School Choices

Here's Amara on her first day of class that she went to at her school. I conspicuously left this picture off the blog for awhile, but I feel like its time I come clean and inform you all that we are homeschoolers. I had a really hard time making the decision to homeschool - would it really work for our family?  Would Amara make friends?  Be normal?  I know most homeschoolers these days scoff at the idea that their kids don't have adequate social interaction/opportunities, but never having been in the situation, it was hard to really see the end from the beginning.

In the end, I knew that if we wanted to try it, Kindergarten was the time to make it happen. Amara didn't have any real expectations of what school would be like, so I wouldn't have to fight her on anything, the academics are less rigorous in Kindergarten, so I'd have some time to figure things out without falling behind, etc.

Fortunately, these days there are many schooling options for homeschooling families.  We chose a public school a few towns over that has a program devoted to homeschooling.  There are weekly classes, regular meetings with teachers, field trips, and friends and social opportunities abound.  We've had some really great people befriend us, and we get together regularly to do science and history, and let the kids play play play.

So far, we are having a really fun time, and are really looking forward to being able to pursue topics that we find fascinating, and we love incorporating learning into our daily lives.

I was a bit reluctant initially to admit that we're homeschoolers.  I mentioned that I had agonized over the decision a bit, and seeing all those pictures of cute kids with backpacks on the first day of school made me nostalgic and doubt myself.  I knew it would take some time to get in the groove and figure things out, make friends, etc. so I mostly kept my head down.  I've also seen some of the strong negative reactions to homeschooling, and I didn't feel ready to go on the defensive.  We are still fairly new to the area, and some people asked where Amara would be going to school, so I told them what we were doing, and while some had questions, everyone was great and supportive.  Then last week something happened.  I was at a Halloween party at a friend's house.  There were 3 other moms and their kids from Amara's school there, as well as some other friends of the host.  Homeschooling came up with one of the guests, and let's just say he was not supportive.  He wasn't hostile, but he called me a religious zealot right off the bat.  When I told him that religion wasn't a major motivator in homeschooling, he launched into a critique of Christians and how crazy and close-minded they are.  The irony was not lost on me that this guy was accusing us of being socially weird.  We did finally get into a normal conversation on schooling choices.  I got home that night and I realized that, despite the oddity of the conversation, I was unfazed by it.  I didn't look hopelessly at the other moms to back me up when he began questioning me.  I had no problem defending my decision to homeschool my child, and it didn't cause me to doubt myself or wonder what in the world I'm doing.  It certainly helps that Amara is doing fantastically.  I look back at the 2 and a half months that we've been doing this, and I'm excited by what we've accomplished.  I still have tons to learn, but I feel like I have a system in place that can really make this happen.

And as far as whether or not we plan to do this through high school - no idea, ok?  It really depends on what works best for us and what's available for older kids when the time comes!