What have I gotten myself into? This is not what I had envisioned! Don't get me wrong, homeschooling is great, but it is HARD--I am not going to lie. I am not an English major. I am not a creative writer, but I did want to start a place where I can offer encouragement to those who have taken the same path our family did. This may not be the most polished, but it will certainly be 100% authentic.
One of the first questions I am asked is, "Why did you choose homeschooling?". That's a good question. I don't know that we really chose homeschooling, but homeschooling chose us. My reasoning is often different from most.
Why did I choose to homeschool? TIME
It's that simple. I feel I can make the most of the time I am given with my children. It wasn't the school system. It wasn't the school's curriculum. It wasn't the obvious agenda. It was TIME.
My third child started kindergarten in 2019. I hated packing lunchboxes. I hated driving carpool. I hated class parties. So, when the school let out for COVID, and he came home, I was thrilled. Little did I know how far behind he really was. Now, I had TIME to catch him up.
We discovered early that fall that he had dyslexia. Unfortunately, where we live, the public schools offer no specified intervention for dyslexia. There is no one in this area that can even professionally diagnose him. Thus, we couldn't even get services if we wanted them. It took me a long time to finally to admit that dyslexia was the root of his problems. You see, I have a Masters in Education with a supplemental reading endorsement focused on dyslexia. I was trying not to project that on to my son. However, it got to the point where it could not be ignored. He fit 95% of the indicators. I ran several different screenings, and each one came back more positive than the first. Thankfully, I had already started an intervention program with him that had already made drastic improvements. We are still using it to this day.
We needed another option, so I enrolled him in the virtual school with my older two. First grade was a dream. Teachers were awesome. He worked at a pace better fit for him. I had more control over his learning. Second grade was a disaster. I felt no one listened. It was a constant battle to keep him out of remediation classes. It was a waste of TIME. Testing took up hours of potential instruction. We couldn't take it anymore. My older two had already transitioned to homeschool (explained in another post). I threw my hands up and said, "If I am going to give some of them my TIME, then I will give all of them my TIME."
We do not "unschool." We have a structured time of learning. We follow a curriculum, whether formal or informal. However, our TIME is spent on learning and the waste of transitions, of walking to specials, of class-wide bathroom breaks, of walking to the cafeteria, of dealing with class disruptions, of fire drills, of bullies, of afterschool parent-teacher conferences.....it's all gone! We can now stand up and learn if we need to. We can jump up and down while practicing the preamble to the Constitution. We can spin in our chair and practice multiplication tables. We can read our textbook in the recliner. No more missing school for doctor's appointments. No more two-hour delays for snow or inclement weather. We go out and play in the snow and then do school! There is more hands-on learning.
Now, don't get me wrong. This sounds dreamy, but we also deal with the fact that I am the teacher and mom at the same time. I get the mouth they wouldn't dare give a teacher. The battles are hard. The battles are long, but the battles are worth my TIME.
I hope to be able to share our journey, our struggles, our victories, as well as strategies and ideas. While we are fairly new to homeschooling, I've been in education for over 20 years. I've seen what works and what doesn't. Come with us as we journey down this path together, but hang on because I promise it will be a bumpy ride.
