Homeschool

Well, it is that time of year. The smell of pencil shavings are in the air! Many mothers are breathing a sigh of relief as their children are going back to school and will be out of the parents' hair for 6 hours-EVERY DAY!! Other mothers are worried; wringing hands over the sink full of dirty dishes- will their little babies do okay in a new school? Will their teenager continue to make bad decisions this year?

I enjoy going to Wal-Mart at this time of year. It's such a nice feeling of families coming together to pour over their school lists and pick up the right kind of lined paper and No. 2 pencils. It's always nice to see families being together. It's a little like the streets on Halloween night.

Most of Lara's friends are going to elementary school or Pre-Kindergarten this year. So I am feeling a little left out. It's a weird feeling, in a way, to make a decision that is really against the norm-that decision being home-schooling. We do have several friends who are homeschooling their children, but they are older and really in the throws of it. I do not plan to purchase curriculum and run with it until Fall '11 when Lara will be almost 5. My parents are homeschooling the youngest in the family right now. So, in my particular circle, homeschooling is not against the norm or really a different thing. It is just another option.

Our decision to home-school has very little to do with spiritual growth or religion. It's not that we are trying to keep our children away from bad influences, and, anyway, the only way that is possible is to do some kind of "Blast from the Past" scenario. We are not trying to hide our children from the notions of evolution or the world ending in chaos. We don't think other school systems are bad, even if not conducive to learning and teaching. I guess, the decision came about because I am just selfish and controlling. While a child-free morning sounds pretty good, I want my babies home with ME. ME. ME. I am reclaiming my family from society. I also want to ensure they are getting well-rounded lessons conducive to their learning styles-a quality education-and I am confident I can provide this better than the public school teachers (b/c I will have the funds and not all the students). And there is a little of the moral dilemma. I want to help my children understand their place in this world without the stress of them trying to find a place in a school of other confused students. I want my children to grow up seeing the world before them, and not confine their minds to their Teacher, Aide, and Johnny, and Sally. I want to make it very clear that I do not judge others if they do not do things the way I do or make the same decisions. Absolutely not. I do not criticize parents for their decisions simply because they are unlike my own. No way. But I do want to dispel the skirt-wearing, hair-in-bun, Bible-thumping stereotype that people often assume is the foundation of homeschooling. The truth is, we like to think outside the box.

And very much want to be the ones who teach our children to do the same.