Jul 10 2007
Yes, No, Maybe?
Over the last few weeks the kids and myself have been considering whether or not we want to continue with homeschooling for another year. So many ideas and plans for last year that just never came to fruitation. Can I really give these kids what they need when I'm the only parent in the house who is for homeschooling? Am I helping or hurting these kids by having them learn at home? Should someone like me even be doing this?
So many questions with so many answers but of course, never the right one.
Big B wants to continue homeschooling so he can do the Dual Program at the college and still have his freedom. The only problem is that Big B wants to play football and that isn't going to happen unless he is in public school. 
As he put it "So I can go play football and get a crappy education or I can not play football and get a good one?" and he is pretty much right. Playing football is his dream though and I don't want to see him lose that. I'm a perfect example of what happens to a person when they give up on dreams and life in general. I want more for my kids.
Sis still just can't understand that if she goes back to public school she most likely won't be in the 7th grade. She fiddled around all year and truly learned next to nothing (even on an unschooling level she picked nothing up) so now if she wants to start junior high next month she's going to have to work for it. Over a year's worth of learning in less than a month. Of course, the only reason she wants to go to public school is because all her "friends" (I put that in quotes because they're actually spoiled, rude, and bitchy) on our block are PS kids. What she's not getting is that she won't be in class with any of them and going back just to hang out really isn't going to work.
I feel like my daughter has just already given up and if I try to help her she fights me and then all we do is fight. Definately not the relationship I wanted to have.
MonkeyBoy is excited to be starting "Kindergarten" this year. If he was in public school he would still be a preschooler because his birthday is in November but I printed up several "What Your Preschooler Should Know" type lists and he has covered everything on them so there's no sense in doing it for another year. He's the only one of the three that I feel like I won't screw up if I homeschool him. I guess it's just because I can start from the beginning with him whereas the other two were in 4th and 9th grade when we started.
So that's it for us right now. Just trying to decide what we're doing and figuring out the new "year". I do know that if we homeschool again this year we will do better and have more fun than in the past. Me being sick is no excuse and I really need to learn to adapt.
I think you’re doing excellent on homeschooling us.I was just really lazy this school year but it wont happen this school year.I want to work harder on my schooling so you wont have to fight with me all the time.I love you.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who wrote, and recieved e-mails from my teenage daughter. We have two computers, they sit side by side. Great comment, shows how much she loves you.
I was just exploring the web and found your blog. I would like to encourage you. I brought home a child from school 10 years ago for grade 5. He couldn’t read yet and I wanted to influence his value system. Durining junior high or middle school we really struggled with each other. He couldn’t see the benefits for the long term. We put him back in school for Grades 10, 11, & 12. Some of what we accomplished with him will remain forever. He respects his parents now. He cares about his family. He knows his value and is a responsible empoyee now. What he picked up in Public School during those last three years are a disrespect for girls, and some social irresponsibility. He’s only 20 now and not yet “mature” as many of his high school peers are. But I will never regret having given him 5 years at home and I am glad we persevered through them and if I could do it again I would have worked harder on my attitude and sought help more to try to keep him home. I teach 3 more sons now which I started from kindergarten. They don’t want to go to school and are very content to stay through to the end. They are in Grades 6 and 8.
My encouragement to you is to do what you can do and trust that whatever you do in love will be of lasting value in the long run. Talk it over with your kids. Look at the long term. Imagine what life will be like if you all persist at home. What will your future all look like if they go to PS. What regrets might you have if you make one choice or another. It will help you all.