Homeschooling Support Group

Nevermind the post; I wanted to delete it.

I am grandma Nana to my three oldest grandchildren. While I did use as standard curriculum with my two children, I can’t afford it this time around and neither can my daughter, so I use an un-schooling approach. The un-schooling approach is based on the belief that children learn best through hands on experience. That means they can learn math through cooking, using a measuring tape… History through visits to a museum…life skills through doing chores. On the other hand, I tend to believe that the most crucial element that is not taught in the public school system is the importance of children understanding that they are personally responsible for their own education. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. You can’t force a child to learn, but you can lead the way and the best education tool is make learning fun.

Boys are real bad at not liking to do math, so I went to Hastings and began at the beginning with my grandson, and when he finishes one book I get another. Most of the math workbooks tell the child how to do the problems, so all I have to do is be at hand. The rest of my grandchildren’s lesson, are done online using free educational games. Each of my grandchildren have their own web page , with their own games designed for their age group. Although, you can create folders with shortcuts. I also divide the subject s by the days of the week, math one day, history the next…Home education can be done in as little as an hour an hour a day. So don’t ware yourself out or into an emotional wreak trying to fill in their day with learning.

Hi Nana! What an inspiration you are! I've heard of unschooling, but didn't know how to go about doing it. And the ridicule I get from family on top of all else. It's hard, but it's what I wanted for my kids, is to learn from home.

Thank you for sharing your techniques and suggestions. You have helped pull me out of my homeschool cave, and I'm ready to put forth some positive energy on learning. Field trips and also looking up that math you mentioned.

What about multiplication tables, division, fractions, decimals? How do you teach those to your boys? My girls had no trouble. Two out of three of my boys despise trying to learn it. :(

I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for taking the time to share with me.

Have a beautiful day!!

PS. where can I find Hastings? I am trying to google it, and there are a ton of other Hastings, not relating to math.

I am glad that I am not alone. I too have fallen very behind with my children's education. I don't know where to go or what to do. I am committed to homeschooling but have found myself avoiding it because I feel like I can't do it now. I would appreciate any tips or advice anyone could give me. And Nana you have given me some hope after reading your post. I am new to this site. This is actually my first post and found because I realized I need to find some support in my life.