For Fun: Homeschool Things You Just Don't Get (no hate)

[poppy]

In homeschooling, what do you not get that's probably actually pretty good?

 

 

I do not get  Bravewriter.  It's so wonderfully feel good, but when I actually read it,  there's not much "there" there.  Just affirmations. BUT people I respect use it and love it!   

 

I do not get lap books. I want to , it's such a lovely idea, I even bought the colored folders and had the staplers and templates.  I even YouTubed. I ended up with a pile of crumpled, sad office supplies.  People who do 'em, good for you! I just lack the necessary coordination or creativity or .... spatial awareness? I don't know.  Not trying again.   Will admire from a distance.

 

** Please let's play nice-- no venting / hate.  **

[Guest]

Oh, there's so much.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  (LOL)

[Guest]

Workboxes. Although maybe they aren't as popular now as several years back. Why do all that work segmenting all the lessons into the workboxes? I never understood that.

 

We also just couldn't make Latin happen. (Sorry SWB!) I wanted it to work. I learned a fair amount about Latin roots when I was a kid and so I envisioned my kids taking that much farther than I did. They didn't. Now I have seventy billion Latin flashcards that I simply cannot bear to part with.

[frugalmamatx]

Full day university style co-ops, complete with homework. Because if you are going to send your kid to a full day, 2/3 times a week co-op with homework and curriculum choices dictated by the co-op - wouldn't it be easier to just send kiddo to school of your choice?

 

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

c-rods

 

just blah...they don't do it for me

 

 

 

 

[HomeAgain]

The abacus. I look at it and think it's interesting......but that's it.

 

 

 

[historically accurate]

The 4 year history cycle. Don't worry; I will hand in my classical homeschooler card at the door. Don't y'all just want to mix it up sometime? I don't want to do the same thing for an entire year in 1st grade - with one I did Ancient Egypt, the Revolutionary War & Castles (Knights & Princesses). 

[Joyofsixreboot]

Schedules 😚

Projects. Of nearly any kind. Some reading and worksheets for us. They do plenty of art and stuff on their own.

[nansk]

I do not get  Bravewriter.  It's so wonderfully feel good, but when I actually read it,  there's not much "there" there.  Just affirmations. BUT people I respect use it and love it!   

 

I do not get lap books.

Same here, to both of these. Buying The Writer's Jungle was money wasted for me.

[Guest]

Co-ops. I don't understand the allure. About as antithetical to my personality type as can be. To me it's the equivalent of volunteering for a group project in university when there was another option.

 

And lapbooks. The busywork aspect loses me. Maybe when they're older I will see the benefit but right now it just looks like a ton of work on my part for five minutes on theirs.

[happi duck]

I also don't get Bravewriter.

 

I just don't get schoolrooms.

[Zinnia]

I don't get co-ops.  I *do* a co-op, because it feels like everyone does it, and we would be missing something vital to not.  But it doesn't feel like it adds anything to our life, and I often wake up on co-op day hoping someone, anyone, is sick.  But yet I still do it.  

 

Maybe I don't get me.  :)

[Plink]

Saxon - I'd rather poke my eyes out with flaming skewers than teach math that way ever again.

[MrsMommy]

Workboxes. Although maybe they aren't as popular now as several years back. Why do all that work segmenting all the lessons into the workboxes? I never understood that.

 

We also just couldn't make Latin happen. (Sorry SWB!) I wanted it to work. I learned a fair amount about Latin roots when I was a kid and so I envisioned my kids taking that much farther than I did. They didn't. Now I have seventy billion Latin flashcards that I simply cannot bear to part with.

 

Not just me? I tried so hard, but it all fell by the wayside once my youngest started walking and getting into everything...

[Liz CA]

The denim jumper.

