What's Your Long Term Educational Plans for your Early Learner?

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
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Assuming you get what you want out of “typical” early education and your child learns, and learns well, whatever it is that you are teaching them joyously and consistently, what are you planning for formal education? For example, if you have a 3-5yo who can read and do arithmetic and multiple step equations on a 3rd grade level or beyond, what are you planning to do for school? Put them in Public or Private School, Home School or UnSchool them?

I know I’m just a “non-parent” but I really look forward to parenthood and pray and hope and wish for healthy children, just brimming with potential! I have always wanted to teach my children at home and I’ve always wanted them to succeed without great effort where I failed and/or struggled so often and to excel as human beings and develop their full potential (I’ve always had an interest in human potential and organic living and compassionate, attachment parenting and treating human children like real human beings first, valued and valuable members of the family second, children third and priceless members of society fourth and “helpless” or “ignorant” babies/toddlers/young children fifth or sixth, but never, never, never as “just babies”)

We all know that we like early education for reading, math, music, foreign language and what have you, but what are you planning or just hoping to do with your children after 4 or 5 years of age?

Personally, I hope to homeschool all of my children from birth to at least 10, but preferably all the way through Highschool. I would consider putting my children in an immersion school since they’d become fluent in another language, but typically I’d rather give each of my children an individualized, accelerated, streamlined education all the way through to high-school and let them really focus on things important to them throughout their elementary, middle and high-school years. I want them learning and using practical life skills all their lives, because I’m hoping to raise them to be capable and independent should I become incapacitated or die while they are young. I want them to be able to care for themselves. I like the idea of spending lots of time together and being a stay at home mom, or at least a work at home mom.

I have high standards and hopes for my childrens education. I know exactly what I want for them and how I’d like them to get it, and I know that the odds of things actually going as I plan are slim to none, but its great to dream right? :clown:

I want my childrens education to be thorough, broad, accelerated, streamlined and individualized and focus as much on their character and their interests as on their abilities and academics. I want input to always be higher than the expected output in their elementary years because kids are capable of so much more.

I do NOT want my kids LABELED! (positively or negatively! I don’t want them to feel special in anyway unless they conclude that they are all of their own!) and I don’t want them receiving arbitrarily conjured grades on any assignments. I want them to work and produce quality products but without considering any grades. I want my childrens evaluations and progress to focus on “personal best” not “What do I need to make to get an A?”

I do want my children to develop strong math and artistic abilities. I intend to raise mathematically capable, and math loving-geeks :). I am hoping to use a strong baby math program that combines LM and Doman Math (possibly even Sichida math) and then a strong, manipulative based math as well as lots and lots of living math. I hope to steam-line my childrens education and do away with the “fluff” and padding (busy work) that is bogging down the system for many children and crushing the genuine excitement of learning. I want to introduce geometry and fractions in real life situations for a few years before we cover them textbook style. I like the Montessori Math models I’ve read about and am educating myself on them more because I want to use a lot of manipulative’s and props in math but why re-invent the wheel if I don’t have to?

I also like the Verbal Math Books, and Jones Genuises math programs, which I may use with my children after or during a couple of years of Montessori Math…

I plan to have them receive explicit drawing and painting instruction all their young lives from books and videos to help them develop the skill to draw whatever they might like because I plan for book authoring and publishing to a be a big part of their “formal education” in language arts and such.

But I’m not sure how much I like textbooks for the primary(K-3)/elementary stage of education. I like using real living books and a textbook maybe as a guide. I can see myself using methods and lots of pencil and paper but not really “textbooks” so much as programs or methods.

I don’t even mind giving them worksheets/workbooks if my kids like that sort of thing, but I prefer they do real things and use their knowledge in real ways.

