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My youngest petting a shark
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Yes, we are atheists. Yes, we home school. Why is this weird to so many people? I don't use a curriculum necessarily. Everything starts with a book in our house. Good books, real books. I read aloud to my children, even the teens, and stop for every question (tedious most times). There isn't a lot of support in the atheist community (that I have witnessed) for secular homeschooling. My oldest son has a few textbooks, all older versions not able to be sold back to the college, mainly science and algebra. I print worksheets and we do experiments. The internet is such a valuable tool, USE IT!
As a homeschooling parent, I find the juggling of interests the most difficult. My twins are 8 and complete opposites. My son, the one petting the shark, loves math, magnets, Minecraft, and earth science. The questions he asks can sometimes send me down an internet wormhole for hours and leave me feeling inadequate. His twin sister loves stories. She easily uses 20 pages of notebook paper per day writing stories, jingles, riddles, jokes, leaving clues for scavenger hunts, etc. She also loves all animals, even the creepy ones. I value their interests and encourage a desire to discover for themselves. I also home school their 14 y/o brother. He is a voracious reader and teaches himself his math and science. The way I encourage studies in other realms, is a good ole-fashion debate. I always pretend to know more about any subject than he will ever know. It may take a few days, but he will revisit our debates to prove me wrong.
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The twins doing Chemistry |
I am a "veteran" homeschooler (7 years collectively). As a family, we left moderately fundamentalist christian religion (7 years ago). Previous homeschooling included, I just choked a little, Creation "Science," bible study, and ready-made, expensive curriculum. Secular homeschooling is completely new to me. I have "mommed" for almost 17 years now and have taken a "just go with it" attitude with our home school. My goal is for my children to find their area of expertise. I do require they stay on grade level with math and English, but other subjects are scheduled weekly at the whims of current interest. My children laugh at my uncouth way of asking strangers to share with them; like the fisherman that caught the shark at the beach. Yes, they were mortified that their mom said "hey, can we touch it?" Yet, they all loved feeling its sandpaper skin and their research on Bonnet sharks (related to the hammerhead).
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Fun day at the co-op
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Above all, I want them to realize this is their education, their skills, their lives! I am only to accommodate and encourage a healthy love of learning. They definitely play more freely than their PS peers and have incredibly active imaginations. The days aren't full of oh's and ah's, but the occasional ah!hah! moments are worth every bit of the frustrations I so frequently face.
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