Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The Choice to Home School...

Well. I have been doing a lot of reading, watching, researching....and here are some thoughts (in no particular order...) that have helped me to finally make the decision to try it:

This is from a home school mom's blog that I found on a home school site link:

"This was written by a high school teacher struggling with a severely disabled child in her classroom who is very disruptive. His aide is apparently not on the ball, he gets into fights, screams through classes so other students cannot hear the teacher.
This teacher is quite rightly questioning the whole rationale behind this child being in her class in the first place, as well as the things she is still supposed to do — and not do. For instance, she asks, “Why do I need to give a final exam to a child who is severely disabled and is simply here for “socialization?”"
Ah, the S-word. Immediately, my homeschool-issues radar perks up. A teacher is complaining about a child who is not suited to this particular class and is there for ’socialization’. Interesting.
And it continues: “Why do I have a young person in my room, a room already filled with twenty-five other people, who is here strictly for socialization?”
Well, now. From the criticisms and questions usually aimed at homeschoolers, I had just assumed, you know, that school was indeed where kids are supposed to get socialization.
The reader comments shed some light on this: “… the primary purpose of a core academic classroom is learning, not socialization.”
Ohhhhhhhhhhh…. really? Is that so? Funny, that’s not what they tell the homeschoolers, is it?
“There are plenty of opportunities for socialization in other, non-academic settings that will not disrupt instruction and handicap the general education learners.”
Ya know, I think the homeschoolers have been saying this all along…"



Another friend of mine is a teacher of elementary students. She was telling me about a child that is in her class that should not be. And due to red tape and bureaucracy, she was basically forced to deal with it. He was extremely disruptive, screaming at her and the other kids, horrible stuff and the fact that she had to endure this and had no say about him being in the class.......plus the fact that every time he had a lengthy episode, all the other kids had to sit thru this and watch, to me is not right.


A little girl I know that spent almost 2 years in a Christian daycare only to enter public kindergarten and upon asking a question about Jesus, or maybe it was about praying...I was not in the room when the actual conversation took place, was told by a teacher "we don't talk about Jesus here." what kind of signal does THAT send?


Driving past the school where Annalynn would have had to go time and time again to see 2 or 3 little kids waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy out on the edge of the property while the 2 teachers or playground monitors, whatever they were, gabbed up by the school. several times........


People have used the socialization argument. I agree with the first mom. School is for learning. Socializing can happen in many many other places: when Annalynn goes with me to the store and talks to the cashier, when we go to the post office to see "Mr. Dave," when she goes to play with her cousins who have also been home schooled and are wonderful well adjusted socialized moral kids. GREAT kids. I just don't buy it. I have been reading two very good books: Home Grown Kids and The Educated Child. very very good. have put into words what I've had a hard time verbalizing.

One friend told me "I feel like school got me ready for life." yes, 50 years ago when you were in elementary, it was much different than it was today. We did not have security back then. Cops at the door checking back packs were not the norm........We prayed for our meals. We had moms that were home when we got home. We had to do chores and homework. Things were much different. Now that we've taken God out of the classroom, along with about every moral teaching, look at where school has gone. down hill. I am not ready for that. I know some do not agree with my stance on not making a 5 year old have to learn to stand alone and work it out on her own AT FIVE YEARS OLD..........but that is where I am. I am doing what I feel is best for my child. We will work on building morals, character, a deep love and respect for and understanding of Jesus, and then we will see where we are at in another year or two.

I am excited about it. I have a lot of fun things and field trips planned, a great challenging curriculum picked out.....we will see how it goes and let the outcome speak for itself.

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