Kitchen Table Homeschoolers

[Medieval Mom]

Calling all kitchen table homeschoolers!

 

Anyone else basically do their homeschooling, well, at home?

Mostly around the kitchen/dining room table (and couch, backyard)?

Anyone else spend MOST days at home? Doing school?

Anyone else NOT have planned outside activities every day of the week, M-F?

 

Surely we're not the only one here who fits that mold? Are we?

:leaving:

 

I write this, as I read time and again in various hsing articles, books, and, yes, forum (ahem) that most hsers are not REALLY at home when the do school, "thank you very much". In fact, in various hsing groups/meetings, there seems to be great disdain for those of use who really do school in this way. Why? What's wrong with being home with littles, doing our math and such at the kitchen table? I like NOT having an outside activity every day of the week.

 

I guess I'm just looking for confirmation that we're not truly the only ones out there.... Echo, echo.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Medieval Mom

[SeekingSimplicity]

coffee table/livingroom floor. Everyday. M-F

[Princess Peach]

You've described us pretty well. I like it that way, which is why we do it that way. In fact, the busyness of having all three in school was a big factor in us deciding to homeschool. I like being home with them, and I like our simple, relaxed life. :)

[woolybear]

Yup, count us in. I have been backing away from activities more than before. Right now, each each dc has an art class one day a week, late afternoon. Other than that, the only commitments we have (and nothing very binding) is a once a week indoor gym day in place of park day. Also, once a month we have a country dance.

 

We get way more done and done happily when we don't have to run out the door somewhere. Even if some of those activities are great, they are such an interruption.

 

We hs at the kitchen table, desks, couch, floor, backyard and around the wood stove. I'm leaning toward a separate school room with a big table. Just an fyi, not what you really asked about.:)

[gardening momma]

We're at home all the time. I'd love to go do school at Panera or wherever, but we can't afford it. I'd love to go on all sorts of field trips, but I think of the gas money it would cost, even for a free activity, and we stay home. I do have a couple of "things to do" books for my area on my Amazon wishlist that I think I'm getting (ok, I know I'm getting, as I peeked at the 'purchased' part :blush:), so I hope to get out a bit more.

[Dawn in OH]

That's us!

[susankenny]

We have co-op one day a week, otherwise we're home. We do have other activities & outing sometimes of course, but they fall around our school schedule - not in place of it. If school doesn't get done, the activity doesn't happen.

 

 

Susan

[kewb]

We are home most days. If we do have an outing I try to plan them in the afternoon so we can get school work done first.

[momofkhm]

We always school at home. Too many books to lug out somewhere.

 

I wish we didn't have outside activities every day of the week. Well, Friday is free. So is Thursday for now, until co-op starts in late January. But some just can't be helped. And thankfully, except for co-op, all but one of those is in the afternoon. DS's writing class is before lunch.

[HeatherM2]

Our only outside activity right now is my daughter's piano lesson once a week. We've enjoyed evening activities (like basketball) here and there in the past, but I make sure we are home for school M-F. It keeps me sane and my kids get their lessons done each week.

[justamouse]

We moved this year, but for the past 6 years we homeschooled around the kitchen table and our only activity has been boy scouts.

 

this year changed that, though.

[Joy at Home]

Yup, us.

[redsquirrel]

We do have outside activities but they are all later in the day..you know, after school. We spend every morning and early afternoon at home, doing our lessons. I plan my day around our lessons, not vice versa.

 

I also have a 'no housework' rule during school. My husband isn't expected to fold laundry at his job and neither am I.

[amyrjoy]

We work at the table mostly. At first, I implemented other activities too but at this point In time, I just get the basics accomplished.

 

The kids do well with being at the table too.

[mo2]

:seeya: We are almost always doing school at home. Not many activities yet either.

[i.love.lucy]

We do have outside activities but they are all later in the day..you know, after school. We spend every morning and early afternoon at home, doing our lessons. I plan my day around our lessons, not vice versa.

 

I also have a 'no housework' rule during school. My husband isn't expected to fold laundry at his job and neither am I.

Or do dishes, or run errands, or vacuum, etc, etc, etc.:iagree:

 

We school around our breakfast table 4 days a week and are home unless my MIL needs a run to a doc appt. We have CC on Fridays. The only other thing we have on the calendar regularly is homeschool park day (after 3pm) and chess club (2-4 twice a month).

[holdoll]

Yes we're home most days. Each dc has one separate activity one day per week in the afternoon - after school is done. Then both have teen group which meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month.

[4everHis]

Except for a once a month rollerskating we are home. Even on that day we get school done first. We used to do more, co-ops, group field trips and in the end. . . we were just stressed. Home works!

