Homeschooling IS Easy!

by Li Galo (aka Mom)

I don't very much care for the articles that pretend homeschooling is hard. It's really not. However, and let's be honest here, some people shouldn't homeschool. There, I've said it. I know a lot of homeschoolers do not want to hear that but a fact is a fact is a fact. Not everyone is cut out to homeschool and, therefore, not everyone should be homeschooling their kid.

I love it and there are rarely days I'm challenged. I run homeschooling groups. I find those parents are also rarely challenged. Once in a blue moon, you find the over-the-top, stressed mom who just can't get every single thing done on her list for every single day and that is why she is the exception - not the norm - in thinking homesschooling is hard.

Let's examine how easy it is:

Curriculum Styles

• Buy it: Maybe you'd like someone to do all the planning. Then buy a prepackaged curriculum. Ta-da! 
• Make it: Some moms/dads like creating their own curriculum. This involves research and a couple of weeks of your life a year. That works, too.
• Wing it: Buy used textbooks and workbooks at garage sales that covers an area of each subject for that school year. Anything you don't find in books, you can learn online. Go!
• None: This one is really for the unschoolers. Let the child dictate what they want to learn and go with the flow. They want to study mechanics? Get a book on it. Watch a video on it. Build something! You get the idea.

The library - a great resource of free learning material
(L. Galo)

Homeschool Locations

• Home: Most people like this option and it's a very natural place to learn. Some people take it too far and try to make an actual classroom in one of their rooms. That's kind of the opposite of homeschooling, in my opinion. Most people I know teach their kids on the sofa or at the dining room table. The whole point of homeschooling is so the kids aren't in a classroom!
• The Road: Many parents have road trips for own work or for their kids activities that take them on the road (for baseball, modeling, etc). So, the majority of schoolwork is done in the car with workbooks, audio books, etc. 
• The World: This is for the professional traveler (such as ourselves). In this case, you can visit the actual Coliseum instead of reading about it, see the Eiffel Tower instead of looking a picture of it, climb to the top of Bunker Hill and view the area where our forefathers fought for our freedoms.
• Combination: Some families like to combine home, road, and the world as homeschool locations. This can include local spots like coffee houses and the library.

With the cutting of recess time in public schools,
I am so glad we have the freedom to enjoy the
the outdoors through homeschooling.
A playground in Texas
(L. Galo)

Homeschool Teachers

• Tutor/teacher that one hires - a professional who travels with you or comes to your home. You can hire these lovely people for specific subjects or for the whole kit and caboodle. I have hired science and art tutors to come to our home to teach in those specific areas.
• Mom/Dad: The traditional choice is for a parent or both parents to teach their children. This wasn't always the traditional choice but it is now. 
• YouTube/Videos: Did you know you don't need to know anything for your kid to learn? I personally know people who are dyslexic or have little education themselves who teach their kids through videos recorded by professors, either found online or at the library. It's a very effective way to teach for those who lack the education-level needed or who have challenges with reading.
• Supplemental Classes: Though not widely available in all parts of the United States, in some regions with large homeschool populations, churches and private schools offer classes ala cart to homeschoolers. My girls studied Spanish, Texas history, creative writing, photography, acting and geography through supplemental classes when we weren't traveling as much as we usually do. These classes were taught by professionals in those fields. 

Do we like homeschooling?
Thumbs up!
Crossing the Adriatic Sea by ship
(L. Galo)

Now, just remember, even though there's a lot of information to consider, it doesn't make homeschooling hard. It just means you have more options. We love homeschooling because it's fun! I wouldn't have it any other way.

- Li Galo

(My husband passed away recently and we will not be blogging regularly for that reason. But we do plan to continue the blog in the future.)

Back In the USA - But Not Welcome By Boston's "Finest" Immigration Officers

(My husband passed away recently and we will not be blogging regularly for that reason. But we do plan to continue the blog in the future.)

Passport control. Immigration. Typically, it's a routine experience - in most countries. But, this won't necessarily be your experience in the US. I don't know where they hire these agitated people but it's one of the worst checkpoints to go through on the planet - and I happen to be a US citizen. (Sigh... )

So, we did return to the United States by flying from London to Boston. In order to even get to London, there was a train ride from Milan to Ancona, Italy and a ferry ride to Croatia, a flight to Barcelona with yet another flight to London. Then came the long layover. At this point, we had been traveling for a total of three days, with a few days off between Croatia and Barcelona. Our destination this day: Boston.

