Owen has been requesting for a while now that he be allowed his own blog. (We'll leave out any commentary on what that says about me.)
So I decided Owen and I will start a blog together at a different spot in the blogosphere to share our homeschool adventures. That way this blog won't be overrun with homeschool blogging (except when I want it to) and there will be a more appropriate space for me to post all the silly pictures of him that Owen is often asking me to post on my own blog.
I'm leaving most of the editorial decisions up to him in terms of blog layout, themes, colors, fonts and pictures. The blog title was his choice--the tagline was my choice. So if there is a lack of continuity across the whole blog--it is apparently intentional. We aren't done with all of it yet, but we got our first two posts up. If you are interested--come have a look:
Boys All Together--This Counts as School Right?
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Changes
We aren't sending Owen back to school this year.
It's been a decision long-in-coming, hard and yet very simple at the same time. Debates rage all around the issue of schooling, and yet all we can do is be true to ourselves and the desires we have for our family and our children. Our peace about the decision has come as we did our best to block out any "supporting" arguments one way or another and trust our hearts.
One year ago I got Owen dressed in a new outfit, packed his lunch and put it in his backpack, took his picture on the front porch, and walked him down to school with his little brothers in the stroller--along for the ride. I dropped Owen off to line up in the gym with the rest of his class, then waited down the hall for his class to walk by on the way to their room. I saw him walking along with the other kids, took his picture as he smiled at me, walked on past us, and disappeared into his classroom. I sighed a brave sigh, then turned around to see this:
Jonas, absolutely devastated at being abandoned by his brother cried the whole walk home. (He hadn't known we were walking somewhere together to go leave Owen.) And as I walked I wondered what I was doing to our little family.
Kindergarten was great for Owen. He made friends, learned to read, had a great teacher, and didn't even get in trouble 1/8th of as often as I had expected. There are always little things that bug you, but the main thing that bothered me was simply: Owen was gone from us. And as the year went on it was the same issue: he's gone all the time.
I have always acknowledged homeschooling as an option for my children. We did a "mommy preschool" for Owen, and when we started Owen's speech therapy through the school district services I was a little wary wondering--but what if I don't put him in the school district kindergarten afterwards "will they be mad?". I started considering homeschooling more seriously mid-year for Owen, and felt immediately strongly drawn to the idea. But at the same time I did not feel an urgency, to remove him immediately.
But the more I thought about it the more I felt like this is what we wanted. It's as simple as that. Not "it's the best choice," or "most beneficial," or he'll be the smartest this way," or anything like that. Simply--it is what we want.
What we want is for him to grow up with his brothers. That's how we always imagined our family. For them to learn together, and play together, and develop invested relationships that they can each fall back on for strength later in their lives. We want them to be outside in the natural world. To spend uninterrupted hours playing out in the beautiful fall weather that will quickly be here. I want my children to recognize me and Jeremy as sources of knowledge and guidance in their lives (though not the only source of course). And I want to be privy to watching my children explore and learn, develop and grow. But back again to the most important feeling--that I want them to do it together.
Looking at that picture of Jonas breaks my heart. If the major goals of sending Owen away to school can be accomplished without sending Owen away to school--then that is what we choose.
We choose together.
It's been a decision long-in-coming, hard and yet very simple at the same time. Debates rage all around the issue of schooling, and yet all we can do is be true to ourselves and the desires we have for our family and our children. Our peace about the decision has come as we did our best to block out any "supporting" arguments one way or another and trust our hearts.
One year ago I got Owen dressed in a new outfit, packed his lunch and put it in his backpack, took his picture on the front porch, and walked him down to school with his little brothers in the stroller--along for the ride. I dropped Owen off to line up in the gym with the rest of his class, then waited down the hall for his class to walk by on the way to their room. I saw him walking along with the other kids, took his picture as he smiled at me, walked on past us, and disappeared into his classroom. I sighed a brave sigh, then turned around to see this:
Kindergarten was great for Owen. He made friends, learned to read, had a great teacher, and didn't even get in trouble 1/8th of as often as I had expected. There are always little things that bug you, but the main thing that bothered me was simply: Owen was gone from us. And as the year went on it was the same issue: he's gone all the time.
I have always acknowledged homeschooling as an option for my children. We did a "mommy preschool" for Owen, and when we started Owen's speech therapy through the school district services I was a little wary wondering--but what if I don't put him in the school district kindergarten afterwards "will they be mad?". I started considering homeschooling more seriously mid-year for Owen, and felt immediately strongly drawn to the idea. But at the same time I did not feel an urgency, to remove him immediately.
