Homeschooling chores I will no longer have to do

I just got an email about paying for registration for next year's homeschool program.  I stared at it for a minute, wondering when I should pay and then realized.... I'm done with that.  No more homeschool classes.  Wow.

Other things that I won't be doing anymore... with my kids anyway:

• Late night curriculum preparations, so kid can start homeschooling at a decent time the next morning. 
• Driving an hour for a 1 hour class or rehearsal, then driving back home. 
• Hanging out in coffee shops to kill time while my kids are in classes.
• Deciding between a traditional science class, or letting the child explore science from cooking or nature.  
• Trying to find reading material focussed on a child's personality.
• Spending a week matching a history and literature curriculum up chapter for chapter, so they are studying the same topics in both subjects. 
• Answering an asked question, only to be dismissed before I am done talking because the kid now "gets it".
• No more carpool (which I am sure sounds strange for a homeschooler).  But if kids who live in the same general area have to go to the same place on the other side of the county, why not carpool?
• No more drama club costuming or set building.  In college, parents are no longer needed for this chore... students and teachers do it themselves. 
• No more drama club parent duties.  I don't have to sell ads, I don't have to sell tickets.  I don't have to sell concessions.  I will send out an email to let folks know when daughter is in a play, and will go see said play. 
• I won't be spending this summer belly-aching over next year's curriculum choices. 
• I won't have to even talk about homeschooling to strangers who ask the simple question: "Where do your kids go to school. 

Sigh, I may miss some of it, but other items, I will be glad to put in my past. 

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ahermitt.com

A new semester- the final semester

I am spending this morning getting my son's laundry done  so we can take him back to college. ( I know he should do it himself, but these kids will let a wet load sit in the machine for hours).  It has been an interesting break.  He is clearly more mature (and bossy) than he was when he left home.  His opinions are strong.  His patience is also short. ... and I can't tell when he's serious or joking anymore. I look back at the period of my life when I left home and remember how necessary the distance was.  I was getting to the point when I was becoming my mother, and I was still a teenager. Every glance, every opinion, every argument I had, and someone would comment how much like my mother I was.  Now, my mother was a perfectly lovely person and I wish I had half her sense of humor, but I was not her, and in order to become uniquely me, I needed time and space- off by myself to deal with the world.  This is my son's time.  I may not like or understand all the changes, but he is still the same at his core- uber moral, and deep thinking.  My work may indeed be done.

I am also trying to get my daughter to wash her hair so I can set it in some new-fangled rollers I
purchased that is supposed to straighten and curl it at the same time.  I hate to complain, but the decision to not put chemicals in my daughter and my hair was a decision to let hair dictate our lives (as if it wouldn't anyway).  Dealing with hair as a black woman is an art... you have to labor over it, nurture it, and in the end embrace it.  My daughter's hair has actually become an academic subject of it's own this semester.  This is because I never taught her take care of it.  It was just easier to do myself (like the laundry).  But since she will be on her own next year, I need her to learn to at least maintain it, even if it means she comes home once a month for protein treatments and deep conditioning.


So I have to get her hair done today because she has a theater audition tomorrow for The Music Man.  (And I am on call for Jury Duty this week). I am not especially happy about the choice of plays of this homeschool group this year as both shows have been male-centric, meaning few -if any leads for women.  This means my daughter has been waiting her whole high school career for a lead role, and now I don't see her getting one....  Oh, well, it is what it is.  Anyway, there is one role in this show that definitely fits her and it has no solos... such as shame.  She has a powerful voice that I would have loved to hear one more time in a high school (type) show.  The leading lady's role for this show is Soprano, (as most are) and my daughter is Mezzo I am told.  Honestly I think she is Alto, so It's not a personal judgement if she does not get a lead....  It's more in the choosing of the show than the casting.  But I am getting all worked up and auditions haven't even started yet.  (She says I have to stop taking it so personally... she's so mature).

If that is not enough to keep us busy this semester, my daughter has three musical theater competitions/auditions this month... three weekends in a row.  So at some point this week, I need to purchase a couple new outfits, as she is still growing, and it is just time for some new performance duds.  Me and my daughter shopping is a whole other adventure I would rather not deal with.

Academically, she has to finish Economics, and physical science, take the CLEP test for Analyzing Lit (for high school and college credit), and take a 1/2 credit health course.

Where's almost to the finish line... and it's making me a wreck.

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

Homeschooling and money

So how much does homeschooling cost anyway?
Do you need to spend a lot of money to homeschool?
What can I do to lower the cost of homeschooling?

Find these answers in this video



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Teens who want to homeschool should take charge

This is in response to questions on "how do I get my parents to let me homeschool"... it is basically advice to teens.

Transcript:

Hello, this is A. Hermitt, and today I want to address teenagers deciding they want to start homeschooling, and I am going to go ahead and read from an article that I wrote some time ago on this subject.

Excerpt:  I like to peruse questions and answer boards on homeschooling. I also get lots of emails from
prospective homeschoolers. Between these two sources, one question comes up alot. The questions comes from teenagers looking to be homeschooled either with, or without the parents support.

full article here: http://voices.yahoo.com/teenager-homeschool-thyself-getting-5846362.html?cat=4

Most of these teenagers have been in highschool one or two years and at some point they decide they've had enough and they just want other options, they want to try homeschooling. The questions are usually about how to get their parents on board with homeschooling or they are looking for information that they can give to their parents so that the parents can see that it can be done even if the parents don't have a lot of time and/or money to put into it.

The first thing you need to do of course, is to get your parents on board. This is because without your parents permission and support, you are not a homeschooler; you are truant. That will get your parents into a lot of trouble, and not to mention- yourself. Plus in many states you cannot get a drivers license if you cannot show that you are in school.

The most important thing you can do to get your parents support if you want to homeschool is to show your parents that you are dedicated to your education. You can't expect to have failed 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th grades and expect your parents to say "sure, let's homeschool for 11th grade while I work full time and you are on your own.  Here are your books".  It's not going to happen, at least not from a reasonable parent.

But even if you have a sordid past where your education is concerned, getting on the ball now, and being 100% dedicated to your education is the only way you are going to get your parents to change their minds and let you homeschool. Start getting A's.  Start doing all your homework. Start reading for pleasure.  Start asking for other educational opportunities. These things are going to show your parents that you are dedicated to taking charge of your education.  That might make them consider allowing you to homeschool.

Once you do that, you are going to need to learn the laws of your state regarding homeschooling becuase your parents are going to need that information. You are going to need to do research regarding different methods of homeschooling, look at different online homeschool schools- if that makes any sense.

The one thing that I really must say is that if you really want to homeschool and you are 13,14, 15, 16 years old, and your parents are hesitant, but may be receptive, that it is up to you to be educated not your parents.  (meaning your parents can't learn from your or force you to gain knowledge)  Your parents are already educated. Your parents are already working.  You need to show that you are invested in your future.  And the only way your parents are going to let you take charge of your education is if you are 'on the ball' and you are already a good student.  There is no sense in allowing a bad student to homeschool.

Homeschooling is not a vacation from education. It is actually a lot more intensive in many ways. But, the rewards are also exponentially better.  So, I am going to link the article I was reading from or scanning from http://voices.yahoo.com/teenager-homeschool-thyself-getting-5846362.html?cat=4 so you have more information.  It also links to more articles I have previously written that will help you get started on homeschooling if you are a teenager. 

So that is all I have for now.  Have a good day.