I don’t mind using things like LR and whole word reading programs because I plan to use the Spalding method for teaching English language skills and Spanish and Arabic are both extremely phonetic, so I foresee no real problem in learning to read them via phonics down the road. My goals is to have my kids fluent readers and writers in all their languages with the least amount of effort on their parts. So I don’t mind using technology with them early on, as I’ve absolutely 0 intention of having a subscription to cable TV or even using locally broadcast TV, not even as a baby sitter. I might let my children begin viewing cartoons for entertainment (and language reinforcement) at around 6 or 7, but only off of DVD’s, my PC hard drive and on my time table.

Despite my obsession with Math, Science and Technology education for my children, I want to do a lot of “liberal arts” and discussion and reading based study. I want them learning art, history, philosophy and political science all through out. I want my kids to be able to spend hours on end outdoors everyday, and a few hours practicing their gymnastics and martial arts.

I want to focus a lot on learning and practicing our religion, while my children are young (0-10) and studying and learning about all of the Abrahamic religions as they get older (10-14) and doing world religions and philosophies as they move through highschool age (14-17). I also want my kids to have a good understanding and appreciation of History; American, African, Western and Eastern and ancient. I’m not a fan of the watered down History, or over simplified science that is being pushed in elementary and middle…and sadly many high schools in the USA.

We’ll be learning history with all the ugly truths also as it came up. I’m black and I’m female. Life in America was once a nightmare for humans who fit either half of my over simplified profile and I want my children to know, understand and accept that.

After all, how can they appreciate their liberties and freedoms and how far this country has come if they don’t know what the Before and After of our society is like?

I think that the last straw was when I think of the girl who actually burst into tears during a lecture in my College History class because she’d never known, having attended a good, private Christian school, what American history was really like for black people…or Native Americans, or immigrants or anyone who wasn’t a Good Christian White Male from a Well To Do Family and an accepted member of the Upper Society, She’d tried to debate it with the teacher, claiming “it wasn’t really all that bad.” “or there were only a few cases like that…right?” and after a few days of her arguing she just started crying one day. I think she dropped the class.

I went back and looked through some of the common texts and videos used in the elementary years and I have to say I’m not overly impressed and I think that I could do a lot better but if nothing else, it will be hard for me to do worse even if I just keep them in the library.

I can’t say for sure that I’ll ever homeschool my kids or if I’ll succeed at even half of the things that I want to do, but I know that I just have to keep a clear idea of where I’m trying to go in mind and let my faith in God and the rythym of life guide me.

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So, I think you have a more concrete plan than I do, and I’ve got 2 kids…

I think we may be similar in terms with discipline, respect, and attachment, and those were the things I tended to obsess over and study for years. It has been and still is, most important to me that my children are respected as people. It’s also been a goal of mine to foster ethics and not obedience. I want them to connect with people with an understanding that all humans have the same basic human needs. It’s the web of strategies to meet these needs that causes pain. I want my children to understand this so they can help our world to be more peaceful.

Aside from all that, I have not put all that much thought into academic education. I was at first, a more radical unschooler, and then fell in love with Montessori when first was around 18 or 20 months or so. Before that, I had intentionally kept away “educational” toys lest my child feel “pressured”. Anyhow, I don’t really feel that way anymore. Our world is exciting! Sharing is different than forcing.

I suppose I’m still not answering your question. My oldest is in Montessori school, first year of primary. Even if I had done infant education, the school is set up to handle a wide range if ability levels, and without singling anyone out. I plan to send all of my kids to Montessori until we’ve exhausted the grades they offer. Right now, the school goes up to 6th grade, but there are tentative plans to go to 8th. There are only a few Montessori high schools and none are nearby. I don’t know what we’ll do then. I’d absolutely live to open a Montessori High School here, but am not entirely sure where to start or how to pull that off. But, I may try. The few YouTube bits I’ve seen on Montessori high schools really resonate with me on what I think high school should be about. Maria Montessori didn’t finish writing about the upper grades, and only left a rough outline of the higher grades before she died, so the rest of the “blanks” sort of have the be filled in. But basically, at the high school level, I think it should be viewed as a practice run for adulthood in as many areas as possible. Academics will largely follow the child’s interests.

