Why we homeschool

People often ask me why we decided to homeschool, so I thought I would answer that question in a blog post, both for myself and for others.  

For the last couple of years, Super Boy had been coming home with hours of homework at night.  Hours.  I spoke with his teacher(s) who told me that he really shouldn't have that much, but that he wasn't getting it done in class.  Okay, so my kid is a space cadet.  

Tell me something I don't know.  

I talked to other moms and yes, there were days when he just wasn't getting his work done, but it turns out there were a lot of days when the homework was piled on--not just for Super Boy, but for everyone.  Four pages in an English workbook might be assigned.  Four pages is a lot for a third grader who has been in school all day long and really needs to run around like a crazy nut to work off some energy! 

Then there was the feast or famine thing.  

There would be no homework for days.  And then there would be homework from 4:00-10:00 p.m.  (This was most days).  Yeah, I pretty much would've rather eaten chalk than suffer through those nights.  Because Super Boy has a very active mind (i.e. can get distracted by something as simple as a loose thread or the fringe of his paper), I had to stay right on top of him.

But there was still dinner to cook, dishes to clean, floors to sweep, babies to change, homework to do with Cindy Lou Who and baths to give.  Where was I supposed to fit all of that in?  

I was maxed out.  Completely.  We all were.

Then there was the "you have to memorize this to pass a test and get a good grade" thing.  Don't get me wrong--I recognize that memorization is necessary.  I believe it is beneficial.  However, I do think it has to be coupled with teaching kids strategies for remembering and a true understanding of the material. 

Yeah, we didn't have time for all that.  We were trying to make it through to the next day when we would repeat the whole thing over again.

The kids started to dislike school.  Okay, not to sound super-nerdy (which I already know I am), but learning is fun!  Really, there are so many amazing things to learn and that gets lost when kids are force-fed information.

I want my kids to have a true love of learning.  To understand how things work.   To be hungry to know more.  

Since we've started homeschooling, I've seen this in full bloom and it has been a beautiful thing to watch.  Every day isn't roses, I can assure you!  However, because we can pore over books and play with math (both my kids and myself used to despise math, and now we LOVE it because of this amazing manipulative-based program!), they are enamored with learning.  

And I guess having four kids makes you more controlling of your schedule.  Poor Ralphie...there were days when I would say, "I'm so sorry, I promise I won't take you in and out of your car seat one more time."  We were constantly on the go.

I decided that it would be easier for me to teach the children at home when it was convenient for me (in the morning, not at the dinner-hour rush).  The amount of time I was spending on sifting through the ever-growing pile of flyers and "Don't forget your cake raffle money" reminders, could be spent intimately teaching my kids.  

There is time to be a kid.  Time to explore.  Time to be creative. 

Disclaimer: I know this is not for everyone.  I have never been the one who says homeschooling is a good fit for every child.  Or that parents who homeschool get a gold star.  On the contrary, I am amazed by women whose kids are in school and can balance everything.  I couldn't keep up and I didn't like how it morphed me in to Cruella DeVille.  Or how stressed out it made my kids.

Some assume that if you're homeschooling, you're a religious nut or that you have to wear jean jumpers (which, I won't lie, I used to have one but it was only because it had big pockets on the front that I could put pencils in and I know that's really nerdy, but I don't have it anymore, I swear).  

There are many, many reasons for homeschooling.  But this is a general overview of why we did.  And that whole socialization thing that people always bring up?  If you have spent any time with my children you will know two things:

1) They love people and love to interact with others who are both like and unlike themselves.
2) Our family was weird before we ever started homeschooling.  There was no hope for us to begin with.

Why I should not have taken Dynamite to Staples

All I wanted were two very simple student planners.  No frills--just something to write down my kids’ individual assignments in.  After church, I ask my dear husband, “Do you mind if I just shoot over to Staples for a few minutes?  I just need to run in really quick.”  

Then Dynamite and Cindy-Lou Who chime in, “We want to go too!  Can we go too?”

“Okay,” I say, “that’s fine.  But it’s just going to be a quick trip.  In and out.”

Like that would ever happen…

Two minutes in to my perusing the clearance rack for some discounted planners, I notice Cindy Lou Who doing the pee-pee dance. 

 

“Do you need to use the bathroom?”  I ask.

“The very tiniest bit, Mom” she says holding up her index finger and thumb to give me a visual.

“Mm-hmmm.”

Now to find a bathroom.  We find a store employee and are pointed to the bathroom. 

 

“Okay, just go potty and I’ll wait out here for you,” I tell her.

Now, here is where the story twists.  That’s right, my friends.  In just a moment, it can all fall apart.

“I have to go potty too!!” Dynamite chimes in.

Oh man.  This is the kid whose butt is so little, he has to scoot all the way back on the toilet seat so he doesn’t fall in.  This is the kid who still hasn’t mastered the art of aiming and leaves “art work” for me to find on my shower curtain. 

There’s no, “Just go in and come out” anymore.  That ship has sailed.  So, the three of us trudge in to the bathroom.

It smells like…well, poop.  There you have it.  It totally smells like poop.

 

The toilet is splattered and disgusting and I really don’t want my kids sitting on it.  I get out my all-purpose baby wipes and meticulously wipe the seat.  Then, I lay out strands of toilet paper for the child who only needs to go to the bathroom the tiniest bit, but is doing this amazing number that reminds me of Lord of the Dance.

As I’m trying to do damage control, Dynamite says what we’re all thinking (but not really):

“It smells wike pwetzels in here or sumping.”  Probably not the first thing I would analogize the smell to, but I guess pretzels do have a different kind of smell sometimes.

As he’s doing what he needs to do, I can be overheard saying, “Point your peeper down.  Dynamite, do not pee on your underwear.  Make sure it’s pointed down.”

He’s agreeable and understands, I’m quite certain, that mommy is just doing a very quick in and out trip to the office supply.  He totally gets it that I just need two freaking little notebooks that would’ve taken me five-minutes tops if I had only come alone.

 

“Um, I fink my undapants are wet,” he says as he’s getting off the toilet-paper lined seat.

“Seriously?”

“I fink so.”

Now, perhaps any good mother would’ve said, “Okay, let’s go home right this minute.  We need to change your clothes.”

But I didn’t.  Because sometimes I'm not a good mother.  Sometimes I'm a very utilitarian kind of mother.  And I really needed two measly little notebooks and I was out with only two kids instead of four.

 

So I said, “Okay, I don’t think they’re that wet.  Let mommy just find these (insert naughty word that I said in my head so only I could hear it and prayed later that God would cleanse my heart and help me stop thinking those naughty words when I’m frustrated) notebooks.”

Dynamite walks around pinching the seam of his pants and pulling it out so it doesn’t touch his rear end. 

 

“My pants is wet, Mom.”

I’m beginning to think they’re a little more wet than I realize

.

I grab some cute stripey paper-clips as a consolation that I am not getting my notebooks, but at least I will have gotten something that I needed (read: helped ease my feelings of defeat). 

And that is why, next time, I will leave Dynamite and Cindy-Lou Who at home when I need to get two little things at Staples.