Image from greydogsoftware.com

Flying into Boston Logan Airport is never the preferred choice for one reason alone: immigration officers. In most places, immigration agents are busy folks who move you along but still show you respect and courtesy. Not so in Boston and this fact does not improve with time, in our experience. If I can get an amazing flight cost savings, I'm willing to put up with the attitude problem, disrespectful behavior and feigned or real ignorance level of those agents. But, only the thought of saving hundreds of dollars will do it for me because I've never seen a one of them smile. Sad.

Once again, flying into Boston, we were relieved and happy to be home. A snappy, angry officer greeted us and proceeded to "act stupid" when we said we were residents of Texas. As was obvious by the passports in his hands, we were American citizens. He started going off about green cards. I ignored this and reaffirmed the only place we permanently resided was the US of A. After all, he did ask where our permanent residence was and I answered him truthfully. I'm not going to start talking about green cards. I don't know anything about green cards. Anyhow, two can play the stupid game. So, I did what any patient mother does with a five year who doesn't know how to listen well: I just repeated myself like a broken record...

After he was done with his green card rant, he then went on to ask us to list all the countries we traveled through and why. Knowing this would take way too long and not obliging (because I don't even remember all the places I've been in the last six months as we were traveling non stop), I just listed the ones I knew were stamped in my passport because the kids and I were just recently admiring our stamps in there. That took two minutes - as opposed to the twenty minutes it would have taken otherwise, standing there scratching my head and asking the kids... uh, where did we go after that? I'm sure that would have made that agent's day... a spaced out mom trying to remember where she went on vacation over a period of months.

I know other people don't travel like we do. They go to one place for two weeks. We go to several cities within several countries for a number of months. So what? It doesn't matter. They should treat us the same way they treat everyone else. I'm a mom with three kids traveling non stop for days. Not only do I not remember everywhere I was or when, I don't even care if I don't remember. What these people don't get is that their 8 pm is my 1 or 2 am. By the time I see their ugly mug, the only thing I'm capable of doing is walking far enough to get into the arrival lounge to go to sleep.That's right, we take an immediate nap in the arrivals lounge (street-side, of course) before collecting our travel bags to head to departures for the next flight we have booked. That's exactly what we did this time, too. Why bother with the exhaustion of a getting in and out of a hotel room when you're about to fly out again? Just catch a few winks on their dime. After all, they just treated you like crap instead of giving you a smile and saying "Welcome back to America," like they should have done.

Anyway, all our travels boil down to two words: education and tourism. What's so hard to understand about that? I guess it is hard for someone with less than a high school level education to wrap their minds around these two words. For that reason, it will take extra time to explain what those two words even mean to the agent. So, prepare yourself, fellow traveler. The US checkpoint just isn't as efficient or well run as those in other parts of the world. For example, you go to a nifty, computerized, self serve kiosk to get a little receipt that you think might save you a few minutes of time - only to go right back in the immense line to see the agents anyway. So, those little receipts save absolutely no time at all. I can only imagine how horrible it is for those poor folks coming from other countries to be greeted by this type of twat when their English skills are less than stellar. My sympathies to you because the agent who greets you will not be patient. In fact, they might even get angry or exasperated if you don't understand English well enough to follow their mind games.


In other countries, the immigration officers are even sometimes nice and pleasant - especially in the UK. (Brits, long known for their sense of decorum and polite manner always outdo us Americans in this department.) But, not so, for those coming to the US via the East Coast. Next time, I'll try flying into Florida. Maybe a lack of sunshine and beach going affects the mind of the East Coast agent. Perhaps this theory applies to the Northern agents, too... for the ones near Canada are equally grouchy. I've noticed the ones in the South are generally nicer with at modicum of respect and the standard "yes, ma'am" and "no, ma'am"... perhaps, it's their proximity to the lovely shores of the Gulf of Mexico and sunshine? A little sunshine never hurt a soul. In any case, I'd rather be greeted home by a nice agent versus a rude one, thank you. If only they had more southern locations to fly into from Europe.

What a disappointment and a downer the immigration officers are in Boston Logan for citizens returning home through Bean Town. Let's just skip that airport next time, if we can, shall we?

- Li Galo