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Please tell me where I can find more info about your child’s Montessori school. I understand that there is a lot of variation in Montessori classrooms and schools etc, but I’m very interested in Montessori for my own children, I’m especially interested in the practical life materials for infants and toddlers.

I’m not sure if I want to try a “program” for practical life, or just let them learn it by living it, but I think that I’ll combine both. IE have a practice area in the children’s area for some life skills and they get extra opportunities to practice throughout the day when helping with meals and such.

I recently found out that there is a Montessori school in my city, but I’ve yet to go and tour it, its on my To Do list though as I’m more and more interested in alternate methods of education every day.

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This is pretty much the quote of the year right here! Love it & thank you for sharing.

Mom2Bee- I applaud your efforts in creating a well laid plan for your future kiddos. I wish I had done the same years ago.

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Wowww Mom2Bee…that’s just amazing that you have planned everything out so methodically for ur future kids…u are an example for all those moms out there who neglect their kids and illtreat them. I can’t wait for u to be a mom…and am sure whoever marries u will be one lucky man…becoz his babies are going to make him proud oneday all becoz of u :). Make sure u follow all the prenatal care well…like they say to produce the best possible egg and sperm u should start planning 3 months before conception. I did a lot of research in this area (good preconception care can produce good eggs and good sperm and therefore good babies). I have written my exp in my blog…if u would like to have a look.

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Mom2Bee, I will PM you also, but one important thing to know about Montessori (you may already know this) is that the name isn’t trademarked so anyone can slap a “Montessori” onto a school/program/method. An easier way to find a more authentic Montessori school is to see if it is AMI or AMS certified. There are no AMI certified schools in our area, but I have been very pleased with our AMS school. A school, of course, could be excellent without any certification also.

Montessori, by design, lends itself to different abilities studying together since the children all work independently (or in small groups of their choosing).

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Lol, I really hope to be a mom some day soon. Preferably within the next 2 years, but we shall see what God has in store, huh?

Besides, even if I wanted to be lazy, I have to begin now simply because I want to raise and home school my kids in my nonnative Spanish (which I’m still learning) and I need to be able to create and gather resources/documents/vocabulary and get things planned out and organized now.

I’m really fretting over how to use something like Little Reader for Spanish reading, I don’t know why, but I can’t make up my mind or really envision how this would work…If I wanted to teach ‘run’ (correr) would I teach correr (to run/run), corres (you run), coriendo (running). Probably use several forms of each verb just demonstratively, I suppose…

Little Math should be a cinch to translate into Spanish, essentially I’ll only need about 10 words besides the numbers 0-100 words, right? (plus, minus, divided, multiplied, by, equals, greater, less, than). I need to get to the point where I can translate books on the fly and begin compiling notes on various topics in Spanish. I want to do a good and thorough study of the human body from birth so that by 3 or 4 years old, they’ll know their various body systems and have a good 3rd-4th grade level idea of how they work. (I won’t do EK flashcards at all, but I think that actual teaching of “rote” factual-relevant subjects will be wonderful for developing understanding of several words and concepts) so I’m thinking subjects like human anatomy, animal anatomy, plumbing and basics physics and science are good places to start, things that are in our daily lives everyday without any special resources. I can make/buy books on the human body, we can talk about their body during baths and on their dolls and even use accidents and injuries to talk about the blood, bones, etc with in them. We’ll use their understanding of the body as a spring board for physical science in the K years, [Your body is a machine, it has levers (joints), pumps (heart) and follows systems (body rythyms) and a power source (soul), requires fuel (food and water) and produces things (bone growth, hair, nails, etc)]

I want to build a lot of science into our normal life style and do arts and crafts based science lessons/units weekly, and take our time to really study each of the basic branches indepth, so I’m giving myself an education as well because I also need to know these things in Spanish. I want to write a sort of guideline/plan to follow along with some very helpful phrases and sentences for when we get to that point, I wont be stomped.