[Tess in the Burbs]

totally agree with many of you.  I look at co-op schedules every year and thankfully it never works out for me to even try.  We did try some classes once but overall none of us were in love with getting up early and one of the classes wasn't much fun for my kid.  I felt out of sync with many of the moms.  Now I'm surrounded by co-opers and today a lady told me I do "pure homeschool" since I do it at home.  She has never taught anything at home.  Just done co-ops.  So yes, the 2 day models are big here too, and we have friends that do it.  I don't get it.  Why not just do school?   It's interesting b/c the co-ops here pretty much don't have 12th grade level classes.  None do physics.  They expect all kids to do DE at the local CC instead.  I even found a private school that only goes to 10th grade.  Afterward you go do DE.  I don't think every kid is prepared for that setting.  We do some online classes now(foreign language), but it's in our pj's.  I do wish we had another family to hang out with for field trips and such.  But the kids like being HOME.  

 

[Slartibartfast]

Bullet journals.

 

It is like tweeting to myself how much water I drank and other inane things. 

Edited January 14, 2017 by Slartibartfast

[mellifera33]

The denim jumper.

 

*gasp* Denim jumpers are my favorite thing about homeschooling!  :laugh:

 

I don't get lapbooks, history pockets, or anything else where you cut out fiddly bits and stick them together. My kids hate them and I feel like it's a lot of wasted effort for not much learning.

 

I wanted to love Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, but again, it was lots of prep for lessons that were good for about five minutes. I'm still using it as a framework of what to cover, but as written, it didn't work here. Every so often I pull it out, caress the cover longingly, and return it to the shelf.

SaveSave

Edited January 14, 2017 by mellifera33

[Anne in CA]

Workboxes. Although maybe they aren't as popular now as several years back. Why do all that work segmenting all the lessons into the workboxes? I never understood that.

 

We also just couldn't make Latin happen. (Sorry SWB!) I wanted it to work. I learned a fair amount about Latin roots when I was a kid and so I envisioned my kids taking that much farther than I did. They didn't. Now I have seventy billion Latin flashcards that I simply cannot bear to part with.

My kids did so much Latin... and retained none. 

[Anne in CA]

Co-ops were a huge disappointment. Also, we never made special home school friends. Not in 17 years of home schooling. We had to make do with regular friends who attended public school, lol. I SOOO wanted my kids to have special home school friends they could do stuff with in the middle of a random Tuesday morning, but it was never meant to be. Evidently my denim jumper was too tight. Or something.

[Mergath]

Radical Whole Life Unschooling. (Or whatever they're calling it now.) I'm a very respectful, peaceful parent, but sometimes you need to tell your kid, "Look, your teeth are orange, you have to brush them. And throw some deodorant on, too. I don't care about your bodily sovereignty this morning, I'm sick of smelling you from three rooms away." :P

[Guest]

Radical Whole Life Unschooling. (Or whatever they're calling it now.) I'm a very respectful, peaceful parent, but sometimes you need to tell your kid, "Look, your teeth are orange, you have to brush them. And throw some deodorant on, too. I don't care about your bodily sovereignty this morning, I'm sick of smelling you from three rooms away." :p

 

:lol:  Amen to that! 

[Guest]

Perhaps yoga pants or athletic tights have replaced the denim jumper? 

 

[theelfqueen]

"Outsourcing everything"

 

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[theelfqueen]

Not that I don't get any outsourcing... just that I don't get "Outsourcing everything" as in all of it...

 

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[elegantlion]

lapbooks - I might have downloaded one once upon a time. Ds and I had no interest in doing it. 

 

keeping a public school daily schedule if you don't need to - Ds and I are not morning people. As the years rolled by our homeschool start time got later and later. Our last two years were done in the afternoon while he slept in and I did my own work. He is quite capable to handling early college classes and is gearing up to start his second semester with an 8am class. Because we attend the same school, we ride together. *I'm* not happy about the 8 am class, but he does just fine. 

[TammyS]

Unit studies.  I mean, they look cool and all, but also a ton of work, and I don't see their place in the larger curriculum.

 

And lapbooks.

 

And abacuses.

 

And Life of Fred.

 

 

[Rebel Yell]

In homeschooling, what do you not get that's probably actually pretty good?

