Yes, Esperanza, I definitely feel the choice is a weighty one, though I also remind myself often that we can change course anytime DS needs something different. This is practice, not theory, so I'm not planning to "declare" myself as a follower of any particular school of thought. If home schooling is best for him now, then that's what we'll do. If it's not best next year, then we'll do something else. <shrug> We all adapt pretty easily around here, and it helps to keep me from feeling like I might be making some earth-shattering mistake. If something doesn't work, it's not the end of the world.
In my neck of the woods, playdates never seem to be of the drop-off variety. It really stinks because the drop-off kind is what I would choose in a heartbeat, both giving and receiving! My son is pretty easy, too: respectful, rule-abiding, nonviolent, not prone to tantrums, etc. (He is a bit bossy, but he's able to discuss it if he doesn't get his way. He's not a bully about it.) I don't think it's us. This is a very conservative area, at least from my personal perspective, and people rarely let their kids out of their sight. Home schoolers seem to be the worst, actually.
(I joke that the one thing that all home schoolers I've met seem to have in common regardless of why they're home schooling is that they're/we're all control freaks! LOL! I feel like I'm less so than most, but I KNOW there are plenty of people who'd disagree with me there!
)
But we're new to the home schooling community, so maybe by next year, we'll have connections we don't have now. We'll see.
Oh, and we're probably eclectic/child-led, I guess. I'm making it up as I go along, so I think that's what that means. LOL!
Each day, I require that DS6:
*read fiction/poetry of his choice for 15 minutes;
*read nonfiction of his choice for 15 minutes; this varies every day--science, music, history, health, etc. I just want to get him through the basic curriculum by the end of the year, but in no particular order or concentration;
*do a math lesson with me (Singapore Math);
*write two lines (his choice what to write, since the goal is just to practice and improve his fine-motor skills. I help with ideas if he can't think of anything);
*clean up for 25 minutes over the course of the day (a recent addition to keep me from losing my mind over the mess!);
*do something he loves every day;
*listen to a parent read for 15 minutes, from books of his and his younger brother's choosing.
This seems to work for us. It's flexible enough that I can follow his lead, but specific enough that I feel like we have some sort of direction/schedule/goals for our work. If we have a big project working or a field trip, however, we adapt accordingly. Nothing is very rigid around here...
An example I'm proud of: on Wednesday he read part of a nonfiction book about robots by Isaac Asimov, and it had some words in Greek. He asked what it said, so I taught him the Greek alphabet and he used that for his writing practice. We also discussed the use of pi in math with regard to the area of circles. I even shared the joke "pi r squared," "No, pie are round" with him. I considered it a darn good day of education. Fun for both of us, too!
What form of HSing are you using?
