Welcome to a new edition of Faces of Homeschooling!
This week, we're talking with Jana Hook, a mom who homeschools by day and works by night. Jana and her husband Bradley share the responsibility of homeschooling their daughter.
Today, Jana discusses how her family made the decision to homeschool, as well as her unique experience of balancing working outside the home while homeschooling her daughter, who is an only child. Take a peek into life with the Hook family!
Introduce your family.
My name is Jana and my husband Bradley and I have one daughter, Arya. She will be
5 in January. We started
homeschooling last spring.
What made you decide to homeschool?
Bradley was homeschooled and always wanted his child(ren) to be homeschooled. I attended a Christian school preschool- 8th grade. I always felt (and I think it was the Lord preparing me for homeschooling) that I would not send my children to preschool and would homeschool for AT LEAST Kindergarten. Our plan is now to Homeschool all the way through high school. Two of my cousins were homeschooled and did very well academically. That made it positive to me. My best friend was homeschooled and is also homeschooling her children.
What made you decide to homeschool?
Bradley was homeschooled and always wanted his child(ren) to be homeschooled. I attended a Christian school preschool- 8th grade. I always felt (and I think it was the Lord preparing me for homeschooling) that I would not send my children to preschool and would homeschool for AT LEAST Kindergarten. Our plan is now to Homeschool all the way through high school. Two of my cousins were homeschooled and did very well academically. That made it positive to me. My best friend was homeschooled and is also homeschooling her children.
Bradley and I both feel the traditional school -especially public school- has a lower quality than it used to. In speaking to other parents, teens and children we feel that traditional school is not adequately educating children. We believe Arya can receive a better education when we can learn her learning style and gear lessons towards that. I also like that Arya is being taught my values and that I know exactly what she is learning.
What has kept you at it?
We stick with it because it is something we feel strongly about. We recently moved. Before moving I had a whole room as a playroom/school room. And I was a stay-at-home mom. When we moved, I knew I had to go back to work, and now we do school at the kitchen counter. Bradley and I discussed it and knew we still wanted to homeschool. I am home with Arya during the day while Bradley is at school. Bradley is home with her in the evening while I am at work.
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| Arya working on an art project. |
What does a typical day look like
for you?
It really depends. I work and Bradley
is in law school. I am home with Arya during the day and Bradley is
home with her when I work in the evening. We usually do school in the afternoon
after lunch before we go pick up Bradley from school. We do school Monday- Friday. I do
writing phonics, math and Bible during the day. Bradley does the
others with her in the evening. We both practice her spelling words
with her.
How have you been approaching
preschool? Do you use a curriculum?
We did preschool workbooks last spring.
We are now doing Kindergarten workbooks for phonics, math and
writing. We pick out own spelling words for her. She has learned some
Greek and philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, etc) from Bradley (my
husband) as her history and we do experiments we find on the internet
for science. We do devotions and a kids learning Bible for Bible.
We believe in a lot of
unstructured/unschooling right now. Learning through play, through
life. Finding words, sounds, shapes, etc in our world around us. Bradley has
started to doing logic with her. And I'm teaching her our address and
such.
What's your favorite part about homeschooling?
The freedom. The other day we did school on the balcony since the weather was nice. We can do school work in the morning if we have a doctors appointment in the afternoon. We can do it in the afternoon if we have women's group at church in the morning. Also, confidence and security in knowing what she is learning. We feel that the usual standard of education has gone down a lot lately so we want her to get a perhaps superior education (not to be prideful or egotistical).
Arya made homeschool completely worth it the day she turned to me and said "You sure are a good teacher."
What's your daughter's favorite part of homeschooling?
Math, I think. She loves doing school. Tonight when I was putting her to bed, she said "We never did my school work!" I reminded here we take a break from school work on Saturday and Sunday.
What are the biggest challenges of homeschooling?
Sometimes, I am really tired after work. I am not a very patient person. But I remind myself, Arya is 4. She just learning. When needed, we take a break to stretch out, get our wiggles out and chill.
Has it been challenging to strike a balance between working and homeschooling?
It's been a big transition. I haven't worked since 2009. I was a stay-at-home mom until Bradley started law school this fall. I feel I'm fully time homeschooling stay-at-home-mom during the day and a working mom in the evening. But we've made it with so far because homeschooling her was a priority for us.
Are you worried about the social skills your child isn't learning by not being in a traditional classroom?
Arya has no problem with socialization. She has her Sunday school class on Sunday. We have a Homeschool play group on Thursday. We go to a women's group at our church on Wednesday (which has child care so she is with kids there). We used to be in MOPs and storytime at the library. And you don't get that much socialization in a classroom. You sit at a desk. You get the socialization at lunch and recess.
Do you see any special perks or challenges to homeschooling an only child?
It's nice that I can focus on just the single grade level. I don't have to try and find curriculum that works for more than one age/grade at a time. Also, school doesn't take very long each day when you just have one child doing her school work or needing help/instruction.
What's your favorite part about homeschooling?
The freedom. The other day we did school on the balcony since the weather was nice. We can do school work in the morning if we have a doctors appointment in the afternoon. We can do it in the afternoon if we have women's group at church in the morning. Also, confidence and security in knowing what she is learning. We feel that the usual standard of education has gone down a lot lately so we want her to get a perhaps superior education (not to be prideful or egotistical).
Arya made homeschool completely worth it the day she turned to me and said "You sure are a good teacher."
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| Taking advantage of a sunny day by working outside! |
What's your daughter's favorite part of homeschooling?
Math, I think. She loves doing school. Tonight when I was putting her to bed, she said "We never did my school work!" I reminded here we take a break from school work on Saturday and Sunday.
What are the biggest challenges of homeschooling?
Sometimes, I am really tired after work. I am not a very patient person. But I remind myself, Arya is 4. She just learning. When needed, we take a break to stretch out, get our wiggles out and chill.
Has it been challenging to strike a balance between working and homeschooling?
It's been a big transition. I haven't worked since 2009. I was a stay-at-home mom until Bradley started law school this fall. I feel I'm fully time homeschooling stay-at-home-mom during the day and a working mom in the evening. But we've made it with so far because homeschooling her was a priority for us.
Are you worried about the social skills your child isn't learning by not being in a traditional classroom?
Arya has no problem with socialization. She has her Sunday school class on Sunday. We have a Homeschool play group on Thursday. We go to a women's group at our church on Wednesday (which has child care so she is with kids there). We used to be in MOPs and storytime at the library. And you don't get that much socialization in a classroom. You sit at a desk. You get the socialization at lunch and recess.
Do you see any special perks or challenges to homeschooling an only child?
It's nice that I can focus on just the single grade level. I don't have to try and find curriculum that works for more than one age/grade at a time. Also, school doesn't take very long each day when you just have one child doing her school work or needing help/instruction.
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| Jana and Arya |
How are you planning to teach your child subjects you haven't learned?
Bradley teaches her the subjects that aren't my strong suit (Math and Science). They aren't difficult for me now- but higher level math and science will need to be done by him. But for other things, I do research online and study up all I can. I am a huge fan of the public library and they have so many resources.
Where do you find patience?
From the Lord :)
What would you like others to know about homeschooling?
It is fabulous. I truly enjoying teaching Arya. I know it will be harder as she grows older. But it is completely worth it!
Thank you, Jana, for sharing your experiences with us!
If you, dear reader, are interested in participating in this project, please drop me a line in the comments.
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