Homeschooling

Q&A

I thought it would be a good idea to answer some of the questions that I frequently get asked:

Why do we home school?

The idea of homeschooling was there right from when Christian was only an infant.  It seemed like this path was already laid for us, but with the challenges of having a second child and then a third and starting a business, first in London, then Cape Town, we had Chris at a playgroup twice a week for a few months when he was about 3 years.  He then went to a little nursery when we moved back to South Africa and then only Grade R.  He was in school for about 3 months when we decided to pick up the reins and start our homeschooling career.  Christian being diagnosed with dystonia was the jumpstart we needed.

Who in our family is homeschooled?

We all are

What homeschool curriculum do we use?

We use an Amerian Christian curriculum called Sonlight.

What are our plans for High School?

My answer to this is usually that we’ll cross this bridge when we get to it, but I think each child will have their own needs and we will take their lead.

What do we do to give the kids social interaction?

Our three kids are truly best friends and can happily play just with eachother all day.  Aaron plays wonderfully with Zara when Chris is doing school and when he is finished, Chris joins right in.  But we do have the extra murals where they get to mix with other kids, drama, ballet, sport.  We also meet regularly with other homeschool families for monthly get togethers.

What is the best part of homeschooling?

Not living somebody else’s plan or system.

What is the worst part of homeschooling?

This needs thought….

January 2010

I realise I’m going to have to keep this page updated more often!  I can’t believe how time has flown since May 2008!

At that time we were doing Sonlight P 4/5 and we are now half way through Core K.  Chris is in his Grade 2 year (7) and Aaron entering his Grade R year (5).  Zara (4) has very little interest in doing any formal seat work and is happy to keep herself busy with computer games, puzzles and playing with her dolls.  She listens to stories if she feels like it and runs off as soon as she becomes bored.

We plan to finish this Core at the end of May, take a nice break and begin Core 1 around July 2010.

4th May 2008

When our first son, Christian was barely a year old our hearts became set on homeschooling.  At that time it seems so far away, but I started collecting information and my homeschooling file became quite substantial for somebody who was still a couple of years away from fulfilling this dream.  At this time we lived in London and had just started our business.

Fast forward almost 5 years….We now have 3 kids – Christian (5 and a half), Aaron (amost 4) and Zara (2).  We live in Cape Town and our business has grown nicely.  Last year Christian went to a play school 3 days a week.  He wasn’t unhappy there, but it was not always easy and there were days he just really didn’t want to go.  But we stuck with it.

At the beginning of this year we enrolled in in Grade R and for the first few months things were great.  He loved it.  But then it started becoming more and more evident that his Dystonia was holding him back and he was getting tired and frustrated during the day.  After about 3 month and just after having his tonsils and adenoids out, it was the final straw…he just did not want to go back!

So one morning at breakfast I gave him the option of doing school at home and that was that, we started homeschooling that very day.  He is a much happier boy for it and we are able to manage his tiredness by stretching his work through the day.  I am very lucky, he is a very bright kid who wants and loves to learns.  Mostly he makes my job a joy (mostly…)

Christians’ brother, Aaron is now at a playschool 2 days a week.  I still have over a year and a half to decide what to do with him.  I can imagin it will be a natural decision to homeschool him too, but we’ll leave that decision for now.  No hurry.  And Zara…well if you have 3 kids you’ll know….she’s bringing herself up : )