The start of homeschooling

I have a few friends who had homeschooled and at first it seemed too much to think about.  I convinced myself that the local school was just fine and I would go to work when Chicken Man was in Kindergarten. 

I began to do some more research and came across a chap called John Gatto.  He has written many publications but the one I found, "The Underground History of American Education" was intriguing and confirmed the niggling feeling I had about the public school system.  More research and reading followed.  Here is Mr Gatto's thesis on what compulsory schooling does to children.  This excerpt is taken from his book "Dumbing us Down":

1. It makes the children confused. It presents an incoherent ensemble of information that the child needs to memorize to stay in school. Apart from the tests and trials that programming is similar to the television, it fills almost all the "free" time of children. One sees and hears something, only to forget it again.
2. It teaches them to accept their class affiliation.
3. It makes them indifferent.
4. It makes them emotionally dependent.
5. It makes them intellectually dependent.
6. It teaches them a kind of self-confidence that requires constant confirmation by experts (provisional self-esteem).
7. It makes it clear to them that they cannot hide, because they are always supervised.

Mr Gatto was not alone in his thoughts which I found I could not and should not ignore. 

Our decision to homeschool was heavily influenced by our faith.  We do not celebrate easter, christmas, birthdays, halloween, mother's day, father's day or thanksgiving.  Most of our family and friends do.  I understand that everyone is different and you can read more about our faith here. 

I had already researched homeschooling material and curriculum.  I chose The Robinson Curriculum as a base (it covers reading, writing, spelling, the English language and Math with Saxon Math).  Due to NY State homeschool regulations, from grade 1 through 6 we also have to cover: geography, United States history, science, health education, music, visual arts, physical education and bilingual education. I have ordered the Lifepac K grade language arts and math books and I expect to use Lifepac for 1st grade as well. 

When we started homeschooling back in Spring of this year (2012), we began learning letter sounds with Hooked on Phonics and then started using the McGuffy Readers.  Chicken Man has been learning to read for 8 months and we are nearly at the end of the Primer.  McGuffy Readers can be found free online here.  There are so many great online resources for homeschooling and many of them are free.  I love this handwriting worksheet maker. 

I have been enjoying our homeschool experience and from the enthusiasm of Chicken Man, I can only trust that he is too.  I give all thanks and praise to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the passion and ability to teach my child. 

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