I want to administer a well thought out and adaptable math curriculum that will get us from Arithmetic to Algebra and through Calculus before 14 years of age. I expect my children to study and learn these things and do them daily, but with understanding and with lots of support. If my kids surpass me, good. They can use sources like MITOpenCourseWare to continue their studies of anything they are interested in that I can’t help them with. I’m a fairly nervous and cowardly person. I want my children to be sure of themselves and confident so I have to begin working now to change my way of thinking and behaving.

Make sure u follow all the prenatal care well...like they say to produce the best possible egg and sperm u should start planning 3 months before conception. I did a lot of research in this area (good preconception care can produce good eggs and good sperm and therefore good babies). I have written my exp in my blog....if u would like to have a look.
Thanks, I read the blog, and while it's in my mind, the ideas and principals, I'm not actively planning it as much as I should be. This is something that I definitely have to do though. I gained a lot of weight in the past 2 or 3 years, I know something is up because I've began to grow a lot of facial hair and I've never had this problem before....plus I'm having some other symptoms that only began AFTER I gained a lot of weight.

My health goal lose 60-80 pounds this year and to is to do a 3-4 month colon cleanse after I lose 60 pounds (I’ve lost 7 already this year) and to stop eating dairy and junk food (I’m allergic to diary but eat it anyway because I’m greedy and have gotten used to it). At the end of this year I want to do a 30 day water fast and have completely changed my diet (as in the regular way that I eat) and eat more live vegetation and less processed junk and I want to stop drinking soda’s (I dont’ drink that much of them) and juice (I drink a lot of it) and drink only water for a year, then go on to wheat and fresh vegetable juices.

But those are just the steps I want to take to get me in shape for my own healths sake. Then I can begin priming my body for babies :slight_smile: and beyond, since I want to breastfeed exclusively for 1.5 years and breastfeed each child until 2 years of life.

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Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it as I’m trying to find out more about the Teacher training, which is how I found out about AMI/AMS (Thinking of changing my majors in college…wouldn’t mind being a teacher in a Bilingual immersion/Montesorri school or starting my own…I’ve always wanted to make my own curriculum)

Can you write a little about your experience with Montessori for everyone who’s interested in learning more?

What do you like/dislike?
What does your child like/dislike?
What are the teachers like?
Do you feel that that the school honors what you feel is the essence of Montessori?
How do you feel your childs academics are developing?
What do you wish the school was doing differently?
etc…

Any extra comments or notes you can make about the learning community/childrens society movement or other facets of Montessori?

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What do you like/dislike?

I like the peace education, and environmental education. I like that everything is laid out so that education is interesting. For instance, instead of a birthday “party”, the birthday boy or girl will get a globe, the teacher lights a candle (to represent the sun), the child walks around in a circle with the other children in a circle (like standard preschool “rug time”), while the children all say the months of the year starting with the birth month. They does this for each year the child has been alive. And for each year, a picture is shown and a few sentences about that year. So, they’ve taken a birthday celebration that would ordinarily be an oppurtunity to give sugar and food coloring to small children and turned it into explaining to the kids what a year means (the earth traveling around the sun one time), and to learn the months of the year, as well as celebrate the child who has traveled around the sun that many times. That’s just an example, but it’s just a different philosphy. The attitude is “this world is exciting, let’s explore and learn about it”.

What does your child like/dislike?

The only thing my child dislikes is us leaving. Anything “blocks” seems to be favorites right now, constructive triangles, trinomial cube, geometric solids. Or any of the practical life works with water.

What are the teachers like?

More like guides. They ensure every child has found a work and taken it somewhere. The children are allowed to use any material they have had a previous lesson on, so the teachers give new lessons to the children desiring them. (mine always wants something new new new, haha, I think I have the only 4 year old who wants to eat something for dinner “we’ve never had before”)

Do you feel that that the school honors what you feel is the essence of Montessori?

Our school, yes. All Montessori schools, no.

How do you feel your childs academics are developing?

