The majority of Americans think the schools should teach academics and the parents should teach morals. Unfortunately, it’s interesting that we pay taxes to have it the other way around.

I pay scrupulous attention to what my daughter learns in school. I keep tabs on textbooks, homework assignments, skills requirements, curricular objectives and the like. The problem, I believe, is that my non-Mom brain is having trouble keeping my Mom…

There are lots of things we still don’t know we don’t know, but the ability to have our kids stay on a subject until they get it and having our evenings free of homework: priceless.

My wife gets the kudos – she does the teaching. The history lesson the other day morphed into a discussion on mountains which morphed into a discussion on plate tectonics! But she had a blast and the way she described all the stuff clicking in the minds of our kids: more priceless.

As for criticism of our decision to homeschool, the only people who are against it are our parents. Whenever I share with anyone around here (we are in Oklahoma) that we are homeschooling, I hear only positive things. I think that is because this is such a supportive state for homeschooling and so many people do it that it.

this think and play method on teaching the band to play the instruments?

you can say back,
1.) My kids will be among a more diverse age group.. and diversity is good for them.

2.) Have you really seen the public schools? They Suck.

3.) I would have put them in private schools to get good education but I had no vouchers. (so they get a better education at home

Congrats on Home schooling..

Saxon Math is what you want for teaching Math..

I changed schools systems and took a one quarter long slide rule class in 8th grade to learn more than the C and D scales. I was able to use the slide rule in my 9th grade science class as it was a skilled that we learned. Calculators, which were very new, were forbidden as “any fool can punch buttons”.

State Test scores go up and SAT scores circle the bowl!

Our key to getting things going smoothly was to get a good curriculum, we use k12.com. Another thing that can help is getting involved in a local home school co-op (but, be warned, some home schoolers are weird).

It’s a lot of work, but the rewards for you and your kids are priceless. I teach my boys (8 & 9) science and history and my wife takes care of reading and math. I got to teach my kids about the rise and fall of Rome. I got to teach them about the birth and rise of Islam (from daddy’s perspective). We can now discuss the Renaissance, the discovery of the New World, magnetism, human migration, the weather, electronics, human motivation for exploration and conquest (mostly money & land) and tons of other stuff.

They learn what we think is important and what we believe will serve them best in life and they now know & understand things at 8 & 9 that their Jr. High and High School friends don’t know yet.

I got to sit with my 9 year old last year while he figured out how to calculate the area of a right triangle. He knew how to figure the area of a square and so we set the triangle up as a kind of puzzle for him. I could see his little brain working on it and the moment he figured it out you could tell as the comprehension spread across his face. Now, instead of feeling stupid about math, he sees math as a puzzle to be solved and knows that he is capable of doing it. I suppose that any parent who helped their kid with his homework could experience this, but we get to see it all the time.

As the public schools continue to fail our kids more and more of us are picking up the mantle of home schooler. Congratulations again.

I read that the state of Texas is saying no to Everyday Math. The state board of education voted to end funding for the purchase of Everyday Math materials in the state.