Parents pride thread

[Willow]

My five year old wants to be a scientist.  He talks about gravity and quantum physics and things at bedtime.  He says he's going to build a perpetual motion machine.  We home educate, so he doesn't have a bunch of other kids telling him being booksmart is uncool.
x
Willow.

Great stuff. Obviously a decent thinking brain being developed. Hope he fulfills his dreams!

I'm interested to know why you chose home schooling and how it works. Do you follow a curriculum? How often does he 'work'? What happens when he doesn't want to work? Is it a very structured routine?

I can't say I'd have the patience for it personally - I certainly admire the skill and professionalism of my kid's school teachers - and anyone who can make a success of home schooling.

It must be very liberating and satisfying.

We follow an autonomous path aka unschooling in the US.  So we have no curriculum and no "work".  We offer various leads, sometimes obviously sometimes subtley to encourage the children to think about some ideas.
Arrggh!  They're home!!!!!!!!!!! [flattened]

[Siz]

My five year old wants to be a scientist.  He talks about gravity and quantum physics and things at bedtime.  He says he's going to build a perpetual motion machine.  We home educate, so he doesn't have a bunch of other kids telling him being booksmart is uncool.
x
Willow.

Great stuff. Obviously a decent thinking brain being developed. Hope he fulfills his dreams!

I'm interested to know why you chose home schooling and how it works. Do you follow a curriculum? How often does he 'work'? What happens when he doesn't want to work? Is it a very structured routine?

I can't say I'd have the patience for it personally - I certainly admire the skill and professionalism of my kid's school teachers - and anyone who can make a success of home schooling.

It must be very liberating and satisfying.

We follow an autonomous path aka unschooling in the US.  So we have no curriculum and no "work".  We offer various leads, sometimes obviously sometimes subtley to encourage the children to think about some ideas.
Arrggh!  They're home!!!!!!!!!!! [flattened]

Never heard of 'unschooling' before so had to Google it. Sounds a bit like 'Motessouri at home'. Is that the gist of it? (Both my kids went to montessouri nursery until 4 yrs which we very much rated - particularly beneficial for boys).

How will you transition to more formal methods when (if) exams are required later in (teenage) life?

Feel free to tell more about your experiences, methods, outcomes, disbenefits and comparissons of your 'unschooling'.

[Willow]

My five year old wants to be a scientist.  He talks about gravity and quantum physics and things at bedtime.  He says he's going to build a perpetual motion machine.  We home educate, so he doesn't have a bunch of other kids telling him being booksmart is uncool.
x
Willow.

Great stuff. Obviously a decent thinking brain being developed. Hope he fulfills his dreams!

I'm interested to know why you chose home schooling and how it works. Do you follow a curriculum? How often does he 'work'? What happens when he doesn't want to work? Is it a very structured routine?

I can't say I'd have the patience for it personally - I certainly admire the skill and professionalism of my kid's school teachers - and anyone who can make a success of home schooling.

It must be very liberating and satisfying.

We follow an autonomous path aka unschooling in the US.  So we have no curriculum and no "work".  We offer various leads, sometimes obviously sometimes subtley to encourage the children to think about some ideas.
Arrggh!  They're home!!!!!!!!!!! [flattened]

Never heard of 'unschooling' before so had to Google it. Sounds a bit like 'Motessouri at home'. Is that the gist of it? (Both my kids went to montessouri nursery until 4 yrs which we very much rated - particularly beneficial for boys).

How will you transition to more formal methods when (if) exams are required later in (teenage) life?

Feel free to tell more about your experiences, methods, outcomes, disbenefits and comparissons of your 'unschooling'.

Montesorri style education and autonomous home ed are definitely compatible ideas.  My boys do a Montesorri morning once a week, even A who is five and a half.  His coordination is not great, and it seems to help him.  Montesorri herself was writing in late C19th Italy and the theory is complete fruitloopery, but the modern practice is very child friendly.

Once our children get to be teenagers, I'm sure they can weigh up the merits of qualifications for themselves, but currently, if they want to do exams and the like, then I would have to pay several hundred pounds per GCSE.  I'm quite willing to pay this, and there is a reasonable chance the legislation will have changed by then.

It is extremely time consuming and very full on.  Home ed itself is not very expensive, but the cost of having a parent available seven days a week is.  We share this, with my Mum taking the boys two days a week (thanks Mum x).

The main idea we use is if we teach them some basic research techniques such as how to borrow books from the library and type things into Google, then everything else will follow, which for Arthur, it most definitely is.  Our younger son is nearly four and is just learning to read.

A good example of how Arthur thinks is that, at the moment, he avoids washing his hands when he can get away with it.  So I have ordered some microbiology books that are just a little bit too old for him.  This will be much more effective than telling him you he really has to wash his hands or he risks getting sick.

