About three years ago in my first or second semester of school I had to write a big argumentative research paper and got to choose from a list of topics. I had to pick a topic, choose a side, research, research, research, and do this big paper plus a video presentation. It was a little daunting since I HATE to write (which I’m sure you can tell by how often I actually post on here…) so I decided to go with what I thought was the easiest topic: “Homeschooling.” I chose to write AGAINST homeschooling because I thought it would be so easy to use the socialization angle to talk about why homeschooling is a really bad idea.
So I researched and researched and read many, many articles for and against homeschooling. And then something strange started happening. I began to think that maybe homeschooling wasn’t such a bad idea. The more I researched, the less information I could find that would support my stance. I was finding more reasons that homeschool is a good thing, a GREAT thing, and just couldn’t find much to support my own argument…and what I did find didn’t seem good enough, or wasn’t supported enough. So, I changed my stance and started over and did a pro-homeschool research project.
That project really opened my eyes to the world of homeschooling. I’d never really thought too much about it other than the most common arguments you hear out there: How can you properly socialize your child if they’re not in school? Won’t they turn out weird? What if you completely screw your kid up? How can you teach them everything they need to know? Those were pretty much my arguments against homeschooling going into that project. After completing the project I had a new found respect for parents who homeschool. Even though Anna was only around two at the time and we weren’t even thinking about school of any sort, homeschooling her became a very small blip on my radar.
Over the past 2-3 years I’ve read a lot, A LOT, about homeschooling in books, on the internet, in magazines… It seems to have started becoming more mainstream. A lot of families are homeschooling these days for various reasons. There is such a huge wealth of information out there, especially on the internet, about homeschooling. I read several homeschooling blogs on a regular basis and have learned so, so much. Dan and I decided a year or so ago that homeschooling might be a good option for Anna. I’m almost finished with school to actually be a teacher so I feel more than qualified. I stay at home with her so I have the time. And she’s a smart cookie. I want her to excel and I fear that she’d be bored in a regular classroom.
We decided to start a trial run at the beginning of August to see how well I’d be able to work with Anna on a regular basis. Anna isn’t eligible to start Kindergarten in public school until NEXT fall since she has an early fall birthday (WA’s cutoff is August 31st), but she’s been reading for almost a year now, can do very basic math, count well past 100, etc…so who knows where she’ll be in a year. She’s going to be way ahead of a lot of her peers in a regular Kindergarten classroom. So we’ve been trying the homeschool thing and I’ve been fairly consistent, getting in about 3-4 days a weeks for at least an hour or two of some kind of school “work”. Really, I’m trying to keep it fun right now so a lot of her “work” seems like play to her, which is what she needs.
Just in the past couple of weeks Dan and I decided that homeschooling is definitely the path we want to take. Anna’s doing great with it and I’m amazed how much I’ve taught her just in the past month and a half. She’s enjoying it, and so am I. I’m still trying to get into some kind of groove with it, but from what I’ve read it could take awhile. So, we pulled Anna out of her preschool class and enrolled her in the homeschool P.E. group at the YMCA, which starts next week.
Why did we pull her out of preschool? It just didn’t seem necessary and we’d like to save that money. Really the only reason she would attend would be for the socialization aspect but she can get that elsewhere and gets plenty of it.
How will we ensure that she’s fully socialized? If you’ve met my daughter you know she’s pretty much a social butterfly. She’s never been clingy and is always trying to make friends. She goes to gymnastics twice a week and will do the homeschool group at the YMCA twice a week. She also sees our friends kids on a really regular basis. I am not worried in the least about her socialization. Not. In. The. Least.
Do I have a problem with public school? Not really. I just think at this point it’s not for us. I realize things could change in a year, but if Anna were in a public school right now I don’t think she’d do all that great. I think she’d be completely bored and then would probably act up and not pay attention. Also, I’d like to protect her and keep her as innocent as possible for as long as possible. Schools aren’t like they were when we were kids. Some of the things you hear about happening are scary. I don’t want to keep her in a bubble forever, but maybe for a few more years. :)
So that’s the new path we’re on. Homeschooling. I’ll try to blog about it and am going to attempt to update this thing more often with our homeschool activities and projects we’re working on.
Sorry this was long…when I get going it’s hard to stop typing sometimes.