 

 

I do not get  Bravewriter.  It's so wonderfully feel good, but when I actually read it,  there's not much "there" there.  Just affirmations. BUT people I respect use it and love it!   

 

I do not get lap books. I want to , it's such a lovely idea, I even bought the colored folders and had the staplers and templates.  I even YouTubed. I ended up with a pile of crumpled, sad office supplies.  People who do 'em, good for you! I just lack the necessary coordination or creativity or .... spatial awareness? I don't know.  Not trying again.   Will admire from a distance.

 

** Please let's play nice-- no venting / hate.  **

Oh gosh, LAPBOOKS!!!!!

 

I have three girls with very distinct personalities and preferences. They are united in their hatred of lapbooks. And Saxon Math. And one particular local coop. In theory they are not opposed to coops, but they would mutiny if I tried to go back to this one.

 

We also gave up on nearly anything that is the "homeschool" version of any regular thing, activity, group, etc. Bonus points if it was a "Christian" version of anything. Our faith is very important to all of us, but often these groups were just trying to avoid what they believed to be wicked secular people. In nearly every case, the homeschooled families were far far worse. And almost always the homeschool classes or activities ended up being so far below the stated age or ability level THANKS to dozens of families wanting all of their kids to participate together, so a high school class ended up being basically a K-3 playgroup after all of the actual high school aged kids gave up and left.

[Guest]

Not that I don't get any outsourcing... just that I don't get "Outsourcing everything" as in all of it...

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

Oh my word, yes! We have a local homeschool group, where parents hire teachers to teach specific classes (so not a co-op). But the last couple of years they started offering a three, and then four day a week, full day offering. The parents call themselves homeschoolers, but I'm thinking "um, you're private schoolers! Just with an extra day off!" I mean they don't teach anything. They have a teacher who controls every single class. I haven't figured out how that works out as homeschooling really....

[rose]

Mummified chickens!

 

School work that actually lasts for eight hours per day

 

Science experiments for primary students - personal torture for me!

 

I'm actually wearing a demin jumper as we speak (I'll stick to my frumpiness till the day I die)

[Heatherwith4]

Co-ops would be the biggest one for me.

Edited January 14, 2017 by heatherwith3

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Extremely complicated pre-school years

 

Curriculums that have many moving parts

 

Salt dough anything

Edited January 14, 2017 by Monica_in_Switzerland

[poppy]

Co-ops were a huge disappointment. Also, we never made special home school friends. Not in 17 years of home schooling. We had to make do with regular friends who attended public school, lol. I SOOO wanted my kids to have special home school friends they could do stuff with in the middle of a random Tuesday morning, but it was never meant to be. Evidently my denim jumper was too tight. Or something.

I am always jealous of folks who say 'my kids have WAY more friends now than when they were in school'.

 

And also the parents whose kids learn math entirely through baking. I mean I get using measuring cups is useful for little ones but beyond that? ?? But I read that 'bake together ' !! advice all the time.

[Julie Smith]

I don't getting being attached to a grade label. 

 

I understand it is important to be able to say, "So and so is in grade X" and give them a grade label for signing up for things. But till highschool I don't see it mattering if you stick with the "grade 3" label for two years, or totally skip over the grade 5 label. Mind you my boys don't even remember what grade they are in. 

[Annie G]

Classical Conversations.  Other than my friends who are tutors, everyone I know who does CC complains about it. 

[CadenceSophia]

Bullet journals.

 

It is like tweeting to myself how much water I drank and other inane things.

Only if that is all you use it for! I likewise don't get the "spread of fruits and vegetables in season" bullet journals. But I do like mine which organizes my calendar, my personal study, notes I take on physics or whatever, and the books I have read. Don't let the cups of water people turn you off to the method:)

[theelfqueen]

Ok I've got two more...

 

At our "co-op" which I wouldn't technically call a co-op it seems like most of the families are dragging around so rolling box full of stuff... what is with rolling boxes???

 

People who say they've been homeschooling 5 years when their oldest kid is 5. Dude, what? That's just parenting.

