Sincerly,
Kathleen Gottlieb

I have a few questions myself for a public school teacher. Do you find yourself smothered by helicopter parents? How do you deal with that? Are anti-bullying policies working as well as you hope? How do you handle prepping your students for yearly tests? Do you get incentives for having the highest placed class (via the tests)?

Okay, now I’m going to try to answer your questions in the order they were asked:

1. We don’t feel we have to balance the parent/teacher relationship. Yes, we have set school hours in our home, but that doesn’t mean the teaching stops at three, or that being a parent only begins in the late afternoon. However, when school ends, that means anything structured is officially over, and during school hours we don’t bring up the chore chart or dentist appointments.

2. We use technology for plenty of things, including our computer for Khan University, Educational Videos on Netflix, testing, educational games, and even Computer Class.

3. If there’s a subject I feel shaky about, I educate myself. There are plenty of resources, including family and friends, to help me out. My children actually enjoy learning things with me, especially World Culture.

4. We don’t give homework, however we do have long term projects such as book reports, star charting, mapping and creating our town in large scale, etc., which we work on during school hours.

5. In our state, we are required to test our children every three years; the results are kept by the parents and not the school system. My family doesn’t test prep, we simply teach at least to the state’s requirements for the appropriate grade level (you can usually find this on the state’s education website), though most times we actually end up teaching past that. It’s much easier to do that when it’s one-on-one. We can either take our children to certified establishments where they are administered the test, and it is graded by that establishment, or we can purchase the tests and administer them ourselves, then send them back to the appropriate establishment for grading.

Our best decision for homeschooling was joining a homeschool group. They have classes with the other children twice a month; all are taught by volunteer parents and/or professionals. Our children were able to participate in the yearly plays (one for the younger, one for the older), which took place in a restored 1930′s theater. What a thrill to see their plays on the marquee! There are also park days and group activities (including monthly field trips, holiday parties, talent shows, etc.). Very happy we did this.

Worst practice? Pajama School days. Yep, we learn while wearing pajamas, but I honestly don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not.