Well, right now all my commitments are to growing closer to God and studying, but if it's God's will for me to get married and have kids in the future, then yes, I'd definitely homeschool them. I know the blessing it has been to me. I know other things work for others and I understand, but for me, I'd definitely homeschool. It's been an invaluable experience for me, more than just academically, and has made my family closer.

I wouldn't homeschool them,. One i wouldn't and don't want teaching qualifications, which means I would need to hire someone which would be a lot of money. I don't particulay like the idea of having children, my mind may change but, I don't have any anger management with children, they make too much noise and ask too many questions.

So I was wondering how many homeschooled NarniaWebbers have thought about this? If you end up having kids, would you homeschool them?

I would definitely want to homeschool my children, if at all possible. I believe learning should be a very personalized experience. And the methods many public and private schools use, I believe, do not really foster learning. There's a reason most of us have learned more from Google than we did our school years.

~Riella

So when do you guys do your school work. Is there a certain time of day? And if so how early is it and for how long? Do you have any breaks in between studying? (Sorry for all the questions, I'm naturally curious )

I finished school two years ago, but when we did school, my mom set up quite a strict schedule, we would get up at around 7:30, have breakfast, chores and devotions and start school at 9:00 am. We would work for 50 minutes and then have a ten minute break, lunch was at 1:00 pm and after that was quiet time and then we'd go outside for an hour or so. When we got back, we'd do our Russian curriculum (doing two programs wasn't the easiest, though I'm glad now that we did) and catch up on anything we didn't finish with our English school. Again, we'd work for 50 minutes and then take 10 or 15 minutes breaks And when we finished everything we had planned for that day, we were free to play and do whatever we wanted

So I was wondering how many homeschooled NarniaWebbers have thought about this? If you end up having kids, would you homeschool them?

I most definitely will homeschool my kids, I don't think I could trust a public school with them, and I don't think I'll ever be able to afford a private school. Besides, homeschool is really the way to go, I know how it's done, I've done it myself and I have complete trust in it. You just have to a program that you are totally comfortable with, and that works for you kids. Homeschooling can teach kids so many things, we did school in the same room, so if my younger siblings needed help, and my mom wasn't available, I was always there to help them, same thing if I needed help, I could go to my older siblings. On breaks we always played together and we were a very close family because we were always together.

I think there is tension between private and public school students. I have many friends who went to private schools but other than those i generally don't get on with private school students because they look down on you wearing their ugly uniforms. I went to public schools my whole schooling life, none of my experiences were bad.

So I was wondering how many homeschooled NarniaWebbers have thought about this? If you end up having kids, would you homeschool them?

*wonders if she's allowed to answer this since she's not homeschooled

Honestly this depends on a number of factors... Mainly it depends on the personality type of the kid, if they end up like me I'd say public school would be the best option... but for some I could see homeschooling being better... though this also depends on what school district we live in, if we move around a lot, what kind of job myself and/or their father get into etc. There's a lot of factors... I'm not sure it'd be easy to answer unless I actually could narrow a few of them down

I just realized I've never been in here. o_O

Well, I and my siblings were homeschooled K-12, and absolutely loved it. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone, and would be happy to direct 'em to appropriate curriculum(s) as well. XD

So when do you guys do your school work. Is there a certain time of day? And if so how early is it and for how long? Do you have any breaks in between studying? (Sorry for all the questions, I'm naturally curious )

This is the thing about homeschooling; it's highly personal. I know some people that had very rigid schedules, and others where you honestly couldn't find even a semblance of a schedule.

For me and my siblings, it was you get up when you get up, and you work until you're done. So it varied from sibling to sibling--a brother would get up at about eight, and get done by at least twelve; a sister would get up around nine, and get done between twelve and three (usually with several breaks); I'd get up maybe at nine and be done by at least one, but probably before lunch. It just depended on our work styles and how much we needed to do.

*wonders if she's allowed to answer this since she's not homeschooled

O.O How dare thee transgress upon the sacred grounds of the homeschoolers. BEGONE, thou traitor! ...Just kidding, of course you're allowed.

So I was wondering how many homeschooled NarniaWebbers have thought about this? If you end up having kids, would you homeschool them?

I was home schooled all the way through high school and if I ever have children, I definitely want to home school them. I had such a fun time being home schooled with my seven siblings and I think it would be awesome to recreate that experience for my own children (though I'm not sure if I would have eight children, who knows ). In a way, I feel like being home schooled sort of prepares you to home school your own family. It's one of those things that once you experience it, you know how you would want to home school your own children. That's not to say that only home-schoolers can ever succeed at home-schooling their own children. Neither of my parents were ever home-schooled and I think they did a pretty good job with us, but I feel like my own personal experience has prepared me to raise my own children this way.

