Looking for advice

[Jared]

So my wife and I have 2 daughters, one who is four years old. We had planned on educating both of our children ourself at home, but it's proving to be more difficult than we thought it would be, for a couple of reasons.

First, my daughter keeps hearing about school and how fun school is from friends, family, movies, etc. She keeps asking us about it, and saying that she wants to go. Now, no matter how I look at it, I cannot find a way to justify sending her to a public school. I feel that it would probably do more harm than good. We cannot afford private school, and besides I don't know of any decent private schools in the vicinity anyway. So that leaves homeschool. Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone have any advice on how to explain this to my daughter?

Also, having never been a teacher before, I really don't know where to begin. I try going over basic things with her, but she never seems interested. Does anyone have any recommendations for homeschooling materials that may be helpful?

Finally, I would really like to meet up with some other parents who are also homeschooling their children, and I would like my daughter to be able to meet up with other children who are taught from home. Are there any good groups that I could meet up with? I am currently living in Durham.

Thanks for any advice! 

[littlehawk]

I can't really help you on what to say to your daughter but remember any government school is going to give you hard time in regards to having your kids "fully immunized"...not to mention the brainwashing corporate/politico agendas.

Some parents that homeschool sometimes have their kids attend a class or two and/or participate in sports, etc...but you will still to battle with the vaccine issue.

If you have questions about opting out of vaccines and still enrolling in gov (or private) schools, send me a PM. 

Homeschooling is quite popular out west. When I lived back east it was not as common but  there seems to be slow growth of people homeschooling nowadays. Cali was the first to start the trend and I believe the nazis of that state are trying to pass laws to make homeschooling illegal. If you can generate enough parents in your locality that homeschool their kids, your daughter may be quite happy to mingle with other homeschoolers. Spread the word. AND, the more homeschoolers, the more parents become available for teaching.

[TackleTheWorld]

What do you think would happen to your daughter in public school?

[Trillian]

Also, having never been a teacher before, I really don't know where to begin. I try going over basic things with her, but she never seems interested. Does anyone have any recommendations for homeschooling materials that may be helpful?

I've worked with 4 year olds for the past 3 years and will have my teaching degree in December.   You  so don't need one at all in order to teach children, but I tell you my qualifications just so that you know I've got a little background.

Most 4 year olds have short attention spans,so if you're attempting to sit her down and teach a formal lesson like on letter recognition etc you'll want to limit it to no more than 15 minutes. They can't handle anything longer than that in most cases.   I also don't know if you want to spend a money on a curriculum yet either.  There are tons of resources on the internet for basic emergent literacy (beginning reader) and beginning math skill ideas.
You'd want to google things like: letter recognition, basic math concepts for children, and just whatever you want to look at and add "teaching ideas" to the end of it.

But HONESTLY... you don't need any of that quite yet.  Books, picture books, plenty of them for her to play with and "read" and you read with her.  Being conscious that EVERYTHING can be made in to teaching materials at this age is about the best resource you have. Let her put on mommy's and daddy's clothes, take her to the park, look at flowers with her. Play High Ho Cherry-os, and Candy Land with her. Count cars as they pass by, talk to her about the letters on cereal boxes, and count how many cans of soup you're buying at the grocery store.

I'm a huge fan of www.starfall.com for a computer activity for reading, kids love it. Not saying that they should spend an extended period of time on it ever. But it's cool.  Oh and www.spellingcity.com later on.

If you talk to her having school at home, and set aside a consistent time each day for "school" (we're talking like 20ish minutes, maybe right before or after lunch). I think that would help wane the question asking. Routine is so important to the younger kiddos and will help her see she's going to "school. Heck thrown in a backpack with some "school supplies" in it and she'll be golden. But again right now "formal instruction" even in a public school environment is very  limited because they aren't ready to sit still for the many many hours public schools require them to later.

PLEASE Don't put in public school if you don't have to, trust me I go every day and want to cry because I see the effect this government schooling is having on these children every single day. What benefit is there, honestly all they are doing every day is trying to make children fit into a mold, and learn about what they deem worthy. Kids have no choice in what they learn about, it doesn't matter what they're interested in and eventually they just quit being interested.

[Kat Kanning]

It's OK that you, the parent, make the decisions, rather than the 4 year old.

I always told my daughter about my experiences in school.  She never seemed to want to go after these stories.

[KBCraig]

The best thing to do for young children, is to simply live a well rounded life and have them with you as much as possible.

Many modern parents try to adjust their lives to cater to the children, and that really does the children no good. It's not even what they want. Children naturally want to learn what older kids and adults are doing (which is one of the major failure points in age-segregated schooling).

If they see you reading, especially if you read to them, they want to read as well. The same goes for everyday math, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Four is not too late to start this kind of lifestyle if you're not living it already, but it's the upper edge. Even if the children are well imprinted with the idea of traditional schooling, go ahead and start the unschooling life too -- they'll learn more outside of "school" than they will inside the system.

[littlehawk]

Cali is now trying to make homeschooling illegal. And in some states they go door to door in order to update your child with vaccinations.

"Lies My Teacher Told Me" by Jim Loewen is a good read. He was an teacher! 

[Russell Kanning]

I agree with the other guys. The little kids what to learn to read like you and older kids.
You should be able to hang out with other people in the same situation as you. We used to meet as a big group at the Keene library, but one family with one other family is much easier.
Doesn't your daughter have any friends right now? School gets in the way of so many things like play and friendships. You kid has to hang out with people she doesn't want to in a public school.

[Trillian]

Cali is now trying to make homeschooling illegal.

Ughh I didn't know that, hopefully that won't happen. 

[Jared]

Thanks for the replies guys! i guess now i just knew of some other liberty-minded homeschoolers in my area : /

[MaineShark]

I'm a huge fan of www.starfall.com for a computer activity for reading, kids love it.

I'll second that.

Also, much as I'm not a fan of PBS, PBSKids is another useful resource.  I just make sure to look at anything oh there, before letting the kids use it; some of the activities, they kids are not allowed to use (Sesame Street, for one of the biggest).

You can also get a lot of the older children's programming on DVD.  The Electric Company, Schoolhouse Rock (just skip some of the "civics" stuff), Sesame Street Old School (the first few years of the show, which actually includes a warning that it is inappropriate for today's children... which tells me it's probably pretty good!).  Much better than the crud they're producing, these days.

Joe