What Homeschoolers are Lousy at

My kids are something else. They are so smart and some of them are very articulate. They are well rounded. They enjoy all types of music from classical to some types (of mom and dad approved) rock n roll. Both my older kids play baseball and learn music. They both read exceptionally well and are quite good at math. As proud of my children as I am, I know that these attributes are not necessarily unique to my kids. All the homeschooling families that I know also have very well rounded kids as well. There is simply no subsitute for parents who are actively involved and engaged in their child's education.

Now, that being said, I will go on to say what things my kids and many other homeschool kids need improvement in. They can't stand in line, they tend to blurt things out, but the biggest problem we have is a lack of academic independence. In some ways my kids are very independent. They can make their own meals, brush their own teeth, clean their own areas, and even do laundry pretty well. But when it comes to schoolwork we struggle with independence. They always want me right there next to them. They can sometimes be lazy about "figuring things out" for themselves. The moment Lane runs into a snag, he wants my help immediately. I am constantly having to stop and tell him to use the resources at his disposal to find the answer himself. It is ever so tempting to show him exactly where in the book to find the answer, but that isn't really teaching him to learn on his own. One good thing about learning in a public school was that I knew that I was on my own to find answers. The teacher explained things, and then it was up to us after that and we knew it.

We need to make sure our kids learn how to find out some things for themselves. While it can be a pain for me to make Lane find the answer on his own (he will whine and WHINE to try to get me just to either tell him or show him where to find the answer) in the end it makes life easier on all of us. If they learn to use their own smarts then they are proud of themselves and I don't have to keep running back and forth to help them with every tiny little thing