Ask:
For those of you who don't homeschool, do you add things at home to your child's education? Or is home time a break? If my kids went to school, I know I would want to teach them things at home too on top of their studies, but then you have extra curr. activites and you want them to have some break to relax too, so i would think it would be hard to schedule all that in and go to school most of the day.
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Riley brings home homework every week (even in Kindergarten) and we help him with that. We also have workbooks that he does once in awhile. It's not something he has to do. So i guess we pretty much think of home as a break after homework is done. He does really like watching "The Magic School Bus" show and he's learned alot about science and etc from there. That's one cartoon that i allow for educational reasons.
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Stacia, Since my ds is only in Kindergarten which is a 1/2 day we have a workbook given to us by the teacher to work on at home, plus we go over his sight words almost everyday,the everyday mathmatics. Not to mention reading. Now when he is school full time and depending on the homework given we may not do things everynight. Right now he is in to working with a calculator (learning at school) so he will make up his own problems with that. IE adding up all the ages of Mom, Dad, Brother and Dog.
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I usually don't add to my daughter's work. She has homework every weeknight, so she does her homework herself. She enjoys reading and does a lot of that just for fun. She is also in 3 afterschool activities (soccer, Camp Fire and Jr. Jazzercise) so I don't feel the need to add to it.
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My kids have always gone to school. They have always had their fair share of homework and projects during the school year. So I don't add anything on top of that. However, in the summer time, I do give them assignments. I usually print worksheets from online for math and we do reading and book reports. I like to keep their minds active during the summer. My dd loves it and doesn't mind so much. My ds is never thrilled but participates...typical boy I guess.
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after school my girls time is spent doing their homework, they are in 3rd and 5th grades when they are done they can watch tv, play the computer or play in their room. Sometimes they play school other times they spend it doing what ever they want. So I guess once homework is done they can do what ever so we pretty much just relax and take a break. Right now the only activity that they have in Girl Scouts twice a month but in April they will bith be playing softball. So our nights will be taken up doing that.
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I do not do additonal formal learning at my house. Of course, my kids love to read, cook and do lots of educational things.
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I do not give my children anything extra to do at home but they have work from school. Both of my girls are in middle school and each of them has an A average. I feel like there is more than just learning bookstuff at school. My girls participate in extra activities after school. One is a cheerleader for both basketball and football and will play tennis in the spring. The other is going to run track this spring, plays basketball now and takes music lessons. Sometimes I think homework is just not right - when I come home from my job I do not want to bring work home. With the exception of reading, I think that my girls should read every night if only for alittle while. We also do other things that I consider teaching - an example is we bake things together and there is alot to be learned from baking - following instructions, measuring, mixing etc. We grow a garden in the summer. I think it is equally important to teach life and social skills are important.
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I don't do worksheets, workbooks at home with the kids other than their homework. We do lots of research on topics they like, especially on the internet. DS2 (4 years) is getting into this now too. The new thing here is sharks. But it changes all the time, every couple of weeks. I teach them maps, DS1 is really into anything Japanese, so we look up stuff about Japan, he tries to learn words in Japanese, which I think is so cool. DS1 made a remark about Nazi's the other day, I guess he heard a kid call a teacher a Nazi and he was repeating it. So we did a little Holocaust research and I tried not to get too gory but I did let him hear/read some of the gross stuff so it would sink into him. Needless to say he will not be calling anyone a Nazi again!
Also we write lots and lots of stories. Usually they dictate, I type. As far as time goes, I could probably be spending more time helping them on official reading and writing, learning math drills....BUT they spend all day in school doing that. I'm afraid if I don't teach them the other stuff, no one will. I want them to be well-rounded.
ARG...I wish I could start homeschooling them tomorrow! Maybe in a year though...
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My oldest son (7) is very self-motivated, so I haven't steered him toward much out-of-school learning lately. He does a lot of extra curric activities, so when he is home I really feel he needs time to do things he likes/wants to do. Downtime. However, he is a voracious reader, so a homeschooling friend of mine and I decided to do a 'book club' with her oldest son and my son. We just did our first one last week.
We all read Tuck Everlasting, then got together and all discussed the book and answered the 14 literature questions. We then watched the movie (which was completely different!) We are reading Holes by Louis Sachar as our second book in our book club.
Anyway, so this book club is the only thing I am doing for him outside of school right now. It's a social thing for him (and the homeschooled boy) and it expands his reading horizons. It's also fun for me and the other mom...
Before this year got so busy, I gave him a lot of educational stuff to do at home. We always did science projects, activities and experiments. My focus lately has been on my 4yo who is not yet reading.
You probably know from my posts that I am a part-time, "wanne-be" homeschooler. But I have a lot of fears that prevent me from taking the plunge.