Mrs. Rivero’s book laid out a lot of basic information on homeschool, which I found to be very helpful. After going through a lot of the different information on how and why one might consider homeschooling, she then had a chapter on how to determine if it is right for your family. One of her first points in this chapter was to lay out all the reasons that you want to homeschool.

Gary strongly feels that I can give child a better education at home, at least the first two or three years. He says no one knows our kids like I do, since I’m home with them more or less 24/7. I know what motivates them, I know where they struggle and I know their strengths. I have the education background, and he thinks I should be able to handle teaching basic math and reading skills. He thinks with co-ops and our ability to take more trips to reinforce learning that it might even be a good option in later grades.

One of my concerns with the Florida school district is what I perceive to be a poor learning environment at school. Gary graduated in a class of over 500, in a school that size I find it hard to believe that students can get the adequate attention that they need from a teacher. Not to mention the drugs, alcohol, and other problems that seem to run rampant down here. The other alternatives to public schools aren't options that we like. We don’t have the finances to consider a private school or sending a child out of district. I’m not in favor of the principle of charter schools. Finally, I’m not interested in sending my child to a church school to be indoctrinated in things that are contrary to our faith and practice as Primitive Baptist.

Next, we both have an interest in homeschooling due to religious or family reasons. I’m not against evolution and big bang being taught, after all they are scientific theories, and I don’t believe that interacting with those ideas runs a child’s spiritual foundation. However, I like the idea of being able to have more time and more opportunities to teach our children sound biblical doctrine and develop good moral character. One of my fondest memories from elementary school, was the time that I spent with Daddy in the car my 6^th grade year, shortly after I joined the Church. I copied out by hand our articles of faith and all the supporting scriptures and we talked about them and what they meant, and I also wrote in my own words what it meant. Gary and I like the idea of being able to pick up and go to Church meetings or visit family and take school with us, rather than being tied down in one place from 7:30 to 3, Mon-Fri, August-May.

Many homeschooling families have talked about the real advantages they see in their high school aged children. Without the continuous peer pressure to drink, smoke and have premarital sex; their children don’t struggle as strongly with these issues. Having the opportunity to grow up in a home environment where they have more one on one time with a parent and less pressure to conform a child grows up knowing who they are and what they want out of life to a certain extent. They are comfortable in their own skin, something I’ll confess I wasn’t from sometime in highschool until well into college. They talk about having a stronger closer relationship with their parents, something I wish I had developed sooner. Additionally, because they aren’t surrounded all day, every day by their same age peers, they have the ability to socialize with children and adults of all ages, and tend to be more mature and more social adept than their peers.

I also admit that I wonder if school will be a challenge to our children. With the exception of Mrs. Reich the best history teacher ever, and Mr. Henderson’s math and physic classes, I never really felt challenged in school. The flip side of that is if any of our children have special needs or disabilities, I’m not sure that the school system has the best answers to those problems. Gary likes to say that they all knew about what those kids did. Testing meant they got to sit in a smaller classroom, play more games, do less work, and automatically pass to the next grade. I don’t know about that, but I do know that it is difficult to control some students in the classroom. Perhaps being able to work one on one at their own speed at home with a competent parent would lead them to learn more and be better prepared to enter the world and workforce.

I have also recently read, "Real-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home" by Mrs. Rhonda Barfield. It has been a really interesting read. It would appear that there are as many approaches to homeschooling as there are different methods of teaching and reaching children in a classroom, and then some additional flexibility. You truly can reach kids all sorts of ways on all sorts of levels.

Would anyone like to share why they choose to homeschool? Or their thoughts about what I've written?

When I was in third grade, I decided I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I can even now distinctly remember, helping other kids in class, and knowing that I could make a real difference and teach kids important information just like Mother. I remember having one of the worst teachers ever for 6^th grade math and going home at night and Daddy teaching me the lesson so that I could do the homework. I remember then spending the next morning helping to explain the problems to other kids in my homeroom class, and feeling as if I was doing something important. I toyed with the idea of going into math or science fields in high school, but I had one special teacher, who inspired me to stick with teaching. Mrs. Reich made the material come alive in a way that only teachers with a real gift can. She wasn’t teaching us what to think but how to think. Some of the only real critical thinking skills we learned in school, I think we learned in that class. I had the chance to help another student in our class, and from us working together she was able to bring up her grades. I wanted to be someone that could mentor and guide children all while imparting important information. I went off to college and knew I wanted to teach high school or maybe college history. I started off taking a few education courses, and thought they were hopelessly duly and not much like the tales that Mother came home with each day about life in a real classroom. So I decided to get a straight history major and then get my education certification in a 5^th year program, so that I wouldn’t have to take as many pointless classes. All along I never doubted that I would one day be a teacher or professor and that was want I wanted out of life.

