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We were a homeschooling family years before we were an adoptive family. However, now that we also have adopted children, I have realized that homeschooling has unique advantages for adopted children, especially for Ethiopian children adopted at an older age. Even parents who plan to eventually use the school system may want to consider homeschooling for the first few months after the child comes home.
BENEFITS TO NEWLY ARRIVED CHILDREN
Homeschooling allows more time together, promoting the bonding process. It is easiest for new kids to bond with you if they are not overly dependent on peers, and keeping them at home for awhile gives them that chance. Due to the slower pace and the calmer environment it can mean less stress to a newly adopted child already going through monumental changes in his or her life. It can allow the child to get some language under his belt before heading off to another school. And best of all, it gives the child a tutoring-type environment where you can assess his strengths and weaknesses and tailor your teaching to his needs.
HOW TO BEGIN
With newly arrived children, it is probably best to go slowly with school at first, concentrating on bonding and language acquisition, and setting the ‘heavier’ subjects aside for several months to a year. I would start with reading aloud, cooking together, and playing games together. Games like Uno and Sorry can teach colors and counting. Games like TakeOff can teach geography. Keep it low key and low-stress. Talk to them lots. Rosetta Stone is a great foreign language program and has a very useful English language learning computer program that could be very helpful to newly arrived Ethiopian children. Once they get a firm basis in English, all the other subjects will be learned more easily.
COSTS OF HOMESCHOOLING
Homeschooling does not have to be terribly expensive. Some complete prepackaged programs can get pretty pricy and have to be bought every year for every grade you are teaching. However we have homeschooled for 11 years, and have spent no more than $400 per year for ALL the children combined. I do try to pick hardbound ‘non-consumable’ resources instead of workbooks that get tossed at the end of each year. Saxon is what we use for math after grade 3. Grades 1-3 use Alpha Omega ‘Horizons‘ math, a consumable. Apologia Science is a wonderful Christian homeschool science curriculum that doesn’t assume large quantities of parental knowledge but gives kids all the opportunities for science exploration.
OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
Homeschooling 101
Getting Started in 8 Easy Steps
i totally agree with homeschooling adoptive children…actually all children…we have been homeschooling for about 11 years now. having brought home older children from ethiopia we have seen huge benefits to having them in the home rather than being lost in the school system. we have 15 children now, but when we brought home a group of 4 our children from ethiopia in 2003 we homeschooled them..then i found out i was pregnant(12yrs after a vasectomy!!) we felt we should put them in school…so we did from jan through june…what a mistake!!! they felt isolated from the rest of the kids, got huge attitudes in general and didn’t learn much at all! so we continue to homeschool everyone now and it is sooo much better all the way around. they are creative, learn to play things they have never been exposed to before and become a very integral part of the family. i wouldn’t change a thing,
Couldn’t agree more! We homeschooled our bio sons (oldest just turned 16) and have also HSed our 2 older SN adopted kids from China, and will HS our 2 daughters on their way from Ethiopia.
Great time to bond, get up to speed at their pace, succeed rather than struggle, feel safe in the midst of it all, etc.
Maybe not for everyone, but for us it couldn’t be better.
Rich
http://nomorecountingthecost.blogspot.com/