Considering homeschooling

[ccare_erin]

In a nutshell my son's self esteem has taken a major nosedive this year and it is due to a group of boys in his new school. I have talked to the teacher numerous times without luck.

It is to the point it makes me sick (I have been up since two this morning) thinking about sending him off to school today.

I am considering homeschooling.

This is something i have looked into every year since Kindergarten. I know the work involved and it has always terrfied me just because I run a home daycare 9 1/2 hours a day and I'm not sure how I could do both. Just wondering if there are others out there who juggle work and homeschooling and how they do it all.

I am terrified that I will fail. But on the other hand, I am so extremely sad to see my once confident and outgoing seven year old tell me he never wants to leave the house again because he doesn't like himself, the way he looks, the way he dresses, etc... It's heartbreaking.

Any advice would be great.

Thank you,

Erin

[Mom22ns]

How old is your son?

[ccare_erin]

Seven. He is in second grade.

[Rosie_0801]

It would be hard work, but I think you could do it if you were comfortable scheduling school at odd hours and on weekends. Not everything has to be written down on paper between 9 and 3.

[mumto2]

A friend does run a daycare while doing home ed. It can be done!

 

She does have a school area that is just for her sons to use. They have always done home ed and get a reasonable portion of their seat work done while other children are there.

[VaKim]

Why not give it a try? The thing is, if you try it for a year and it doesn't work out at all and you find you can't do it, you can always send him back to school later. And he is still young enough for it not to be a big deal academically one way or the other.

 

Also, depending on your priorities and goals for him, homeschooling doesn't have to take a lot of time and energy at his age.

[3peasinapod]

Remember, too, that at school, a lot of the time is classroom management. They don't do teaching instruction all day long. Some of the time is spent doing other things. So with a 2nd grader, it is going to take a significantly less amount of time at home. As Rosie said, you don't have to have him doing school 8:30 to 3 or whatever hours he was doing in school. It can be in the evenings for history, math during a lull in the day, taking advantage of the weekends. Just as long as you are making progression on your subjects (I would say 5 days a week just to finish your curriculum), you should be good. We actually school year-round too, so you could do a 4-day week, but have a shorter summer. In our state, we need 180 days of school. We do 4 weeks on of school, 1 week off with extra around Christmas and the whole month of June off.

 

I work from home too, though not with extra children. It takes strict scheduling. I consider homeschooling my job, along with my paying job, and I put it above other things.

[Faithr]

Second grade is easy peasy! Is he reading? If he is reading pretty independently it is even easier! Basically you have him do some writing, a little bit each day. I'd recommend Susan Wise Bauers Writing with Ease. You don't have to go with WWE2 My kids did better going one step down so WWE1, then it will be easier for him (though it is a challenging enough program!) For math in 2nd grade you don't even need a curriculum. You can just play games like monopoly and yatzee with him. Read him some interesting math books from the Living Math website. For the rest of the time just read quality history, literature and science books out loud (you can make use of audio books. Story of the World is on CD). Make sure he's reading every day himself. If you want to you can throw in phonics instruction too, if he still needs it (most do at that age). Or you can get a second grade reader and just make sure you spend a few minutes with him reading aloud to you from it and you can just teach phonics casually that way. That's it! You might want to make sure he gets out to see other kids his age a couple times a week. Is he in cub scouts or on a team sport or in a choir or anything like that? Are you familiar with any homeschoolers in your area where you could connect with them?

 

Like a previous poster said, this can just be a temporary fix or a permanent thing if you decide you can juggle the home daycare and homeschooling. Nothing's written in stone and second grade really is the easiest one to teach.

[Mom22ns]

I think 7 is a great time to try. Homeschooling can probably be done in just a few hours per day. I have a friend who has homeschooled all 7 of her kids while running a home daycare. She works LONG hours, but it can be done. If you find it doesn't work send him back next year with a different teacher!

[Chris in VA]

If you are going to try it, I would see if you can get plugged into a community pretty early on. Having to be home all the time b/c of your home daycare means limited outtings--library, field trips, nature walks, etc. How many other kids do you watch, and are they of an age that you could take them with you sometimes to some places? If you could find a homeschooling friend or two, perhaps they could scoop up your son and take him to things you can't once in a while.

 

It's just a little thing, really, but I would consider it.

 

Also, you will have to do some pretty tight planning--making sure you have everything you need for science experiments or history activities in advance, for instance.

 

But you could do it--lots of people do!

 

Personally, I might think of switching my home daycare to a before/after school model, if possible, so that I could have more freedom during the day to homeschool. Would that be doable next year?

[NotSoObvious]

Yay! You can do it!

I brought my dd home for similar reasons. http://homeschoolfortwo.com/homeschool/about/

 

Just go easy on yourself the first year. Do your daycare kids nap? That could provide one on one time with your son. Make sure you hook up with a few playgroups and check into special activities. I like the idea of a friend taking him to things when you can't.

[VaKim]

I just want to add that it is not really necessary to do any outside activities or be involved with any groups or playdates, etc. We never did any of this stuff. It will depend on your personality and that of your ds. Just wanted to add this because if you are like me, thinking you need to fit in that stuff with everything else can overwhelm you. Now if you want that stuff, fine. But just wanted to reassure you that if you don't, it is entirely unnecessary. My girls are 14 and 18, by the way, and have done wonderfully without any playmates, homeschool groups, planned field trips, etc. We just live life and learn as we go. :)

[SunnyDays]

It can be done, as others have said, in a pretty short time frame at that age. Do writing, independent reading, and math during the day, an hour or two tops, watch good videos like Bill Nye the Science Guy and Liberty's Kids, and do lots of great read alouds at bedtime and on the weekends. You don't have to use a lot of fancy curricula, especially at that age, for a good solid education.

 

If your son is that upset and unhappy, then I would seriously consider making it happen. Your mommy instincts are telling you he'd be better off at home, and that's important. :grouphug:

[LucyStoner]

Also your business is one that lends itself well to hiring a helper PT if you do find you need more hours or a little more bandwidth.

[msjones]

If you have the energy, spunk, patience, and organization that it takes to run an in-home childcare, you can certainly homeschool your son!

 

Go for it. Make a list of the subjects you'd need to cover. (There aren't too many in 2nd grade.) Pick a curriculum that is easy to use. (Ask here to find those.) Plug those subjects into times during your childcare day that are less demanding of you than others. Or, choose evening/weekend times.

 

Social studies and science at this age can be a lot of independent study -- reading library books, watching videos. You can set him up with some projects now and then, but he can learn a LOT from watching videos and just thumbing through stacks of books from the library. Give him post-it notes to mark pages he'd like to share with you in the evenings. My boys used to love that.

 

Your son will probably LOVE the time with you. You (and your son) will probably feel tremendous relief.

 

If you aren't able to make this work (and I think you will), he can go back to school.

[Stuart]

I work and homeschool. We are on our second year. I find it so much easier then when he went to school. Because I work our schedule is a little different but it is doable. Honestly I don't think you will know till you try. What have you got to lose. School will still be there if it doesn't work out.