We've Decided to Homeschool

We drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak.  Here's our story.

I've been anti-homeschool for most of my life.  I attended public schools in the 80s and 90s and excelled.  However, I never felt like I fit there.  Most of what I learned up until high school, I figured out on my own.  I taught myself to read with the help of my older sister when I was 5.  I looked over her shoulder when she did her math homework and I worked alongside her.  She's 6 years older than me.  I read my mom's Danielle Steele books when I ran out of my own age-appropriate books.  Algebra and Chemistry were fun.  I enjoyed memorizing bones and muscles.  But I'm still considered a success story because I made good grades.  I set the curve on the tests.  I went on to college and completed a degree in Physical Therapy.  Public school worked for me.  Why would it be any different for my kids?

Fast forward to our own children.  When our oldest started preschool at our church it was because I needed a little more time to take care of our newborn twins.  She would come home upset that her teacher was mean and made her do things she didn't want to do.  She had friends but didn't always get along with her classmates.  She was exhausted  She began to act out.  At the time I blamed it on sibling rivalry.  Now I know it's because she wasn't getting enough time with me, regardless of her sisters being present.  And she wasn't being taught the way she needed to learn.  We finished the school year there and enrolled in public school the next year.  She did well in preK and Kindergarten.  She was one of the smartest kids in the class.  In first grade her and a couple of other kids needed more advanced readers.  They had mastered the current curriculum.  She was bored a lot.  She didn't understand why she needed to do worksheet after worksheet on material she already knew.  In second grade, 6 weeks in, her teacher told me she was having trouble with reading comprehension.  She had never had trouble in reading up until this point.  She was one of the top readers in her class, remember?  What changed?  They had taught her to read the words but she wasn't taking it in.  She scored high on their tests so they didn't recognize the problem.  Since then, she's fallen farther and farther behind.   So much that we thought she wouldn't pass the OCCT test at the end of her third grade year.  She did, luckily.  Passing it meant she wouldn't need remediation the next year.  Or would she?  They began pulling her a few weeks into fourth grade.  I didn't know.  She would bring home phonics worksheets.  Phonics.  In fourth grade.  She needed the advanced reader remember?  She began failing chapter tests.  More remediation.  Then she got the Flu.  She was going to miss an entire week of school.  I called on our way home from the doctor to request her work so we could work on it at home.  Their "policy" states I can't request until the third day absent.  Three days she sat in front of the TV.  On the third day she was organizing my pantry and cleaning out my car.  She was bored.  And she was becoming more and more upset at the thought of her work piling up.  She was already behind.  What was this going to do to her?  This is where we are now.

Daughter two is 6 1/2.  First grade.  She played hookie yesterday because she was exhausted.  Getting up at 6:30am everyday to catch the bus is tough for her.  She read an entire chapter book and watched a DVD from Popular Mechanics.  She was happy.  She brought home her report card this semester and has "exceeded expectations" on almost every skill they've tested.  Where does she go from here?  Does the teacher have the time and energy to devote to giving her extra, more challenging work?  If the teacher is able to give her extra attention, what happens to the other kids in the class?  The "average" kids?

Which brings me to Daughter three.  She is "average".  She's doing well in most areas.  Struggling a little with "sight words".  She's been to a reading coach.  She's had her vision tested.  She's a little test shy, which may explain a few of her low test scores.  But she'll fly under the radar for a few years like her older sister did until they start testing different skills.  Then she'll be behind.  She'll be labeled as such.  She'll grow more and more frustrated because she isn't like the kid next to her.  She isn't like her twin sister. 

All three kids learning in different ways, on different levels, but their tests are all the same.  Tests written by people who've never met them...or any other kids in their school.  How can they be expected to succeed?  They might; I did.  But what if they don't?  What if they completely shut down and begin to hate learning?  What if they become satisfied with being "average"?

I could write more.  There are so many instances of homework that didn't make sense.  Right answers being marked wrong on tests.  Methods that are too confusing for even the smartest of kids.  Kids being made to sit still and be quiet all day.  Shortened lunches and recesses.  The reasons are many.

We will finish this school year and begin our homeschool adventures in July.  I'm planning a year round approach because learning never stops.  We'll do three weeks on / one week off with extended breaks around the holidays and a month off every summer to just relax and be free.  We won't sit at our desks for 7 hours a day.  We'll spend a few hours here, a few hours there.  Lots of hands-on learning inside and outside our home.  I'm not buying a curriculum.  I know this is scary for a lot of people, but curriculum is expensive and there is no guarantee it'll work for all three of my girls.  We'll constantly reevaluate what we need to be learning and change things as needed.  We won't take tests.  There will be no assigned homework.  Everything will be done together as a group.

I plan to update this blog every week once we begin. We want to share what we're learning.  We want a digital log to look back on...a yearbook if you will.  We want to help other students who may be struggling.  The girls may even guest post from time to time.

That's our story.  This is our adventure...