The Beginning of Our Journey

I want to record some of the why we've decided to homeschool, how we came to this decision, and how we want to teach our children.  It's not all in place yet, and I certainly can't take the time in one post to write it all down, but I want to start.  I'm sure this will take many posts and will ever be changing as we learn and change.

As I said previously, I was opposed to homeschooling for a long time.  I'd never considered it and had always assumed that I would send my children to public school.  Then I started dating Jim.  I remember when we had our first conversation about homeschool.  We were standing beside my car in the church parking lot before it was time to head home, and he asked me what I thought about homeschool.  I knew he'd been homeschooled, so I was on my best behavior and tried to be considerate of him.  My answer wasn't unkind, but I really wasn't in love with the idea and I let him know it.  He asked me if I would be willing to consider and I responded that I'd definitely be willing to pray about it when the time came that I had children.  I wasn't lying, but I think I used it as a way to postpone the need to think about it.  We continued to discuss a little here and there during our courtship and into our engagement, and I always gave him the same answer: that I'd pray about it when the time came. 

Two months before we were married I took a job in a public elementary school as a para-educator.  I  hadn't found a position in my field yet, and being an aid in the Special Education program was somewhat related.  (I was a rec. therapist, so I wanted to work with those who have disabilities in one aspect or other until I found a job in that field.)  I worked with two children during this time, one in third grade and the other in fifth.  If there was a day that one of them was absent, I assisted in other areas.  Sometimes I helped in the kindergarten, or with the other kids in the SE program.  I now had the opportunity to be in a public school every day, and not from the viewpoint of a student.  Perhaps that is why I didn't find a job in my field right away.  I don't know, but in any case it helped me see what I would need to do for my own children. 

Now here is the part in my post where everyone prepares to hear me bash the public school system, and my dear friends who earned their degrees in elementary education wonder if we'll be friends from henceforth.  So I need to say something before I continue.  First of all, I think that teachers are incredible people.  Most people who decide to become teachers do it because they sincerely want to help the rising generation.  They certainly aren't in it for the money!  They are the kind of people that we need in this nation.  Many of my best friends are or were teachers, and they are incredibly caring people and wonderful parents!  Secondly, I do think there are many good things that happen in the public school system.  I gained a lot of helpful ideas during the time I worked in that school. 

So...the experience I had working in a school influenced my decision to homeschool my children.  While there were good things going on, there were a lot of things that didn't impress me.  In the teacher's lounge I listened every day to teachers speaking poorly of their students.  They made fun of these kids!  Then in the classroom, those teachers didn't seek to help those particular students.  It wasn't all of the teachers, but it helped me realize that I wouldn't want my children influenced by teachers like that.  In other classrooms where I spent most of my time with teachers who loved their kids, I observed that one person couldn't give each child as much attention as he or she needed to learn the given material.  The third grade was learning multiplication and there were about two kids in the room that were actually getting it.  A portion of the kids couldn't add well yet, and I was helping a child who was still learning to count.  They were all expected to be learning multiplication together, though.  Many of the students were very capable of understanding the multiplication at that time, but they needed a little extra attention that they just couldn't get.  Because I was a one-on-one aid to a child in that classroom, I obtained permission to help him learn math at him own speed during that time of the day.  In a month's time, he went from barely being able to count, to being able to add and subtract small numbers.  The other aids and teachers were surprised at his progress, but it was nothing more than the result of individualizing that part of his education.  Helping him in that way was an eye opening experience for me.  In my field, we focused on individualizing our recreation programs to help people with disabilities achieve, social, physical, and cognitive goals.  So, applying that to his math time was second nature to me, but it helped me see how I could help my own children if I homeschooled. 

I had many other experiences while working in that school that helped me realize I wanted to teach my own children.  I was amazed at how much the children influenced each other, even on the kindergarten level.  They really paid more attention to each other than anything else while they were at school.  I believe that children are sent to parents because they need adults to guide them.  It scared me to think that when my child turned five, I could be sending him away from me five days a week for most of the day where he would guided by children who understand very little and are bound to make countless mistakes in that guiding that they don't even realize they are doing.

So, yes, I had some negative experiences that made me think of what I didn't want, but that isn't entirely how I came to my answer.  Those things made me seriously consider what type of education I wanted for my kids and I suddenly just knew.  It was an impression that I know came from God, and I knew it would be the best thing for me to do.  After that, other logical reasons came to the front of my mind, and I started forming ideas.

At this point, I need to say "to be continued" because I've run out of time to write.  I will post this much, though, so perhaps it won't be such a task to read when I do get all my thoughts down.  :)