But the more I thought about it the more I felt like this is what we wanted. It's as simple as that. Not "it's the best choice," or "most beneficial," or he'll be the smartest this way," or anything like that. Simply--it is what we want.
What we want is for him to grow up with his brothers. That's how we always imagined our family. For them to learn together, and play together, and develop invested relationships that they can each fall back on for strength later in their lives. We want them to be outside in the natural world. To spend uninterrupted hours playing out in the beautiful fall weather that will quickly be here. I want my children to recognize me and Jeremy as sources of knowledge and guidance in their lives (though not the only source of course). And I want to be privy to watching my children explore and learn, develop and grow. But back again to the most important feeling--that I want them to do it together.
Looking at that picture of Jonas breaks my heart. If the major goals of sending Owen away to school can be accomplished without sending Owen away to school--then that is what we choose.
We choose together.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Master Plan
We, as parents, have the responsibility to fully educate our children.
If we choose to we can delegate some of that responsibility to other teachers, mentors, and institutions, but particularly when our children are young the responsibility to see that education is happening still falls back onto the parents.
In the book A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion (Which IS a book on home-based education, but don't dismiss it because you aren't a homeschooling family because you'll completely miss where I am going with this conversation) it talks about creating a Master Plan for the education of your children, and I found it completely fascinating. Diann Jepson outlines nine key elements of an effective master plan. Take a look:
Academic Programs--Some people may immediately fill in "Public Schools K-12". But I think it is important to realize that that is a choice. As I've considered the education of my children I've found some of the complete resistance to doing anything differently very interesting. There is this idea that using the public schools is "just what you do" because that's why it exists. But there are other options for academic programs. There's online schools and private schools and home schools. As far as home schooling, some people might use full prepared curriculum that they purchase, Other people simply have a house full of good books that they open often with their children.
Classics: your list -- If you ever said "Oh I loved reading that book when I was little. I will definitely read that to my own children one day." That is where this list comes from. It's important to realize that classics exist in every field of study--who were the pioneers of that field and what did they produce? Art, music, writings, autobiographies. There's more to education than text books.
Cultural Literacy, Breadth and Depth -- Listing and considering all the topic areas that you find important in your children's cultural literacy can help you see where your personal list of classics, might need some supplementation. Art, citizenship, geography, philosophy, major fields of science, architecture, government, foreign language. Parent's all over put their children in "extra-curricular activities" Do we choose those based on how they are helping develop our children into more well-rounded people, or because it was the cheapest option or what their friends were doing?
Adult skills --There's always one freshman that gets to the college dorms without really knowing how to do their own laundry--I won't let that be my kid! There's also cooking, knowing how to sew a button back on, and perform first aid. Maintaining a car and bike, and basic household appliances and whatever skills might be important in your family situation. And most of this skills education should happen at home, by way of example and teaching from parents, or neighbors or grandparents.
Organizational Programs --These are programs in existence that you want to use to help your children develop skills and attributes you desire. Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Suzuki, dance/science/math camps, church youth achievement programs, continental congress simulation etc.
Experience -- Some experiences are things we just think our children should have experience with before reaching adulthood. Public speaking, a musical performance, lead a group, create a small business and similar things.
Places to Go -- Climbing mountains, visiting historical sites or other countries, a rafting trip or survival trek. All the places that going in person will help to round out your children's education.
God --Obviously our plan for the spiritual education of our children falls outside the responsibility of any state-run schools.
Family Relationships --How will you nurture the family environment you desire?
After you decide the "what" your children's education will consist of on the educational master plan, you outline the systems of "how" you will see to it. So "Enroll son in 4-H at age 7, support his activities in it" goes on the plan as well as, "Family read-aloud time for a half hour every night at 7:30," to get through your list of literature classics.
Reading through these elements of an Education Master Plan and how to create systems to implement it was so empowering for me. So much of it was the type of intuitive planning I did before I was married and before I was a mother.
I grew up in a rich learning environment. My mother had studied early childhood education, and was always providing learning opportunities for us. She loved learning herself and that came through in the household we grew up in. We went on hikes, visited museums, took classes, read books and I grew up desiring to do many of those same kinds of things with my own children.
