We started homeschooling because we were angry, but now we do it because we like it very much. I laughed when I read the “Fertilizing the lawn” entry I reposted today from June 23, 2004. At the time I wrote the post, I was obviously pretty mad. It was after the end of Kelly’s fourth grade year and Christian’s second grade year in two of the government schools in Albany, Oregon. We felt the schools had performed a great disservice to our children. The year was a complete waste for them both academically and socially. We were forced into deciding between private school and homeschool.
I laugh now, though, because I only feel gratitude toward the teachers, the school, and the principal. If we had not had such strong feelings and such a sense of helplessness about working within the system to fix what we felt was egregious incompetence and even malice toward people with our worldview, we might never have started homeschooling. Within weeks of starting to homeschool, we realized we loved it. We still love it going into our fifth year of homeschool since they finished their one year stay at “The Groves”. Our kids are way better off academically, socially, and even physically.
An additional benefit was that the pages and pages of handwritten notes I took after each of the meetings with the teachers and the principal of the schools. They made me realize what a great help it is to think things out on paper. It was really quite cathartic to do that writing. It probably helped me avoid doing things I might have regretted, like keeping my kids in the system. And it was part of my inspiration to start blogging.
June 23, 2004 – Fertilizing the lawn
June 24, 2004 – Accepting the job