The Nail in the Coffin

What do you call it when a homeschool mom talks to herself? A parent/teacher conference.=) I thought you would like that. Has life changed around here. I've always been the kind of parent to find an educational opportunity in whatever my kids were doing at the time so I guess homeschooloing was the next step.

For those of you who don't know, I homeschooled our oldest Sean for half of his 1st grade year and all of his second grade year when we lived in Washington. We decided to do it then because he was bored. He was a very difficult child to homeschool though. To say that I was stressed would be an understatement. Matt would come home and I would be in tears on some days. So then when we moved to Texas we decided to put Sean back in public school. The elementary was in our neighborhood and was the best in the county. Sean got a great teacher for his first year back. Third grade was great. On the state mandated tests Sean scored 100's Then fourth rolled around and my little Joshua went into Kindergarten and got Mrs. Corn who was the best kindergarten teacher. She really tried to understand Joshua and really helped him excel. Joshua loved school and being with all his friends. Sean did well in fourth grade too. Scoring high in all his classes and scoring 100's or high 90's on all the state mandated tests. Do you know how much time they waste in public schools preparing for those state mandated tests? Did you know that they only teach our kids what is necessary for taking those tests. It's absurd and a waste of time.

Sean never did give up on being homeschooled. Usually on a weekly basis he would say something about it. I started thinking more and more about it. Talking to Matt more and more. He wasn't to thrilled with the idea at first because of what had happened last time. And I didn't blame him. I was worried about it too. I didn't want to pull the kids out again and it not work out. So I did what any christian mom would do. I started praying about it. The more I prayed the more I knew that this is what was best for the boys and our family. Matt was still afraid that it would turn out like last time. I didn't press him to much about it. I just sat back and let the public school do it's work.

You see when we started talking about homeschooling again. I mean really talking about it Sean was starting to do all the "testing". I don't know how many times he would come home with no homework. We would ask him what they did at school and the answer would be "we watched a movie" or "we played games". You see when they would finish the testing for the week, instead of continuing with learning they would just watch a movie or play games or have a party the rest of the week. That really started to frustrate Matt and I. We couldn't believe how much educational time was being spent on useless activities. It wasn't just with Sean. Even in Joshua's class they would watch cartoons like Peep for learning. I remember Matt making a comment like "he can watch stuff like that at home". Needless to say Matt came around to the idea.

We decided to let the boys finish out the school year. I started looking for curriculum and getting ready to teach my kids. I was excited and worried at the same time. I wasn't really concerned with being able to teach them. I am an educated women and very capable of teaching them. It was more about it being to much. Would I be able to be a wife, mother, teacher and worker in the church all at the same time. Where on earth would I find the time. Let's just say I had to come up with a plan and get organized. I'm still getting organized. But it is funny. The house stays cleaner now than it did before. I am still involved at church. I'm starting my 5th semester of Sign Language this next week and I even find time for Matt.;)

I've heard it said that we are slaves to time. I don't agree. The key is to make time work for us. You have to tell time what you are going to do with it. We spend so much time wasting our time that we seem to think we don't have enough time. So I just decided to stop wasting so much time. That is one of the reasons I don't blog very often. But it is a good thing to do, from time to time. Especially if you enjoy it. So, those tests were what finally shall we say broke the camels back and were the final nail in the proverbial coffin (public school). Testing was the kicker. At least that is what I think. So what do we do all day now? What makes homeschooling better? In my opinion. I think that is for another time. See you again soon.