Aug. 16, 2007 - Looking back, moving forward
One of my homeschool groups posted these questions recently...I thought I'd share my answers here to remind myself of where we've been....
I almost have to answer these in reverse order....When I was growing up, homeschoolers were the weird neighbors across the street that never came out to play. Another neighbor called CPS on the family out of spite. We lived in the neighborhood for over five years, and I saw the kids maybe once....Not a great impression.
When I was volunteering in the nursery for AWANAS, a woman would come in while her husband was teaching and talk with me while she waited. I couldn't ever understand why she didn't take the opportunity to run off and shop, but now I am glad she talked to me. She told me how much she enjoyed homeschooling her oldest daughter and described all the fun things they were learning together. I found out she was my neighbor, and that her husband had gone to college with my husband.
I never ever pictured myself homeschooling. However, God started changing "my" plans from the birth of my son. He got "kicked out" of daycare at 18 months ("We just can't keep up with him!"), which changed my plans from returning to full-time work as a speech-pathologist, to part-time work with my son coming along on home visits :) Because of my background as a speech therapist, I was always trying to figure out what was "wrong" with my son...why he had such a hard time in groups, why he was so active, why he was so noisy....I knew he was intelligent, but somehow that made his behavior even more unacceptable to teachers. By first grade, the ADHD label was looming, even though two psychologists could only say "maybe". The grade school principal still insisted he "looks like ADHD to me", even with a report clearing stating he didn't fit the criteria in front of her. I spent hours online reading about parents having to sue school districts to get their children's needs met in the classroom, I read about marriages breaking up....I didn't like how depressed and "witchy" I felt from trying to make the school district do what I knew they should be doing by law to meet my child's needs. I kept thinking about my neighbor and how much she was enjoying learning with her daughter.
One memorable day, his first grade teacher ignored our pleas for more challenging work, and told me instead, "My goal this year is to get him to stand in line". After school that day I sent my son inside, and I walked over to the homeschooling neighbor I met through AWANAs. "Please tell me how you are homeschooling! It sounded like so much fun" I said. She dropped everything and told me what curriculum she used and which charter school she was in. I had already been doing a little research on K12 online...it turned out she was the one person in our state at the time that I could order K12 materials through. She had me over another day to really look through all the materials. Within six weeks we took the plunge and started homeschooling. We haven't looked back since :) My husband and family have been incredibly supportive. My son is still "quirky", but he is able to learn at his pace now and is much happier as a result. He will tell anyone he meets how much he likes homeschooling.
My sister Jen and I used to joke "We wish God would just let us know what he wanted in big neon letters". Looking back, I think that at that time in my life he was letting me know in just about neon letters that homeschooling was his plan for our family right now. I have had to learn to "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"
I am so thankful for the opportunity I've had to teach my son, and I'm looking forward to the blessing of teaching my daughter this year!
Comments
Aug. 20, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by BelovedLamb
I love this story! Isn't that how most of us came to homeschooling? Because our kids NEED it! Because we NEED it!
Sep. 14, 2007 - Excellent Article-- I so relate!
Posted by Danielle
Like you, I have a child (a first grader) who is noisy, loud, has issues with line formation, and has been labeled ADD by his teachers, who mind you are not psychologists-- go figure.
I, as his Mother, refuse to medicate my son because, IMO, with maturity comes improvement. Since my son has been labeled as ADD by society, I have noticed that every day, every week, every month he improves more and more! I have found that he is a normal, active, curious, introspective child, and that it is okay!
My son is incredibly smart and soaks up information in a snap. Like you, I have talked with his teachers about giving him more challenging work, and instead, they are more focused on behavior-- mind you, we are dealing with a child with tons of energy. I, for the past few days, have been researching homeschooling, and the more I read, the more I am intrigued. I am a college educated woman, and know that I could absolutely provide a more positive classroom setting, and propel him to the top with more challenging work, and moreover, allow him to be the child he wants to be instead of breaking his natural child-like spirit.
Thank you for posting your truth-- I enjoyed reading about it, relating to it, and hearing how well your son is doing!
Good Luck to you! :-)
D
Nov. 28, 2007 - lol
Posted by Danika
LOL, I love to look back at those big neon letters. Why can't we see them in front of us? They're only visible from behind.
