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Ok, here comes my two cents worth! (I will warn you, it is long)
The best home schooling advice I ever heard was that home schooling is a marathon, not a sprint and that people will not look at how you started, they will look at how you finish.
What that means to me is that it is more important to have long term goals than a goal to "finish" something today. Sometimes we have BAD days - sometimes (like right now), we have BAD months! There is a theory in the home school community (no one has ever actually tried it), that you can wait until a child is 16 and then in one school year teach them everything they would have learned in "real school" in twelve - from an academic perspective. I believe that with all my heart and I believe that people are entirely too freaked out by the thought of academics when they start home schooling.
If you do not allow your children to sit in front of the tv all day, they will learn something. It is in their nature. They will play, they will build with legos, they will use their imaginations, they will draw and write in journals, they will go outside. They will build relationships with each other and watching you they will learn household skills and life skills. They don't get ANY of that in school, yet all of that is the best preparation for life.
All of your children will be different. Some will be great "students" and at least one will make you think that you absolutely are not cut out for home schooling. (I will pray for you that that one will be one of the younger ones, once you are fully committed) My fourth child tests my limits every single day. He struggles with reading, he has basically ZERO concentration skills, he disrupts everything in our household. I don't stress about academics and I fully believe in the "better late than early" method of schooling, so I don't push them to start formal school at five. It has only been in the last two years that I have really tried to get Graham on some sort of schedule. He will be 10 in March and most days he drives me to tears. For the first time in 14 years I have begged God to let me quit. I am just being honest with you, because I never want to be accused of making home schooling sound like the "fix all" answer. It is hard. BUT, I believe with all my heart that it is right. Crying out to Him about Graham, He finally showed me that Graham's issues would not be resolved in a school setting, they would be exasperated. He would be teased for his clumsiness, labeled for his reading issues, and angry about it all! No one would see that he excels in math, he loves his baby brother to pieces (even when he aggravates him), he is very sensitive to my emotions and is a great helper when he feels like he is being useful. He likes to tackle the really hard jobs and can concentrate when he feels like what he is doing is making a real difference. These are God given qualities that I know play into who he is going to be as an adult. School would squash his will and make him bitter.
My older two were model students. We spent long lazy days reading tons and tons of quality books, taking long walks and drawing and labeling pictures of leaves and bugs. They were mini-mes and I relived everything I wished school had been for me through their education. We didn't stress about finishing textbooks, in fact we never used one. My next daughter Lyndsey was a little tougher. She doesn't struggle with reading, but she doesn't like it. School is a box to be checked off for her and that makes it difficult for me because I want it to be a lifestyle. I have had to tweak my teaching style for her and we have used more textbooks. Graham....well, I just told you about him. We muddle through. I am praying really hard that Patrick starts the cycle over and we can go back to my "dream" method of home schooling, but who knows? He will be who God wants Him to be.
So, right now our days are an eclectic mix of trying to meet individual needs. Joshua and Bryce have been working on their own for years, so it is mostly me and the two middles, trying to accomplish something in a day. If you are a Type A personality, that would probably be hard for you. I don't have a set "time" for school and I don't make everyone sit down at the table together. Ideally, we read a couple of chapters of the Bible (usually Pslams and Proverbs) together in the morning, pray together, and work on whatever we are memorizing (right now 1 Corinthians 13, if that tells you anything about recent attitudes). After that, we just try to move along with our curriculum. Having a baby in the house makes things more hectic, as you can imagine. We work hard when he naps and one child will take turns playing with him while I work with another child. We spend a lot of days at the park with a book and a lot of days just cooking together, learning how to do laundry, and reading.
Joshua and Bryce are seniors in high school. Even with our laid back style, they are being pursued by several colleges, have really high SAT scores, and made high As in three college classes that they took last year at a local state college in FL. They can write solid papers, read adult level books, communicate without fear, and they both love the Lord and have decided that instead of going straight to college next year they are going to spend three months interning with a ministry based in Ireland - serving the people and receiving in depth spiritual training themselves. This is what it was always about. The outcome - not whether or not we finished our math book. My younger two, may not be able to say they make As in college or have high SAT scores, but I have learned over the years that they will all be what God created them to be. My only goal is that they love the Lord and follow where He leads them. If that is to college fine, if not, that is fine too.
Our main curriculum is called Sonlight. (www.sonlight.com) It is perfect for the child who loves to read or be read to. I have to tweak it for my two younger ones, but there are many books that I still find very important and we read together. It covers History and Bible. They sell separate Science and Language Arts materials, but I have not used those. For Math I like Math U See, but frankly, I can't stand math, so we just use it and move on. I like it, but there are plenty of others that are good as well. For Science I love all of the Apologia materials. You can find them from elementary up to High School. For writing I like IEW. (Institute for Excellence in Writing) - it is easy to teach and the kids like it. Over the years, we have gotten together and different moms teach a class of about 8 kids. You can do a 6-8 week IEW course and they like doing it together.
You will find as you get into the home school community that different "classes" will come available as moms use their talents. My kids always enjoy a brief stint of being taught by someone else with a group and they like it when I teach a class here and there. We have also been very involved in Speech and Debate training. I prefer the Institute For Cultural Communicators or ICC (www.instituteforculturalcommunicators.com) I don't know if there is one in your area or not. I am starting one here in Phoenix for next fall because we don't have one. It is a great way to teach speaking skills, research and writing skills. The kids resist at first because public speaking is scary, but they are glad they did it and all of the activities and conferences are so much fun, they usually come on board pretty quickly.
Anyway, I am sorry to go so long. I can't really talk about it briefly. To sum it up, home schooling is hard, it is life consuming, and in and of itself will not "fix" every childhood problem. But, I believe with ALL of my heart that it is God's best for a family and that it is the right thing to do. I believe that yes, certain children handle school better than others, but I believe that all children thrive at home - with the people who love them the most. Don't stress about the day to day - set long term goals and re-evaluate them regularly. Attend a home school convention - every state has them, usually in the summer. They are encouraging with speakers, vendors, and tons of friendly people to talk to and receive encouragement from. It is an amazing community of people, committed to giving their children the best possible start in life. I will never be sorry we chose this lifestyle.
Plus, if God is calling you to do it, you really don't have a choice. I know He told me to do it - I swear He said it out loud. I have never heard anything as clearly as I heard that call 14 years ago. That keeps me going when it is hard. I could never disobey a call that was that clear, so even when I want to quit, I know I won't.
Feel free to ask me ANYTHING. I love to talk about it (if you couldn't tell) and I promise to be honest. Most things in life that are worth anything are hard. This is no exception - but, it is worth it. I can say that especially now that I am two months from being finished with my oldest and I see it bearing the fruit God promised it would. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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So, there you have it. My brutally honest plug for home schooling!
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