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| Why homeschooling? |
Why keep homeschooling?
A little about
me and my teaching background:
My name is Alicia Tucker. Prior to choosing to homeschool, I was a
teacher for 10 years. I received my Master's in Education with a
Specialization in Curriculum and Technology from the University of
Phoenix Online in September, 2005. I am certified to teach in both South
Carolina and New Jersey.
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Why we chose homeschooling:
For our family, having both my husband and I
working was very difficult. The kids were bored in school. The district
I worked for was making it increasingly difficult to be a parent and a
teacher at the same time. I was stressed from teaching all day and had
no time for my own kids. Something had to change. They needed me and I
needed to get to know them better!
In November, 2005, we decided that I would resign from
teaching. Although I normally would not have done that in the middle of
the school year, the situation called for it. We decided to homeschool
our kids, so we applied to a homeschool organization (
www.scaihs.org ) and were accepted.
The organization has supplied great support to us along the way and
seemed to be a better choice than going through the district, since my
kids went to school in the district I worked in.
It was scary at first, now being the sole person responsible for
teaching my three children. It took some adjustment, on my part as well
as the kids, but now we have settled into our routine. It just feels
right!
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Why we will continue to homeschool:
In November when we started, I was a little scared that I would not be
able to help them effectively, even though I already was a teacher.
Teaching my own kids was something very new and scary to me. In addition
to my fears, I looked at what my kids were able to do back then... that
was even scarier! They were afraid, uncertain, and lacked self esteem.
As far as what they were able to do academically...
My 4 year old knew no letters and numbers, only a few colors and shapes,
could not hold a pencil or crayon well, and could not cut in November.
My 5 year old knew about half of his letters of the alphabet, but did
not know the sounds associated with the letters. He was crying every day
when it was time to work, claiming that learning was hard and he hated
it. He held his pencil awkwardly, so he was having trouble writing. He
couldn't hold pair of scissors at all. My 7 year old was super
dependent on me for everything in November. She acted like there was
nothing she could do on her own, except reading.
As scary as it was at first, our first year of homeschooling seemed to
go well. My 4 year old could identify all of her colors and shapes, some
letters, all the numbers 0-10, can write her name, and could cut in a
straight line. My 5 year old was able to skip over 5K. At the end of the
year when I reviewed the standards for 5K, to gear my instruction for
the next year, I found that he had met all of the 5K standards already!
He was reading on an early first grade level and was able to do most
first grade math, he could cut and write well and wasn't crying every
day anymore. My 7 year old was reading on a third grade level and is
able to work independently most of the time. Wow!
Homeschooling is just more effective. You don't lose all that time
transitioning and moving between activities. Even though the school day
is shorter, it is condensed. I calculated it out one day. Our day
contains about 3 hours of instruction. When we were in public school,
our day was from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. 7 hours...
But, take time out for :
- breakfast (15 minutes)
- lunch and recess (40
minutes)
- activity/specials (45
minutes)
- morning pledge and
announcements (10 minutes)
- discipline problems (40
minutes over the course of the day)
- interruptions in the
classroom (20 minutes)
- transition time between
lessons (up to an hour over the course of a day)
- travel to different
areas of the campus (20 minutes)
- pack-up time and
afternoon announcements (20 minutes)
- - - not to mention
assemblies, fire drills, and bus evacuation drills...
... and the instructional "time -on-task" only
adds up to a little over two hours. No wonder it was difficult to
squeeze in Science, Social Studies and Health when I was in the
public school!!! There was barely any time.
Already we are ahead of the game! We were able to cover
all of our content and address all of the grade-level state standards
just from November to May, without rushing to fit everything in. My kids
are all ahead of where their peers of the same age are expected to be in
public school.
That is why, as long as I am able, I will continue to homeschool my
children!
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My contact information:
If you have any comments, questions, or
suggestions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at:
homeschool@ahtucker.com
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Copyright Disclaimer:
All content on this site is copyright of A.H. Tucker's Homeschool Stuff.
All rights reserved.
You are permitted to download, print, and use any materials here, but
please do not publish or sell any materials found on the site.
Thank You!
© 2006-
2008 A.H. Tucker's Homeschool Stuff
Updated
09/02/08 by Alicia H.
Tucker
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