I'm first going to take a trip further back in time, back when I was a child of school age.
I am the youngest of two. I have one older brother. My dad was an accountant and was home by 6:00 pm every week day. My mom retired as a public school teacher prior to the arrival of my brother, and stayed home. I really liked the fact that my mom was home, even when I was a high schooler. We all had (still do) a wonderful relationship. We were (are) close and enjoyed spending time together as a family. We took many vacations, driving all over the states. My grandmom would go with us. I remember times when she would sit in the middle of the back seat and my brother and I would take little cat naps leaning on either side of her. When I got older my grandmom and I would often stay home, while my parents and brother would go.
By the way, my grandmom was also a public school teacher. My grandmom passed on when I was in my mid 20's. She was such a wonderful woman, and I so wish that my son could have met here. I know they will meet in heaven some day, and I know that she is with us every day.
School for me was not ideal. I enjoyed kindergarten through 4th in many ways, but felt the days were too long. The summer after 4th grade the school I was in closed their doors, this meant starting 5th in a whole new school, and then starting 6th in yet another new school. I was not happy with school from 5th grade on. I tolerated it though. Many of the teachers I had in middle school and high school I felt didn't really know how to relate to children. The schools were so focused on grades, especially test grades. History was not a great story to learn, it was a nightmare of dates and a hodge podge of things to memorize. I had a wonderful English teacher my 1st three years in high school, even so it was the same old story about getting good grades on tests. And we can not forget the all mighty standardized test. This was the most important of all, besides the SAT. If a child could get good grades on the standardized test then nothing else really mattered. My brother went through all his schooling years without being diagnosed as colored blind. He found this out while in college. The teachers (including art teachers) thought he was fooling around and/or not really into art. There are children that go through 12 years of school unable to read, with undiagnosed learning disabilities, etc, etc.
I so wished I knew about homeschooling when I was a child. I would have begged and begged my parents to homeschool me. My brother felt school was okay. He did do very, very well. He was in honors classes in high school. He learned easily and was very motivated. I personally feel that he could have gone even further if he wasn't being held back. I think over time he learned to settle to go with the flow and that the flow went slower then his liking. When you don't know better then you deal with what you know.
My son was born the summer of 1998. My mom, my ex husband, and a doula were all in the room to help me that day. My dad waited patiently in the waiting room. Bless his heart, what a long day for him. I gave birth naturally, I was much to afraid of the needle to get an epidural. lol The moment my little man was born he was learning and soaking everything up. He looked around that room. He looked as if he was saying, okay that his my gramma, and there is my dad, and that is my mama. My dad came into the room and held him and talked to him. My son looked into his eyes and looked as if he was storing away all that information.
My son was a very good baby, toddler, preschooler. He loved to learn everything and anything. He kept me on my toes at all times. I couldn't slow him down, even if I wanted to, and there were times I wish I could have.  He rolled, crawled, walked, and talked early. At 12 months he knew all the letters of the alphabet. His favorite game was to point out letters in the grocery store and shout out what they were. This of course brought attention to him, attention he enjoyed. He has always been a very social guy. He taught himself how to use the potty on the day he turned two. Taught himself how to read before three, by three was reading easy chapter books. I finally said something to his pediatrician at his three year old check-up. She laughed and said it was about time I said something. His learning as not slowed down. I have been asked many, many interesting questions, usually at a very interesting time. lol
I am not sure when I had learned about homeschooling, but it was before I got pregnant with my son. So while my son was little and craving so much, I thought about homeschooling. It was not the thing where we lived though. Everyone sent their children to the public school, it was one of the best. Your child turns 3 or 4 and you automatically send them to preschool, and then at 5 they go off to kindergarten. I read a few things about homeschooling but did what everyone else did.
At 4 years old my baby went off to preschool. He really enjoyed preschool. He went two days a week for a couple hours. I feel it was a positive experience. I do not regret sending him to preschool.
I do regret the next couple years. My son was 5 and 1 week old when he got on the big yellow bus to go to kindergarten. He went off with such big anticipations. He thought that he would learn so much. He thought he could take all his craving to a whole new level. I felt pretty much the same. He was going to a great public school. Boy were we both wrong. I will never forget his face when he came off that bus. I thought I was going to have a happy boy all full of wonderful stories, instead he was looking down at the ground and looking so sad. He immediately said that it was dull and that he didn't learn anything new. He said that he learned everything years ago. As the months wore on, things didn't change. So I *homeschooled* him in the morning before he went to pm kindergarten. I talked to his teacher often. She was not a kind person. She was older, and I feel she was over due in her retirement. She kept telling me they already catered the children to above average standards. She would not even try to help. We moved before the year was done. He spent the rest of kindergarten and 1st in a school that were very willing to try all they could.
Even so the happy boy I knew, that craved learning everything and anything disappeared. He felt he was different and strange. He learned to play average. I was often told how boring school was. I was also seeing behavioral issues. Some of these because he was not able to be himself, others because he was being *socialized* by a bunch of children around his own age, none of which we chose.
We made an out of state move the summer between 1st and 2nd. I really wanted to go ahead and start homeschooling him, but for reasons I won't go into, I was unable. I knew that I really didn't want to put him in overcrowded county schools, we moved to a more rural setting. So I looked into private schools. I found a wonderful school. He was excepted and had a wonderful couple months there, for the most part. I will always talk highly of this school. But the school did not have gifted classes, and was very expensive. I am a single parent and could not imagine paying for a school, that was wonderful, but not perfect enough, for years and years. This is when I pulled my son from a brick and mortar school and began our homeschooling journey. I so wish I just started homeschooling from the beginning, and I often wonder where we would be if I did. It only took days of homeschooling to bring back my son to that happy, craving to learn everything and anything, boy I had known years back.
I have learned so much, and have grown so much during our homeschooling journey. I love history, math, science, english, etc. Yes, I did say love. Learning is a magical thing. Learning is a great joy. Learning is something people do from the moment they are born to the day they die. Lessons are just a part of our lifestyle. Just a part of our every day. Just like we sleep, eat, drink, play, and do chores. Public school and there big concerns of getting good grades damages what learning really is.
My son feels now that he has the whole world in his hands and that he is able to be anything. He sees hope for the future. He feels he can learn all he wants in a safe place, and can truly be himself. He has big goals for himself, and I know he will be able to meet them.
I am unsure what my grandmom's reaction to my homeschooling would be. I am sure she would support me no matter what her thoughts. My parents and brother are not really for homeschooling but will support me in what I feel best. I also feel that as time goes on they may be seeing the benefits of homeschooling. We all need to do what we feel best for our own children. |
I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready and snuck in a few. Then I tried to sneak in a few more and was caught by my son. 
Shortly there after all the daycare children (6), my son, and me were standing in the kitchen enjoying the blueberries. Surprisingly we all still had an appetite for lunch.
