We, my husband and I, are at a loss as to what to do.
Here is the deal--our son, JM, attends a private, Christian school right now. He has attended it since preschool. That school ends their classes at first grade. We have another school in mind he could go to next year for second grade through eighth.
However, BH, will also be going to preschool as well. It's becoming expensive. It's becoming prohibitively expensive.
Here are the options:
1) Public school. We are in agreement. No. We are not at all slamming the huge efforts public school teachers make. The school district we live in is horrible from purely an academic standpoint. Schools not achieving federal standards for basic achievement. Simple as that.
Could we transfer to the district that is literally across the street from us? In a perfect world, yes. But the district we live does not let it's boundary captured kids go like that. They need the numbers for federal funding. I have a friend who teaches in that district and pulls some strings to get her kids in it, and acknowledges that we have no hope in pulling those strings. It's a better district, but also has trouble meeting basic standards.
2) Sell our house, never retire, and pay for private school. Well, ummm....love our kids. No. There are other options not as drastic as this one.
3) Home school. We finally were able to have quite a meaningful conversation about this last night.
Here are the basic bullets to our conversation:
*Nothing is decided yet, but it looks more and more like homeschool will be it.
*We live in a city that has an amazing homeschool community that we could tap into.
*We live in a state that is fairly homeschool friendly, and not overpowered by government regulations. Basic testing is easy, yet not too "Big Brother".
*I am a bit frightened by this.
Just tonight at dinner, JM, and I had a little argument that is typical for us. He asks a question, I begin to answer it, he interrupts me, I try to let him know he has interrupted me, and he gets mad. In this case, he began to cry. Yes, for us adults, we realize this is six year old behavior, but it's also the mix he and I have sometimes. We need this to stop. He needs to be able to listen to me, answer me, have a conversation with me (which we can do a lot of the time), without such a scene.
*I am also realizing I need to get really organized. I run a half a million dollar a year candle business from my home. I will need to really organize my time to do both. I think I can, but we need to do this as a family, not just me. Little daunted by this.
*We asked JM what he thought about this. He says he wants it. He is tired of being teased. He is sensitive, and he has endured some teasing at school for the last few years. It isn't anything worse than what the next kid endures, but it's teasing nonetheless. It's also sometimes teasing that is focused on his race, and that makes me mad.
We have worked on how to use verbal skills to answer back to these things, but we can tell, it's wearing on him. It makes him feel bad, and I am wondering if it's beginning to affect his desire to learn. Bottom line--does he sometimes not want to go to school and learn because of the teasing. We all know kids who have suffered academically in such instances. Yes, this is a Christian school....could you imagine if it were a public school?
*A friend of mine who homeschools says one of her reasons for homeschooling is because kids come home exhausted, hard to be around for the remainder of the day, and yet bored from a lot of wasted time during the day. Again, we love the school JM is at for the most part, but he has been coming home for two weeks now exhausted, and not the most fun kid to be around for the evening. The crying tonight at dinner was fueled by tiredness. We are having more crying fits like that lately that we didn't have before school started.
*Socialization. I know I know....that is always the big concern. Well, right now my kid is being socialized in how to tease, have a love/hate relationship with his friends, and that the color of his skin is bad. Not sure that is what we wanted when we had kids. There is absolutely no proof that kids who are homeschooled are socially stunted in anyway. For myself, I am seeing that if I keep my kid in a classroom setting, he will be emotionally stunted.
So what do we do now? Well, I did a little googling today just looking for homeschool curriculum. One response to that--AAAAGGGHHHHH! Oh my word! I am new at this folks! I am just putting my toe in the water here! As immature as this sounds--give me the basic curriculum of a basic homeschool program for a second grader. I am ready to cry. You have no idea how overwhelming that is, and I am fried.
I am going to go do some finish painting on the back of the house. It's easier than deciding what homeschool curriculum to purchase. I am open to any and all suggestions. Lord, have mercy on me with this venture....
8 comments:
Oh boy! I plan to homeschool as well, and Im already daunted by the task and I have a few years to prepare hehe :)
Good luck girl!! I wonder if this will be an easier transition or a harder one since he knows the setting of a "real" classroom... hmmmm
I'll let you know what the outcome is. The only comfort I have--we have a year to assemble this. We have a long time to pick a curriculum, decide, take out loans, sell our house, win the Power Ball lottery....
Have you attended any of the home school meetings yet? At my church we had a family conference thing and I attended a question and answer session about homeschooling. I was surprised to learn that you don't have to lock yourself into just one curriculum. They seemed to pick and choose as the years went by. I think one of the mothers said she started out by visiting the local school and asking for the list of things that a second grader was expected to learn by the end of the school year.
Some of them mentioned that they would pick different curricula for different subjects because of the learning approach that they took. They also mentioned internet resources, computer based programs and enrollment in online classes for older kids.
I was surprised at all the options and how they were free to switch between them. They just have to be able to pass the tests at the designated times.
So I would suggest going to one of the homeschool parents meetings to pick their brains and get favorite curriculum recommendations before you look on the internet any more. Wait until you have some specific stuff to seek out.
I hope this helped. I realize that I know precious little about homeschooling... A lot of the kids in my church are home schooled.
I have a few girlfriends who are homeschooling, and I'll ask about the curriculums they use and like. I feel for JM, teasing from peers can be so damaging. I pray the Lord protects him this year. Bless you!!
You're absolutely right, I need to attend one of those. I just missed one in my area, but I am sure there will be more. You also have hit what I am feeling too--I want to spy in a classroom and see what texts they're using and find out what the marks are for grade level achievement. I can probably find that out at one of those meetings. You have also hit another feeling I have. I am not going to be able to just purchase a "core" of curriculum from one company. I am going to have to pick and choose, and that is overwhelming to me.
We think alike, girlfriend! You have hit all the things I have realized I need to do.
One more thing I need to do...relax!
Well, here is the deal - I'll bet it will be overwhelming at first trying to choose. But the sense I got was that it is actually freeing to know that you can always change what your doing at any time.
Also, what I failed to mention was that the mother who got the task list from her local school, upon seeing it, had the reaction that her kid already knew most of that and it was not going to be a big deal to meet those requirements. I think most home schooled kids exceed the requirements on most subjects, especially their strong areas.
One of the things that would make me nervous if I was looking into it would be thinking about Jr. high and high school. But there is where the families said those internet courses were really great. They have virtual classrooms with chat and video lectures so they get the benefit of learning from their classmates' questions.
Remember, being nervous and overwhelmed is NORMAL. Stop trying to talk yourself out of it! =)
When I come up there in a few weeks, we can talk about this as long as you want, k?
We can even go look at some stuff if you want to. Whatever will help.
Yes! Bring me all your materials! I want to see it all. If I am giving the impression I am trying to talk myself out of it, sorry! I think we are pretty set we are going to do this. I just need to get my ducks in a row and chill out. The initial fear is gone. At the very very very least, we will do Connections Academy (see my list of resources) for a year just to get our feet wet. Plus I like the amount of support they offer since I will also be running my business. But that is if we don't figure out something in the meantime...and we have a year. I am so glad we started putting this together way ahead of time.
I can't wait to see you !
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