I’m impressed. Before starting school, my child could read a few (very few, did not know all the letters) CVC words and wrote one spontaneously one day (doll), and knew to count to 10, but more frequently said “1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10”. Within the first week, could count accurately to 10 in Spanish and English (native Spanish speaker in classroom), and began to add with the teacher. Now, doing a lot more reading, loooves to be read to, will sit and listen to a whole Magic Tree House book daily (68 ish pages, 10 chapters). Is cleaner at home, putting things away without asking, cleaning off table, pushing in chair, etc. (and, yes, we worked on that at home before, but peer pressure and probably more consistency really ingrained it, I think). Counts to 30 unassisted, to 100 with assistance over the 40, 50, etc (I assume after working on a hundreds board will get this much easier). Enjoys adding single digit numbers, and quizzes us in the car. lol Tons of facts, from books they read at story time (which are non-fiction, typically).

Of course, it’s all relative to where the child starts. As mentioned before, we did not do any type of infant education. (we are with the baby though)

What do you wish the school was doing differently?

The only thing that bugs me about my child’s school specifically (which has absolutely nothing to do with Montessori as a whole) is that there is not money in the budget to accept children with special needs.

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Thank you, I have to say you and DomanMom are two HUGE inspirations for me to begin so early. Also Sarah from the baby bilingual blog because she is raising her son in non-native French but she had some practice in speaking and caring for her nephew 1 day out of the week.

I want to be ready for my kids and I don’t want to worry that I’m short changing my kids because I CANT say in Spanish the things that I feel that they NEED to hear.

I do worry, a little, about how my kids will learn English if I don’t still live next to my very big, very English family, but I don’t mind English being the 3rd or 4th language at all. (Assuming their dads native language is non-English and that he speaks it with them from birth) just so long as they begin learning it before they are 6yo. Because I plan to include more and more English lessons towards the end of the Baby and Early Education.

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wow mom2bee you were reading my mind. I just thought about the same question, and then right as i’m about to post there is your question 3 down?
So what are we “early learners” going to do with our children after we worked so hard to get them where they are? What schools do they attend? are they in private? home school? public?

That is a excellent question that i’ve been struggling with myself?
We watch the 3 Disc Leap frog DVD’s. We do Brill Kids LM, and LR, and are working on #1 counting 0-20 in JG Math matrix. I just ordered Preschool prep 7 disc set, which should be here in 2 days (shapes, counting, abc’s, sight words, colors,).

Where would my little guy fit in once he accomplishes all of the above since he’s only 15 months old ? Honestly, i’ve been thinking about homeschooling since i’m a stay at home mom. I came across “the well trained mind” forum which follows the “classical education” approach. I’ve read the “well trained mind” book and became a huge fan after the first few chapters. Of course, i’ll throw in my own “early learning” spin on things just to be creative, and to always make learning fun.

I’m leaning towards this way of schooling, or a private school. I mentioned possibly homeschooling my boy to a friend and they freaked… so I keep that to myself now until i’m 100% ready to make my decision.

Kuddos to you for wanting the best for your future children. I am amazed by how some moms just wait for them to enter into kindergarden to learn everything, and let those valuable first years slip through their hands.

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I would say our long term plans are constantly evolving. I used to think we would do this and then put him in either private or public school and hope they would accomodate him. As he gets closer to school age I realize how unlikely this is. At this point my son is reading very well, maybe a middle school level, he also reads fast and voraciously. We are also doing Jones Geniuses and my son is about to start Math 3 (Still working on staying focused so he can get his times down). We read the children’s encyclopedia nightly. Along with his younger brother he watches Peter Weatherall’s video’s (mainly the science ones), Little Pim and Muzzy (in French). For fun he plays with his circuit building kit (snap circuits), helps dad with soldering, plays “No Stress Chess”, does Kumon craft books, plays legos/star wars, and explores outside.

