Part 3 – More Issues with Public School
Need to catch up?
The seed for homeschool had been planted. This installment was the water that made it grow.
Strike two was 9/11. On the anniversary, this event was discussed in detail yet it wasn’t part of the curriculum. She came home with LOTS of questions. Bless her heart. Naturally, I was upset that they had discussed such a serious and sensitive subject with my 6-year-old. My main objection was that, as her parent, I didn’t have the opportunity to explain this to her, on her level, at the appropriate time. I know my child better than anyone. It was obvious to me that she was too young for this knowledge but public education isn’t individualized down to that level. This was probably the one incident that got my wheels turning the most about homeschool. I was furious that some of her innocence was taken away from her before she was ready.
Strike three was a bullying incident. For the record, I hate that word. It’s so dramatic. I don’t do drama. Anyway, tLG expressed that some students were being mean to her at school – name calling, hurting her, ect. I took it with a grain of salt, said 1st grade can be tough, and encouraged her to find other folks to play with. That’s when she started loathing going to school and the letter writing started. She was going to get me to listen, one way or another.
I sent pictures of the letters to her teacher. Teacher responded immediately and said she would call me. Um, ELEVEN days later I finally got that call. I know what you are thinking. Why in the world did you not march yourself right up to that school and raise hell? Because, in my mind, I had already decided that something had to change and that change was educational environment. The Thanksgiving break did cause things to calm down on the meanness front so I just encouraged my girl to make it until the Christmas break. I didn’t know how I was going to make it work but I knew I wanted to pull her out at the end of the grading period.
Someone asked, “what about private school?” Honestly, I think I’m just done with school at this point. We put her in school because it was the next milestone according to mainstream America. There was also that reading thing that I couldn’t quite get a grasp on. In some ways school did make our life easier. In other ways, it just made things more complicated and more busy. I still remember the morning when my girl pitched a fit in the infamously dreaded car line because she didn’t want to go inside. I thought to myself “it should be easier than this.” When my child was busy herself being the mean one in PreK and K, I thought the same thing. I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels for years. For starters, I’m practically like a used car salesman to get her out of bed in the morning. It’s better than yelling, GET DRESSED OR YOU ARE GOING TO SCHOOL IN YOUR PAJAMAS! Ok, I may have used that line on one occasion. Or ten. Lately, I seem to be spending all of my time un-doing what she learns and hears at school. She comes home whiney, cranky, defeated and sassy. I’m trying to convince her how to overcome adversity, be nice, and work hard but my teaching time is limited. Somehow the school environment seems to undo all of my character quality progress with a quickness. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m ready to simplify.
But how in the world is homeschooling with two working parents going to be simple? There’s also that whole Satan’s Sister situation to deal with.
Next up is Part 4.
