Editors Note: We’re (not) back to school at the Family Hack house, and the nuts and bolts of a DIY education have been on our minds. As we mentioned in another of our homeschool pieces, there is no better guidance for a homeschool family than the tales of those who have “been there, done that”.
In that spirit, we’ve asked some homeschooling families a series of questions about how they homeschool, what challenges they face, how homeschooling fits with family life overall, etc. We hope you enjoy their stories as much as we did!
This is an ongoing series — if you are a homeschooling family interested in being profiled, please contact us.
Our first interview is with our always-inspiring friend Jennifer McKinnon from www.jenthemom.com. She and her husband Chuck homeschool four beautiful children…
FAMILY HACK: Please introduce us to your family members–names, ages, and a brief description of personalities, interests, parents’ occupations, etc.–whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
Jen McKinnon: We are a family of six, four children and two eccentric parents. Chuck, 36, went to school in Alberta Canada. He is extremely intelligent and for Junior High School was sent to a gifted school. He learned quickly that the school did more research about the students than providing a higher education for the students. It was at this school that he believed that education coincided very little with the reputation of the school and more with the style of teaching. Chuck is now a Usability Specialist working on some very exciting projects. He is working for a company that doesn’t have an office, allowing all employees to work from home. This allows us to strike a great balance between work and family.
I am 29. I am originally from North Las Vegas, Nevada. I grew up with very little money and in a neighborhood that was known for its violence and crime. I learned to fear going to school and realized that teachers and staff have very little control over the matters that are important and abuse their power over the things they can control. I have been a blogger since 2003. I have written articles for several birthing magazines in my area as well as a parenting site online. My eccentricities include being involved in organizations that support women’s right and at the same time taking great pride in my domestic abilities.
My oldest child is Jason,9. He is my builder. He loves Lego and is always adding to his Lego city. He has started moving into woodworking and built a go cart out of odds and ends from the garage. He’s also great at sketching drawings, gymnastics and learning breakdancing movies off of online videos. He has inherited impatience from both his parents and a distaste for math from me. I have had to learn to be creative with the way I present his schoolwork.
Jocelyn,7 is my voracious reader. She is an amazing reader and loves using her imagination to change the stories. She is reading Chronicles of Narnia
I also have two little ones. David is 3 and Laurelyn just turned 1. It’s a balancing act, trying to have time to teach the older kids and still be aware of what the little ones are doing. David is my tank. He’s all boy and likes to build and break things. He’s obsessed with tanks, monster trucks and construction vehicles. He loves to pretend and he’ll walk around all day pretending to be a soldier or a monster or a superhero. Laurelyn is my baby. She was the first baby I was able to have at home with a midwife. She’s adorable and I love snuggling her and playing with her.
FH: When and how did you first become interested in homeschooling? What factors were involved in your decision to homeschool?
JM: Chuck and I talked about the possibility when Jason was an infant. We weren’t sure if conventional schooling would be best for our kids. We didn’t trust that the public school system had our child’s best interests at heart. When Jason was in first grade things started to get difficult with his teacher. Jason was struggling badly enough for me to take him to the doctor who said that we had a very stressed six year old. The teacher was in her first year and she was struggling with all of the personalities in the classroom and some of the children were struggling because of it. We decided to pull him out of schooling and homeschool him before he gave up on learning all together.
FH: What was your own educational experience like growing up? How did that experience influence your decision to homeschool your own children?
JM: Chuck felt that the time spent in schools was a waste of time that he could have spent actually learning. I felt that schools were a place of insecurities and abuse of power.
FH: How would you describe your homeschooling philosophy? Do you use a specific method or curriculum?
JM: I believe we are eclectic. We do some unit study work and some book work and some unschooling approaches as well. I try to use all different approaches to schooling because I have such different personalities in our home. We are all readers so we do a lot of reading each day. This year we are using more books than we ever have before. I fell in love with Susan Wise Bauer and now we are using her Writing With Ease
We’ve also decided to use Saxon Math
FH: Do you belong to any homeschool organizations?
JM: I belong to our local community homeschooling organization and I participate on my homeschool board yahoo forum.
FH: Do you meet with other homeschoolers on a regular basis?
JM: I wish I met with other homescholers more often but I find that we’re always meeting with kids wherever we go. Being part of the community homeschool association allows us to attend regular social gatherings as often as we want.
FH: What educational opportunities or resources in your community have you made use of?”
JM: We frequent the library weekly at least and we visit our Science Center regularly. The kids participate in some of the classes and field trips that the local community association puts together like fencing, gymnastics, camping as wells as trips to the Zoo, local farms. Homeschoolers seem to be community oriented and our local homeschoolers are trying to make it easier for locals to get information and access to local growers. This has been a great learning experience for the kids about our own consumption and how our food is grown.
FH: Do you have a daily homeschool routine or does your daily schedule vary from day to day?
JM: We try to stick to a schedule as long as the schedule serves us and not the other way around.
FH: What does a typical day and/or week look like for your family?
JM: Generally we have a schedule. After breakfast Laurelyn has a nap, David watches a movie and the older kids and I start school. By the time David’s movie is finished the older kids are involved in their different projects and are less likely to be distracted by him. We go outside for the afternoon and do hands on learning with the different subjects the kids especially interested in on any given day.
Our weeks looks busy every other day. I try to have every other day be a slower day so the kids don’t get burnt out from all their after school activities.
