Friday, January 28, 2011

The Adventures of homeschooling middle school age


Homeschooling my middle school age child has been the adventure I was so nervous about. We have had our moments the good the bad and the ugly. But I still Love her. We struggled to find what works for her and I just tried to teach her and then figured out she didn't want to be taught she wanted to learn. So when we change to the Robinson Curriculum she is doing so much better. I truly believe that it is all about independence with this age of kids. When they feel like you are telling them what to do all they time they well want to do the opposite.

Another thing we have done to that has seemed to help her is the workboxes. It seems that she likes to just have all her stuff ready for her to do without having to wait for me to tell her whats next. We still have days were she just decides not to do it (the rebel).

I think it is awesome that you can challenge this age of kids (if they can read well) with almost anything. She can understand a complex lesson if I challenge her to do so. She is enjoying all of the Literature that she has been reading. I do notice that the more they read good literature the better quality of talking they do.

We also make sure she has something outside of the house. She is very involved in church activities, she is on the youth band for church (she sings) and she takes a drama class provided by our church too. I know how important it is for this age to be able to go and "hang" with their friends. Another awesome thing about homeschooling is that we can supervise who they hang out with. Like if she was in public school she would be overly exposed to bad influences I would not want her to be around. I know I can not control who all of her friends are but why expose my children to bad influences if we do not have to. She will have the rest of her life to be around that stuff so why not teach them to recognize the good influences from the bad now. This will make life so much easier later on.

I also believe it is very important to make sure they do chores. At this age they can pretty much do any chore around the house. My goal for Brooke is when she leaves she will know how to run a home. Why not learn it now?! The more we teach our children at home the better off they will be as adults.

Most important of all that our middleschool aged and all other ages, is to love the Lord.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Have a Blessed day.