It's that time of year again for school to start. It's time for the kids to get their minds occupied again. We are taking a different route to school this year. The school with out brick and mortar walls. Yes, we are going to home school this year. It has been a tough decision and not one made in haste. The kids were involved in the decision and were totally for it. After looking at all the options this seemed to be the best.
We have had a good run at public school and may very well go back next year, but we had to do something different this year. The program that we have chosen is actually through the school district called the Wyoming Virtual School. The district hosts the K12 virtual school program. All the curriculum is chosen for us and they give us a basic lay out of scheduling. The kids can work at own pace to some extent. After each unit of study they are required to take an assessment test which they have to pass with an 80% or they have to go over the material and take the test again. They call it a 'mastery' program.
So what has brought us to this point? A long list of things. Our first issue is busing. It is not just the fact that the kids are 2 1/2 hrs a day on the bus, but it's what happens on the bus. We could have worked around that, but Kalen is having a load of issues at school. Inadequate help with her learning disabilities, bullying and other social issues. Did I mention bullying? What was the reason corporal punishment was taken out of the school system? Yeah, I'm pretty hard about it. It's pretty heart breaking when your kid comes home from school and she has spent the day having two kids in the class tell everyone she pooped her pants. Or when she asked questions like 'why are the kids so mean to me' or 'why do the kids think I'm so weird'. She also got called a 'retard' because went to special ed for math. My last call to the school went something like 'you need to take care of it or I will.' I wish I would have used that line in the beginning because it was pretty effective.
Then there was the group of girls that Kalen was involved with. She was friends with them just to have someone. They were not top quality friends. Some days they liked her and some days they didn't. Or there was the girl on the bus that was her friend on the bus, but at school Kalen wasn't allowed to talk to her.
We are scared for Kalen. What other kids think of you and how they treat you can stay with you all your life. Along with Kalens self esteem being trashed we feel like we are running out of time on teaching her math skills that are life skills.
We will see where this year takes us. This was Kalens last year in elementary school. We thought if we could pull her out for the year and possible put her back in 7th when she would go to jr. high where there would be more kids that didn't like her it might work. But we will take it one day at a time.
If your wondering, we have not joined a cult, we are not getting ready for a revolution, we aren't growing all our own food or growing our hair long. I know that homeschoolers are stereotyped. I've stereotyped them myself. I said I would never homeschool, but then again I said I would never have children. I need to stop saying 'never' about things. It's amazing the number of people that homeschool. Of all the guys that Mark works with five of them have school age children and now there is only one that does not homeschool.
I guess everyday is a new adventure.
1 comment:
Yes, every day IS a new adventure. I have known many people who have home-schooled for many different reasons, and NOT ONE of them did it because they had joined a cult. You are doing what is best for you and your kids. There is nothing wrong with that and you don't have to justify it to anyone. God bless you for caring this much, and I pray that it proves to be a good and productive year for all of you.
Love you all,
Pat
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