 

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[regentrude]

Saxon. (OK, scratch that, you said no hate)

Hands-on projects (my kids always asked why they couldn't just read about it in a book. Excellent question.)

Fill-out-worksheets (if I wanted busywork, I could send them to school)

scripted curricula that tell me exactly what to do (Where's the fun in homeschooling if you can't choose what to do?)

 

Lapbooks, work boxes, 36-folder-systems...

Planning Kindergarten.

 

ETA: I get the attraction of coops. I would have done coop in a heartbeat if it had been remotely of the academic level I want. Our coop was a joke, and I stopped after a feeble attempt. But I get them in principle.

People who say they could just send them to school of their choice: some places there is no choice. If I had a really good school available, I woldl not have homeschooled.

Edited January 14, 2017 by regentrude

[redsquirrel]

Lap books.  I had a friend who raved about them.  I just... didn't understand the point of it..is it a photo album? is it a craft project?  Why is it called a lapbook? What does it have to do with laps? 

 

And yes, bravewriter.  I even own the big binder...I found it at a homeschool sale for 5$!! It sits there, on my shelf and every now and again I look at it. It's very big and impressive and cost someone a lot of money....but I don't get it. I have tried to sit down and really read it and I just can't pay attention

[coralloyd]

I have never understood exactly why we should study Latin, so we don't.

 

Lapbooks were a big fail until my 12 yr. old daughter wanted to do one on her own. It was all her thing though, I had very little to do with any of it.

 

TOG- I purchased it once thinking there must be something I was missing that made it worth the price. I never could figure it out.

 

Workboxes???????

 

I don't understand how or if notebooking is different than just written narrations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by coralloyd

[mamaraby]

Bravewriter

Homeschool "support" groups (so cliquey)

Co-ops (waste of time)

[Alice]

I am always jealous of folks who say 'my kids have WAY more friends now than when they were in school'.

 

And also the parents whose kids learn math entirely through baking. I mean I get using measuring cups is useful for little ones but beyond that? ?? But I read that 'bake together ' !! advice all the time.

 

 

This! I always feel like I must just be too stupid to figure out how to do math while baking.

 

I also never have gotten lapbooks. I suspect my daughter would really enjoy them but I haven't made myself try again with her. Actually, I just realized she does them and loves it....in our co-op.  :lol:

[happypamama]

I also don't get Bravewriter.

 

I just don't get schoolrooms.

Ah. Schoolroom at my house means a place for all the eighty gazillion schoolbooks to live when they're not in active use, but also a nice big desk for Mama's planning needs and pretty walls for her to look at. Only sometimes does schoolwork actually happen in there. :)

[Guest]

I have never understood exactly why we should study Latin, so we don't.

 

Lapbooks were a big fail until my 12 yr. old daughter wanted to do one on her own. It was all her thing though, I had very little to do with any of it.

 

TOG- I purchased it once thinking there must be something I was missing that made it worth the price. I never could figure it out.

 

Workboxes???????

 

I don't understand how or if notebooking is different than just written narrations.

 

I haven't figured out notebooking either. The things I've read on it have made it sound suspiciously similar to lapbooking, just renamed to dupe the people that escaped the lapbooking trend.  :zombiechase:

[Catwoman]

I agree with -- and have fallen for -- almost everything that has already been mentioned.

 

Co-ops, lapbooks, notebooking, fancy-schmancy unit studies with lots of crafty projects that don't seem to teach anything, workboxes, KONOS-style homeschooling, and that whole math-through-baking thing (because it's not really all that much math!)

 

I can't even begin to imagine how incredibly stupid and/or gullible I was when ds was younger and I always had to have the next, best, greatest, most incredible new curriculum. Most of them still live on the bookshelves in our garage, many unopened.

