That was the correct form of "it's", right? No, I know that it is. I am a stickler about those grammatical elements for sure! Editor at heart.
This post is about my internal battle between homeschooling my kids versus sending them to the best school I can find in whatever area we live in at the time they attend.
Please know this...I know people who are definitely trying homeschooling and I have absolutely NO problems, issues or arguments about that decision. First, in this day and age, what parent doesn't think about the idea of keeping their kids out of schools that are ridden with bullying, abuse of some sort and a growing trend of less than stellar educators? Second, what parent doesn't want to have more control over their child's education so that they know exactly what they are learning - both from books as well as their peers!
I was definitely in the homeschooling mindset when I first looked into H's eyes and fell madly in love. Keep her out of harms way at all costs. Never let her out of my sight. Hang the first boy that breaks her heart by his grimey toenails out a five story window.
As the two years have gone by, I have sat back, done some research, consulted with T and done some major soul searching to determine that we will send H and her future sibling to school. Here is what I came up with and I know T would agree with my lists.
Why I would like to homeschool:
1. Obviously...protection. Protect the most precious things in our life. If they are at home with us, they are not being bullied, abused by somebody in the school that slipped through the background screening, they are not being pulled into trouble by peer pressure, etc.
2. Organization and structure are not only part of my zodiac sign but should also be my middle names. I would love nothing more than to put together a classroom setting, lesson plans and field trips. It would be an interesting spin-off of my former career as a planner and production manager!
3. I know that I could properly educate through my education (albeit my education via public school!) and that T and I could provide priceless real life experiences that would supplement any book education we could teach.
4. I can monitor the level of education H and her sibling would receive and make sure that they are always challenged and never bored.
Why we feel strongly about sending the kids to school:
1. I want them to have the experience. The experience of the first day of school, of making friends on their own, of respecting authority other than that of their parents.
2. H is a very independent kid. And very social as well. I want her to have her own time, away from me and her home, to explore real life in a social environment. I want to pick her up from school and see her run to me telling me all about her day, what she learned and what she made me! ;) I want her to have HER time. Not on my hip but on her own.
3. I realize that all the news we hear about bullying and abuse is scary but, after working in news, it is also sensationalized. Not every school is perfect but not every school harbors sexual predators. And I am sure there are bullies in most, if not all, schools but I have confidence in myself that I can teach H confidence in HERSELF so that it doesn't affect her so negatively that she feels she can't go on.
4. I have many educators - both current and retired - in my family and I respect them greatly. Sure not everyone is perfect and H may have some teachers that aren't up to par but I will be sure to take it upon myself to determine if H should change classes, schools or just supplement her education at home while helping with homework. Saying this, there are many educators who have wanted to teach children since they were children themselves. They have gone to school and have done a lot to get to where they are...unfortunately they aren't paid what they should be by far...but the good ones don't look at it that way. They are in it because they love kids and they love what they do.
5. I want H to experience the fun parts of school (I was the geek that thought learning was the fun part) like Daddy/daughter dances, ring ceremony, prom, pep rallies, spirit weeks, school pride, sports/recreation activities (these are very rare and hard to find in homeschooling - according to the research I have done at least). And, of course, the end-all be-all best part of school...GRADUATION CEREMONY (and the parties that follow).
6. According to my research, there are many universities that don't recognize homeschooling as proper education. I definitely don't agree with that and think that they should be more open-minded in this respect. However, I definitely don't want H to be limited in her college options. (For the record, many homeschoolers prepare their high schoolers to take the necessary assessment tests to make admission a bit more possible but scholarships are very limited).
7. If our decision to send them to school puts them in harm's way, isn't productive or doesn't meet our expectations, we do always have the homeschooling option to fall back on.
Again, let me state that I have absolutely nothing against homeschooling and think that, for some, it is a great solution. I don't think that kids that go to school are any smarter or any better than those who are homeschooled PROPERLY AND THOROUGHLY.
As a matter of fact, I have decided to do a little pre-school school time with H now that she is showing so much interest in learning! I found a great blog by a homeschooler who posted a curriculum and workbooks for a "letter of the week" lesson. H and I will be starting on Monday. It won't be hours of learning but it will be fun projects, games and exercises. She already knows the entire alphabet both by song and by recognition (of capital letters). Now we will be moving on to lower case letters and the sounds that they make. Teaching her the pledge of allegiance (even though I don't agree with all of the wording but that is a completely different post that I may avoid all together), weather, days of the week/calendar and seasons. Like I said, it won't be hours of her sitting down and taking it all in...it will be a little in the morning and a little in the afternoon, Monday through Friday. I asked her tonight if she wanted to "play school" with me and she was super excited. We did the pledge and she repeated it with me. She is just so eager to take more in.