FH: What have you found most rewarding about homeschooling?
JM: I love the freedom. We can go to the fire station because one of the kids wants to know what the firemen wear to keep them from burning in the fires or we can read all day and putt off our ‘book studies’ until tomorrow. I love the self confidence that homeschooling has given back to my kids, especially Jason. I love watching one of my kids find a question they want answered and searching for the answer on their own. They know they can come to me if they want but they also know that they have all the ability they need to find information. I am proud of my kids every day for their ingenuity.
FH: What have you found most challenging about homeschooling? What are the biggest stressors in trying to do a good job of homeschooling your children?
JM: My time is no longer divided by long quiet spaces while the kids are at school. I have to manage my personal time very well or I will easily get behind. My biggest stressor is having the ideas for our homeschool day organized so that I can be ready with information and activities when they’re minds are ready to absorb it. I worry that I’m not doing enough.
FH: How has your homeschooling experience differed from your expectations?
JM: I thought that homeschooling would be like a full time job, just like it is for public school teachers. I expected to be working on homeschooling constantly. I have found that once my first year and a half was over and I had gotten over my fear of failing my children that I am more than capable and I can do I with less time than I expected. I know now where to go and what I want to do to be prepared for school in the morning. It’s actually a lot easier that I expected and it’s much easier than having them in public school because my time is mine to manage.
FH: If you have been homeschooling for several years, what changes have you found yourself making as you discover more about your kids as learners, and rethink educational goals and methods?
JM: I’ve only been homeschooling for 2 ½ years but so far I’ve discovered that book work is not the best approach for my kids. If we are going to use a book we don’t do every lesson from front to back. Instead we pick and choose and as soon as they have grasped the concepts we move on to the next lesson we choose.
FH: Do you have a long-term plan for how long you will homeschool?
JM: My plan is to homeschool as long as it is working for my kids. If they are still learning and developing a love for learning then I will homeschool until they’re going off to university.
FH: How has homeschooling affected your lives as parents? How do you balance homeschooling with your own need for grown-up time?
JM: I think homeschooling has been great on my marriage. Chuck is very supportive and he is extremely appreciative and impressed with everything I do for our family. It allows him to appreciate his good fortune in marrying such a wonderful and humble person, don’t you think? Chuck and I balance our school, work and family time by making our Friday night dates very important. If for some reason we can’t go out then we set aside some time to watch a movie or go for a walk.
FH: What challenges and benefits have you found in homeschooling more than one child? How has your family’s particular combination of ages, genders, personalities, interests, etc., shaped your homeschool as a whole?
JM: We have a relaxed and fun environment because that’s the only way to keep the kids’ attention when there’s two little kids that need my attention as well. We also have to be relaxed because we get interrupted by snack time or nursing time or nap time or snack time again. I love having several ages and personalities though because it keeps it fun and I am always needing to find some new way of doing things. It makes it enjoyable for me as well. I like change.
FH: How do you make homeschooling work for your family’s schedule and lifestyle? Has a parent’s work/schedule changed to accommodate homeschooling? Does a parent work from home?
JM: My husband is now working from home so that we can better take advantage of the local independent advantage of homeschooling. I can homeschool the kids from anywhere so we might as well do some traveling, right?
FH: What, if any, misunderstandings about homeschooling have you encountered from your family, friends, neighbors, etc.
JM: I have started having people do pop quizzes on my kids but I quickly point out how rude that is. I feel like I have been met with lots of support although I don’t have any friends who have started homeschooling.
FH: How do you answer questions about your kids “socialization” ?
JM: I’ve only had people who don’t know me well ask about social interaction. People who know me know that my kids get plenty of social interaction.
FH: What encouraging signs have you seen that homeschooling will prepare your children well for adulthood?
JM: My kids are self starters. They decide they want to see something or build something or know about something and they set off to get it themselves. They have also had great opportunities to learn about their community because we are out in the community more often then if they were in public school.
FH: If you could pick a famous person, living or dead, to homeschool your kids for the day, who would you choose and why?
JM: My mom. I believe that children need to feel loved in order to learn and the only person who can love my children almost as much as I do would be my mom. She’s also a natural teacher and fun to boot.
FH: What is your homeschool “dream scenario”?–if time, place, money, location, etc., were no object…
JM: My dream scenario would be us living in France temporarily. Chuck will be out getting pain au chocolats for breakfast while the kids and I started our homeschooling day. We will do school on a blanket under a shady tree while the little ones are playing in the garden. When Chuck gets back we all sit together eating our breakfast and discussing what we’re learning about. We end school with lunch and then spend the afternoon exploring the area and learning about the history of where we are. That would be perfect!
This is an ongoing series — if you are a homeschooling family interested in being profiled, please contact us.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well spoken, aside from loving those little “incredibles”‘, I am very proud of their growth, and fascination with learning. Jen is a fantastic facilitator, to allow each student to progress and soar at the rate and height of each individual uniquely. I love the interview.
ah! i’ve home schooled almost all my life! i love it
Great article! It’s so interesting and helpful to read about other families who homeschool, and the exact approaches they are using with each child, etc. Thanks for sharing!
My wife and I just started homeschool this month, and so far we think it’s going well, but some ways, we really have no idea what we’re doing, so again, I appreciate others insights. I’m sure our methods will continue to evolve as our children do.
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