San Antonio Home Educator Profile:
Sara

Want to know what real home educators look like in the San Antonio Area?  The following is a brief overview of one San Antonio homeschoolers. Her real name is not used to protect her privacy.

How long have you been homeschooling?
Since my 10 year old was born.

How many children do you have? 
Four.

Do you homeschool them all?
The oldest is a foster child so is in school. Others are homeschooled.

What are their ages?
Ages 15, 10, 8, and 8 months.

Why did you decide to homeschool?
My main motivation in school was to make good grades. I got very good at figuring out how to do that without really learning much. I want my children to love learning and learn about what they love, not be motivated by outside factors. So far, it is working pretty well.

Did you try public/private school?
No (other than the 15 year old, but we have no choice about that and she has only been with us for 2 weeks, so we are still learning about school. She is in public school.)

What has been the hardest thing about homeschooling?
The only thing that has been hard was when our baby joined our family (he is also a foster child, and came rather unexpectedly, so we did not have time to prepare for this change.) It has made it hard to find the time to spend with the older kids, but we are adjusting and they are still learning. He will not be a baby forever!

What has been the best thing about homeschooling?
The closeness of our family and seeing how much my kids know and how much they love knowing stuff.

Do you use a set curriculum?
We don't use curriculum.

What kind of curriculum do you use? 
We are mostly unschoolers. We don't use curriculum. We do a lot of field trips, we use the library a lot, we read, we watch educational videos and documentaries, and we do hands-on activities (such as science experiments.)

What do you wish you had known when you first started homeschooling?
I started looking into homeschooling when my oldest was only two, so by the time we "officially" started, I was pretty comfortable with the whole idea.

Are you a part of a homeschool support group or coop? Has it been useful for you?
Yes, I belong to two different support groups. I find it helpful, because we are able to go on field trips and do other activities with homeschoolers. My kids are in a homeschool chess club through one of these groups which they absolutely love. I also get a lot of support from other homeschooling families. I have made some wonderful friends this way. I also belong to an online support group.

What would your advice be to someone considering homeschooling?
Get to know some other homeschoolers, either online or in person. I joined my first homeschool email list when my oldest was three. It really helped to just "listen" to the families who were doing this already. It gave me a lot of confidence. Be sure to look around some, because homeschoolers come in all varieties and finding a group you are comfortable with is important.

What has been your experience in preparing/sending a homeschooler to college?
I have not gotten this far yet, but I don't have any real fears about it. In fact, my plan is to have my kids attend community college some while they are high-school age, rather than go to high school. By the time they are ready for a four-year college, they will already have considerable college experience.                                   

Explain your family circumstances:
Dad works full-time, mom stays home full-time. As I said above, we have four children, two of whom are foster children (both are being adopted by us.) Dad and Mom both have graduate degrees. Neither of us has any previous experience as educators.

Give a typical week of homeschooling for your family.
We are very unstructured, so we don't really have a typical week. There are a few common elements, though. We go to the library weekly and get a selection of books and videos. We usually check out a variety of fiction books for the kids to read and also non-fiction books on whatever their current interest is. The kids also have piano lessons weekly.

Before the baby came, we spent a lot of time playing a variety of board and card games, such as Scrabble, Take-Off (a geography game), and Monopoly (we have many more games, most of which are somewhat obscure, many of which are educational, but they also have to be fun if they want to stay in our house.) Now, the kids spend a fair amount of time playing on the computer, again, educational, but fun games.

We go on a lot of field trips through various homeschool groups. These can include things like nature hikes, plays, music or dance performances, science museums, etc. Once a week, my husband runs a science class for our kids and another family we know who homeschools. He usually has some sort of hands-on activity that illustrates a particular idea. My ten year old loves documentaries and will often watch shows like American Experience or Nova on PBS. The kids also participate in local youth sports leagues. Right now, we are having an intense study of "Family Life 101" or "This is how much work it takes to raise a baby."

What books or resources do you recommend?
Anything by John Holt.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling by Marsha Ransom (she is on an email list I am on and is just full of great information and ideas for homeschoolers. This book is a good place to start for anyone new to homeschooling.)
Home Education Magazine and website.

Anything else you want to contribute?
I love homeschooling and cannot imagine not doing it. Although we are very unstructured and our days don't look anything like what a typical school day looks like, I can say with a great deal of confidence that my kids are learning probably more than their school counterparts and if they had to go back in school, my biggest fear is not that they would be behind, but that they would be bored to tears. Just today, I was telling a friend that what I think makes a difference for them is that every thing they learn about has significance and meaning in their lives and so they retain it all. It amazes me how much they know and the depth of their understanding.

Many people think homeschooling is hard, but my experience has been quite the opposite. We have fun on a regular basis and I get to learn all kinds of cool things and go interesting places. It would be easy to look at the education background of my husband and myself and say "well sure they can do this, look at how much school they had", but the truth is, very little of what I do with my kids comes from that background. I am often learning along side them.

I know homeschoolers where the parents went no further than high school and they are doing just as well as our family is. People are constantly commenting on how "smart" my kids are. I don't think they are any smarter than the average kid, they are just lucky to be living a life where they are constantly exposed to new ideas and where they get to participate fully in the learning process, rather than having it imposed upon them. What a joy it is to be part of that process!