I’ve had a few people ask me about homeschooling since I mentioned it in December. Here are some answers.

I’ve never thought about doing it before this fall. I grew up thinking that homeschooled kids were strange; but looking back, I don’t think I even knew any. It was a stigma that I heard others say.

Kindergarten went great for Blake last year. I was surprised they had homework, but it was really easy and we’d do a week’s worth about once a week. He was gone an okay amount of time – 3 hours and 20 minutes was just fine for me. He was still home most mornings to play with his siblings. And the kindergarten kids were totally sheltered from the rest of the school. They only interacted with their class and had recess alone.

1st grade is totally different. Having Blake gone from 8-3pm is a REALLY long time. Once he has a snack and some downtime after school, it’s right back into homework. Then dinner, sports practice (sometimes), and bed. It was a hard transition for all of us. Clark missed seeing Blake all day and wanted to play with him after school, but Blake was worn out and kept saying he just wanted some alone time. Homework that is “supposed” to take 10-15 minutes, actually takes over 30 minutes sometimes. (And Blake is a little advanced in his class, so it probably takes longer for the average student.)

I hate the homework. It is mostly busy work and Blake finishes his work in class early all the time so I don’t understand why he can’t just do his homework at school.

Blake also had a few encounters with a bully at recess, but it only lasted a week. He loves recess now, but it was hard for me to hear about the bullying those first few weeks and that none of the teachers saw it.

And then there’s the discipline. Blake has gotten a couple RDRs (where you have to miss a recess) for the silliest reasons. One time he fell down after the “freeze bell” and he got an RDR. Another time he said a stupid joke about punching someone in the face (yes, it may sound mean…but have you heard boys talk to each other? This is what they say!). He got in big trouble for that one, even though there was a kid knocking him down to the ground and pushing him against the wall earlier in the year. Blake is one of the nicest boys you’ll meet so it really ticks me off when he gets in trouble for lame stuff.

So, for the first time, I started thinking about homeschooling. Most of the stuff Blake is learning in 1st grade he already knows. It’s slowing him down, and I could teach him more advanced stuff at home. Plus, when you take out recesses and lunch and computer lab and whatever else they do to fill the time, Blake’s probably only working about 3 hours a day. We could do that at home and have time for extra-curriculars. I’d love for him to learn piano and have time for other things – like being a kid!

Blake is a good independent worker so I think teaching him at home would work, but it wasn’t something I was going to do this year. I’ve just been considering it for the future, as well as looking into charter schools, specifically Montessori ones.

Clark, on the other hand, was having a great time in kindergarten. He had quite a few friends and really liked his teacher. He was excited about all the fun stuff they do like the “sharing bag” and bringing home Toby the class “pet.”

(Clark with the aforementioned Toby)

He was doing great until January. After Christmas break he wasn’t that thrilled to go back to school. And one day he burst into tears, because he just didn’t want to be there. It was Jane’s birthday and he wanted to be at home.

After that, he cried every day – either at school, or before school. We worried that something had happened at school, but we’re pretty sure it was just his anxiety kicking in. Clark has always been a little difficult. He’s very particular about things and has a really hard time with change (like substitute teachers or switching the normal routine). This crying went on for 3 weeks until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I told him I could teach him at home for the rest of the year and he agreed, though he did waffle back and forth a few times about wanting to go back to school.

And suddenly I was pushed into homeschooling without even wanting to. We’re on our 4th week now. Some days are better than others.

Some perks:

You can sign up with a school (we use South Sutter Charter School) and they give you an allowance to buy supplies or attend classes. We ordered a bunch of art supplies, which Clark loves, and signed him up for gymnastics. We also gained access to this website that is great for little readers called Reading Eggs.

Another perk is that kindergarten is fairly easy to teach. I have found lots of free worksheets and ideas online. Blake just did kindergarten so I know what Clark should be learning. We spend no more than an hour each day on “schoolwork.” That doesn’t include time we have to play board games together (which still teach) or read books together.

We no longer have to worry about that mid-day 11:20 drop-off. Hallelujah.

Some un-perks:

I’ve lost most of my nap time break. Clark still does an hour of quiet time, but the rest of nap time is spent doing stuff with me.

Clark is Clark. The kid gets upset easily and complains a lot. He doesn’t do any of this at school, of course. His teacher told me he’s the perfect little worker and usually wants to be the first one to read or write at centers.

So there you have it. I’m a homeschooling mom now. If Clark didn’t have his issues, I may consider doing it again, but keeping him home is not going to help him work through his anxiety. So we are looking into other schools and may just try him again at our neighborhood public school for 1st grade. The more I read and hear about other schools though, I think Montessori may be a better method of teaching (in my opinion) so we’ll see if we can get into one of those schools. Wish us luck in our schooling search!