Tia shares:
Homeschooling was something
that continually pulled at my heart,
and I had struggled with the deci-
sion internally before my daughter
was even preschool age. No one I
knew;homeschooled.;My;daughter
would attend the same school dis-
trict my husband and I had gradu-
ated from, and it was ranked in
the;top;10%;of;the;nation.;I;talked
about my homeschool thoughts
briefly with others only to receive
the usual responses such as “I
could never do that! How would
you have the time? What about so-
cialization?”
Finally the time came when I
needed to register my oldest for
Kindergarten.;I;began;to;listen;to
the outside voices and convinced
myself my daughter needed the
interaction and public school ex-
perience.;Within;the;first;week,;I
regretted the decision. The elem-
entary school she attended was
extremely focused on test scores
for funding, her teacher didn’t
seem;to;‘click’;with;her;or;myself,
and she had already begun com-
ing home in tears. I kept telling
myself it would get better and to
give;it;time.;By;December,;things
had not improved; a lady I had met
who did homeschool was very en-
couraging. She told me that if I felt
called to homeschool, God would
provide what I needed. I decided
to;pull;her;out;at;Christmas;break,
and we have never looked back.
This year we homeschool first
grade and Kindergarten, and we
love it. I love it. God has provided,
not only with strength for me but
with grace as well.
Jennifer shares:
I had my daughter when I was very
young;( 16;years;old),;and;I;was;a
drop-out who had never finished
junior high, although I did have my
GED. I had no idea that homeschooling was legal and had in fact never
met anyone who homeschooled nor
had I even heard of homeschooling.
From the beginning of kindergarten I noticed personality
changes in my child, but I assumed
that;was;“normal”;because;every-one;else;I;knew;had;the;same;ex-periences. Children who begin to
question the authority and wisdom
of;their;parents;and;pick;up;behav-iors from other children are pretty
much par for the course in public
school after all.
However, the deciding factor for us
was;when;my;daughter;was;in;fifth
grade and came home crying one day
at the beginning of the year. Her class
was given a graphing assignment
for math. They were supposed to go
home,;find;out;how;old;their;parents
were,;and;come;back;the;next;day;to
report;the;findings;so;that;they;could
create a class bar graph.
My daughter replied that she
didn’t need to go home and ask
because;she;already;knew;how;old
her;parents;were.;The;teacher;asked
her how old and she replied, “My
mom;is;26;and;my;dad;is;28.”;First
the teacher told her she was wrong.
When she insisted that she was cor-
rect the teacher told her, “Oh. You
were;a;mistake.”
So;I;told;her;to;go;back;and;tell
the teacher that no matter what he
thought about the wisdom of hav-
ing a child as a teenager, she was
definitely;NOT;an;accident;and;that
we had tried for months to have a
baby before we found out I was
pregnant. That at least made her
feel a little bit better. She did not
want;me;to;go;talk;to;the;teacher
because she was afraid that there
would be repercussions to that, and
my experiences in school told me
that;she;was;probably;correct.
Needless to say I went to the
school. I was told that it was against
policy;for;me;to;be;allowed;to;talk
to the teacher without the presence
of the principal and a mediator
and that the appointment for that
could;take;several;weeks.;I;asked
to have her switched to a different
class because I did not feel it was
appropriate to ask my daughter
to continue in his classroom with
the issue unresolved. I was told
that the district also had a policy
against changing teachers for per-
sonal reasons and that she would
absolutely have to stay in his room
for the entire year no matter what
happened.
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Every family has their own unique combination of reasons to homeschool.
