(PREVIOUS: Raising Scholars ** An Overview)
Why did we decide to educate our kids outside of the traditional school system? What was the impetus for this unconventional path?
My husband and I both had positive experiences in public school and expected the same for our children. Yet, in spite of living in an affluent suburb of Dallas, the public school system was not a fit for our family.
We started with public school…
How excited we all were that spring before our oldest son’s kindergarten year. We did the whole “getting ready for kindergarten” routine with Kindergarten Roundup and shopping for the new school clothes, the new backpack, and new school supplies.
Then on that early Monday morning in late August, I walked with my very young 5-year-old son to school a few blocks away for the first time, complete with the First Day of School pictures!
But prior to kindergarten…
In the years leading up to him heading off to school, I had done what I thought all parents did, read to my child, had him learn the meanings of the letters and string them together to make words (love the Bob books!!), played math games, sang songs, and of course, engaged in many play dates and community classes and activities.
Then we realized traditional school was not a good fit…
What were wonderful preschool years ended up hurting our son in kindergarten — he was bored… so bored. Then I learned he was watching a lot of movies (yes, full-length cartoon movies) to keep him occupied.
Then he started acting up at school. My calm, sedate, shy son threatening to stab others and being slammed against the fence during recess? What was happening?
On top of that, we had to dedicate about an hour every day undoing unacceptable behaviors. By the time he had finished assigned homework he was capable of doing the previous year, and we had spent some time actually challenging him mentally, it was time for bed. I began to ask myself, “Why is he going to school?”
We’re introduced to “homeschooling”…
While visiting a friend with three bright ambitious children, I discussed my woes. She said, “You’ve been educating him for the past five years, so why stop now?” This is what homeschooling is, she informed me.
An intriguing idea, but totally foreign to me. “Homeschooling” was what the Amish did, right? How do these isolated kids get the social skills they need to function in society? And what about school materials? It was overwhelming to think about coming up with all the curricula myself.
Then, I did an internet search for “homeschooling,” and, wow, thousands of hits, an overwhelming amount of information, and whole curricula already prepared! I was a little more encouraged.
Then I looked into homeschooling groups in our area, and again, wow! Just in our fairly new but quickly growing suburb, the homeschool organization had over a thousand kids, field trips and activities multiple times per week, and classes to help us parents just getting started with homeschooling.
Making the big decision…
I was still a little uncertain; this was all happening so fast. When I brought up the subject to my husband, he was immediately in favor of starting immediately. I still wasn’t so sure. Then he said, “I was so bored until high school. I wish I had been homeschooled.”
“Okay, okay, but we’ll let our son finish the rest of kindergarten; we’ll start next year,” I said. My husband quickly replied, “If we’re going to do this, why wait?”
I needed time to plan and to prepare. Most importantly, for me personally, if I was going to do this, I had to be willing to see it through to the end, all the way to graduation.
I spent the next weekend doing some soul-searching: Could I do this? Did I want to do this? Was I willing to give up my career to commit to this new life? After all, I had dedicated a lot of time to getting my Ph.D. and developing my career.
However, of all the options to do the best for our children, this was it. Life is about seasons and this season of my life involved my children. What better investment than in our kids. So, our homeschooling journey began, our journey of independent academic pursuits, our journey of Raising Scholars.
Looking back…with regrets?
Looking back now, 19 years later, I wouldn’t trade this adventure for anything. Our investment paid off as two of our three sons have moved on to the college/university with the third son following in their footsteps. Both finished “high school” with 40-50 hours of community college credit and scores in the 95th percentile on their SATs, so we did something well to prepare them for higher education.
More than these objective measures of academic achievement, the foundation of spiritual and character grounding, historical perspective, writing skills, critical thinking abilities, extensive vocabulary, and math and science fundamentals will serve them well as adults. They have earned their black belts in martial arts and Eagle Scout awards, have competed in speech and debate, been to various leadership trainings, have traveled extensively, and have contributed in multiple ways to our community.
The time I as parent-teacher-mentor have had watching them learn and change and grow has been indescribably rewarding. I am anxiously awaiting what God has in store for the next stage of their lives!