This is a big one. It may seem like an impulsive and hasty decision, but it has been years in the making. I started questioning traditional education when Ben was a baby and I witnessed first hand how amazing a growing brain is. Ben was using sign language to communicate when he was just a few month old. He was speaking clearly by the time he was a year old. But it wasn't only his verbal skills that impressed us. Everything we did, saw, touched, tasted, smelled, talked or read about stayed with him. This child wasn't just growing, he was learning. As every parent knows, children are full of awe and wonder, they drink in the world around them, they never stop learning. As their moms and dads we are their first teachers. They learn to walk, talk, count, categorize, write, paint, add and subtract before they ever step foot into a school setting. It was around the time Ben started preschool that I started questioning traditional schooling.
Who came up with the idea of putting 20 some odd kids of the same age into a classroom with two (and in public school only one) teachers for them to sit and listen to what it is they need to know? How did we come to the understanding that this was the way kids learn? In what way does this stimulate the learning? How does this situation reflect life after school and how is it giving them any life skills? Where else in the world (or when) are we put in a room with 20 people our exact same age and talked to? And why doesn't this seem odd to anyone else??
These are questions I had before we even started exploring elementary schools. I tried selling Jon on the Montessori method, but he wasn't buying it. And even I myself wasn't 100 percent sure. We had many reasons for wanting to keep our kids out of public schools, moving being the number one reason. We move a lot in case you haven't noticed. And around here the school zoning changes as often as we change our own address ~ meaning that our kids would be changing schools ALL THE TIME. Of course there were other reasons for choosing a private school, the same reason everyone who sends their kids to private school chooses to do so, but those don't really matter here.
Latin was our first choice after exploring, touring, visiting, all the private schools in Charlotte. I fell in love with the people, the campus, their philosophy and passion for teaching. I was impressed by their understanding of children's needs ... two recesses every day, PE three times a week, no homework in Kindergarten, very little homework beyond that etc etc. And we have been happy. The kids have been happy. They are learning. They have friends. They enjoy school. So what's the problem?
Well that's the kicker. There is no 'problem'. And as far as traditional school go, I think Latin is the best in Charlotte. I just think there is a better way. A different way.
A way to teach kids the way kids learn, not teach them to learn the way we teach.
I (we) have been happy at Latin. But not blown away. When you spend a lot of money on your children's education you kind of expect to be blown away. At least I did. We have already poured 100,000 (yes, one hundred thousand dollars) into Latin. And I'm thinking I can do better. When Ben started going through novels at school ~ reading them while the other's kids finished up their work. And Katie came home stressing about not being able to do something that all the other kids can do ~ like spell a certain word or read chapter books. I really started to question our education system yet again. Private and public.
I also took at look at our life, our daily life. It consisted of waking Ben & Katie up before they were ready (6:50am ... not that that is that early. How many times can you say that in a sentence??), shoving more food down their throat then they felt like eating (I'm crazy about getting my kids a good breakfast), hustling them to eat, brush teeth, get socks, get shoes, get lunch, get out the door. As soon as they would leave (Jon takes them to school) Will, Camryn and I would breathe a sigh of relief. Mornings are crazy. After school is not really much better. On a good day it's 3:30 by the time we are home. They play for a bit, then it's time to make dinner, set the table, eat, do homework, take showers, read and go to bed. 7:00 bedtime may seem early. But you try waking my sleepy kids up in the morning and then have to deal with them the rest of the day. Kids need sleep. My kids need sleep. If they are getting up at 7am, they should be in bed by 7. I was (am) feeling like we spend the best part of our days away from each other. I was missing the best Ben and the best Katie and I was getting the left overs. And they were getting stressed drill Sargent mom. Go, go, go ... do, do do. I feel like I bark orders at them all the time. And these are days when we don't have anything else going on. Throw in Faith Formation, or soccer or gymnastics and it adds an whole other level of 'rush' to our house. And get this. That's with only half the kids in our house going to school. I started to wonder what our life was going to be like with four kids in school. That if it's this crazy now when I have two little kids, what on earth was it going to be like 5 years from now? Would we even see each other? Would we even know each other? This is not the way I want our family life to be. I want to know my kids. I want to see them at their best (I already get the worst) and I want them to see me at my best too. I don't want the school's left overs.
It has also become pretty obvious to us this year that Ben is pretty far ahead of most of his classmates. In everything. He likes school, but he is bored most days. He reads novel after novel while kids finish their work. If the best school in Charlotte can't keep him interested and learning, well then who can? I know ~ he can. He can choose when he's done learning something, or how in depth he wants to learn it. He can surround himself with as much information, activities, experiments that he wants. I can help him do this. He can be the captain of his own domain, and I can navigate. He's not ready to be let loose to do as he chooses but he's certainly capable of testing his own limits and exploring his own mind. And together we can feed his need to learn and grow ... and not ask him to sit quietly and read if he wants to do more and learn more. He does not have to be limited by the others around him. He is free to learn all his mind wants to learn.
When I put all these factors together. I knew I had to try homeschooling. I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied that my kids were getting the best education until I did. When Jon asked "If Latin were free what would you want to do next year." I would still want to homeschool. It was at that point that we knew it would be our next step. Since then I have been up to my elbows in research, theory, psychology, learning styles, and curricula. The journey has begun. Ben and Katie will finish out the year at Latin and we will begin our homeschooling adventure later this summer. There are days I question my ability to teach them. There are days I question my sanity. There are days I question everything. But I know as long as I continue to put Ben and Katie (and Will and Camryn) first, that it will be the best thing, not only for them, but for our family.
I knew going into this that it wasn't going to be easy. I expected a lot of things: the kids to be upset at first, and they were; for some people to question it, and they have; for others to be supportive and excited, and they have to. But the one thing I didn't expect was how it would change Katie. There are days that Katie gets in the car after school and is mean. Just downright mean. To everyone. She is usually in tears by the time we get home. She never blames school. And honestly, I just chalked it up to 'Katie being Katie' ... having a rough time with something and taking it out on all of us. BUT since we've talked about homeschooling Katie hasn't had one break down. She hasn't had one 'mean' day. There is a sense of relief in her eyes. She is calmer and happier. Katie tells me every day that she can't wait to start homeschooling. School has been stressing her out. She is six years old and stressed about school. And I didn't even realize it. That right there is more than enough reason for me to homeschool.
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