I'm a firm believer that learning should be fun. So when I first seriously considered removing M from public school in favor of homeschooling him, that was my number 1 goal. With fun and interesting in mind, I delved into the decision making process of educating at home.
I knew that I didn't want a pre-packaged curriculum. And I knew that I wanted to use real books to teach from. According to my research I was well-suited for either unschooling, unit study or using a Charlotte Mason approach.
I decided that unit study was a good fit because it would allow me to use the subjects in which M is interested to teach him. So I looked around on the internet and found a HUGE amount of information pertaining to those subjects. It was too much, so I narrowed my search to looking for unit studies of those subjects that other people had done. Still a lot out there, but not nearly as much as simply searching on a subject.
I took the time to look through a bunch of different unit studies I'd found just to see how other people approached them. Some people did 5 or 6 week unit studies, and some did 5 or 6 day unit studies. That's the beauty, in my opinion, of using this method. You can make them as short or as lengthy as you want.
So I got one unit study fully together, this one on Sharks, to show my husband. His thing was that if I was going to HS that he be involved with the subject matter being taught. He had a very clear idea in his head of how the education of a child should progress. I found out quickly that his ideas were much different than mine. Where I thought using one subject to hit on all the key areas (social studies/history, language arts, math, science) was a great way to teach, he felt that using the NC Standard Course of Study was the way to go. So one Saturday while the kids were outside playing, he and I sat and talked for three hours.
We both explained why we thought our way was better...though I'll be honest, I had a bit of trouble verbalizing my thoughts on this subject, though I knew that the way I wanted to teach would be fine...and after much discussion, I walked away for a few minutes and really thought about not what I wanted to do, but rather what would be best for my child.
When I came back, I expressed that I was willing to compromise. I would use the NCSCOS as a guide, as I think the fairly sequential building of knowledge benefits the type of child I have, but I would not follow it exactly, as I think having a whole understanding of a topic is better than just hitting on the high points so you can pass a test at the end of the year.
After further discussion, we came to the decision that instead of looking at 1 year of the NCSCOS, we would look at the next three years. Using this idea gives me more leeway on teaching M the things I want to teach, not necessarily in the order that it's presented in public school, and also lets me hit on the subjects that interest him.
I had also planned on homeschooling for pretty damn near free...and I suppose I still am, though I have bought about $100 worth of books to use throughout the next year or 2. The difficulty I face is that I have to keep the lessons on his level AND keep them interesting enough for him to get through. I could go on for days about the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations because from an historical point of view they are amazing (and sooo full of info!). But keeping a 10 year old interested in all the reasons that maize was important to these peoples is near impossible. So I am using the 5th grade social studies book as a guide (and because it's a differentiated lessons book, for tests as well) to keep me on track, but also doing a sort of unit study in order to get more in depth. We'll be doing crafts, posters, models...lots of hands on activities to keep him engaged.
I also have 5th grade workbooks (that all meet national standards) on Geography, English, Writing, Science. But I also have some great unit studies on things like elections, pioneer times, sharks and a few others that I will slip in when the time is right. I should also mention that M writes on about a beginning 4th grade level due to his disability and skill deficits, so I have quite a few books on writing and its component parts and pieces. That was something I was NOT willing to leave to "oh I know how to write, I'll just teach him my way." He has deficits in this area and needs specialized instruction. So I talked to his resource teacher to find out some good strategies and books to use with him, and I got them in the mail today (thank you ebay!).
Yes, I'm only on day 4 of homeschooling, but I've already learned that YOU HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE when you have a kid with special needs. Otherwise you are setting both of you up for failure.
I'm really excited about being able to share this time with my child. I love to watch him learn...he's so amazing. I hope that by doing this, he will learn the skills he needs to succeed with friends, career, life and love.
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