Home Schooling and Raising Chickens

[Chelly]

Here is a question.
I'm thinking about letting my son lead where he wants to go in his learning, if something interests him, then we'll dig deeper - has anyone tried that kind of un-schooling? Do those children avoid certain things that become a problem?

My son is always asking strange things, he loves SPACE and pretends to visit mars on a regular basis, but I'm worried that if I don't PUSH certain things, he won't go there on his own....(Like Math)

Chelly

 

[hipmarye]

My mom calls that opportunist learning and that what I did with my youngest the first couple of years. We still go off in different directions with things now, but we stick more to a guideline now that she's older. Use your best judgment and keep an idea of what you want to accomplish. You can always lead them without their know it.

 

[BirdBrain]

Chelly,
Have you looked at www.livingmath.net? There are certain things that you have to get to(like math), but you can spice it up with the ideas from this site. For grammar we bought the Schoolhouse Grammar Rock and now the kids know most of the there grammar in a rather painless way. Now it is just up to us to practise it. I say a sentance and ask them what the subject and predicate are and they are able to tell me. It just makes my heart rejoice!! We have just finished a year long study of Astronomy and the kids loved it. Go with your gut feeling and add a bit of structure where needed and you should do fine. Don't neglect teaching life skills

 

[mamading]

We just completed our first year of homeschool on May 18th. It flew by so quick. I used Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum. My boys were in 7th grade and 3rd grade. The content was very good but it was all black and white and didn't really hold their attention. I have already purchased our curriculum for next year. Accelerated Christian Education, I feel this will be a lot better. We'll see how it goes. I find with my boys that when we're doing a lesson from the books and it raises certain questions from them we stop what we're doing and focus on that. Sometimes we get off track because the questions just keep coming and soon we'll find ourselves sitting at the computer looking things up or making a trip to library right away. That's what it's all about. If something is of interest to them, we tackle that at the moment. If they were in public school the teacher would be cutting the questions short and making everyone get back on track and soon those questions would be forgotten or left unanswered because the teacher didn't have time or patience. Hatching the quail eggs and raising them (three weeks so far) has been quite an experience for them as well. Before the eggs hatched I had the boys get on the internet and research all they could about caring for the babies. While doing that the boys discovered why our quail are called Bobwhite. It's because when the males are doing their mating call that's the sound they make. "bobwhite"
Many males also assist the female with chick care after they've hatched. After the males and females pair up they pretty much stick to the same mates. So if you have several males and females and the ratio of males to females are even then you'll rarely hear that "bobwhite" call during the next mating time. Even when they're young their peeping is rhythmic. Almost sounding like a chickadee. Which I've found to keep me awake some nights because it's a pattern and I'm subconsciously waiting for the peeping to start again after the pause. LOL
Unlike chickens where it's a soft constant sound.
Ok, I've rambled on long enough. Sorry!

 

[Grace Boyer]

Chelly,
Definitely let them learn about what they are interested in. Of course you can't just drop everything else forever, but give them as much freedom as you can while getting in everything that you think is necessary. The most lasting learning is hands-on, in what they are interested in. (Think how much you remember from your textbooks as opposed to things you saw, did, or experienced). It makes so much more of a lasting impression to really do something or even learn about something because you want to.) Don't feel like you have to do everything exactly how your curriculum means for it to be done, either. For instance, if there's twnty multiplication problems teaching the same thing and they understand it after doing five,let them stop there. There's more motivation to concentrate on math and really understand it if you know you'll be done as soon as you do, rather than after you stumble through twenty problems. And you may come up with more creative ways to do math too, although I can't think of examples at quarter 'til midnight. Hope that helps.
Grace

 

[Grace Boyer]

Birdbrain
Good idea. I'd never heard of the treasury for children, but it would be a lot easier to get them already clean than to read all thestories and cross everything out first. Actually most people these days would probably let their kids read books with language like the original books have, but I wouldn't be caught dead letting my kids read it. It could be worse, but I think I'd stick to the kid's version. I don't have kids to give books to, but if I did...
I always wonder if I sound like Barney Fife giving Andy Griffith child-rearing advice and Andy told him that you're always a perfect parent until you have kids. Do I sound like that? I hope not, but probably do.

 

[hipmarye]

I know no one is currently posting on this thread, but I found this site and thought it had some really good information.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/virtualfarm/poultry/poultry_incubation.html

 

[BirdBrain]

Thanks!! That is a terrific site.

 

[joebwe25]

Wow! I just came upon this thread!
I'm home schooled too!
IT'S SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[peeps7]

I'm home schooled and I'm always at the chicken coop. I get done real early so usually 'm either outside doing around or outside in the chicken coop.