I see all the facebook statuses. You know, the ones of the kids dressed really cute for their first day of school. I see the comments the parents make about being so glad the day has finally come for their kids to go back to school. YAY!!! I am so glad everyone is excited to go back to school!!!
Then you have homeschoolers. You know, the ones that take back to school pictures in their pjs, sitting at the kitchen table or on the living room floor. Everyone so excited to get back to it! YAY!!! I am so glad everyone is excited to go back to school!!!
But then, you see the comments from both sides about how they don't understand the other parents decision. Homeschool moms can't understand the excitement to get rid of your kids all day... public school parents can't understand the need to be with your kids all day. Though there are many reasons to not understand the other side, that seems to be the most of what I see and hear.
Then, you have people just flat out disagree with homeschool. They think the kids NEED to be around other kids all day to be happy. They think they need to learn from another person. They even think that mom simply needs a break from kids and sending them to school is the perfect way to get that break.
I can't speak for all homeschool families, but I can speak for my own...
I do NOT need a break from my kids every single day. Nor do my kids NEED to be around other kids all day. Nor do they need to learn from another person. What my kids need is love, attention, and someone to care about their education. I do all of that, PLUS SOME!
"But what about socialization"? Oh please... have you beed to a school recently? Tell me when, exactly, do they get to socialize? Recess? Well, that's only if the parents didn't forget to sign their folder and they are made to sit out that day. Lunch? Try again, if it gets too loud they are then forced to sit in silence. Socialization happens when they socialize... not just because they happened to sit in a room full of silent people.
"But you don't have a degree, what could you possibly teach them"? Now, this question bothers me. So, I need a degree to teach my own kids? Should we start requiring this at first sign of pregnancy? I mean, we begin teaching our children at birth: how to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, etc. Then, we teach them to count, say the alphabet, and often times read. Yeah, let's start requiring parents to have a degree to teach their kids...
Ok, so now you see the issue with that... great... but still think to teach any kind of "formal" education I should have a degree? What if I told you I began to get my degree in education. I have taken both lower and upper level courses, because I was pursuing my teaching degree. Would that change your mind? GREAT! Now... what if I said that it was those classes that were exactly the reason I chose to homeschool? Education isn't what it used to be. I promise you that. There are some really amazing teachers that do care with everything they have... but then there are these standards that could make any teacher overwhelmed and give up, even on her students.
Plus, something I learned in my fancy education classes is that children are 98% more likely to do well in their studies when they are given 1-on-1 attention, feel loved, and feel safe in their learning environment. I feel that I can provide that for my kids, and schools just can't.
Now... I write all of this with purpose. I know that many still won't agree with our decision to homeschool. That's fine. But I am here, asking for you to at least support us through our journey. We are going to have bad days. We will have hard days. We will have days that we get nothing done, but we will also have days we get more done than planned. We will butt heads, we will get frustrated and want to give up... and we may even have days that someone locks themselves in the bathroom to cry (me most likely). But we will also have amazing days, days that we learn something amazing, we do something amazing... or days we just all get along, days learning seems easy... and days that we will be so excited to tell everyone about!
And, it's through all of it... good and bad, that we need support. We don't need to be told that sending them to school would take away the stress (because it really won't, it will just be a different kind of stress), we don't need to be told we brought it on ourselves by choosing homeschool, we don't need to be reminded of our options. We are fully aware of our options... we just don't consider them as options that fit our family.
We didn't choose to homeschool because we thought it would be easy. In
fact, that would be exactly the reason NOT to homeschool... IT'S HARD...
I have to make sacrifices... but, I love them and want the best for
them, and I just can't see our school system being the best for them. I
want them to grow, learn, and develop the way THEY need to, not the way
a handul of people says most children do so all children should.
What we do need is to be reminded that we chose this out of our love for our children. That we chose this to given them the best possible opportunity to learn, grow, and develop the way they can do it best! That the sacrifices we make today will pay off when our children are grown! We need to be reminded of the good, the why's, and the desired outcome.
So, disagree if you must. But, please just support and love us through it. It's all we ask for!
