in my most recent pp, it shouldn't really matter. The main point is the kids are getting the best from parents who truly love and care for them, whatever the label may or may not be. Noone from either point should judge others motives for their choices!

 

Okay, I'm done! :D

[lionfamily1999]

There we go. I vote we have a sister club- People Who Homeschool and have Taken Government Money At Some Point in Their Lives. Since they seem to be equally ostracized.

 

I'll never understand why such a large part of the hsing community is so desperate to find ways to exclude people. I mean, you aren't really a hser if you use K12- whether the government pays for it or not. You aren't a hser if your kids are under a given age. You aren't a hser if you aren't religious, because hsing "belongs" to Christians. You aren't a hser if your kids take some school classes or are on school sports teams.

 

It all makes my brain hurt. We should be trying include people. Instead, so many of us act as if we're an elite club, and you can't get in if you don't know the secret handshake.

:lol: An online coop, parents that hs littles/take gov money/use online classes/or whatever.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I think what is happening is that some women are saying that being a SAHM is home schooling. Now, of course, I realize that children under the age of 5 learn all the time, and parents are the number one teacher. I get it. To me though there is a difference between school age kids and preschoolers/toddlers/babies.

 

When my kids were under the age of 6 I didn't consider myself a home schooler. I considered myself a SAHM. Now, I am both a SAHM and home school mom. Just because you don't put your child into day care does not mean you are a home schooler, at least in my point of view.

 

 

So in your view I don't count as a homeschooler:001_huh:? I have spent a reasonable amount of money on *official* curriculum, and we are using it on a daily basis. Wouldn't that make me a homeschooler? What about the fact that we are committed to doing it all the way through high school. Does our commitment not mean anything until we actually file with the state?

 

When people ask about daycare or school I tell them we are homeschooling. According to the above, do you think I should stop doing that?

 

(Not sarcasm, not being defensive. Just applying the op's cirtera to my situation to see if you all agree with what was said.)

[Entropymama]

I wonder about this when folks ask how long we've been homeschooling. I did two years of 'preschool' with my oldest - we had a curriculum and everything - but it feels somehow wrong to include that as part of my 'years of homeschooling'.

 

Now my 2 year old does go to preschool, but I don't expect him to learn anything. It's just daycare so I can have a couple hours with my older dc to get their schooling done in peace. I figure if he learns anything it's a bonus.