My oldest starts school this year. The problem? We’re in a bad school district. There are a few schools in the district that are decent, but we don’t get to choose where she goes. The one decent school that was near our home is being consolidated with a few others, and moved. So much for that! She could be bussed across the city. We can’t move. We can’t afford private.
And there’s your accelerated journey through the process that led us to where we are now. We are homeschoolers. Or, at least, we will be in a matter of a few weeks.
Scary! Yes, I’m a little freaked over the whole thing. Homeschooling is not anything I ever saw myself doing. Ever. Can I be more clear? Never ever. There you go.
But that’s where we are now. And we are official because our first box of “stuff” has arrived. We are homeschooling via an on-line academy. Which means the curriculum, supplies, etc. are all free. Yes, free. Free is good.
Anyway, we’d been told by others homeschooling via this academy that “You will get tons of boxes full of supplies when you start a kindergartener.” So, for weeks, Bald Man has been coming home, “Any boxes yet?”
Today, our first box arrived. My daughter is sooo excited. Her Daddy is sooooo excited. Even her little brother is soooooooo excited. I’m getting there.
Good luck with your schooling. I hope that all goes well for you and the eldest! Seriously.
From a professional standpoint, what was it that made you choose the school/curriculm that you did over the others you looked at? Was there something this school offered that the others didn’t as far as more moral value teaching or more math or better results on standardized tests or better assistance from teachers or whatever.
I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
I’m not a research girl so, honestly, it was mostly word of mouth. I know several families that use this school/curriculum, and heard only good things about it. I did check out a few things on-line, and this was the easiest site to use.
Thanks for the encouragement. I’m gonna need it!
One box down!
Actually you COULD choose which school in the district she goes to. The official stance is that you can’t, but if you call downtown and say “I want my kid to go to X school.” they’ll say “okay.” They’re desperate to keep their numbers up. You’ll get your choice. And let me say, I can recommend at least one AWESOME kindergarten teacher in the district (and a couple that you should stay away from!).
So if the homeschool thing doesn’t work out, don’t feel like you’re stuck! I know we’d be happy to have her!
But good luck with it, anyway. I think it’ll be awesome.
The district actually ticked me off b/c there was a montessori in the system that was close to our home that I was going to try to get her into. The school board announced that it was going to have an open meeting to discuss the montessoris. Then, 3 days before the meeting was scheduled to happen, it was announced on the news that they were combining the montessoris into one school downtown. It ticked me off b/c they were essentially saying, “The meeting is open, but we’ve already made a major change to the schools. You’re welcome to come give your opinion, but it doesn’t really matter.” Anyway, that may have just been my take on it, but it bothered me. So, here we are! But I really am starting to get excited. I think it will be a good move for our family. But I may be calling you up if experience proves me wrong!
Please feel free to call me up even if your experience proves you right. If you need a little extra help or an idea I’d be more than happy to give you a try to find the secret. Every good educator needs a few helpers to rethink how to present something to the child who doesn’t get it the first couple of times. That has been my experience as to what is most frustrating as an educator. Just because I learned something one way does not mean that you are going to learn it that way too.
Thanks, Rantz. I’m may be needing help! And I definitely agree that there are so many different ways of learning, and that the “best” learning method varies from person to person. I may need to be reminded of that when I’m in the trenches.