I will let you know how it all goes. I am actually going to purchase a laminator and some other basic "teacher" tools to assist me with this new endeavor. I also read about some other cute ideas and books that will be a great asset to our little school time. Can you tell that I am just as excited as H??
Feel free to let me know your thoughts about homeschooling vs traditional schooling. Or any tips/ideas you have for my little mini-preschool that I will be opening on Monday!
3 comments:
Dad here..I'll skip all the proper puncuations and correct spelling here (as usual) as i attempt a little insight from a Forest Gump perspective! "I'm not a smart man so i know what dumb is." First of all, I'm so proud of you that i could pop! I would love to think that most moms gave as much thought to this subject as you have but I know many of them don't. Working in a parish that has an elementary school in it gives me a little insight from a maintenance perspective. In the life of a maintenance person many of those sweet little angels of perfection turn into destructive little devils as soon as mommy drops them off at school. I do tell everyone that my grand-babies won't act like that no more than my own kid did when she was in prison (i mean, school)!! Home schooling is a great idea, and it seemed to work for Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, but education is so much more than school. I have all these nice teachers who smile at me dailey as they throw trash on the floor and leave it there instead of picking it up! A small thing, but the lesson is learned...kids; throw it on the floor..be inconsiderate, disrespectful,and know someone else will always be there to pick up after you. It's such a small thing but most of our bad habits are learned and come in small doses. Anyway..education is probably still best carried out in the traditional way because hiding children from life can only make it harder on them when they have to go out in the real world. Those bullies will be there waitng for them and it might of been better that they had learned early how to deal with it. I know there are lots of great educators out there..people who really do it for the love of the job and of the children. The one ingrediant that too often is missy is the parents who get involved and really care for what is going on in their child's world... your babies will do great and I'll only have bad things to say 'bout all those other "little angels!"
Loved this post Dawna! What website are you using? I agree with all of your thoughts on this topic. Very well said. You are such a wonderful mommy and it definitely shows. :)
What a great blog! Thank you for posting this. K and I went and are going through some similar decisions. I'd like to briefly share some of our tools and impart some of what we have learned to your readers.
Schools - Not all schools are created equal. There is a fantastic web site that rates schools not only by test scores but also by parent and teacher reviews. It is (or "it's" if you prefer) called http://www.greatschools.org/. I found O's elementary school on this site and decided to try and find a house nearby for convenience. I absolutely love our school and principal. More importantly O loves it and has thrived in her short time there. They also rate preschools etc if you or your readers ever decide to go that route. We had a great time with O's preschool but not so good with R's short experience.
Tucson public schools are open enrollment. Meaning that if you get H on the enrollment list early enough and are willing to do the drive everyday you can send her to any school in the city you choose.
O’s school itself has been a great resource for our near 2 year old boy. The other moms and dads are eager to share their knowledge on how they have and are raising their various children. We have taken bits and pieces from others and have devised our own little preschool schedule that gets K and R out of the house most days. K knows the schedule and details a little better but I'll give it a shot.
M - Free - Library story day. Lots of little kids listening to stories and music. Learning to play with each other and socializing while realizing the importance of reading and song.
T- $5 - Gymnastics World day. More little ones playing together but on various tumbling and gym equipment stuff that gets them crazy in a fun way.
W - Free - Home school day or go hang with little friends day. K will often take R to his friends house to play.
Th - Free - The park just east of CDO high school has a little building that houses a program where parents are given learning tools to teach their children. This is all done while the children are there and playing. I have not been to this but hear it's fantastic. K has her masters in childhood education and loves this program. I love the price.
F - Free - Another trip to a different library for stories and music.
Another fun thing that we sometimes do is on the first Saturday of each month. The UofA bookstore has a story time. At the end of the story the kids get to meet the star character for a photo op. Pretty fun and a trolley ride to Brooklyn Pizza and DQ after makes it a great day.
We have also talked about joining or creating a multi-parent group where parents share their own lesson plans to a small group of kids three days a week. If it was six parents and six kids and two parents took all six kids for each day that would mean the other four parents would get two days off a week to catch up on some much needed person time.
That's all we have that I know about. I'm sure there is more and we will stay tuned in hopes of gaining new tools from your Blog. Gosh, so much for my being brief.
Thanks again, we hope to see you guys in the near future.
:-Dem
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