Toying with the idea

This has been on my mind for years. 

We know I've never been crazy about sending my kids off to school.  It's a big pain to send them off, pick them up, have everything revolve around when/where they get out (Dottie and Elliot got out of school 45 min. apart last year. It will be the same this year. Don't ask me why).  I've always felt I could do more educationally for my children, not because the teachers were poor (although I've had my issues from time to time), but simply because there is so much wasted time in school.  Dottie especially has spent many a boring hour in school while the teacher has to discipline or she has finished her work before the others.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not criticizing education in America.  It's just the nature of the classroom. How can you possibly meet the needs of all children in a classroom of 20+ most of the time?

Then I met my friend Anya. She's homeschooled her children off and on for several years.  We've talked in length about the pros and cons.  You can individualize things to meet the needs and desires of your child.  You are more free to travel and explore. You can teach your kids some of those intrinsic things like manners and compassion that often get left out in a school education.  You can teach them the value of work. But most importantly, you can have fun. You can bond with your child. You can pay attention to your child.  

Whenever I talk to Anya on the phone, she always says at the end of the conversation, "Well, I better go. Gotta engage with these kids!" This phrase of hers really started to make me think, "Do I engage with my kids as much as they need it?" Now, of course, I don't believe in engaging with your kids 100% of the time, because you'd create a manipulative, dependent monster.  But I did start paying attention more to what I was doing with my time while my kids were home.  At the time, I was teaching piano most days of the week after school.  I did have "engagement" time with Elliot when we did Joy School with Anya's son.  But when Dottie was home, I began to notice that a lot of my time with her was spent hounding her to finish her homework, clean up her messes, not fight while I made dinner, etc. Our relationship was, "I'm the boss, you do what I say." Again, I'm not an advocate of coddling, or even trying to be best friends with your child.  There needs to be a level of authority while still maintaining a feeling of love.  And this, I believe, comes through engaging your child.

Anya uses literally all of her time with her kids teaching them something. She has come to realize that a big part of being a parent is being a teacher.  This is something she has reminded me of.  With a degree in education, I do love to teach, and I do love to learn.  And I love teaching my children.  It is truly where I find the most joy in my life.

Going through the tumor and coming out of it well made me resolve last June to be a better parent.  I felt I had been given a second chance.  I started asking people about homeschooling, gathering information on what was the best strategy.  Frankly, the homeschooling world overwhelmed me.  So Anya referred me to these books called What Every First Grader Should Know (and every grade level) and How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons. I bought these books and other work books fully intending to give home-schooling a go last summer.

Then, I became ill.  I thought, "that's the end of that." Then, a strange thing started to happen this past spring. 4 of my close neighbors started home-schooling, all around the same time.  I called it home-schooling peer pressure.  I was quite skeptical of the whole thing, remembering a con to homeschooling Anya had talked to me about: homeschooling, in a way, is"hiding your light under a bushel." But then, my psychologist started talking to me about home-schooling! She had homeschooled her kids in the '70s, when it was even illegal in her state to do so.  My past few sessions with her weren't really counseling, but a conversation on the joys produced from homeschooling.

Knowing everything I've been through, and what still may come, she encouraged me, saying, "Your children's childhood is precious and needs to be cherished. You never get those years back." How can I not listen to that? I know my life is precious, but more so, my children's life is precious.  I don't want to waste any more time. It will not kill them to miss a few years of school; in fact, it will mean all the world to all of us.  And isn't our relationships with our families the most important thing?

So I've been toying with the idea.

We've opened up the books again this summer. I'm trying to see how it will go. Because there may be some rumbles down the road with Joe's career that would truly make homeschooling optimal.

Dottie writing. I wrote part of the story, she finished. She wrote for 3 hours straight.

My boy studying his reading book.

And this is about as exciting as we've gotten for the 4th. I'm glad...he needs a nap before those fireworks!

Dottie feeding a goat on a farm, just for fun.

 

And also just for fun, Ruby asleep on a canoe ride.

I didn't mean to get so passionate and long-winded. Again, just. toying. My kids will be going to school in the fall. Who knows what will happen after that? Thoughts?