Olivia has decided that she wants to go to public school, after being homeschooled for the last three years. She wants to be ‘normal’ and go to school, plus she can be with her friends all day. I am just a mixed up mess of emotions: worried, disappointed, anxious, relieved, and a little bit sad. We’ve really been struggling with homeschooling over the last month, and last week was so awful that we decided that we needed a change. After realizing that she can’t go just for one day, we agreed that she would go for the entire year, but if it was really, really, unbearable, she could come back home. I’m worried that she’ll love it, and never want to come back. I’m worried that she’ll hate it, and it will be just awful. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t work together. I’m disappointed that she won’t get as good of an education. While I’m sure that our school district is wonderful, she won’t be learning world history, latin or multiplying fractions; those subjects aren’t part of your typical third grade education. She has a fall birthday, so if she had been in public school all along, she would be in third grade; but, when we homeschooled, she was in fourth grade because we combined kindergarten and first. She decided third grade would be best, mostly because her two best friends are in third grade. In addition, she’ll have to quit her outside classes/activities (zoo, art, girls’ history club, girl scouts); we can’t get to them in time after school is over, or they occur during the day.
I’m relieved that I won’t have to spend my entire day trying to get schoolwork complete, or driving to activities. I’m relieved that I can spend more time with the two little ones. I’m relieved that I won’t have to spend my evenings scouring the library’s online catalog or looking for information online, or laying out tomorrow’s work. I’m relieved that she’ll be able to see what school is all about, and spend time with her friends.
She starts tomorrow – 7:30 on the bus. That’s pretty early for us. Hmmmm…… this should be very interesting.
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I just happened to spot this in your archive. We’re just starting homeschool this year and we’re very excited. We tried public and private school. Each had many drawbacks that I won’t even get into here. I have no doubts this is the right decision for us.
So how have things turned out since this big change??
I don’t have any experience with homeschooling but I know personally I don’t think I could do it. I don’t have the patience for it. I think, though, that it’s a tough call because kids want to be “normal” and be around their friends but in the meantime it makes the parenting job that much more difficult because they are exposed to so much more that you then have to overcome.
I think there is good in that too, however. Kids need to be challenged with the things of this world that may not be good or safe while they are young enough and at home with you to guide them. That way you can help them through it and they can become stronger with your guidance. I know homeschooled kids tend to do a lot more extracurricular stuff for the social aspects, but there is something to be said for allowing them to see that the rules at home apply to the outside world as well.
I’m somewhat concerned about Jake and school. He’s almost 4 and reads at least at a 2nd grade level. How challenged will he be to start kindergarten in Fall of 2009 (because his birthday is in Dec.)???? The thing is, he LOVES school. He’s been going to a Christian preschool doing all the things a normal 3 year old does and he loves it. He was only going 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours and when he wasn’t there he was asking if he could go back. He just likes being with the other kids and doing things different than the things at home.
I’m sure that will change when he’s forced to sit at a desk and already knows the things that are being taught, and I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
You can always teach the stuff she’s not getting anymore on your own. You may have some persuading to do since she’ll already have full time school work, but if done right with some good rewards for certain milestones.
I also think there is something to be said for spending your time with your kids just enjoying them rather than having to “work” all day with them in a different capacity. I know many people thrive with it, but I certainly wouldn’t consider it a failure that this happened. Look at the positive….