Why We Homeschool

After nearly 15 years in the dental field, we decided with the hubby's upcoming military deployment that I should stay home to be more available to the children.  After school activities, PTA, baseball, church, and dance kept us busy.

My first year as a stay at home mom and each day I couldn't wait to walk to the bus stop in front of our house to meet the school bus in the afternoon as the children spewed out pleading for a much needed snack.  Even though, I showed the driver repeatedly throughout the year my parent pick-up tag to get the kids off the bus and she knew who I was, she wouldn't let my kids walk down the bus steps until I revealed my identity. This was a safety precaution that I appreciated on days I actually remembered the tag.  Her monotone voice as she called the children by their names was no exception each day.  It was obvious she wasn't passionate about her daily duty and it showed.  I wondered if my kids ever noticed her poor attitude.  Small things like this certainly added up and planted a small seed about our decision to homeschool.

We are a military family and our relocations are no exception to most other families in the military.  Finding excellent schools for our children when we move is important. Although, I thought I found one located right  in our amazing neighborhood, it still felt like something was missing.  Public school wasn't the perfect fit for our family.  I tried to make it work,  joined the PTA and was involved in special events and activities, but still found myself discouraged by the teaching methods, class behavioral issues, and day to day routine protocol.  

I along with the teachers struggled to understand "the new ways" math and writing were being taught with writing rubrics and other  concepts associated with the Common Core Standards of Learning.  The school had an evening meeting simply because there were so many questions about this new way of doing things to explain the 2nd grade homework to the parents on simple addition, subtraction, and writing....   Few parents actually understood the multiple ways the teachers were explaining the answers.  The others struggled wondering  what happened to 2+2 = 4?  Why do we need to show our work on simple addition with cube drawings. 10 + 8 doesn't require drawing squares.  Homework was a nightmare each night as my child was extremely confused.   It was difficult for me to explain 3+3 = 6 because the "Smartboard" had showed him a different way that day at school. 

Meanwhile, my hubby had volunteered to mentor/tutor at a middle school in a low income area.  The concept was excellent having military service members help with the kids however, the majority of the kids didn't respond even to authority.  The teacher threw her hands up as the heads of the children nodded off and others were blatantly disrespectful. The children didn't understand simple instructions and were quick to say they didn't care as they put their heads back on their desks to fall asleep.  My hubby was in disbelief at the disarray of the middle school and did his best to impact the several that were interested in learning.  Our confidence in public schools was diminishing quickly and the once small seed was growing into a desire.

December 14, 2012  My son was celebrating his birthday at school today and  I had just loaded the kids on the school bus.  I prepared my morning coffee and turned on the news,  I was in shock as the scene unraveled of the tragic elementary school shooting that flashed before my eyes.  It was everything I could do not to rush to the school and pick up my children early just to make sure they were safe in my arms.  I was stunned for weeks of such a senseless incident where young innocent lives were taken all to soon.  I began to prayerfully consider why I couldn't homeschool my children. The simple desire we had to homeschool was becoming a necessity.

When I was approached near the end of the year by my child's teacher that I may need to have my son evaluated for ADHD it certainly was the straw that broke the camels back.  There was no way that my son could possibly have an attention disorder.  He was however a boy that was bored and seeking to learn much more hands on than what the public school system could offer.   This confirmed that we needed to make some changes.  I felt the push to make the change for our family.  Everything was adding up and we sought God's will for our family.  

By the end of the year and after much prayer and consideration, my hubby and I decided the best solution for our family was to begin the homeschooling journey with our children.  We knew there would be more  military moves and didn't want the kids to continue to feel the shocks.  We needed consistency and stability.  We understand and believe that every family is different but, we felt led to make some changes and make homeschooling happen.  As I take you along our homeschooling journey, I hope that I may inspire someone to take the step and that you will give insight along the way.  Every day isn't easy.  Some days are dreadful.  But, all in all it's something I take great pride  and wouldn't change any of these special days that I get teaching my little ones.

I thank you for following our journey.  Please feel free to comment along the way if you find something interesting, have a question, or a comment.  I would love to hear from each of you!

Jodie