I am contemplating homeschooling and feeling very weird about it. I have a 4 1/2 year old boy, a 3 year old boy and a 5 month old girl. I just put my 4 1/2 year old into a 3 hour 3 times a week preschool/pre Kindergarten class in January. All ready I'm not liking the attitude changes I'm seeing in him. I NEVER thought I would consider homeschooling and I know we should never say never. Life throws us curve balls all of the time therefore saying never can just make you feel silly later on!
I know part of my problem is the natural hardness of this transition. Most parents put their kids into public or private school and I'm sure this transition can be naturally difficult. For the last year I've been a full time stay at home mom and before that I was a part time stay at home mom. I would think for parents who have a stay at home parent sending your kid off to school is hard. Suddenly the control you had is out of your hands and into a stranger's hands for 6+ hours a day. And with the current state of a lot of our school systems, not only is your child with the teacher but 20 to 30 other kids are too! I'm having a hard time accepting this as something I want for my kids. I want them to have someone who cares about them individually. Now before I go on I want to say 2 things. I don't think just because a household has both parents who work that it means there isn't a hard transition for those parents having their children start school. Secondly, I have nothing but respect for teachers. I think they are underpaid and under appreciated. They do so much for all of us. All of us have had teachers and I am amazed at my friends who have the patience to be teachers also. My problem is more specific to the fact that our schools are over crowded and underfunded and unless my son gets into a Charter program I don't know that I want to deal with the public school system.
So here I am ruminating. It amazes me how many of my friends do homeschool but on the other hand I have a lot of friends who send their kids off to school and have no issues. I know it's a very individual and personal decision making but I think opinions from others are always helpful. To know others' experiences can give you an idea of what you're own may look like. But everyone's kids are so different and my temperament is different from others so I think you don't know until you try. As I think about this feel free to share your thoughts, I would appreciate them!
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I think that it's great that you are wisely considering all options. I would love to homeschool! At the very least, we'll start with play based learning and move on from there, but whether I take on full responsibility will depend on the quality of the schools available to us wherever we are when that time comes.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I just finished reading the Homeschooling chapter in the Duggars book '20 and counting'. (a very fun read BTW!) It was inspiring to say the least. There are SO many resources available to you, online or in books to help choose a curriculum, or your already homeschooling friends.
I would say that organization, determination and discipline are the keys to a successful homeschooling experience. I was "homeschooled" (if you can even call it that!) very poorly. Starting in HS, I did the Abeka DVD program and it was awful- I usually don't share my experience because it's not even applicable! It's cases like mine as a kid that makes homeschooling illegal/controversial.
My sister homeschools her 3 kids and they are close in age like J, I and A. She does have her teaching degree, but especially in K-8, it's obviously not necessary.
I hope you make a choice that you can be comfortable with! Let me know any cool resources you find and what you decide! :)