Remember Dana?  She is back!

Education Choices? What Are THOSE??

“Mooommm, please can’t we just be home-schooled???” That was the plea I would hear over and over again…usually in the mornings when sleeping in seemed like a better choice, or in the afternoon when homework seemed like a really bad choice.

I never thought I’d be a homeschool parent, or even an advocate. I thought that homeschooling parents must either be crazy or campaigning for sainthood. I am neither. Okay, maybe a little crazy.

Then middle school happened. Along with all of the physical changes happening in the bodies of the kids, comes the drama that precedes adulthood. Each class period saw the teachers spending less time teaching as they spent more time managing the behavior of the students. When we had 2 sons in middle school at the same time, that cacophony was even louder.

Spring of our oldest’s 8th grade year, we began giving home education serious consideration. Our choice was clear when we learned that B had moved himself to the lunch detention table on a permanent basis so that he could avoid the drama yet not hurt anyone’s feelings. (They all thought he had detention.)

B’s best friend started homeschooling that year. We respect his parents and chose the same curriculum that they were using. I did some research, looking to see if there were other options, but didn’t find any resources that were helpful. Spring of 2009 seems so long ago and homeschooling has exploded into the mainstream since then. There are tons more resources now!

That first year went smoothly. B joined the local rowing team that Fall and found his passion. Our second son, just one school year behind, chose to come home after the first quarter. Truly his reasons were far different. He had decided to joined the rowing team about a week before the end of the quarter. After 4 days of being rushed to get all of his school day completed, go to practice and then come home to more school work, he opted to come home and stay there.

So, we had 2 boys at home, ticking along. (Our daughter was in preK a couple of days a week.) We were convinced we’d made the right choice. I never realized how incredibly funny our boys are, until I was with them for so many hours every day. We laugh every single day now. The downside of that time is that the work was too easily glossed over and therefore too easy. By the end of the first year, our oldest was convinced that he needed to go back to public school just to get an education as he felt he wasn’t learning enough. Yikes!

So, year two, we made some changes and chose harder, more intense textbooks. The following year, we chose a hybrid program where the boys attended classes one day a week with their peers. It was literature based and less about grammar. Then this year we opted for community college dual enrollment, along with an online math course. Our youngest also chose to study for CLEP exams and to earn college credit by exam for high school credit.

All of this time, our daughter has attended our local public school. We did home educate her for one semester, when we moved last winter, but enrolled her in the new local school this past August. She is happy and thriving and, as much as we miss each other during the day, we are confident with our school choice for her.

So what did we learn, in a nutshell?

One, we learned that we could actually home educate during the high school years (our oldest was just accepted at the University of Wisconsin – Madison).

Two, we learned that there are tons of options open to families. I recently won a copy of the book Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners by Cindy West. Wow. I wish I’d had this book in 2009!! Watch for a complete review and an opportunity to win your own copy. It will be life-changing.

Three, we learned that we have choices, and way more power than we ever imagined, when it comes to educating our kids.

~dana