Is this a common feeling?

[springmama]

Ok. DD is ONLY 5 and I have until August to really get started (personal start date) I should not be feeling so overwhelmed. I mean, this IS only Kindergarten, right? Why do I feel so worried about not choosing the right activities and somehow depriving her of a quality education by making mistakes? I find myself worrying so much about all the details of our first year, praying that I choose just the right way to go about teaching her to read, write and do basic math.

When I stop and take a deep breath, I tell myself that this is only Kindergarten. She's only 5. I'm not going to break her and ruin her future by making less than perfect choices this first year.

Then I go online and try to decide on what materials to buy and we sit down with our Bob Books and things don't go smoothly. I get overwhelmed and frustrated and scared of ruining my child, second guessing myself and whether or not I'm even capable of doing this.

However, as much as I question myself during the weak times, I KNOW it's not right for this child to be in school anywhere but here. It's just not going to happen.

Then, I start to wonder...am I weird for not wanting my 5 year old to be gone all day at school with strangers? It seems normal to me to feel this way, but everyone around me is registering for Kindy this month. How come they are okay with it and I'm not?

Sigh....am I freaking out here or what? Is this normal, lol? PLease say yes, because if you tell me it's not normal then I guess I need to book myself an appt with a therapist and I don't have time for that, lol!

[stackeyha]

Hi there...

Let me guess...first child through...new to the homeschooling decision...maybe a few people you know think you are crazy??? Any of that???

RELAX! She is only 5...there is NOTHING that you are going to do or NOT do this year academically that will ruin her. Even if you decided that all that you were going to do this year is READ to her 30 minutes at day. Honestly, with this age group LESS is better...get her USED to doing a little something and then go play.

I take back what I said, you COULD ruin some things if you push too hard. This year should be fun overall...there are so many fun things to learn...and reading really IS fun especially if you guide her slowly.

oooppss...I've gotta run...hope this helps a little.

[elliemaejune]

[springmama]

[Ophelia]

[Minniewannabe]

Nothing weird about it. We've probably all felt apprehensive and inadequate as teachers at some point. I think I may have felt that way this morning.

Nonetheless, you know what's best for your daughter and she'll do fine.

p.s. My daughter hated the Bob books. She learned to read from the Disney Toddler, Preschool CD Rom games and old fashioned -CENSORED- & Jane books. Ummm, how's that for a teaching style?

[Jazzy]

Your concerns are totally normal. I call it the Top 5 Homeschooling Fears.

2 years ago, when Kindergarten round up passed and we didn't attend, I was terrified. Up until then, we hadn't told friends and family what we were doing. After that, the cat was out of the bag and everyone was confronting us and thinking we were crazy.

I was sure my I'd made a decision that would ruin my child. Then I found I was pg with child #3.

Now I smile whenever I pass the school. I am so THANKFUL my children aren't there. In the beginning I homeschooling can be a walk of faith. Just keep on keeping on!

Carletta

ETA: If the BOB books are causing trouble, just drop them.

[Elei]

Yes, I have this same feeling too.

Specially about: Am I doing ENOUGH???? Shouldn't we be doing MORE???

I mean my boys are 9 and 7 and specially for the 9 year old, in PS he would have like 10 textbooks to work from: maths, science, reading, social studies, music, religion, languages (3 different ones), and I don't know if something else.

I'm not doing half of that not even anything of that. I'm only using a math-book for his level and it is horrible sometimes. But I think he should at least be doing the math exercises. We do about half an hour every day (when we don't go out).

For the rest he really got into reading and I'm very happy about that. Sometimes I have to make him stop reading to help with some chore and he uses the reading as an excuse: Mum, I'm reading now!.

One voice in me says I'm so happy with his progess since he left school in September: he likes reading, he's an explorer and has all sorts of treasure collections, they do music, arts, lego's, a lot of playing and climbing trees, we write letters to friends and family, we make lapbooks ....... we are bussy all day doing things, and I would like to do so much more, but it is not the "schoolstuff".

So there is the other voice in there coming up every now and then saying: you should be teaching history, he should be doing geography, he should be filling in the blanks in his language book, he should be copying a page.......

Is there anybody else with older children (9 or older) who really trusts the feeling of "they will learn if they want to learn, just give them plenty of things to do??????"

What age do you think they should be really start sitting down "studying" and writing reports???? Or using real schoolbooks???

Thanks for any suggestions.
Elei.

[Jill]

I would suggest reading Ruth Beechick's The 3 R's before getting too worked up. It sounds so simple...and it is....and the kids do great because they end up LOVING to learn. As a former PS teacher, it was VERY hard for me to implement her ideas, how can they learn ANYTHING if I am that relaxed? Well I don't know, but it worked...they love to read and learn.

She also has a book called You Can Teach Your Child Successfully which is geared towards parents of 4-8 graders.

Another approach that you can read about is Charlotte Mason. She uses great literature and narration to teach. It's great. Check out www.amblesideonline.com

Whatever you decide, I think it's important to at least know about as many of the options as possible, and THEN decide what's best for your child.

Good luck!