The lovely Cherie suggested a look at her life's passion-home schooling a few weeks back and I decided to get a start on it.Our homeschooling adventure started by accident and sometimes it is funny how things work out almost from the opposite of what you expect.
We thought Ryan would be in the school district of one elementary school and I took him to the school to sign him up for kindergarten.
We took the school tour,talked to the teachers,filled out the forms and came away quite impressed.
However,twist number one occurred before I even reached home as the school had called and reported that Ryan was literally on the wrong side of the tracks and would be going to another school with a far lesser reputation that we were not pleased to be sending Ryan to.
We then jumped to another option,sending Ryan to my old elementary school,using my parents address and driving him there every day.
A hardship,yes,but one preferable to the school that was in our district.
However,the principal was rude and without knowing our plan and thinking we lived in the school district,he claimed that the school was too crowded and he didn't have time to even enroll Ryan,even though had we followed through,he would have no choice in the matter.
After that.we were starting to consider our options,should we apply for a waiver and attempt to get him in the school of our choice?
Should we try to just put him in the school that he was assigned and take our chances?
We just were not sure and then I remembered an article in the Washington Post that discussed home schooling that I read one day at work.
We wondered about it and at first thought that it might buy us some time to figure out what to do about Ryan's school situation and decided to try it for one year.
What we discovered was that homeschooling would become the passion of Cherie's life.
Ryan and Rachel both learned differently and both had to be taught differently.
Ryan was able to watch more programs and do reports on them,I was far more involved with his schooling than I was with Rachel,who needed much more of the verbal style yet seemed to do better in comprehending the material.
As we learned with Ryan as we went along,we discovered that we did really well in some things (most) and struggled in others (math) and yet Ryan was way ahead in the subjects others than math.
I like to think that perhaps we did not handle his weakness as well as we could have in hindsight,but I think much of the person that people like so much was as a result of home schooling.
Ryan was able to work on things that he liked,things he didn't like at the time and eventually would and things that he disliked and would not be interested in.
Rachel did not learn in the same way,but still has been able to vary her likes and dislikes to a personal template instead of the public school template.
I wish that I had a nickel for every time that Cherie or I had been asked about the social aspect of home schooling.
I might to be able to not work for a living.
Honestly,I cannot say that I have a perfect answer.
I do think that you need to make a special effort to have children involved in activities so that they are around other children and I do not think that the answer is to hide your children away.
But,one can make a huge case that not having the everyday grind of dealing with peers enabled my children to be more of an individual and certainly more of a leader than if they had attended public school.
The social aspect of being around a group of peers that are your exact age every day is far more limiting than the real world and isn't school supposed to be preparing you for the everyday grind,not holding you back?
I believe that had my children attended public school,one of them would have been radically different as a person (not going to name which one) as the pressure to follow the crowd is so great that that child seemed likely to do so.
My wife and I came to the same agreement on home schooling,but for different reasons.
Cherie wanted to keep our children away from the people that break your children down,the peer mentality and the group think that influences kids and usually not for the better.
My reasons were more for the educational aspects.
I had (and still do) held deep resentment for the our local BOE and schools for their handling of me when I went through the system.
Although,with hindsight,I can now accept some of the blame for my mistakes (and my parents),I blame those entities immensely for my school career.
I did not want my son (and later daughter) to have his talents wasted by a conveyor belt that finds it more important to keep children moving along rather than developing their skills in a specific area.
Our decision has been the right one.
Both of our children have avoided labeling because of that decision and they have been able to settle into situations where their skills and character will decide what they do and where,not being handicapped by a decision by someone observing them at too young an age.
I do think that public school has a sheepherder mentality that takes good care of the middle level children,but can bore the higher level child and can leave the lower level child far behind in order to keep the herd moving.
I watch from afar at various children's issues and grit my teeth at the absolute craziness of some of the things that schools tolerate,encourage and yes,teach.
Putting children on behavior medications at ages that one could argue that are simply children being children is (in my opinion) nuts.
I roll my eyes when I hear some of the emphasized things at an age where the basics should be stressed and then spin off of the basics in order to expand the learning.
I do not believe that home schooling is perfect and certainly not for everyone.
There are a few downsides,mostly that it can be more difficult to meet people.
I know that sounds counter to my earlier statements on socialization,but bear with me.
It is far from impossible,but just a little more difficult,especially in the teenage years when activities become harder to come by for the age group.
Sports transition to the high school athlete as do other activities,they can be found-they are just harder to do so.
Ironically,one problem affects the parents only.
The children are around all the time,so it can be tough to find time for us,but that is a sacrifice worth making for the future.
Another downside for some,is that you can tailor the curriculum to the student and some students would chafe under the one on one style,but for the child that is advanced or behind,we can speed up or slow down in order to help things actually be learned instead of the learn it.pass the test and then forget it style.
I realize that is not perfect either,but it is not about being perfect-it is about doing what you think is best..
I would recommend this to parents that either will be committed to the program totally or for kids that are struggling in the school system,sometimes you cannot just stand by and take what is given.
Change can sometimes make a difference and shaking things up can help.
I would say that to the homeschooler that is struggling as well.perhaps a move could turn things around as well.
I would not change our decision,although there are always small issues that we might like to change as we look back.
I am not sure how my kids think about our decision.
I gave Ryan the choice to attend high school and he turned it down.
Rachel was not given the choice as her learning style is different and we felt that she needed the structure of we offered rather than the school template.
I do know that Ryan's fiance' is a very pro-public schooler and I am resigned to whatever decision that they make for what they think will be best for their child.
In the end,I cannot complain about how things turned out.
I have two terrific and well adjusted children and I allocate our decision to home school for some of those results.
Much of the credit has to go to Cherie,she did far more work than I ever did,especially with Rachel.
I am glad that she found something to be passionate about and enjoyed doing.
I wonder what she will jump into next as we wind down our wonderful adventure?
One thing that I feel pretty safe in saying-it will not be baseball autographing!
Due to internet issues at the road office,this was pushed back again and the finishing knocked off the terrific Astros-Pirates game last night.
I may do that shortly anyway,even though today's game starts shortly....
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