Hey folks! Who knew that just taking afew days off from school stuff, spending multiple days with both setsof grandparents, and getting re-addicted to Minecraft over theholidays would make for such a hard time getting back into the swingof things! In fact, it was bad enough that I started seriouslyquestioning whether I was making the right choice in homeschoolingMyka. I mean, I'm about to have another baby and her attitude wasHORRIBLE! Could I really handle her tantrums, bad attitude, etc. withtwo other kids to care for?
I won't go into details on all of thebehavior issues, but I will admit that it was bad enough that I wasactually looking into “regular schools” and considering puttingher in kindergarten next year. Which, not that you know, but I feellike is saying a lot because homeschooling is something that I'vewanted to do with our kids since Myka was a baby. Even consideringpublic school made me feel like a failure, like I was giving up. And,as stupid as it may sound, the whole thing made me really depressedfor a week.
I was so torn on the issue, that Imade a list of pros and cons...and was actually surprised to findthere were more perks to her attending a regular school. However, Ifelt like the cons held more weight, if that makes sense. Everyoneand everyone family dynamic is different, but here is my list. Tellme what you think:
Pros Cons
Notas stressed Drive time
Moretime to spend with little kids Waking kids up early
Lessyelling all the time Expensive
Mykagets more social interaction Won't be able to take trips wheneverwe want
Willprobably listen to someone else better More likely to be sick moreoften
Willget caught up/won't fall behind on academics
Maybe able to get help with speech issues
We wouldn't be able to take impromptu visits like this.
Or go fishing in the middle of the week in spring.
Imade this list with Myka attending a charter school the next countyover in mind. If I'm going to get her into regular school, I wouldfeel better about her attending the charter school after all of thegreat things I've heard about it. Plus, we moved here with nointentions of sending our kids to public school because, quitefrankly, if that were a factor, we probably wouldn't have moved here,to be honest. So...That just added to the depression.
Iasked around on a local mom's group about how much it would cost toenroll Myka in kindergarten at the local elementary school and wastold the book rental fee was around $100. WHAT?!I couldn't believeit! When I replied with, “$100 for kindergarten books?!” she wenton to say, “Oh, they just call it that. It also covers classroomsupplies, paper, etc.” Um, like John said, what the hell are ourtaxes paying for when it comes to schools? And the fact that theyhave this fee on top of the other supplies you have to purchase,which also include some classroom supplies? I'm sorry. I know I'm newto this world of public school, but I don't get it. What does theschool help pay for/provide? Do the poor teachers have to pay rentfor their classroom space, for God sakes?
Anyways, sure, the charter school would be even more expensive withhaving to buy uniforms as well (which I'm not crazy about), but itseemed like a better investment. The main issue with sending herthere is having to pick her up and drop her off and it takes about 25minutes to drive there...And this would be twice a day. If youhaven't realized already, I was mostly considering sending her toregular school to get a freakin' break. That driving twice a day,rain or shine, having to wake up THREE kids, didn't seem like much ofa break.
It's not like we do hardcore schooling yet anyways. We do lots of arts, crafts, and hands-on projects.
Aftertalking it over with John, he still isn't crazy about sending her topublic school either. (I know, I know. I'm the one who will be doingthe schooling, but he gets input too!) Plus, he says where we livethat public schools can require your children to take medicine ifthey are labeled as being ADD/ADHD?! Like, I guess there was a courtcase regarding this a few years ago. I haven't actually looked it up,but I don't know what reason he would have to lie about it, so thatis just frightening. She hasn't been, but we are afraid Myka would bediagnosed with something like this if she goes to public school justbecause she would probably have a hard time sitting still for as longas they want, would talk too much because she just really likestalking and doesn't quite understand that you're not supposedto talk whenever you want at school, etc. And quite frankly, weshouldn't expect little kids to sit still that long or keep tothemselves all day. But, I guess that's a whole other debate foranother blog post.
Anyways,after all that, we have decided to keep trying to homeschool. She'sstill young. Some days are better than others. She made a lot ofimprovement in her attitude the week after. I'm still trying toslowly get her back into the swing of things as far as “schoolstuff” goes....As well as find ways to use Minecraft to myadvantage for learning opportunities. ;)
I'msure this won't be the last time I have a crisis over whether or notI should send her to school, but I am trying harder to stay positiveand not let the bad days (or attitudes!) get to me as much!
Haveyou ever panicked over how/where to school your kids? How did youcome to the right decision?
