Duped

This Thanksgiving weekend, our lives have been changed. It was not what we expected. (And I am not talking about the 5 days of no hot water either). We had never known much about 'home school', in fact we had negatively stereotyped this process. However, after 4 days of research and interviews, we want to change our life. After learning that other local families have been successful into getting their children into college by using their home studies, I feel duped by society. We just didn't know we had options, that we didn't have to follow the boring traditional route.

We learned that these other kids didn't keep transcripts of their education. They learn the knowledge they need in life, test each year for tracking their progression, and prepare for the community college entrance exams. The public school system doesn't create the perfect protocol. They do the best they can in bulk spitting out 7200 students in this district, but we can do just as good of a job at home. Our kid is well socialized and will get what she needs via other avenues (such as swim team and church activities).

TIMELINE

Thursday Night: We met Cathy's nephew Ryan, an 11 yr old fifth grader who studies independently with the coaching of his mom when she comes home from work. After hearing about his life, schedule and curriculum, our minds started spinning.

Friday: We told Alyssa about it and she was intrigued. She liked the idea of learning at her own pace, onine, with coaching, but without all the daily disruptions at school. She wanted to learn more and we spent the day talking about how it could work for our family, with our schedules. We discussed how much responsibility she would need herself. We would coach her, but much of the learning/studying would need to start with her reading, watching DVD's, and taking online tutorials.

Saturday: She brought it up again while we were working in the garden. I called Ryan's mom and learned about WAVA. We visited the Vachs and learned how they put 5 kids through home studies. It was amazing to me that at age 16, the Vach kids take a $10 compass exam to be accepted into GRCC where they begin running start. 2 years later, with an AA in hand (no high school diploma), they get accepted into BYU. What I love about the Vachs and Petersons is that their kids are AMAZING. I feel they got that way through living the gospel and keeping those kids away from the daily disgust that kids bring to the schools. I feel so proud that Alyssa wants to keep that junk out of her life.

Sunday: Spent time learning about the Peterson's process and how they put 9 kids through different home study programs in the past 20 years. We learned how their oldest kid got a full ride scholarship into BYU even! He is graduating from Vet School this year at WAZZU.

All of these moms have chosen different routes. There are no wrong or right ways to do this. We feel relaxed to just start allowing Alyssa to learn and we will figure out her path as we go along through life. I feel armed with enough to get us started for now. Our family is praying about this decision and we hope to start in January.

It is amazing to me that we can pull our kid from school with a letter of home school intent and that is that. In 20 years, my friend Christy has never once been questioned on what she teaches her kid. No proof of curriculum is required. Wierd, at first to accept, but again, I just didn't know we had this option.

Alyssa is excited to leave behind the icky talk at school, the disruptions, the farting 5th graders, the girls already 'going out with' the boys and changing boyfriends each day, and the wasted minutes of the drama that occurs with 30 other kids in a classroom. The nice thing is that if a homeschooler wants to do something with the public school (such as be a part of the school play, attend honors biology, or drop in for an art class - the school welcomes the partcipation).

There are so many programs out there we can tap into and many are funded too. With all the sports we do, she doesn't need school PE. With her piano lessons and daily 60 minute practices, her music subject is being covered. We do plan to encourage her to study music history on her own. We can definately teach her home ec too! We are already starting her on typing tutuorials and she wants to take a Spanish online course. We are ready to bear this responsibility.

We welcome support, but not criticism. Please trust our decision making skills. You'll know in 5 years if we made the right choice.