I then was thinking about something along the wel trained mind route, however now I think we have committed to a more self teaching method. I looked at my goals and what I want are lifetime learnerss who can teach themselves whatever they want to learn. So I took inspiration from the Robinson curriculum and developed my own (what I believe to be more modernized) approach. What we will be aiming for is:

  1. That the kids start every day with a math lesson (about 1 hour) we were thinking of Saxon but may stick with Jones Genius if we are happy with it.
  2. Next they will do some sort of copy work, grammer work, or free writing for about an hour.
  3. Finally, they will do about 2 hours of reading from a structured list I develped combining books from different lists to encompass (historical texts, science texts, classical literature, stories which raise moral questions and just fun books). This list becomes progressively more difficult.

In all it’s only about 5 hours a day. They can be done by lunch or early afternoon and spend the rest of the day playing or persuing other hobbies.

Anyway that’s my goal and we are doing a modified version of it now which seems to be working well.

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I know the forums! I love that place, the most active homeschool forums I’ve seen to date!!! I checked the book out from the library last year, but never read it since I’d gotten so many on Homeschooling. Its my goal to go back and really read and do a deep reading of several Homeschool and Education books, because I want to make sure that my thinking is logical, sequential and plausible. I’m using early education books as a jumping point.
On My list are:

Early Development:
Slow and Steady, get my Ready
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
A Whole New Mind: Why Right the Future will be Right
Give Your Child a Superior Mind
Teach Your Baby To Read
Teach Your Baby Math
Teach Your Baby to be Physically Superb
Teach Your Child to Read in 10 Minutes a Day
Give Your Child a Genuis IQ

Those are the basic books I’m trying to read and digest over before the end of the summer so that I can refine my Early Learning Plans, I’ve also got a running list of books I’d like to read for primary education and homeschooling of children.

I'm leaning towards this way of schooling, or a private school. I [i]mentioned possibly homeschooling my boy to a friend and they freaked[/i].. so I keep that to myself now until i'm 100% ready to make my decision.
I'm lucky, I foresee lots of encouragement and acceptance of my decision to homeschool simply because I WAS homeschooled, however, I foresee some rough waters regarding my intended start age ;). I know my young adult sisters don't support the idea and still get mad when they see me reading a Doman book, lol. My parents don't know but I foresee my mom being against it, lol. I dont plan on publicizing what we are or aren't doing too much though. I don't wan't it to be a big deal and sometimes, in my family, even positive support is unwelcome because everything is done so....heavily.
Kuddos to you for wanting the best for your future children. I am amazed by how some moms just wait for them to enter into kindergarden to learn everything, and let those valuable first years slip through their hands.

I believe that it helps to begin with the end in mind. The end goal is to have strong, compassionate, intelligent, firm, young adults. Preferably Muslim, but if that’s not what they want, so be it. I just wan’t to know that I’ve equipped my children with every tool possible to succeed in society doing whatever it is that they want to do.

I want to work out how to raise children who can share a strong sense of respect and love and an easy closeness with me, as their mother, even as adults or teens, because I don’t actually know of anyone who really is close to their parents emotionally and socially. Everyone seems to share a mutual understanding, and live in their parents home more like roommates than parent and child…

I don’t want that for my kids…

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To be honest …I am a bit scared of homeschooling though I so badly want it for my child. I am scared that I might take a laid back approach once in a while and that might affect my child. I also want my child to be people friendly …as in good at public speaking…good with other kids…becoz at the end of the day in today’s world social skill is one of the most imp qualifications. I was wondering whether it will be possible for me to homeschool as well as send my child to a proper school (simultaneously)?..homeschooling time will be more like play time after school hours(like…singing the american states…having a bank set up to teach abt money…setting up fun science experiments at home ). Do u think its feasible?Going to school will be more like a review thing and also to learn PR skills…I hope u get what I am trying to say. :slight_smile:

15

Thats more than possible, but not at all necessary.
What you’re talking about (learning at home things that are above and beyond the PS curriculum) is beginning to be called “After Schooling” but I always just think of it as parenting.