It can feel like a burden but is very important to realize that we are responsible for the education of our children, and also to realize that even if we've chosen to put our children in public schools that that doesn't mean their whole education is covered. We, as parents, have work to do.
If we choose to we can delegate some of that responsibility to other teachers, mentors, and institutions, but particularly when our children are young the responsibility to see that education is happening still falls back onto the parents.
In the book A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion (Which IS a book on home-based education, but don't dismiss it because you aren't a homeschooling family because you'll completely miss where I am going with this conversation) it talks about creating a Master Plan for the education of your children, and I found it completely fascinating. Diann Jepson outlines nine key elements of an effective master plan. Take a look:
Academic Programs--Some people may immediately fill in "Public Schools K-12". But I think it is important to realize that that is a choice. As I've considered the education of my children I've found some of the complete resistance to doing anything differently very interesting. There is this idea that using the public schools is "just what you do" because that's why it exists. But there are other options for academic programs. There's online schools and private schools and home schools. As far as home schooling, some people might use full prepared curriculum that they purchase, Other people simply have a house full of good books that they open often with their children.
Classics: your list -- If you ever said "Oh I loved reading that book when I was little. I will definitely read that to my own children one day." That is where this list comes from. It's important to realize that classics exist in every field of study--who were the pioneers of that field and what did they produce? Art, music, writings, autobiographies. There's more to education than text books.
Cultural Literacy, Breadth and Depth -- Listing and considering all the topic areas that you find important in your children's cultural literacy can help you see where your personal list of classics, might need some supplementation. Art, citizenship, geography, philosophy, major fields of science, architecture, government, foreign language. Parent's all over put their children in "extra-curricular activities" Do we choose those based on how they are helping develop our children into more well-rounded people, or because it was the cheapest option or what their friends were doing?
Adult skills --There's always one freshman that gets to the college dorms without really knowing how to do their own laundry--I won't let that be my kid! There's also cooking, knowing how to sew a button back on, and perform first aid. Maintaining a car and bike, and basic household appliances and whatever skills might be important in your family situation. And most of this skills education should happen at home, by way of example and teaching from parents, or neighbors or grandparents.
Organizational Programs --These are programs in existence that you want to use to help your children develop skills and attributes you desire. Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Suzuki, dance/science/math camps, church youth achievement programs, continental congress simulation etc.
Experience -- Some experiences are things we just think our children should have experience with before reaching adulthood. Public speaking, a musical performance, lead a group, create a small business and similar things.
Places to Go -- Climbing mountains, visiting historical sites or other countries, a rafting trip or survival trek. All the places that going in person will help to round out your children's education.
God --Obviously our plan for the spiritual education of our children falls outside the responsibility of any state-run schools.
Family Relationships --How will you nurture the family environment you desire?
After you decide the "what" your children's education will consist of on the educational master plan, you outline the systems of "how" you will see to it. So "Enroll son in 4-H at age 7, support his activities in it" goes on the plan as well as, "Family read-aloud time for a half hour every night at 7:30," to get through your list of literature classics.
Reading through these elements of an Education Master Plan and how to create systems to implement it was so empowering for me. So much of it was the type of intuitive planning I did before I was married and before I was a mother.
I grew up in a rich learning environment. My mother had studied early childhood education, and was always providing learning opportunities for us. She loved learning herself and that came through in the household we grew up in. We went on hikes, visited museums, took classes, read books and I grew up desiring to do many of those same kinds of things with my own children.
It can feel like a burden but is very important to realize that we are responsible for the education of our children, and also to realize that even if we've chosen to put our children in public schools that that doesn't mean their whole education is covered. We, as parents, have work to do.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Homeschool Wars
Educational methods are not eternal truths. There is no "one great education model" to be used with all students. The mentality that there is one, is one of the problems I see with public schools--it's a one-size-fits all model. The interesting thing is--I see a lot of the same mentality among homeschooling families.
One homeschooling mom wrote that she hesitated to define or label their homeschooling style because many homeschooling families end up worshiping their educational philosophy over actual education. The more I've browsed homeschooling blogs and websites on the internet the more I see it is true.
All of these philosophies basically boil down to a single person's ideas about education. And they are great ideas. But why should I believe that someone I've never met--and oftentimes isn't even alive anymore knew exactly what my child would need to become educated or what I would need to be able to help him on that journey? That sounds just like how disconnected my child is from the state or federal education boards.
