I want the best for my children....that is a given , right? And the best would be a great education, but how do I go about that? We don't have unlimited funds for private schools nor do I feel that it is in my best interest to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on my child's primary school education ( this is K-12). Especially when we have college, retirement, cars, and whole child experiences to consider in our budget. So with that said and for the purpose of this blog, private school is not an option for us. That is a whole other discussion.
But here is what I want to discuss.......HOMESCHOOL. Yes, this IS Aprile. For those of you are somewhat familiar with me might know that I am not the best student. I don't necessarily love school , so for me to consider this is, this is a rather shocking idea. But since having children as most of you are personally aware ......things have changed. No I don't wish to return to school anytime and I don't get excited about school supplies or anything you "good" students do. However I LOVE learning , but most importantly I really , really, really enjoy experiencing. And it is extremely important to me that my children feel the same way. Now understand that I know this might be something I have no control or influence....but I hope I can take some steps to help it grow.
With that said, how can I make my children's school an experience versus an obligation or an unstimulated time in their life. How do I encourage a love for learning. One way I have learned through parenting to get your child to do anything you might want is to model. Be an example. So if I were to put my child in school would they really get to see an example of someone experiencing learning? Don't get me wrong here I know some really great teachers and I know there are some out there , but do they really have time in their schedule to really model excitement? And would it not build better bonds within my family to experience it TOGETHER. If they are learning about Gettysburg would it not make more of an impact to go to Gettysburg? Of course we don't have all the time and resources to make corresponding vacations/field trips with every lesson but it is certainly more feasible for us as a family than as a school. Could the statement "a family who learns together , stays together" be true? Although the opposite would not be an absolute either :)
When Brandon and I were dating we made a promise that whoever was making more money when we had our first child would continue to stay employed while the other parent was to stay home. Well Brandon out-earned me by a LOOOOONG shot. So I dove into stay-at-home-dom with all my heart and time. And I try to make that choice each morning and remain joyful about it. I love my job , I have no desire to go back to work . I feel completely fulfilled doing what I do. I know a lot of this comes from the support I get from Brandon, he wants me to be at home as much as I want to be at home. So if I love this job as much as I do it makes sense that I would not want to have my children go away from me. And I sometimes feel that it is my job to train up my child and not somebody else.
But, and it is a two-pronged but. Where would they develop those all important social skills. Although I want my child to learn at his/her own pace is not also important to sometimes feel the pressure of healthy competition? What about some encouragement from an outside source, can I be as objective as a teacher can. Would I really be preparing my kids for community and different job environments if I really never gave them the opportunity to work together in those ever so painful " group projects" because really isn't life , especially family-life, just one big "group project". Although we ( The Millers) are lucky? enough to live in a community that is pretty diverse and offers plenty alternatives to traditional public school is that really the best way to spend our school hours? I feel already stretched in the terms of time it takes me to run to appointments, clean house and meet with some very important-to-me playgroups, how would running my children to different "home-school experiences" really be the home-school environment I wanted to create? There would be gas money, childcare expenses and activity fees we would have to consider and would we not be right back at the "cost" of education argument?
And then there is the second prong......me. I know my husband loves me because he really knows me. As mentioned earlier I am not a great student........probably not even a good student. So would I really be the best teacher from my kids? I have been known to not complete things (please hold the laughs and amens) and much to my disappointment this is not just historical information it is also a fact of life for me. I am often called a perfectionist, but I argue does a perfectionist complete things? So I consider my self a "quitter" yes, I do. I will start something with grand plans yes I make everything harder than it ever needs to be. And then when I start to get fatigued or frustrated that I will not be able to do it the way I want or envisioned it I quit. So I really do not wish my children to learn or model this behavior. But I sometimes wonder would this not be a great opportunity to re-learn how to do things? Can this be the time to change things?
With all of this said , how did YOU decide to or not to home school? Do you think I am crazy, do you see flaws in my ways :)? I want to hear it!!
Have a great week!!
Aprile
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