Homeschool World Forum

I run a working farm as well as a dog training business and have found the homeschooling has fit in very smoothly with our lifestyle. Chores are done in the early morning while the kids start their first lessons on the computer (typing and math). Then we devote the rest of the morning to more formal instruction, plus about an hour after lunch. The kids help with afternoon chores and play while I work with the dogs. It's been terrific! When I have to travel, the kids go to grammy's to keep their instruction going (she is also registered with DNPE).

One of the things I love about homeschooling is the flexibility and the organic nature of it. Having been raised in a learning environment, they don't really have any concept of "This is learning time, and this isn't." The other night we stayed up until about ten to watch the meteor shower and learn about constellations. We heard some coyotes start yipping on the neighbor's property and we also discussed the habits of coyotes, why we need them, why we don't have wolves around here, how the guard dogs protect the sheep, etc. No one said, "Oh, that's not what was in the lesson plan!"

This week we decided to give them their first real vacation since starting school last year (we went right through the summer). Yesterday they seemed to enjoy their freedom. This morning both of them came and said they wanted to do school again - they just got their curriculum for a new writing course and are eager to start! Well, I need a little time off for Christmas but it's funny to think I'm going to have to make them take a vacation from school.

outstanding!

now if I could just get my two to think that way..

mark

We have 4 kids and did homeschool the oldest for a while. Then we went back to ps, but that is another story. We have been wanting to hs, and wondering how to fit it in as we have a working farm and a busy veterinary clinic. We decided to add a little more help at the clinic to enable us to hs better since our oldest of 4 is only 10. The kids do lots of chores on the farm and we feel that they are getting quite a bit of hs, despite being gone from 8 to 3:30 everyday. Oh well, hopefully that will change soon.
We do have a room at the clinic that is just for the kids, and I am hoping that will help on the busiest days. Has anyone else found that they just didn't have the time when they tried to add it into an already busy day? We have used Waldorf methods in the past and especially for the little ones, there is a real emphasis on the routines of the days and of the week, and we sometimes lose that for our veterinary and farm (the sheep get out) emergencies.
Anyone else have problems with the routines and/or time commitment? Advice is welcome.

I'm a freelance writer and have found that homeschooling works well here too. I think there are all kinds of things that you can do as far as a business from home or whatever. Personally, I only have to work 4 hours a day so it's easy for me to homeschool and do a lot of other great activities with my daughter. For the most part, we love spending time together.

You definitely have to be flexible, there's no doubt. We have a lot of flexibility built into our routine. Right now the kids also don't have a lot of self-directed work, which makes it harder, so that will only get better.

I take every chance I can to incorporate the familiy business into instruction.

I make sure we have "fall back" work to give the kids during emergencies - an old conventional classroom teacher trick - only ours is usually fun math or spelling practice on the computer.

Doling out computer or video game time as a reward for schoolwork done in a timely manner ensures that we stay on track without a lot of pressure being put on the kids. I NEVER want to give them the impression, for any reason, that they are "in the way". If I have to put something off because of an emergency, I give them a time frame for when we'll try again to do it - not a promise, a TRY.