I've done a decent amount of research on educational philosophies and so far believe that my ideal doesn't fall anywhere far enough inside one of these camps to even hint that my philosophy is modeled after theirs. Though I do think they have many great ideas between the lot of them.
In no particular order here is an non-exhaustive list of some of the common homeschooling philosophies and some parts of the philosophies that I like and would see as a good fit in my children's education.
Waldorf--Children benefit from the stability and predictability of the following of rhythms and recognition of seasons.
--Being out in nature is good for children.
Montessori--Children often have high intellectual capacity from young ages.
--Children should learn to take care of themselves and their belongings.
Thomas Jefferson (Leadership) Education--Every field of study has it's "classics" and to become educated in a field best you should use the classics.
Charlotte Mason--Young children should have short lessons (about 20-30 minutes).
--Books should not be boring.
Classical Education--All areas of study are explored three times--in it's basic facts as a young child, with more understanding of why as an older child, and finally as young adults learning application of ideas. Each stage building upon what was learned as a younger child.
Unit Study--Reading, writing, science, and math can be combined in meaningful ways focused around interesting topics.
--- Education can easily include learners of different ages and abilities.
Literature-based--Good literature gives great jumping-off points for further study.
Unschooling--Children should be encouraged to find their own interests and given the opportunity to pursue them freely.
--Children learn a lot even we are not "teaching" them.
Of course it's important to remember that as much as any ideas may appeal to my tastes, I have to remember that it is actually my child who's tastes I should be deeply concerned with. As all children are different I expect tastes and aptitudes may be different with each of my children. So although it would be nice to join a "club" of homeschooling purists in some philosophy or another--I think once again I will simply avoid labels, reserve the right to think for myself, and probably have less friends because of it. But of course the goal shouldn't be friends for myself--it should be about great education for my children. . . right?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Evening Lecture
Lillian and Frank Gilbreth (the parents in Cheaper by the Dozen) would attend lectures for their Saturday evenings dates together. When I read this part of the book I laughed out loud to Jeremy "Who even hears of lectures these days? Let alone attends them for pleasure!" It seems like such a quaint old notion. But then I actually had to laugh again because I am apparently the "who" that is interested in attending a lecture for pleasure. I already had planned and-- after being snowed out last week-- we are on for tonight for an evening lecture.
I've asked two experienced homeschooling moms to speak to myself (and all the other people I could interest) about their experiences with homeschooling. Specifically three things:
This isn't a shocking "bet you never thought you'd hear those words come out of my mouth" situation. In reality I've said on many occasions that I may be interested in homeschool. I've never been "committed" to the public school system. The system is a tool, or opportunity, that is there for me to use if I feel it's right. I felt no need to enroll Owen in a preschool when he turned three. Feeling like it was certainly within my abilities to teach my own child his ABCs, colors and 123s--I organized a preschool co-op instead. I was really unsure about putting Owen into the school district preschool for speech services. We did it because it felt right to us and it turned out to be a great blessing for Owen.
Jeremy and I always knew that we would not simply drop our kids off at school and forget about them. Jeremy and I each have a day we volunteer in the classroom for reading centers every week. I also joined the PTO, started attending meetings and got put in charge of classroom parties. The volunteering for reading time is good, but I previously held some idea that the PTO did more than throw parties for the kids--so it's not quite the same as being "involved" in my son's education other ways. Really I feel like I don't have a clue what Owen is gone doing every day.
Cheaper by the Dozen was a very inspiring example of making the home a place of learning--supplementing school learning with self-motivated "fun" learning. I also read a great article on my church website about making the home a House of Learning telling lots of examples of how parents were able to be involved in supplementing their children's school education at home. After one of the examples the author asks "Were there any conflicts between the home program and the school program? No—the two enhanced each other."
This is not how I feel. I do feel like there is a conflict. I think I would be capable of supplementing Owen's education at home--if he was ever at home that is.
Owen wakes up at 7:20 and after an hour of "Eat your breakfast. Go put some socks on. Find your backpack." we leave the house at 8:20 for school. We enter the house again 7 hours and 40 minutes later at 4:00pm. Owen goes to sleep four hours later at 8:00 pm. An hour of that time home I am in the kitchen getting dinner ready. An hour (or more) of that time is spend in the "Find your pj's. Brush your teeth. Get ready for bed." mode. So that leaves 2 possible hours of our day that might involve quality "happy" time with Owen. Honestly, in this first year of kindergarten I've come to feel like my life with Owen is already over. I might as well help him fill out college applications and get him an apartment because he's gone!
