New Adventures in Homeschooling

As the new school year starts and my Facebook feed fills up with first day of school pics, I feel strangely far removed. This year, I have no first day of school pics to show off. Why? Because I have taken the plunge and undertaken one of the biggest and scariest challenges of my parenting career yet: Homeschooling.

I know all about the negative stereotypes homeschooled children face: They won’t be as smart as their peers. They’re going to be social rejects who don’t know how to fit in. They’ll be free birds who play all day and won’t know how to study and take tests. They’ll be taught things like dinosaurs didn’t exist and have no appreciation for Science. I know, I’ve heard it all. Maybe I even thought some of those things at one time.

But I am not doing this for religious purposes. Although we are a family of faith, I do believe science and religion can co-exist. I will teach her what she needs to know academically, the same things she would be learning in the public school system. And I will give my personal opinion if I don’t agree with something.

And I’m not doing this to “unschool” my child (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I admire homeschooling families that feel comfortable enough to let their kids learn through everyday life, play and nature. But I’m a bit more traditional and that’s just not my thing.

I am taking this step because my child is not getting the education I believe she should be getting. Since leaving Ohio, the quality of my daughter’s education has greatly decreased. She was doing work and coming home with assignments that were a grade level lower in difficulty. Sometimes even two years lower. She wasn’t being challenged. Even the Arizona school system has all but admitted to being substandard.

Yes, I know I could give her extra help after school and on weekends. But honestly, the kid was tired after school. She still had homework to do and by the time that was done, she had nothing left. Believe me, I tried. And for our family, the weekend is a chance to spend time together after a busy work and school week. To let the kids be kids. I began to feel like there was only so much I could do to make up for what she didn’t get during the week.

So after many discussions about alternatives (charter, private?) and much thought and consideration (I mean a lot of serious thought!), we decided the time was now to make a change. I don’t plan on doing this permanently and frankly I wouldn’t want to. But I need this time to have more control over my child’s education. To take matters into my own hands and get my child back to where she needs to be.

But it’s not been easy. We are into our 4th week of homeschooling and I feel like it’s been years. Teaching a 9-year-old, while still having a 3-year-old and a 17-month-old to take care of has been overwhelming at times. We are all adjusting to a new routine as I split my time between the 3 children. I really could use 25 hour days and 8 day weeks at this point, because there seems to never be enough time in the day lately.

I have the weight of the world on my shoulders, knowing that my 4th grader’s educational success and development is all in my hands.  But sometimes, as a parent you have to do what you have to do; to do what is best for your family, no matter what anyone else thinks. And to make some sacrifices, in time and possibly sanity.

But through all the hair-pulling and “what the $#*! was I thinking” moments, I know that this was the best decision. My daughter has struggled in math since she started school. Nothing worked to help her or get her to fully understand the concepts. I feared what would happen as basic math turned into geometry and algebra. But this year, with me as her teacher (math was not my best subject), she’s getting it! I kid you not. She’s doing really well! And that makes my heart sing!

Science has been really fun too. We are continuing our summer of science and incorporating science experiments into our daily homeschooling lessons. One of our homeschooling experiments has been about the 3 States of Matter:

On another day, I could see the fog forming over my daughter as we talked about Isaac Newton and how he discovered gravity (or at least how the story goes). She wasn’t getting the whole apple/gravity correlation. So, we did an impromptu skit about Newton and the apple tree:

I could see the lightbulb come on after that skit. These are the kind of things we are free to do this year, and I’m really enjoying it!

But I do look forward to the day that I can send my dear daughter back into the world (aka the school system), full of knowledge and wonder (yes, I’m getting cheesy). Until then, I will do the best I can to make my child the best she can be, appreciate the time we have together and know that it will all have been worth it in the end. Even if I have no life and want to cry buckets by the time the day is over.