But that's why I'm a proud parent, because he is so very academically minded.  However he's still five and it could all change.

Willow.

[DeterminedJuliet]

I find home-schooling really interesting. I think, if we were independently wealthy, my husband and I would really consider doing it.
It's pretty uncommon in Canada, though, so I don't know how much trouble it would be to attempt.

[Amicale]

I am posting in this thread for an entirely different reason than bragging on my kid. I'm posting in it because it's a parents pride thread, and well, the person I'm proud of is my mom.  

Last night I was helping her organize some stuff, including a ton of books in her room, and I came across a very dusty bible. I cleaned the dust off, and said 'I found your bible'. She answered with 'Oh, put it in the give-away pile.' I was surprised, and said 'Oh? You're not planning on reading it?' and she said 'nope, not anymore!' I asked, half jokingly, 'what, not a Christian anymore?' and she literally made a face, said 'Ugh!' and shook her head no. I was even more surprised. And then she added....

'The Church is so full of bullshit, and the last time I flipped through that thing, it was full of bullshit too. Crap about hell and God wanting people murdered. I didn't know that junk was in there. Some holy book! Ugh. Get rid of it!'

And very happily, I did. I'm so, so proud of her for thinking stuff through. This is the woman who used to talk all the time about Jesus without ever reading the bible. I asked her to for several years. Finally, it looks like she did. Yay!

[Ali]

Go Amicale's mom!   

[Sandra Craft]

I'm so, so proud of her for thinking stuff through. This is the woman who used to talk all the time about Jesus without ever reading the bible. I asked her to for several years. Finally, it looks like she did. Yay!

And that's what so often happens when you do.  I say way to go to your mom too.

[Tank]

I am posting in this thread for an entirely different reason than bragging on my kid. I'm posting in it because it's a parents pride thread, and well, the person I'm proud of is my mom.  

Last night I was helping her organize some stuff, including a ton of books in her room, and I came across a very dusty bible. I cleaned the dust off, and said 'I found your bible'. She answered with 'Oh, put it in the give-away pile.' I was surprised, and said 'Oh? You're not planning on reading it?' and she said 'nope, not anymore!' I asked, half jokingly, 'what, not a Christian anymore?' and she literally made a face, said 'Ugh!' and shook her head no. I was even more surprised. And then she added....

'The Church is so full of bullshit, and the last time I flipped through that thing, it was full of bullshit too. Crap about hell and God wanting people murdered. I didn't know that junk was in there. Some holy book! Ugh. Get rid of it!'

And very happily, I did. I'm so, so proud of her for thinking stuff through. This is the woman who used to talk all the time about Jesus without ever reading the bible. I asked her to for several years. Finally, it looks like she did. Yay!

[Guardian85]

Hat's of to your mother!

[Magdalena]

I'm proud of my boy always asking, "Why?" Specially to religious things you're not supposed to have an answer to, only "faith."  ???
The other day:
My 8 year old son was looking at the calendar and asked me what Ash Wednesday was.
I said, "It a day when firemen get together once a year and burn wood by the beach."
He said, "Why?"
I said, "To celebrate fire."
He said, "That's a strange custom."
Five minutes later he said, "So, can we go to the beach on Wednesday and watch the firemen burn wood?"
I said, "I was joking, it's a religious custom where people go to church and a priest makes the sign of a cross on their foreheads with ash."
He said (as always) "Why?"
I said, "I don't know." (I really don't)
He said, "That's just as strange as firemen burning wood by the beach once a year to celebrate fire." 

[Tank]

My son just phoned to say he'd just given a presentation on his PhD material. After he had finished the CEO of a company based in the US came over to him and asked if he wanted to work for them. He asked what the job was. The chap replied 'Anything you like.' And apparently he meant it.

[Ali]

My son just phoned to say he'd just given a presentation on his PhD material. After he had finished the CEO of a company based in the US came over to him and asked if he wanted to work for them. He asked what the job was. The chap replied 'Anything you like.' And apparently he meant it.

Wheeeeeeeee!  Send Baby Tank on over.  We need more smarties. 

[DeterminedJuliet]

My son just phoned to say he'd just given a presentation on his PhD material. After he had finished the CEO of a company based in the US came over to him and asked if he wanted to work for them. He asked what the job was. The chap replied 'Anything you like.' And apparently he meant it.

Nice!

[Sandra Craft]

My son just phoned to say he'd just given a presentation on his PhD material. After he had finished the CEO of a company based in the US came over to him and asked if he wanted to work for them. He asked what the job was. The chap replied 'Anything you like.' And apparently he meant it.

Wheeeeeeeee!  Send Baby Tank on over.  We need more smarties. 

I'll second that.

[Tank]

Well his girlfriend is American and lives in Los Angeles so there is every probability he'll end up in the US.