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Home-schooling has been on my mind lately.
I started thinking about it recently when Hannah made a remark one weekend that cut me to the quick.
She was lying on the couch reading a book, and I was at the end with her feet on my lap. It was quiet, with nothing but the sounds of the dishwasher and John Matthew playing with building blocks in the next room.
She said, “Ahhh. This is so nice. You know, sometimes I feel like home is just a place I come to visit.”
She explained that she feels most of her time is spent at school, and so little of it at home. I had to agree. I feel that way, too. So I simply said, “I hear ya, sister.” Then I let it go.
It has bothered me since then. Children should feel rooted in home and family. If they feel home is just a place they visit, are they as rooted as they need to be?
But I’d been thinking of it before then. It started when I was pregnant with Hannah and has continued persistently throughout each year of both kids’ lives.
The most serious thought I gave it came in Hannah’s kindergarten year. She was five. So incredibly smart. She read the first Harry Potter novel at 4 ½, and then began plowing through one novel after another. She’d steal our jazz and classical CDs to play in her room. She wanted to have long conversations about the details of what she was reading. She did everything early and was so self-assured. A confident child ready to conquer the world. Then she went to school.
One day after school she seemed agitated and grumpy. After having a snack she went to her room. Ten minutes later I heard her yelling and sobbing. I opened her door to find her standing in front of her mirror, awash in tears, screaming at the image in the mirror that she was stupid and ugly. A little girl told her those things, and she believed them. She internalized them. She was wrecked by them for weeks. She was just five.
Then we moved here. I didn’t feel the public schools were an option after reviewing ACT scores and school rankings. We enrolled her in private school. The academics are okay. But culturally and socially, I’m still not comfortable with what she’s experiencing on a daily basis.
So I delved into lots of material about home-schooling this weekend. I’d do it in a heartbeat if we could manage losing one of our incomes, but we can’t right now. So I’m looking into how other parents who both work full-time during the day have managed the home-school approach. I’m encouraged by what I’m reading. We’ll see what happens.
It would require a significant sacrifice from Karl and me. Can we do it? I don’t know. We’re in the thinking, reading, talking stages.
But I’ll be honest—I want this to work more than anything.
B.
4 comments:
I agree with you totally in your wanting to have more input into their schooling.
Lester and Melissa did that for a long time. I'm not sure they still do but they have three children you wouldn't believe in this day and age. They go against the grain because they are respectful, intelligent, and humble.
You won't see too much of that in todays school systems. While you have them in a private school, I suspect that diversity will hamper their efforts. What I mean by that is that the "individual" doesn't seem to get the encouragement they need if they are above the level of the class they have been assigned to.
I know this can get really complicated and I don't profess to know all I should but there is a lot to be considered before handing our children off to people with great influence.
The biggest challenge is how to do it while working. I don't mean the problem of getting enough instruction into each day. I primarily mean finding a very good caregiver who can be with them while we're at work, and who is involved and interested enough to make sure they're out and doing things: going to the library, playing at the park, and, yes, helping them move through subject areas. I know from experience--we've had a number of caregivers over the years--that finding someone to fit the bill over the long-term will be a huge obstacle.
In a few years, they could be left alone for large chunks of the day. But I don't want to wait a few years.
B.
I still say you should move to or close to Sisterville! I LOVE my job now but would seriously consider the sacrifice of staying home to help the three young ones along, if I find that to be the most positive and promising option for Jaren. There's a lot to be said for all the things a 'big city' may offer to home schooled children. Of course, that would mean the jewelry business would have to go REALLY well!
Oh c'mon. You come this way. Consider this: you could take free classes and get your undergraduate degree. (We could find sitters during the time you have classes. That'd be manageable if you went to school part-time.) You could use the off-the-career-track time to finished up old business (the degree) while having spare time to launch a new business (the jewelry). And the kids could help with the business as part of their homeschooling: math, art, design, languge, etc. See! Perfect! C'MON!!!
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