I always imagined having several kids like my parents. I suppose most of us imagine our lives as adult similar to what we knew growing up. I just knew that I wanted to have a large family, and coming from a strong public school family, that my kids would be in public schools. My grandfather taught and was a principal, my mother is still teaching, I have an aunt that is a professor, and several other family members who have been or are substitute teachers. I know there are problems with public schools; I know it better than most. Mother use to tell me to go into anything other than education, that she doesn’t have the parental support that she had when she started and that it gets worse each year. Granddaddy tells tales about how it was, and what he would do if he was principal today. I can see that the landscape has changed. But at my core, I believe in the need for good public schools, a democracy cannot function without an educated, intelligent populace. It is in our nation’s best interest to promote and strengthen education. I know that too much “teaching from the test” is done these days. I knew a teacher in high school that even back then, started each day with the objective written on the board, and explained how this day’s class met a key point in the graduation exam. We all know that standardized testing is not a fool proof way of determining how much a child has or had not learned over the course of the year. When I was in high school they revamped the graduation exam from a 7^th grade level to a 10^th grade level. We weren’t being tested on a 12^th grade level to pass, and even then, we only needed 51% of the answers correct to graduate.

Despite the flaws of a public education, I cannot see how it benefits our country or the other students in the school system to remove our best and brightest students and place them in charter schools, private schools, or homeschools. Rather than working to improve the system, to correct the faults, and ensure that all have a better education, especially those who need it most, we leave them to decline even further. We take away our efforts and we decrease funding. I know that you can’t throw money at a problem and hope to fix it. Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty proved that – the current problems with Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and unemployment prove this even now. However, funding does provide books, more teachers for lower student-teacher ratios, more technological resources, and while none of these things guarantees that learning will take place, it does increase the quality of learning that can take place.

In my own idealistic way, I thought one day I would come back to East Lawrence, take Mrs. Reich’s place when she retired and I would teach history for 30 years. I would make a difference. I always pictured life similar to the way that I grew up. My kids would walk to my classroom after school, we would all ride home, and when they needed help and clarification I would do my job as a parent and help them. Each afternoon when we got home we would finish our homework, play outside till supper time, and then eat. After supper my parents would start with the youngest checking our homework, having us fix our mistakes, and explaining things we didn’t understand. That was their job as parents. Daddy always fielded the math and science and Mother handled the English, reading, spelling words that we practiced in the car going to and from school every day. Boy, I hated spelling words. But I still spell together in my head they way she drilled me to-get-her, three separate distinct words. In my mind, the teacher is there to teach and outline material, but it is the parent’s job to be the one ultimately responsible, to care enough about their child to ensure that they get any extra help they need whether they do that themselves or hire tutors. Teachers can’t be expected to impart a child with everything they need to know in life and dispense children’s meds, and deal with behavioral problems since you don’t want Johnny to be paddled at school, and have character education, and any of 1,000 other tasks you might require. Teachers are the most underpaid profession out there, and I support them and the job they do. I never thought I would even consider homeschooling, and even though I am considering it, I don’t know that it’s something that I want to do. I think my children can get just as good of an education from me, as they can from the school system, with me filling a support role in the evenings.

So why am I considering it, if I have such strong feelings. Gary has often said that he feels like for the first 2 or 3 years anyway, that I could do as good of a job if not better than a teacher in teaching our kids. He feels that no one knows them like we do, and no one could provide the same dedicated, loving support that we can. He sees no need to rush them off to school. While he’s probably right, I don’t question my ability to teach them the basics; I’m not sold on the idea, but I am willing to consider it in light of the fact that I have the ability to teach. I don’t believe any and all parents are able to take on teaching their children, but I believe with my background that I could do it, and find those to bridge any gaps if needed.

But why am I considering it right now you ask. I got started thinking about it at Britt’s last doctor’s appointment. They asked how clear was his language? Could others understand him 50% of the time? I don’t really know, but I know we have trouble understanding him sometimes, so I’m sure that others do. Her response was, “I’m not too worried. I don’t think he needs any therapy right now. Most kids that have a stay at home parent catch up when they start preschool at 3.” It got me thinking, why would I want to put my kid in preschool if I’m at home? Why would someone assume that? Not saying that I wouldn’t enjoy the time to myself a couple of days a week, but those things are EXPENSIVE! Besides I’m not sure that I want him gone at 3, that’s way different than starting optional kindergarten at 5. When we talked about possibly delaying some of Ruth’s shots they asked us why, since she would need them anyway to start school. And I suppose it got me thinking, if Gary is right and I am capable, would it be a good option for our family?