The government school in our area has so many teacher in-service, conference preparation, and educational days off it is hard to keep track of them. Every time we turn around the neighborhood kids are home again during what for us would be a normal school day. Yesterday was one of those days and today is another one. It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I gave the kids half a day off and will give them another half day today so they can play with the other kids. I really do not see how they get anything done…
Kelly and Christian both get up at 7:00 in the morning to practice their piano and get started on their homework before breakfast. After breakfast they do their homeschool work until they finish, infrequently as early as 1:00, but usually until between 3:00 and 3:30 in the afternoon. In the evenings, we spend an additional two hours working on corrections and things for which they need my participation. The neighborhood kids start school at 9:00 in the morning and finish at 3:15 in the afternoon. At least half of their time is spent on lunch, recess, etc.
Our neighborhood kids are good little kids. The more experience we have homeschooling our own children, the sorrier I feel for those kids who have to attend our local government schools. It is sad that they are receiving such poor academic preparation, but it is even sadder that, with a few notable exceptions, they are placed under the control of what, in our opinion, was a very mean-spirited staff. I read through some of the notes I took during my discussions with the principal of our school and Kelly’s teacher. It only confirmed this view of our local school. We are so glad we saw this early and got out kids out. Even so, we are having to work on overcoming some of the attitudes inculcated during their tenure at these schools.