Homeschool?

[CPST_Manda]

I've been on and off the fence with the idea of homeschool but as "registration" for my DS looms in the new year I'm leaning more towards keeping him home. The Kindergarten Readiness thread didn't help either

Does anyone here homeschool their kids AS WELL as operate a daycare? I'm thinking that might be okay for the first couple of years but what about after that? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Sandbox Sally]

I do! Mind you, I only home school my oldest, who is nearing 12 yo. She is in 6th grade. We do very well. I give her lessons during the babies' nap, and she works about 2-3 hours per day on school work. It really takes very little time to home school. You assign lessons, they read the chapter, do the work, and if they don't understand, you give a lesson. It is much less time consuming than a brick and mortar school. Some people think that you have to have a school room, and that you have to lecture like a regular classroom, but that just isn't the case. Curriculum for each and every grade in Ontario is available online. As long as you're loosely following this type of model, should you ever choose to enrol him in public school, he will be on the same page. For dd and I, we are following the Grade 6 math book, but everything else is arbitrary, and chosen by both of us.

If you want to keep DS home, I say go for it!! Lots of time and room for everyone. Very little lesson planning or lesson giving will occur at this age. Good luck, and be true to yourself.

[playfelt]

What a lot of people do with kindergarten is go ahead and register since it has to take place in January and then let the school know in the spring that they won't be attending afterall. There are many homeschool support agencies throughout Canada and they often hold a conference in the spring where you can get good information about homeschooling and access to resources to buy and of course the support of others who have done it.

[clep]

I home school my son in grade three. It is awesome!!! There are a few things that I cannot do during day home hours though, like science experiments. Dad and son do science together and I do everything else with him. We do the same curriculum that is done in the schools and all of his books are self guiding. I still do lots with him, and can run the day home too. His education and marks have blossomed with more one on one. I am so glad I did it.