An Apple a Day - The flexibility of homeschool

               I love homeschooling for its flexibility! My youngest son has bipolar sleep issues. His circadian sleep cycle changes with his bipolar mood cycles. It is almost impossible for him to wake up early. Public school mornings were a nightmare for him. Now with homeschooling, we have the flexibility to have school any time of the day or night.

               My son sleeps in as long as he needs, then does his school work with his father. One of his classes he does at bedtime, because that’s when he prefers to read the lesson – in bed. Homeschooling has helped him thrive. The flexibility has eliminated the early morning battles. A sleep-deprived person is less reasonable and less able of self-control. Our family life is much more pleasant now.

               Be flexible. Homeschool does not need to be done on the same schedule as public or private school. As my quotes from Hartman Rector, Jr., show, it also does not need to be 6 hours a day, every day. For best practices, find the rhythm that works for you. Then stick with it.

“There’s no question in my mind that about 14 minutes with mother is equal to all day in the public school. That’s what they determined when William Bennett was director of the Department of Education under President Reagan. He tried to determine how much time it would take with private tutoring for a child who had been injured and couldn’t attend school. All it takes is 1 ½ hours a week to keep a child up with his class. That’s about 20 minutes per day!

“[Mother burn-out] happens because they try to put on a public school in their home. They even use public school materials. That doesn’t work. You’ve got to adapt to what will work. I’m convinced that Glenn Kimber’s gone a long way down the road to getting past this burnout problem. He suggests teaching three days a week, four hours a day, and no homework. Homework was devised by Dewey to make kids hate school. He didn’t want students to love learning.

“Don’t teach on Monday. You need Monday to get over Sunday. That’s when you do your housework, learn about Tide in, dirt out and if you put yeast in, bread rises. Then when you go on [your own] you’re not helpless… and the kids who came out knowing how to cook and mend were better qualified to survive well [as adults].

“The afternoon is open for students to play in the band or sports with local high school, if they want to. Friday is field day; you’ve got to know how the fire department and the police department work. I’m convinced this is a great system.” ~ Hartman Rector, Jr.

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