But he's my baby! He's only 5 and that's barely past 4 and I never see him.
It will only get worse. He doesn't have any homework this year. But in the coming years he'd get plenty of that too. And there's always sports teams or music lessons to take up the rest of the time.
But it goes beyond just wanting to actually spend time with my child--I have responsibilities to fulfill as his mother as well. I have things I'm expected to teach him. Things like good manners, responsibility, and the more important things of God. But I cannot see where the time for me to teach this can come in our current schedule. I want to teach my children "meaningful work" and real responsibilities. Throwing his oatmeal bowl in the sink, and making his bed on the way out the door doesn't really seem all that meaningful to me. And we need time for family study of the scripture, and Family Home Evenings. Time for my children to work to develop their own testimonies of the Gospel. Time.
Something I read on a homeschooling blog has really stuck with me. They were talking about choosing the right homeschooling philosophy/curriculum to base your children's education on, but it can be applied on an even larger scale to base what form of education you give your child. The questions was, consider the curriculum you want to use--does it reflect your family's values?
My current answer is "No." I don't mean does public school teach my children my religious beliefs, I mean our values. Like the value of meaningful work I was talking about. Another thing we place high value on is our family and family relationships--over so many other things in life. One of the big problems I'm having with "school" right now it the underlying idea that schools are meant to replace families.Not in a devious way--in fact I'm sure it's a benefit to many children who don't have a stable loving family at home--but not for my child.
At Owen's school children can be dropped off up to an hour before school for Boys and Girls' club. Then they can have school breakfast, have lunch and a snack at school, and stay after school again for another hour and a half and have another snack. So the parents pick up their kid after work, feed them dinner put them to bed, then dress them in the morning and drop them off again at school. That makes me sad for those kids. And it makes me sad when Owen asks, "Mom, can I stay after school for Boys and Girls' club? It's really fun," (as his friends prompt him), because I tell him "No, we missed you and want to spend time with you."
I've never said that I would homeschool as a rule, because in situations where there is no moral absolute right and wrong I feel it's best to make decisions based on how you feel in the current situation, not based on fear or superstitions you've heard other people talk about. (This relates to my decision to happily birth naturally in a hospital as well.) To really do what's right for your child means actually looking at each specific child's needs and desires. That's why we put Owen into preschool after teaching him at home for a year and a half. At the time it felt right and we saw the blessings from making that decision.
Public school is no longer feeling completely right for Owen. I'm not against public schools as a whole--Jeremy and I both came through public education just fine. And it's definitely nothing against the teachers or faculty. I love Owen's teacher and think his principle is great too. I just don't know that this is what we want for Owen right now. I'm not convinced that homeschool is the one true answer that will save our children either. I've always been interested in charter schools and other forms of alternative education. I really think it comes down to each individual child, and the different educational resources that are available at the time.
But I believe the more educated I am on the subject the better. So I am excited to attend this lecture tonight and learn what experienced homeschooling mom's have to tell me. And who knows, maybe one day soon Owen's typical school day will look like this: Reading good books while his little brother enjoys his company.
What some more food for thought? A not boring movie questioning traditional schooling: Sir Ken Robinson.
I've asked two experienced homeschooling moms to speak to myself (and all the other people I could interest) about their experiences with homeschooling. Specifically three things:
- Why did you choose to homeschool?
- What philosophies or curricula do you use?
- What are the goods and bads of homeschooling?
This isn't a shocking "bet you never thought you'd hear those words come out of my mouth" situation. In reality I've said on many occasions that I may be interested in homeschool. I've never been "committed" to the public school system. The system is a tool, or opportunity, that is there for me to use if I feel it's right. I felt no need to enroll Owen in a preschool when he turned three. Feeling like it was certainly within my abilities to teach my own child his ABCs, colors and 123s--I organized a preschool co-op instead. I was really unsure about putting Owen into the school district preschool for speech services. We did it because it felt right to us and it turned out to be a great blessing for Owen.
Jeremy and I always knew that we would not simply drop our kids off at school and forget about them. Jeremy and I each have a day we volunteer in the classroom for reading centers every week. I also joined the PTO, started attending meetings and got put in charge of classroom parties. The volunteering for reading time is good, but I previously held some idea that the PTO did more than throw parties for the kids--so it's not quite the same as being "involved" in my son's education other ways. Really I feel like I don't have a clue what Owen is gone doing every day.