 

And don't even get me started on all those Sonlight cores I bought in advance, because I absolutely knew my ds would be just like those happy-faced adorable children on the cover of the Sonlight catalog, cheerfully doing read-alouds with me while we sat in our fabulous treehouse and basked in newfound knowledge. :glare: Turned out my kid thought read-alouds were stupid and he would rather just read the books on his own. Oh, and not any of those Sonlight books. My kid preferred to learn from textbooks... and he never wanted a treehouse. :svengo:

 

We abandoned Calvert School because it was moving too slowly for ds (probably a mistake in retrospect,) ditched BJU because it got too preachy, and... well... you get the idea. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I bought the Weaver curriculum, the Robinson curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, KONOS, Winter Promise, and something that was based on the Lord of the Rings books (I think,) and a few other curriculums-in-a-big-spiral-binder of which I have apparently repressed the memories because it's kind of embarrassing to admit to the amount of stuff I bought.

 

Oh, and one more thing. Homeschool conventions were a complete waste for me. I spent money on things I didn't need and I thought most of the speakers' topics had nothing to do with homeschooling and I couldn't relate to any of them... except for two speakers who were the BEST EVER... Susan Wise Bauer and her mom, Jessie Wise. :hurray:

Edited January 14, 2017 by Catwoman

[lllll]

nm

Edited January 19, 2017 by .qp_

[Barb_]

Perhaps yoga pants or athletic tights have replaced the denim jumper?

Now THAT I can get behind

[poppy]

Saxon. (OK, scratch that, you said no hate)

Hands-on projects (my kids always asked why they couldn't just read about it in a book. Excellent question.)

Fill-out-worksheets (if I wanted busywork, I could send them to school)

scripted curricula that tell me exactly what to do (Where's the fun in homeschooling if you can't choose what to do?)

 

Lapbooks, work boxes, 36-folder-systems...

Planning Kindergarten.

 

ETA: I get the attraction of coops. I would have done coop in a heartbeat if it had been remotely of the academic level I want. Our coop was a joke, and I stopped after a feeble attempt. But I get them in principle.

People who say they could just send them to school of their choice: some places there is no choice. If I had a really good school available, I woldl not have homeschooled.

 

And because I am ridiculous now I want to google 36-folder-system. Not because you're wrong about anything else, just because it's homeschool and even here I. can'. stop. looking for the perfect thing.

 

**resists googling** willpower !! ***

[Barb_]

::cringing:: Other homeschooling families. I've been able to find my tribe on these boards--maybe as a result of the incredible diversity--but I've never been able to connect with homeschooling families IRL since 1995 and in 7 different states. Pretty much the only thing I've had in common has been homeschooling. Our family friends have all been traditionally schooled.

[ondreeuh]

I don't get literature based, living books, no-textbooks programs for science and social studies (Sonlight, BookShark, Winter Promise, Guest Hollow, etc.). I personally just can't abide by a schedule that asks me to flip between a zillion different sources and just have my kids make a notebook about what they've learned. I do SO much better with using a well-written textbook as a spine - all of the important vocabulary is right there, comprehension questions are right there, optional activities are woven in, and I can give tests to show mastery. Plus, the literature based programs are so expensive!!! And good luck finding the books at a library when you need them. I can find my own supplemental books on my own.

 

I think Bravewriter has great brand marketing. When I read about their products, it all sounds like stuff I would use. However, everything I've actually owned has been underwhelming to me. I have tried to read The Writer's Jungle a few times without skimming and I can't do it. I can't focus on it! I have given up on the Arrows that I purchased for now.

 

I don't get Teaching Textbooks or any other hands-off math program. I know people say it works for them, and I'm not saying they are wrong, but it would never work for me. Unless I am involved in teaching every lesson, I can't know how well my kids understand what they are doing. And if I don't keep up with the lessons, then I don't know how to jump in and help without confusing them more.

 

I don't get online classes that are essentially just access to the teacher's materials.  I know some classes have teachers who are subject experts, some have discussion, and some kids need accountability to someone else. However, we haven't needed any of that (yet). I can buy the teacher resource CD on Amazon and have all the quizzes, tests, answer keys, and supplemental activities for a fraction the cost of the online class. And I can load up Brightstorm videos to explain math and science concepts another way.

 

I don't get IEW. We tried the SWI A a while ago and I didn't see how it would make my kid a better writer. And so expensive!