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Aug. 11, 2007
Back to Homeschool Week: What led to your decision to homeschool?
Posted in School
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originally posted Jan.2 2007, reposted for Back to Homeschool Week Most people assume that we homeschool for religious reasons or because we had a horrible experience with the public schools. Neither is completely true. The first is only a small part, and the second is absolutely false. Spenser had 4 great teachers, 4 great years, and he was a model student. He excelled and loved all of his teachers. Reed only went to kindergarten. She didn't love it, but she didn't hate it. She looked forward to it more than any kid I have ever seen, so I think the reality of it could have never lived up to her expectations. Mostly she hated the fact that a couple of boisterous boys got the whole class in trouble day after day. And she was sick alot that year. And tired. She needs alot of sleep. My husband was always in favor of homeschooling. I was adamantly against it. I think I had seen a Maury/Donahue type show with a bunch of zombie homeschooled kids and had decided that socialization was a major concern. So when it came time for Spenser to go to kindergarten, I signed Spenser up. He was in a great school in NC. When we moved here, I was concerned about what school district we would be in. I knew we wouldn't necessarily be in as great a school as NC, but I knew that I had gone to sub-par schools and turned out ok. I was bright and motivated and so was he. The district we moved into tested in the top 10 for the city, higher than any of the magnet schools in the city except for the one we had no hopes of getting into. (You have to be on the waiting list from birth LOL) So I signed him up and sent him to school. And then I got pregnant with Macy and was so tired and also had a toddler-- and the daily grind was awful. I remember crying because Spenser went to school without a pencil. I felt like I was letting him down because I had always been very involved in his classes (room mom and all that) and suddenly I couldn't even keep him in clean socks and pencils. That was the end of second grade and I mentioned laughingly that I should keep him home the next year and homeschool him. He was surprisingly positive. But it would be Reed's kindergarten year and I honestly felt I could not disappoint her. But God was planting a seed. Or maybe nurturing the seed that Jason had planted before we even had kids. The next year was hectic, but ok. I think they were late to school more than any other kids in the history of school, but they were there. Once, I think they had detention for being late so much, and my husband felt like he should go since it was his fault, LOL. (He drove them.) Spenser was in the gifted program and loved it. One day a week, he went to another school for the whole day and they did what I would now call a unit study. I am not sure what they called it. One year they studied bodies of water and one year they studied Lewis and Clark. He loved it. It may be the only part of public school he misses. Reed did well, but as I mentioned, she was sick alot. I can't even remember the sequence of events that led me to consider homeschooling, but I soon became convinced. No, convicted. It wasn't anything horrible that happened. I just realized that between a full school day and the homework they had, I didn't have time to teach them the things that mattered to me. I guess I had already decided by the time I went on a field trip to Callaway Gardens with his 4th grade class. But it was more evidence that we could do school much more efficiently at home. We were at Callaway all day, but only saw a tiny percentage of what was available. Why? Because we spent the day lining up the kids, sending them to the bathroom (whether they needed to go or not, LOL) and lining them up for lunch, then back to the bathroom, etc. Reed was open to the idea, although she is my social girl, and has missed her idealized memory of school from time to time. I promised them the first year that we could go back to public school if it didn't work. I haven't told them, but there is no way now that I would send them back. I have seen too much and enjoyed them too much. And honestly, they love it most days. And they see the benefits. (I am quick to point out when we see kids going home from school at 3:30 that we have been out of school for a couple of hours.) People say to me, "I don't see how you do it." Or "I could never do it." And there are days... But I am wholeheartedly convinced that this is right for us. I love being with my children. I love making sugar cube igloos, and having Olympics when we study Greece, and, yes, even dissecting owl pellets. “People think it’s an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It’s never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I’m doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn’t that day. And tomorrow won’t be either.” – Batman, in Identity Crisis P.S. I am still not so good with the sock and pencil thing, but we can usually manage school without socks, and if we dig far enough down in the couch cushions we can find a pencil or 12. |
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Aug. 11, 2007 - socks and pencils
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Posted by Pam in Colorado