The Variations of Homeschooling

Yesterday we went to lunch with a fellow homeschooling friend. Of course, part of the topic of conversation was homeschooling. My friend is in a "co-op" that I am interested in. The co-op is based on a type of learning style called classical. Just from my brief conversation with her I gathered it has a lot to do with memorization in subjects such as history, Bible and science. It meets once a week for a couple of hours. There is no parent participation, except that you can't just drop your kids off, you have to sit in one of your child's classes.

Then I have another friend who is part of a co-op that is called LIFE. From what I gather it focuses on physical education and other kind of broader topics. If I understand this co-op, each parent has to participate, either childcare or teaching one of the classes on a rotating schedule. I know of a couple of other co-ops similar to this.

There is also a "school" that recently opened that is designed to assist homeschooler. I know even less about this one, except that it meets 2 1/2 days a week.

As we were leaving our lunch date, I ran into another homeschooler who is in the midst of her first year homeschooling. She mentioned how she was kind of nervous in the beginning so picked a certain kind of curriculum that literally walked you through every aspect of homeschooling. What questions to ask your kids and when they answered they even gave you what to say next. I think it was workbook based. The mom mentioned that now that she was more comfortable with homeschooling she is willing to explore other options, maybe something with a little more flexibility.

Then last night I got an email from a friend telling me that she and her husband were seriously considering homeschooling next year. I was thrilled!!

All that got me thinking about the journey I have taken so far as a homeschooling mom. In the beginning I was so nervous. How was I going to teach all of those subjects? Where to begin? Because I love reading I kind of knew I wanted a literature based curriculum. I either heard about or some one recommended Sonlight. I loved it, but it was pretty intense, not very flexible. Then someone turned me on to Charlotte Mason and that just seemed like more of a perfect fit for us, more what I envisioned homeschooling to be. And I have been using Ms. Mason's philosophy ever since.

I will probably tweak it a little more for my kids next year. After having done this for a couple years I feel more comfortable with my strengths and weaknesses. Plus, I have a little bit better understanding of what my kids strengths and weaknesses are.

All of the homeschooling conversation yesterday just made me reflect on where we have been and where we are going. So, all that to say, homeschooling is a journey and I can only take it one year at a time. And enjoy knowing that it can be changed, tweaked, customized to fit our ever changing needs . . .