How About Homeschooling? Part One

{I have too many jumbled thoughts and the mental noise is deafening.  To clarify, this is not a researched, fact-filled piece, it is simply my attempt to coherently organize my thoughts and concerns, in two parts, on virtual paper.  Who knew almond croissants and coffee would fuel the blogging fire?}

Sometimes the inspiration for blog posts takes me by surprise.  Recently a friend of mine and I (over the aforementioned treats) had an engaging discussion on the topic of homeschooling, an education alternative I never seriously considered for my children.   I attended public school from Kindergarten through twelfth grade.  My husband did as well. There were few other schooling options when and where we grew up: there were no charter schools, the only private schools were Catholic (we were raised Protestant) and homeschooling was not something anyone in our community did.  My husband and I obtained solid public educations that provided us a foundation for success at a well-respected college, so we naturally felt that what worked for us would work for our own children.

Then we had kids in a time of school choice, the internet, and a seemingly large number of educational avenues to choose from. And with three children close in age, we can directly compare their academic strengths and weaknesses, varied abilities to process material, and the times they are at their best to process.   So my husband and I found ourselves asking the question:  can all three of our kids thrive in the same uniformly-structured academic environment?

Don’t get me wrong.  My kids attend a wonderful public school, with a dedicated science program (meaning a separate science teacher and instruction time) and “specials” (P.E., art and music) daily.  The teachers are enthusiastic and nurturing.  But one of my sons does not do well with being “dialed in” for a seven hour school day and needs ample, undisturbed space to recharge his batteries:  time to be in his head, imagine, and quietly create with his legos or art supplies.  He cannot handle the rigors of the school day if he has not had plenty of this “down” time, and his struggle is evident when I get a call from his supportive teacher reporting that my son is distracted or being disruptive.  Being the introspective soul he is, and there being several of these phone dialogues with his teacher, the idea of homeschooling my son became the only thing I could think about after talking with my educator friend.

So fueled by stimulating conversation and a caffeine and sugar rush, I came home to pound out on my laptop a slurry of thoughts and concerns about homeschooling.  And once I did discovered I had way, way too much material!  So please stay tuned, I promise to tame my mental noise and put it into a coherent format for part two of this post.

quick link:  How About Homeschooling?  Part Two