I got an email today from simple homeschool about remembering the basics as a spine for your homeschooling. Everything else? It's gravy. I struggle as every homeschooler parent does with the "what if" question.
- What if we're not doing enough?
- What if my children aren't being challanged enough?
- What if they decide to go to public school one day and they learn that I have handicaped them both socially as well as academicly?
- What if they can't ever get a good job or go to collage?
- What if I've ruined my kids by keeping them home?
- What if....What if.....What if....
"The bare minimum a family should do is to surround your children with literature and to do math at least once a week." ~Jena
"Education is not something which the teacher does, but a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being". ~Maria Montessori
So whats the minimum you need? What is 'enough'? Books to be sure. I don't think anyone would argue that having books (fiction & nonfiction) in your home is a good thing. It promotes literacy, it increases vocabulary and attention span, it prompts the imagination.
After that? I vote...
Craft supplies! All things can be accomplished with craft supplies. (including math) It provides endless entertainment, puppets for stories, hopscotch makings, things to count and cardboard numbers.
Remember the basics, everything else is just gravy.
Just dropping in from the Hip Homeschool Hop. I always doubt myself and then my child says or does something that takes my breath away and I remember that it's all going to be okay. Please drop by Discovery for Life if you have a minute.
ReplyDeleteGood morning from the Hip Homeschool Hop!
ReplyDeleteI think we always have an element of "is it enough?" How can we not? We have taken on sole responsibility for the raising and the educating of our children! I love the books in the photo. It has been some time since I've seen them but they were beloved in their day. These days I am blessed teaching with the classics in high school and some wonderful standards for 4th grade. You will do just fine with your kids.
great reminder! we 'quasi-unschool'. G loves maths and physics/science and does lots of it. K needs to math almost daily or he forgets everything and we are back at 'what does add mean?' and forgetting what math symbol means what (like a plus sign or division sign)... and he is 14.
ReplyDelete(visiting from the hip homeschool hop, but not listed this week)