We had such a nice summer, the thought of saying goodbye to these guys at the end of it was unbearable to me. We talked again about homeschooling, but we hadn't planned it soon enough, and the book costs seemed daunting, ect...
The thing is, I have reasons to keep them in school that have nothing to do with how much I want them with me. We do have a nice small district. This year, Jonathan has a teacher named Bev, who is just beautiful. She loves the kids, and is a very sweet lady. My Joseph is 19 now, but he had Bev for Kindergarten and first grade. Joe has always been creative, and when he started making the letter "S", for Superman, for kids to wear on their shirts, she let him make them for the whole class, and they all wore them down the halls....so Jon is in good hands. Suzanne's teacher is also wonderful. She has had several of my other kids, knows our family, and when Mirielle was in school, she even went to her house and out to lunch with her. She just plain loves kids and never has any "bad" kids in her class, because she raises them up, and they step up to it. She beams at them, and they respond with love and respect.
Besides the nice teachers, the fact that it is a small district helps. Around 75-85 kids per grade. I went to a huge school in a huge district with several elementary schools, and felt lost.
Paul and I both believe that our kids need to experience the hard knocks of life, to some degree. Life is not always fair, or taylored just to them. The school bus is not fun, but it is real life, and they learn how to deal with things. It isn't beyond me to call the school if necessary, but we think it is good for them to learn to fight their own battles.
There are bad influences and temptations in school. But we pray with them and encourage them and teach them right from wrong. There is an essence of sheltering in homeschooling that we don't care for. That being said, I totally respect each and everyone who does homeschool, it is done out of love and because the parents have their children's best on their hearts.
I am not totally decided either way, is the truth of the matter. Next year is still under consideration. At least for the ones in eighth grade and younger. Because part of me thinks the hard knocks of life can wait....
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8 comments:
Hi,
My eldest has just started secondary school - he is 11 and I know what you mean about having him at home - but I personally am of the opinion that hard knocks are needed to be able to work issues out in the work place.
It seems strange to me to see that your kids don't have to wear a uniform either - my lad is in tie and blazer, there is a pic on my pages.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but could you please explain your example of issues on the bus being real life? I am unaware of any situation out side of school where you would be in such a situation.
Kerry...our bus ride is LONG. Too long. We live in a rural district, lots of back roads. I obviously have not ridden the bus, but have heard story after story about the things that go on there. One poor kid who used to bring his lunch in a cracker box, made our kids sad. 16 year old pregnant girl who used swear words as adjectives. Kids picking on other kids, swearing, hogging seats, calling our kids "Brady Bunch"...
Hi Chrissy...your little boy looks so handsome and grown up in his uniform. Schools here are much more casual, usually unless it is a Catholic or private school.
Yes, I see that the bus is very unpleasant; you said it was good because it taught them to deal with real life. I have never experienced having to be on a bus with verbally abusive people before in my real life, so I'm curious where you are making that connection.
Thank you, he is getting pretty grown up! All our secondary schools generally have uniform, most of them where I live have blazers and ties.
The bus is like real life compacted - you don't always like what you hear and see in jobs and social situations, they will be able to learn not to be naive and will learn to let things go and to cope when things aren't how they want them.
I had a book of a comment here but decided it was just plain old too long! :) Maybe I will use my own blog to post about my recent experience with this aspect of homeschooling.
Isn't it true though that there just isn't a right answer? I read through all of your posts up to this point so now don't know if I'm commenting on this post in particular or another one I just read but I also believe it's similar to the working mom/stay at home mom, bottle feeding/breastfeeding topics. Who's to say which is the best? I know I have my own strong convictions but also know that my convictions don't always add up for the next person. :)
Oh, now I remember what triggered my desire to comment on this particular post...about the hard knocks waiting. I was so in the air on that one until my oldest homeschooler went back to regular school this year. She told me that what she got out of homeschooling that was best for her personally is that it gave her time to just grow mentally while at the same time being able to just focus on learning and not have to be distracted by all that goes on around you at school, on the bus, etc. She began homeschooling in 5th grade and now just began 7th. She blossomed so much in the time she was at home and went from being painfully shy (and even by her teacher's account in 5th grade, her shyness was only getting worse...this I found out after we started homeschooling...had nothing to do with her being shy) to being very confident and quite outgoing. She still is a more reserved person, that is her personality. However, she is now very comfortable being herself, is really comfortable and confident out in social, public situtations...
I'm going to reflect more about my homeschooling experience on my blog, if you want to read about it...just in case it can answer some of the questions you've had about homeschooling, which happen to be some of the same questions I had. :)
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