To homeschool or not to homeschool....

We never set out to homeschool our children, it just happened. We bought the house in suburbia with the "excellent" school district, got the dog for the yard, and sent our oldest off to her first day of kindergarden with the prerequisite pictures, backpack and Mom's tears... Little did we know that she would be in a class with 29 of her closest companions and being a quiet, fairly well-behaved kid would not serve her well in that environment. She did fine academically, but emotionally it was a roller coaster. She would often be in tears at the end of the day because she would raise her hand with a question and never get the teacher's attention (because the teacher was busy with the 15 kids who would fuss and tug at her...) and then it would be time to go home and she wouldn't be done with whatever project was assigned. Should she just keep working or get her coat on? To a 5 year old, who is very tuned into doing "the right thing" it was torture... The teacher was always very apologetic and I know she tried her best, but what can you do.... The quiet well-behaved kid gets what is left over.

So fast-forward to today and that same child of mine would head into 4th grade next year. We have moved to Florida and although the schools in general are not stellar, we did move into one of the best districts in the state and now have two dogs in the yard.... She would like to try school.

But somewhere along the way, we really started to enjoy the freedom of homeschooling. I enjoy picking the curriculum that I think matches best with their learning styles. Neither of the girls will be the next Einstein, but we can go as quickly or slowly through a topic as is necessary. Public schools don't offer that freedom - we did the school tour and another homeschool Mom was touring and was asked if the school offered "levels" of math and reading - the answer was no. In 4th grade, you do 4th grade math - no working above or below level.... (And we wonder why American Schools are lagging behind other nations...)

We also enjoy the freedom to travel when we want to or have a more relaxed schedule when we have visitors. The attendance policy is very strict and does not allow for absences for anything other than illness. If you take your children out of school, they are penalized by not being allowed to make up the work.... and they only get a week at Christmas and one week for spring break at the end of April. With family in Chicago, Savanna, NC and SC, we would have to limit visits to family to maybe once a year. I'm not sure when we as a society decided that public schools should have that type of control in our children's lives, but that is another blog post.

So why are we considering it? Maybe it is time for the girls to meet the real world. They have led a very sheltered life and maybe it is time to introduce them to dealing with other kids good or bad.... I also think a bit of competition (besides your sister) might be a good thing. And if I didn't have the girls all day, maybe I could run that marathon Walter keeps pushing me towards....

Feel free to leave comments - it might give me some insight I haven't thought about....