Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Say what you want but I made the right choice!

I have been homeschooling Reese for over a year now and truely love it. It's so different from what I went through when I was his age. There may be alot of preparation work involved and definitely a very huge responsibility. I mean, my son's education is in my hands. There are still family members and friends who do not agree with our decision to homeschool Reese. To them, getting a proper education is only through school and some are skeptical about my ability to teach my own son, afraid that Reese may not socialize well and be weird when he grows up. :)

In the comfort of our home, doing some worksheets and admiring our little carrot top (part of an experiment)

Some people told me to slow down Reese's learning. Don't pressure him! He is still young. It makes me feel like a really bad mother! But honestly, they just do not understand that Reese is no ordinary child. He just 'gets it' the first/second time I teach him something. Just like that. No repetion is necessary. So how do I slow him down? I can't unless I do not teach him anything. :)

I don't do alot of work with Reese. Our typical day consist of 2-3 worksheets of a combination of the following - math, fun activities (searching for words in an alphabet box/ maze/connecting dots), English, analogies/critical thinking, science.
Usually takes about 30-45 minutes max and 4-5 times a week.

Then we read books to learn science, history, geography, poems, stories.
Usually 20 minutes and when something interest him, it can stretch up to an hour. We love sitting together with a bowl of fruits and read. Reese loves asking questions and I will try my level best to asnwer them and then we have discussion, singing/acting or just being silly. I always have my Macbook around so that I can show Reese more pictures or videos related to what we read. Can't do without the internet really! At times we do simple experiments which always excites Reese.

Our daily schooling is scattered throughout the day but all in all, it takes between 1 hour to 2 hours a day.

Reese checks on his carrot top everyday to see how much it has grown

At times I wonder, how will Reese fit in if he does go to a public school. He is going to be bored to death. At the rate he is learning, I think when he is 7, he would be doing Grade 3 (Standard 3-4) for all subjects. Is it fair to slow him down so that he can be 'normal' like others? It's not fair at all.

It says test! To Reese, it's just another worksheet. Well, Reese got a little reward (Banana Chocolate) for completing the test!

He learns at his own pace. I let him lead. At times we do nothing because he is not in the mood but somtimes we do math, science, history...etc all in one sitting!


4 comments:

Nina @ BabyBoon said...

seriously, i have to honestly say that i dont get what ppl are fussing about. homeschooling is always something that i've wanted to do, but i know i lack the patience and commitment. i've always admired your decision to homeschool reese, and i think u should ignore whatever ppl say about it because he's your son and u know him best!

A gift from God said...

BabyBooned,

Thank you for the encouragement! If only more people are like you. :)

Melinda said...

Mommy Reese, i think you did very very well. He is also a very happy toddler. Yes, I do believe learning at their own pace is good. Keep it up and write more. I am picking up ideas from you too. Don't listen what others people talking, they just envy / jealous. You are a great and noble mom.

A gift from God said...

Thank you Melinda, I hope you find my site helpful! :)