One thing you might want to do, is wait until 1st grade to put your kid in PS, rather than with PreK or Kindergarten…Keep reading up on homeschooling, you might do more “official” stuff during the early years and by the time its time for 1st grade, you’ll have had a taste of what Homeschooling is like. Look and try to find Homeschoolers in your area, talk with them, etc…

You’re doing such a great job with your kid, by the time they are 1st grade age, you may or may not want to put them in PS,

I don’t have time now, but I can tell you all about my own Homeschool education. I didn’t get out much. At. All…We still don’t, but we all do fine socially.
“Socialization” is completely over rated, people tend to get a little manic about it…it’s not a big deal. At all…Honest. :).

16

Assuming you get what you want out of “typical” early education and your child learns, and learns well, whatever it is that you are teaching them joyously and consistently, what are you planning for formal education? For example, if you have a 3-5yo who can read and do arithmetic and multiple step equations on a 3rd grade level or beyond, what are you planning to do for school? Put them in Public or Private School, Home School or UnSchool them?

I plan on entering my son into a private school that allows him to study at his own pace and at his own level.

If I couldn’t enroll him in a private school where he coudl study at his own pace I would enroll him in a local Charter school that is part home school part in school class room.

Here’s the web address for each of these in case you are interested.
http://mountainoaks.org/site/pages/page_1248135494.cgi
http://www.delphila.org/au_about_us.html

17

Mom2bee,

I have read many of your posts and continue to be impressed & inspired by all that you have planned for your future children. They are indeed blessed to have u as a mom.

Let us keep in mind the ultimate goal beyond “education” subjects. I’d want my son to also be academically advanced and provide him with a lifetime of opportunities to thrive.

Most importantly to be kind, to freely love others without expecting anything in return, to contribute to society & humanity, to leave our world better than it was before he arrived in it. That is my ultimate goal.

No one will ask you if you aced A.P. Calculus before they first read into your character.

What sort of individuals are we raising?
What are we raising them for?
What is the purpose of education?
These are the questions we must address.

18

Yes, character development is something I have also given a great deal of thought to also. I have such mixed feelings about it sometime I’m not sure I’ve been able to sort all my thoughts in a way that I can make a coherent statement about it…

I want to help my children grow into strong, confident individuals and I want them to give and always leave more good than they take, but I also want to emphasis balance. I myself still struggle between being a doormat and being a service to people, sometimes I overdo being kind and find that I have been left with nothing for myself. I’m trying to figure out if people are really more callous or what. In my little bubble right now, it seems like the jerks are breeding by the dozen or something and I feel strained just interacting with the world.

I intend to do my absolute best to instill a sense of community and service in my children. Chivalry may be on life support, but it isn’t dead yet. I consciously try and do kind things for others every day, even little things, and I figure that my children will learn and pick up on that from me and their father.

I have already decided that my children will be required to do community service and volunteer work every week from very early on. There are some nursing homes that like to have young children come in and visit with the elderly, I think thats a great early learning service project for children to grow up doing, spending time with elderly people, reading and talking. Visiting sick children in hospitals, raising money, passing out water at sports events, etc. Giving gifts to others on their birthdays, and donating regularly to less fortunate. These are all some basic tasks I want to raise my children doing to help instill a sense of giving in them. I have all sorts of character building plans in mind for them, but I dont talk about them as much, simply because there isn’t much to say about about this topic that I feel I can put coherently the first time around.

I pray and hope for healthy, strong, amiable, compassionate and giving children. I will do my best to teach my children things about charity, compassion, empathy, respect, sharing, caring, love for others and all that good stuff, but in the end I can only hope that they will actually absorb the lessons and take them into their hearts for their own sake. I dont know how to teach others not to give up or be discouraged because I feel discouraged a lot some times and I haven’t figured it out for myself.

Starting at about 4 or 5, my children will be required to do 1-2-hours of volunteering each week. Once they get into grade school, they will be expected to do 2-3 hours a week of what ever opportunities arise. I can only hope that my children absorb lessons and make the things they learn from me a part of their life for their own sake.

I know that I want the greatest emphasis in all that my children do be about them doing their personal best. Not about grades or competing with others to the acknowledgement or approval of others. I want my children to play sports competitively, but I want their emphasis to always, always, always, be on doing their personal best.