Why We Homeschool

Nine years ago I was pregnant with my first born son, the Doodlebug.  If you had asked me then if I had ever considered homeschooling him, I would have laughed and told you that I was already looking forward to the day when I would drop him off at Kindergarten and drive merrily away to my own life for the 7 or so hours he would be occupied with SCHOOL.

Just a few months later I would have gladly strangled anyone who tried to pry him out of my arms.  Because OH MY GOSH – have you seen him?

You’re telling me that in 5 short years after his birth, I have to give him away to be raised by a school system that has no idea how brilliant he is?

I don’t think so.

Then, 7 years ago our little Junebug joined the crew and only strengthened my resolve to chew on those cheeks for as long as I could manage it.

I mean – really.

So, when the time came for Doodlebug to start Kindergarten, we found a homeschooling cooperative that ran 3 half-days a week and required home-schooling on the other two days.  Perfect, I thought.  ”The best of both worlds” is the school tagline.  Except – not so much.  Especially for Doodlebug.  He struggled.  He didn’t interact with anyone for the first 2 months of Kindergarten.  He daydreamed.  He hated handwriting and struggled with reading.  Wait a minute…I don’t think I’m overly delusional – this is a SMART kid.  This is the kid who started talking before his first birthday and by 15 months was using 5 word sentences.  Clearly.  This is a kid that can figure out how machinery operates if he just watches it for a while.  This is a kid whose first word was “WHY?”

 We pressed on and Junebug entered Kindergarten when Doodlebug started 1st grade.  The Junebug was the youngest in his class (August birthday and NO, I didn’t hold him back.  YES, I know he is a boy.)  He did great until about halfway through the year when he wanted to read faster and do more and they wouldn’t let him because they had a lesson plan to follow.  Doodlebug did great in 1st grade, thanks mostly to a spectacular teacher, but started struggling mid-year with timed math tests, daydreaming and not reading at the level he should.  

 Over the summer between 1st and 2nd grades, we had Doodlebug tested for learning disorders, but the psychologist couldn’t help.  She labeled him “quirky.”  As in – well – he doesn’t fall into any of the classifications for anything.  He’s just kind of a quirky kid.  And I paid $600 for that.  I KNOW he’s quirky.  That’s one of the things I like most about him.  His IQ test came back in the high average category, but even she said she thought he didn’t test well.  He lost points because he couldn’t tell her what a thief was (a word we rarely use) and because when asked how a police officer, a fireman and a postal worker were similar, he said they help people instead of they wear uniforms.  He’s very compassionate.  He went to the heart of it, not the clothes.  He’s obviously a genius.  OH – In my humble opinion, anyway.

 So, anyway.  2nd grade was kind of the same.  Doodlebug started strongly, but fell off after Christmas.  Junebug got bored and quit playing along.  And I started realizing that a one-size-fits-all education, even as out of the box as this co-op seemed, just wasn’t working for our family.  We’re just not an in-the-box kind of family, I guess.  Plus – I like having them home with me.  It turned out that I wasn’t such a shove them out the door Mama after all.

So this year?  We just began our first year as 100% homeschoolers.  We’re taking an eclectic approach and trying lots of different things.  The boys are reading on the same level, so that’s the level of reading we’re working on, regardless of the grade in which they happen to be.  Same goes with science and handwriting and spelling.  Math and Grammar are separated by grade, but those are the only two.

And those cheeks?  Right where I want them.

My Boys