Cheaper by the Dozen was a very inspiring example of making the home a place of learning--supplementing school learning with self-motivated "fun" learning. I also read a great article on my church website about making the home a House of Learning telling lots of examples of how parents were able to be involved in supplementing their children's school education at home. After one of the examples the author asks "Were there any conflicts between the home program and the school program? No—the two enhanced each other."
This is not how I feel. I do feel like there is a conflict. I think I would be capable of supplementing Owen's education at home--if he was ever at home that is.
Owen wakes up at 7:20 and after an hour of "Eat your breakfast. Go put some socks on. Find your backpack." we leave the house at 8:20 for school. We enter the house again 7 hours and 40 minutes later at 4:00pm. Owen goes to sleep four hours later at 8:00 pm. An hour of that time home I am in the kitchen getting dinner ready. An hour (or more) of that time is spend in the "Find your pj's. Brush your teeth. Get ready for bed." mode. So that leaves 2 possible hours of our day that might involve quality "happy" time with Owen. Honestly, in this first year of kindergarten I've come to feel like my life with Owen is already over. I might as well help him fill out college applications and get him an apartment because he's gone!
But he's my baby! He's only 5 and that's barely past 4 and I never see him.
It will only get worse. He doesn't have any homework this year. But in the coming years he'd get plenty of that too. And there's always sports teams or music lessons to take up the rest of the time.
But it goes beyond just wanting to actually spend time with my child--I have responsibilities to fulfill as his mother as well. I have things I'm expected to teach him. Things like good manners, responsibility, and the more important things of God. But I cannot see where the time for me to teach this can come in our current schedule. I want to teach my children "meaningful work" and real responsibilities. Throwing his oatmeal bowl in the sink, and making his bed on the way out the door doesn't really seem all that meaningful to me. And we need time for family study of the scripture, and Family Home Evenings. Time for my children to work to develop their own testimonies of the Gospel. Time.
Something I read on a homeschooling blog has really stuck with me. They were talking about choosing the right homeschooling philosophy/curriculum to base your children's education on, but it can be applied on an even larger scale to base what form of education you give your child. The questions was, consider the curriculum you want to use--does it reflect your family's values?
My current answer is "No." I don't mean does public school teach my children my religious beliefs, I mean our values. Like the value of meaningful work I was talking about. Another thing we place high value on is our family and family relationships--over so many other things in life. One of the big problems I'm having with "school" right now it the underlying idea that schools are meant to replace families.Not in a devious way--in fact I'm sure it's a benefit to many children who don't have a stable loving family at home--but not for my child.
At Owen's school children can be dropped off up to an hour before school for Boys and Girls' club. Then they can have school breakfast, have lunch and a snack at school, and stay after school again for another hour and a half and have another snack. So the parents pick up their kid after work, feed them dinner put them to bed, then dress them in the morning and drop them off again at school. That makes me sad for those kids. And it makes me sad when Owen asks, "Mom, can I stay after school for Boys and Girls' club? It's really fun," (as his friends prompt him), because I tell him "No, we missed you and want to spend time with you."
I've never said that I would homeschool as a rule, because in situations where there is no moral absolute right and wrong I feel it's best to make decisions based on how you feel in the current situation, not based on fear or superstitions you've heard other people talk about. (This relates to my decision to happily birth naturally in a hospital as well.) To really do what's right for your child means actually looking at each specific child's needs and desires. That's why we put Owen into preschool after teaching him at home for a year and a half. At the time it felt right and we saw the blessings from making that decision.
Public school is no longer feeling completely right for Owen. I'm not against public schools as a whole--Jeremy and I both came through public education just fine. And it's definitely nothing against the teachers or faculty. I love Owen's teacher and think his principle is great too. I just don't know that this is what we want for Owen right now. I'm not convinced that homeschool is the one true answer that will save our children either. I've always been interested in charter schools and other forms of alternative education. I really think it comes down to each individual child, and the different educational resources that are available at the time.
But I believe the more educated I am on the subject the better. So I am excited to attend this lecture tonight and learn what experienced homeschooling mom's have to tell me. And who knows, maybe one day soon Owen's typical school day will look like this: Reading good books while his little brother enjoys his company.
What some more food for thought? A not boring movie questioning traditional schooling: Sir Ken Robinson.
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