Homeschooling, my interview by Saylor

I'm so honored that Saylor Academy reached out to me last month and interviewed me for their blog! It gave me a great opportunity to share about my Homeschooling for College Credit community and share a bit of my love for CLEP / alternative credit.
If you don't know what Saylor is, they offer totally free MOOCs that have an optional exam you can take for ACE credit. You can either use their 3rd party proctoring service (Proctor U for $25) or look for a local proctor (sometimes free through libraries)

https://www.saylor.org/2018/11/blog-jennifer-cook-derosas-mission-to-help-homeschooling-parents/

 

It’s a great interview Jennifer with an interesting story and useful information. Nice work!

 

That is an excellent interview. I just requested to join the Facebook Groups because I am doing hybrid homes and public schooling for my kids. They are 5 and 6, one is in Kindergarten, and another is First Grader. However, at homeschooling, they are 65% done with the first-grade curriculum. Starting on January 1, 2019; I want them to begin second-grade curriculum. Then in summer 2019, I am going to start teaching them fourth-grade curriculum.

 

I love that aspect of homeschooling. My kids were totally all over the map, my oldest was always 3-4 grade levels ahead and my youngest couldn't read until he was 10. It's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't have it any other way. All the best to you guys, and if I can say on the side, it's rare that the DAD is the homeschooling parent, kudos Tekman!

 

Thanks for sharing Jennifer - you've always been my Hero(ine?) and source of inspiration.

 

Congrats on your interview! Keep on telling people about homeschooling.

Join the club. Our oldest was a self-taught speed reader by the time she hit 13 (I really mean that, she can literally spend maybe five seconds looking at a page and then ace an exam on it, she can get through a chapter in a book in minutes). On the other hand, our oldest son couldn't even read until he was 11! Kids are so different and develop at such different paces. Our oldest son is doing great now, a high school senior, got the high-A in all his college dual enrollment accounting classes up against the older kids. He really benefitted from home schooling, because they'd have almost certainly blew it and labelled him as developmentally disabled, and likely messed him up good. We wondered what to do ourselves and prayed and it and wrung our hands, and then one day, he just started reading, and bit by bit, got better and better. Now he reads well, but not like his older sister--but of course, neither do I.

 

That's really really great to hear. I do believe that our capabilities are heavily shaped by what we think we can do (or can't do) as such it's been a very high priority of mine to protect my kid's perception of ability/disability and strongly foster a kick-ass work ethic. I picked a strong word to emphasize that we expect hard work from our kids, not A's. There is a difference (though some parents and most schools don't agree) I'm all about being the hardest worker in the room. So, in our house, it's ok not to be able to read today or tomorrow or the next day or year- but we will give it 100% every single day and where we end up is where we end up. We don't do less when it's hard- we do more until it becomes easy. It's worked well for our kids- they are good at some things and not at others, but they have all had an opportunity to be excellent at some things too, and I think that's been a big part of their development into strong and capable men.

 

That's great! Congratulations.

 

Wow...

 

[QUOTE=" I am doing hybrid homes and public schooling for my kids. They are 5 and 6, one is in Kindergarten, and another is First Grader. However, at homeschooling, they are 65% done with the first-grade curriculum. Starting on January 1, 2019; I want them to begin second-grade curriculum. Then in summer 2019, I am going to start teaching them fourth-grade curriculum.[/QUOTE]

Kudos! A hybrid homeschooling program is what we attempted as well with my foster son. I believe it changed his trajectory and future!

 

I totally agree! Instilling a work ethic and letting kiddos know that many times you have to actually work hard to be successful is something that I think is overlooked lots of times.