When it comes down to it, home-schooling does indeed take a certain type of personality. I for one love children. I love working with people in general and, not to sound vain or anything, but I think I am a fairly good teacher. I'm also extremely independent. I know I would enjoy being able to do my own thing with my children. Not to mention, I really like the society of home schoolers. People who say we're not socialized don't know what they're talking about. We're socialized, just in a completely different way from other people. While most people are raised going to school dances, my friends and I participated in Ceilidh dances and Contra Dancing Balls (Jane Austen, whoot!) and Square Dances. Even though I'm in college now, I still get together with my home-schooled (or once home schooled, haha) friends and dance or play music together, because as much as I love my fellow college students they just don't enjoy "socializing" the way I do.

Back to the original question...on a more personal level, I would be scared to send my children to a public school or even a private school and not because I think they're evil or bad, but because I would be afraid of missing eight hours every day of my child's life. I mean, if my child is spending eight hours away from me and their family every day...what makes me think that I'm going to get to really know them? I never want to be obsessively controlling or paranoid about my children, but I do want to be their best friend and I don't want to miss out on getting to know them through every stage of their lives.

Never, never aim to be best friends with your children. You should be friendly to them but never their friend. You're their parent and children need to realise that their parents have authority over them. Children love to push boundaries and if you try to be their friend, they will be confused and walk all over you. Don't do it. There are too many parents trying to be their children's friends and they're growing up to feel they're entitled to everything. Okay, rant over.

Also, is it just me or does NarniaWeb attract people from huge families where 10+ is the norm? (because here in Australia, a large family is one with 3, 4 or possibly 5 kids).

Never, never aim to be best friends with your children. You should be friendly to them but never their friend. You're their parent and children need to realise that their parents have authority over them. Children love to push boundaries and if you try to be their friend, they will be confused and walk all over you. Don't do it. There are too many parents trying to be their children's friends and they're growing up to feel they're entitled to everything. Okay, rant over.

That depends on what you mean by "friend". If by "friend" you mean, someone who just wants to have fun with you, and lets you get away with things for fear of ruining the friendship, that's definitely a bad thing. But a person who does that sort of thing isn't a true friend anyway, whether they're an authority figure or not. A real friend provides accountability. You can be both a friend and an authority figure at the same time, as long as you try to live up to both roles as they are Biblically defined.

So when do you guys do your school work. Is there a certain time of day? And if so how early is it and for how long? Do you have any breaks in between studying?

Back when I was still school age, we would start school soon after breakfast, and then go till dinner.

~Riella

Never, never aim to be best friends with your children. You should be friendly to them but never their friend. You're their parent and children need to realise that their parents have authority over them. Children love to push boundaries and if you try to be their friend, they will be confused and walk all over you. Don't do it. There are too many parents trying to be their children's friends and they're growing up to feel they're entitled to everything. Okay, rant over.

Also, is it just me or does NarniaWeb attract people from huge families where 10+ is the norm? (because here in Australia, a large family is one with 3, 4 or possibly 5 kids).

I have noticed that, my family has 5 kids,(2 of which are twins). Mostly in australia families consist of 2 and 3 child families, well thats what i gathered in my school years.

No, Ithilwhen. Friends are peers. You can be friendly with children but you can't be their friend if you wish for them to be accountable to you. I've seen the results and not pretty and it has nothing to do with 'true' friendship. It has everything to do with adults and children not being able to be friends if the adult is a parent, teacher, police officer or another authority figure. That said, if you're not accountable for a child/children, you can be friends with them.

No, Ithilwhen. Friends are peers. You can be friendly with children but you can't be your friend if you wish them to be accountable to you. I've seen the results and it has nothing to do with 'true' friendship. It has everything to do with adults and children not being able to be friends if the adult is a parent, teacher, police officer or other type of authority figure.

Well, my mom and I have been best friends since the beginning, and she was also an authority figure. And I never used our friendship to try to take advantage of her in any way (nor would it have worked if I tried). I'm not sure where you got the idea that friends and authority figures are somehow opposed. It's never been my experience, and I've seen many examples proving the opposite. The parents I've seen who were both friends and authority figures to their children all ended up much more successful than the parents I've seen who were authority figures alone.

For those of you who are choosing to homeschool, what methods do you think you'll go with? Text-book curriculum? Online stuff, or education games? Or some other method?

~Riella

Well, you must have met a lot of lovely children and parents, because that's certainly not my experience. Many children feel they should be treated as adults and feel they're entitled to everything.

Well, you must have met a lot of lovely children and parents, because that's certainly not my experience. Many children feel they should be treated as adults and feel they're entitled to everything.

Perhaps it depends on the people, then. The children I've known were not perfect by any means, but a sense of entitlement is something I've rarely seen in any of them. Their faults were in other areas. Let the methods fit the individuals, I guess. Although, the parents I've known who were friends to their children also know how to handle "entitlement" issues if and when they come up.

~Riella