Homeschooling: The Ups and Downs, Part 3

OK, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about all of the negatives of homeschooling I've faced. Now it's time to move on to the good stuff!

Ever since becoming a parent, I have gone back and forth over whether or not I'd homeschool. I was sure I would in the beginning, but a couple of years ago I started wishing we could send our boys to a small Christian school instead. I dreamed of being an involved mom in the classroom and eagerly waiting for the kids to get home from school with a batch of cookies waiting for them. How nice it would be to have a break from them and have time to devote to fun projects, or even just time to clean the house without the distractions! And to be honest, I think part of it was peer pressure. At the time, there were no families at my church who homeschooled. Well, there were a couple of families that did, but their kids were much older- high schoolers. A lot of the families sent their kids to private schools. We prayed about it, and even sent Jonah to preschool for a few months at the school we wanted to send him to. But it was just too expensive. The money was not there in our budget. And once we started sending Jonah to preschool, I quickly realized that it was not perfect. The grass was not greener on the other side. Jonah, being the quiet, shy type, experienced a little bit of bullying. Nothing serious, but it was enough to make us rethink our plan. When I picked him up one day, I asked him how it went and if it had been a good day, his reply was, "Well, I didn't get hit today." I had had enough. The monthly tuition was a drain on our budget, and preschool was only half of the tuition of K-8th grade, he wasn't loving it, and now he was being picked on by another student. It was obvious that God was closing that door. We were back to our original plan: homeschooling.

But I'm so glad that we sent Jonah to preschool, even for those short 4 1/2 months. I was really embarrassed when I had to pull him out because we couldn't afford it. I felt so stupid. Why did I ever bother signing him up in the first place?! But it taught me so many lessons. The most important one was I now fully understood that no matter what you choose to do for school, it isn't going to be absolutely perfect. During a hard day of homeschooling, I won't be able to say, "Oh, it would be so much better/easier if he could go to Christian school. I wish we could send him."

I really thought that since I was homeschooled myself, I was pretty aware of the homeschooling world. Wrong! A lot has changed since I graduated. There are so many different methods of homeschooling that I had no idea existed. Are you a classical/traditional homeschooler, or eclectic, or following the Charlotte Mason method, or an unschooler, etc, etc? When I first started reading up, I was overwhelmed. I thought you just homeschooled? There are various styles and methods?

Then to choose curriculum. Wow, is that crazy! There are hundreds of publishers, all with their own curriculum. All with their own pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses. Where do you start? And you're afraid of choosing the wrong thing and completely screwing up your child's education. I still constantly second-guess myself, and research new material online all the time, which is apparently very common for homeschooling parents. You're always wondering if you're using the best books to educate your children. I have tried to reassure myself by focusing on the question- Are my kids learning and growing?

If I were to send my kids to school, whether public or private, I doubt I'd give much thought to what curriculum the school is using. I might have an opinion once my kid has really used it, but I think I'd let the school decide what to use and leave it up to them. There is no curriculum that is right for every single student. Every kid is different and so are their learning styles and needs! I just need to do my best and trust that it will all work out in the end. I need to be willing to reevaluate something that's not working, but there is no need to rock the boat if it is going well and Jonah is learning.

Jonah has learned a lot since we started. We used to only be able to do an hour or so at a time before he was staring at me with his eyes glazed over. Now we can work for longer periods of time if we need to, and he can work faster! He went from writing his first name in all caps (and that is all the writing he ever did before we started kindy!) to writing his first and last name with proper capitalization and copying sentences. I'm probably way too hard on his handwriting, because I don't think it's very good, but I have to remind myself that he has only been writing for a few months and over time he'll improve. Most of his friends his actual age are girls and they all have fabulous and beautiful handwriting, but each of those girls have been writing for much longer and wanted to learn how to write at an earlier age. It's hard not to compare though! My goal is for his handwriting to be better than his Daddy's since Raymond can barely read his own handwriting, it's that bad. Sorry, hon!

Jonah is doing really well in math and has really taken off with his reading skills. I love "catching" him reading a book on the couch to himself. I pray he develops a genuine love for reading and doesn't ever view it as a chore. I want him to be a bookworm! We've had a great start with building foundational skills and I want it to continue for a very long time. I love that we can work at his pace, slowing down when a concept needs to be explained and whizzing through the stuff he easily understands. That is one of the best things about homeschooling; a customized education.

I'm learning, too. I didn't think this would really happen very much since he is in kindergarten, but oh yeah, there are things I don't know. Sometimes I am uncertain of an answer, but Jonah will get it and give the correct answer while I'm flipping to the Teacher's Manual to look up the answer because I'm stumped or confused. Haha! And I just learned a new word out of his phonics workbook-skiff. I had to look it up online because I didn't know what it was! Apparently various types of small boats can be called a skiff, if you didn't know.

At this point, with 140+ days of official "school" under my belt, I know we plan to do this for a long time. But I know I need to take it year by year, month by month, and even day by day. For now though I am enjoying these special days with my son that I wouldn't have if we didn't homeschool, simply because he wouldn't be home with me if he went to school. I love that when my husband asks at dinner, "So, what did you learn today?" and Jonah says "Nothing." or "I don't remember." (and yes, homeschool kids do that too!) I can pipe up and remind him of what we did, hahaha!

to be continued