[Starr]

Yes we are the family that clears off the table for meals and it's covered again before bed. It's a little tricky teaching the cats when the kitchen table is a table(down kitty) and when it is a desk(sit and help me with my math). :)

[elegantlion]

I limit the time we are out of the house to one day a week. In the last year we haven't had an activity. We have a hard time getting refocused if we leave the house during the day. We still have field trips and such, but scheduled activities are limited.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

That's us! We have co-op on Thursday mornings for art and music lessons and I teach science to them as well. Other than that, it's all at home and either on the kitchen table or in the living room.:001_smile:

[kalanamak]

Calling all kitchen table homeschoolers!

 

Anyone else basically do their homeschooling, well, at home?

 

 

We do school almost 7 days a week, but not for all day (I work). I try to school for two hours M-F, at which point kiddo gets a meal and off to the gym or other physical adventure with Papa most nights (some nights he stays home and we mess around with chemistry fun). Weekends we do longer days, sometimes 6 hours, including hands on. Kiddo goes to homeschool gym 2 days a week, but is joining another Y group closer, so it will be homeschool gyms 4 days a week. He needs the exercise, and loves the group sports.

It works out to about 60 hours a month. I find I can be more demanding if kiddo doesn't have to do it for hours at a time.

[Ravin]

Since I work, that's us, too. DD is in an enrichment program 1 day/week. Ideally she'd be in a city class once a week on a different day, but we can't afford that this session even with the low-income help, so it's just us at home for the rest of the week.

 

We mostly do schoolwork on the couch in the front room.

[Tarreymere]

We used to be kitchen table homeschoolers, but now we are ottoman homeschoolers, because the ottoman is large and really close to the woodstove (our only heat source). Somedays it is 'lets just sit ON Mom on the couch and homeschool' and I am buried under the kids, the dog, and the cat (very warm but also at times very annoying). DH says I must have some sort of gravitational pull. :glare: I look forward to more temperate weather when I can kick them back out to the kitchen table for school. Right now I am NOT leaving the house, NOT scraping ice off the car, NOT driving on the icy roads, NOT putting a toe out in the cold, thank you very much.

[sheryl]

Calling all kitchen table homeschoolers!

 

Anyone else basically do their homeschooling, well, at home?

Mostly around the kitchen/dining room table (and couch, backyard)?

Anyone else spend MOST days at home? Doing school?

Anyone else NOT have planned outside activities every day of the week, M-F?

 

Surely we're not the only one here who fits that mold? Are we?

:leaving:

 

I write this, as I read time and again in various hsing articles, books, and, yes, forum (ahem) that most hsers are not REALLY at home when the do school, "thank you very much". In fact, in various hsing groups/meetings, there seems to be great disdain for those of use who really do school in this way. Why? What's wrong with being home with littles, doing our math and such at the kitchen table? I like NOT having an outside activity every day of the week.

 

I guess I'm just looking for confirmation that we're not truly the only ones out there.... Echo, echo.

 

 

That is us! You described us. That's how I like it...and my dd likes it too. We are home and hearth people. We love snuggling up on the sofa or the bed to do school. Yes, she does have her custom made little homeschool desk, thanks to her dad and our neighbor.

 

I.can.NOT.stand.having.outside.activities.EVERY.DAY.OF.THE.WEEK!!

 

So, let me tone down a bit...we on the same page with ya!

 

Sheryl <><

[gaillardia]

Yes, dining table because I like the sunshiney window.

The living room floor, the hearth, the sofa, my bed, one child's bed, another has a desk in her room, these are the places we use to do school work. We have out of the home activities on Wednesday nights.

I can't handle leaving the home and doing stuff the other days of the week that are supposed to be "school." It seems like less gets done.

BUT, lately, since we sold the house and son got married and I'm in charge of a late reception and we also have to be looking at houses, not much is getting done!

Breathe deep.

Ottoman homeschoolers, :lol:.

[wendybird]

We are at home schoolers as well. There was a time when we had activities every single day...it wore us all down quickly. I am very relieved and the kids are much happier being scaled back to almost nothing(church and 1 day per week hs group).

[coffeegal]

Calling all kitchen table homeschoolers!

 

Anyone else basically do their homeschooling, well, at home?

Mostly around the kitchen/dining room table (and couch, backyard)?

Anyone else spend MOST days at home? Doing school?

Anyone else NOT have planned outside activities every day of the week, M-F?

 

Surely we're not the only one here who fits that mold? Are we?

