In 1996, when we chose a name for our baby girl we wanted it to be unique. Bypassing the baby names books, we turned to friends for novel suggestions. We thought we had a winner when we chose to name our daughter after a friend’s dog who had been named after a Tibetan mountain.
It wasn’t until we brought baby Kayla home that we found out that her name had climbed into the top ten baby names in the US that year, due to the popularity of a soap opera star.
After that experience, I’m no longer surprised when our parenting choices turn out to be, if not common, certainly not especially unusual.
Although home schooling is an unusual choice in our town, it turns out that my son is one of 1.5 million home schooled kids in the US in 2007. That’s a 74% increase since 1999, when the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track. (Home schooling Grows, USA Today)
Home Schooling is not for everyone, but we are a growing and diverse group. For just a sample of our many voices, visit some of the Home School Blogs that I subscribe to in my Google Reader:
Just Enough and Nothing More – Tammy Takahashi, author of Deschooling Gently, put a relaxing spin on home school topics.
Alasandra’s Homeschool Blog – A myriad of post topics and a fascinating collection of links to a wide variety of home school blog from a long-term homeschooler.
Why Homeschool – Answering the many reasons families choose to home school.
The Thinking Mother – Always interesting, fabulous book reviews – this mom puts a lot of thought into this home school blog.
Red Sea School – Home schooling the gifted, and other domestic adventures.
Soaring Mountains Academy – Eclectic, naturalist homeschooler.
Sprittibee – Christian homeschooler implementing Charlotte Mason curriculum.
Home School families can be found in all corners of the globe, adapting parenting and education to suit individual interests, needs, and values. Each home school family is unique, even if homeschooling isn’t.
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Thanks for the link, Sandra! Your blog is one of my faves too.
Thanks for the linkage. I’m excited to have found your blog!
I’ve been thinking about doing that. My fiancé is not big on the education system, in the sense that kids are asked to memorize facts, but not always how to apply them in real life. I’d like to think that homeschooling allows parents more of a one on one (or more, depending on how many kids you have) environment to teach not only the basics, but put emphasis on how to apply these things in real life. To teach them history, and get them to really think more about everything instead of just learning in 1812, so and so did this.
~ Kristi
Choosing to home school has been one of the best decisions that I have ever made, but it’s not for everyone. It all depends on the particular parents and the children, as well as both your needs at any given time.
However, I have to agree that it can definitely promote deep thought, innovation, and out-of-the-box creativity.
Wow, thanks for the mention, especially in the company of such awesome (and active) blogs.
I really enjoy the diversity of my eclectic homeschool groups: many religions (or none), many styles of homeschooling/unschooling, many styles of family. We learn so much from each other!
hehe yea i learn a lot from each other a lot but i dont homeschool. i wud love to try though. how is it like. is the break longer? or does it depend on parents. and do u still take tests from school
Anushka
is it harder and do u still have 2 take like the star tests every year at some school? how dus it work?
Anushka – Home school rules change according to state, and also by family. In New York, students don’t take the STAR test, they take another assessment test. My son is really enjoying it! You can check out his blog at http://spedr.com/4y597