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hillbillywoman -> RE: working part-time and homeschooling (6/20/2009 10:11:27 AM)
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I do child day care in my home (infants thru pre-schoolers), and I homeschooled when my day care kids were asleep, or in the evening. Sometimes we did school on Saturdays. (My kids are all graduated now, and have moved on to successful jobs or college.) I made sure that we schooled 180 days (as required by my state) but I did not concern myself with the number of hours per day. School would last from 2 to 4 hours per day, usually. I just tried to finished whatever curriculum we started. On the rare occasion that we did not finish a curriculum, I made sure my kids at least had learned enough to pass the subject or was ready to move on to the next level.
I was concerned over my last child who graduated this past May. I had been ill alot during his last two years of high school, and I felt that his education had been neglected. How happy I was when he took his college placement exams and the advisor told my son and I that he had scored very highly, and he could enroll in any major he wanted! Wow! God is merciful. I have found in so many situations in our family, that He has helped us through our struggles in amazing ways. Another amazing thing about this last child of mine, is that when he was born, the obstetrician and the pediatrician both told me he would most likely be retarded! You see, I had the flu with high fever for 5 or more days when I was around 6 or 7 months pregnant. This left me with a severe cough for the remainder of my pregnacy. My placenta (20 percent of it) came away from my womb about a month or so before I went into labor (and I did not bleed out, so no one suspected it). When my son was born, he and I both had a fever and the umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around his neck TWICE!
Well, let me tell you, this son of mine has never shown any signs of retardation at all. He has always been very intelligent, easy to learn, easy going, with loads of common sense. He has been the most mature acting of all my children. He is a true miracle from God!
So, don't worry about having time to homeschool. I have found that the few hours we busy parents can contribute to homeschooling, will far outweigh the 7 hours spent in the public school system. My first-born is proof of that. She went from being "gifted" (according to tests administered by the public school system during elementary school) to her being "taken off of the gifted list" in 7th grade because she went down to C's on her report card. Instead of trying to find out her problem, the school officials told me she could "try again" by taking the gifted test when she reached 8th grade. WHAT??? How can a gifted child suddenly become "ungifted"?
Well, I then began homeschooling, and found out my daughter was two grade levels BEHIND in Math and English. Why did her teachers not catch this? When my daughter started making B's in 5th grade, which continued into the 6th, I attributed that to adjusting to a new school, new friends, changing classes which was new to her, and then a really hateful teacher in 6th grade which caused her to have stomach pains. I had hoped things would smooth out in 7th. They did not. She then began acting out and taking on a bad attitude. Her grades dropped to C's and I was desperate to find a solution. A male classmate had also begun stalking her at school, and he would tell his friends what he planned to do to her. School officials claimed to not be able to do anything about it unless he actually DID do something to her. I told them then it would be too late! I was not about to wait until he DID something to my daughter! Homeschooling was the only solution. It WORKED!!! Her attitude improved, her grades improved. She ended up graduating a year ahead of her public school peers and was completely ready for college level Math and English when she finished homeschooling.
So, I will repeat what I said earlier. With the help of the good Lord, even a few hours spent in homeschooling will far outweigh the many hours spent in public school.
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