:leaving:

 

 

Kitchen table homeschoolers here! The kids work at the kitchen table, dining room table, sofa, on the living room floor, in their bedrooms, you name it... but we're home every morning of the week and most afternoons. :001_smile:

[Veritaserum]

We stay home most days. It's far more productive (and less stressful) that way! :)

[Ellie]

Kinda sorta.:)

 

We hsed before co-ops were "invented," so those were not part of our homeschooling, but if they had been, we would not have participated. I cannot function with a regularly scheduled activity with other hsers before, oh, 3 in the afternoon.

 

We stayed home on Mondays and Tuesdays. No errands, no appointments, no nothin'.

 

Wednesdays were library days--go to the library around 9-10ish, hang out until we were tired of being there, come home, stay home. Once in awhile we'd go visit someone after lunch or do errands.

 

Thursdays were field trips, ones which I had planned to meet my dc's needs (or which sounded like fun). Sometimes I invited others, but mostly it was just us, relaxing, enjoying the activity, on our own time schedule. I didn't do field trips with my support group unless they were on Thursday, or they were stupendous and could only be done with a large group (rare, rare, rare).

 

On Fridays we cleaned house, and went to a park day once a month.

 

Soccer, 4-H, dance, etc., were all in the late afternoon or early evening. We would not have participated in them if they'd been early in the day--IOW, no homeschool sports or dance or whatnot.

 

I think the operative word in homeschooling is homeschooling.:)

[anneofalamo]

The name of our home school is "Square Oaks Academy" our dining room table!!

We have moved our bible reading and early morning prep to the living room because it is the warmest and it is cozy!

 

Our guitar and piano teacher comes to our home! woot and double woot to that!

 

Leaving our house means school:driving: is canceled!

[m0mmaBuck]

ME!!!! We try not to leave the house until we are done with school for the day.

[happi duck]

We school at home!

[MangoMama]

We stay at home most days. The kidlets have music lessons once a week that we leave the house for, but mainly, we're home.

[MyLittleWonders]

You described us too. :) I like being home and doing school. I do try to get us to the library and park once a week, but that's after we've done our school for the day (and sometimes it's only 2x a month or we'll come home after the library instead of going to the park too). We do have sports in the afternoons/evenings, but that would happen even if the kids were in public school.

[missesd]

Calling all kitchen table homeschoolers!

 

Anyone else basically do their homeschooling, well, at home?

Mostly around the kitchen/dining room table (and couch, backyard)?

Anyone else spend MOST days at home? Doing school?

Anyone else NOT have planned outside activities every day of the week, M-F?

 

Surely we're not the only one here who fits that mold? Are we?

:leaving:

 

I write this, as I read time and again in various hsing articles, books, and, yes, forum (ahem) that most hsers are not REALLY at home when the do school, "thank you very much". In fact, in various hsing groups/meetings, there seems to be great disdain for those of use who really do school in this way. Why? What's wrong with being home with littles, doing our math and such at the kitchen table? I like NOT having an outside activity every day of the week.

 

I guess I'm just looking for confirmation that we're not truly the only ones out there.... Echo, echo.

 

Ummm, yeah that's us... is that bad?? I have 7 kids at home, homeschooling. The older ones are parked at the armoire, bed, couch, table... wherever. They are helping each other, passing around books as they finish. The younger ones are in here with me at the desk or drop down table behind me :confused: I thought that was ok?? They do go out and play with their friends and have normal activities as if they were in school (church, etc..) but I don't go out of my way to entertain them or fill some sort of hole or gap, because I don't believe homeschooling creates one. I don't know maybe I'm just lazy ;) LOL

[KathyBC]

We school at the kitchen table M-F, most of the time. Does it count, though, that we now have activities nearly every evening of the week? :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

We're kitchen table homeschoolers. I like being home and feel like we are most efficient that way.

[KathleenL]

I feel better after reading this thread! I often feel guilty that we don't get out more often.

 

We are kitchen table homeschoolers too. In the fall we have soccer practice in the evenings; in the spring, baseball; and DD has choir once a week year-round, but otherwise we don't do a lot.

 

This was not my intention when we first started homeschooling. Then the baby came along! She has turned out to be one of those toddlers who is VERY challenging to take out. She doesn't like to sit in the stroller, refuses to hold hands and LOVES getting into everything. I just don't have the energy to be out in the world with her during this phase! It's far easier right now to stay home.

 

And you know, I really like it and I think the kids do too. We have a lot of fun at our kitchen table!

[Soror]

Well, depending on the comparison we are home a lot or not much. I just have a k/1st I am schooling so not a lot yet. We do full school on mon/wed/thurs- Tues I do just the 3rs and we do the library, errands and park. Friday is co-op and I plan no school. We don't do any sports or such, no lessons of any kind. I would like to join the boyscouts when he is old enough. He is not really a sports kid. We did swimming lessons but that was summer time. We do like to have lots of outdoor playtime though.