What about socialization?

This is the most commonly asked question we get. In fact, strangers on the street, or even in the library elevator, ask us this question and prepare to judge us based on our answers. Blog readers, I beg you, do not ask a homeschooler this question. We are so tired of answering it.

The huge majority of homeschoolers have no desire or intention to sequester their children from the rest of the world. Please trust that we are responsible parents and are not going to turn Esme into a hermit or agoraphobe who wants nothing to do with or is afraid of society. If you are compelled to ask such a question, please think of framing it in a different way.

Some suggestions:
What kinds of group activites is Esme participating in this season?
Has Esme met any new little friends lately?
What kinds programs is your homeschooling group offering these days?
Is Esme still a Girl Scout?
What sport is Esme interested in trying next?
Have you been having a lot of play dates?
What do Esme and her friends usually like to play together?

The first year we homeschooled Esme participated in many group activities including Daisy Girl Scouts, soccer, Homeschooling Lego League, swimming, Sunday School, homeschooler field trips, and more. Esme will continue to particpate in group activities with her peers. Some things she'll do in her second year of homeschooling are the Homeschooling State Park series, soccer, dance class, and Daisies. Esme will also continue to have playdates with her friends.

Why are you homeschooling?

This is an easy to answer questions but there are many parts to the answer.

We enjoy being around Esme and want to spend as much time with her as we can, especially while she's still little.

We like knowing that that we're in control of what she's learning and the context in which she's learning it. She will get a strong sense of our values.

In homeschooling she has the opportunity to work at her own pace - faster or slower at any given time or in any given subject.

Homeschooling gives our family a very flexible schedule.

We like knowing that Esme isn't wasting her time on busywork or interruptions due to disciplinary issues with other students.

None of the local school options were ideal for us - the public schools in our city are underperforming, the religious school we would have sent her to only teaches Biblical literalism (which is against our beliefs), and school choice would require that we drop her off and pick her up in a different city every day.

We are learning so much through this process. Teaching her opens our own minds to new things.

In homeschooling Esme can take a more active role in choosing what she studies, and the lessons are likely to hold her interest.

At home there is a greater opportunity for hands-on learning. We can take as many field trips as we want - even if they're just around our block.

We have opportunities to use a wide variety of resources and aren't confined to district-approved anthologies. We are strongly for literature-based learning.

Hermit Crabs

Esme read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle this week and then made this scrapbook page about her memories of seeing hermit crabs this summer. Scrapbooking is a great way to reinforce her lessons, teach her about different kinds of media, and encourage her creativity!

Shells, Crabs, and More

This week we're studying shells and the animals that live in them. We'll also continue looking at 3-D shapes, working on fine motor skill development, and of course do lots of reading! Our book of the week is Seashells by the Seashore and our words of the week are we and two.

Two Goals Surpassed!!

We are so proud of our little girl. The kindergarten goal is for her to count to 20 by ones, and Esme can officially count to 40. Another goal is for her to know 20 words by sight by the end of the year. We are about halfway through the year and are happy that she is already up to 14.

Coming up with have some challenging work. Esme will have to learn to count to 50 by fives and tens, she'll do more writing, and she'll learn her very first fractions. Also, we're hoping to get more involved with some other homeschoolers and possibly even hold a lesson for a larger group at our home.

Ethan has done wonderfully with homeschooling while I've been working full time these past three months. I've done the lesson plans and he's done ALL the lessons! I'm looking forward to helping him with that aspect of homeschooling again.

Vacation is over - we're back in school!

We've recovered from our vacations and we're happily moving on with our ocean unit! We're finishing up mammals and moving on to sharks and more fish. Our book of the week is The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark. We are reviewing some previous words of the week just to be sure she had all the words we've done down. This week she'll also be learning about the three-dimensional shapes, sounding out words, and sponge painting.

Learning about Mammals

Esme has been very interested in learning about ocean mammals. We concentrated on whales and dolphins, and used Counting Fish. We've been using Beanie Babies to sort mammals and other types of animals.