Public School Next Year

I never did quite get the whole blogging thing down.  I don’t think there’s supposed to be an eleven month lag between updates… but that’s exactly what happened. I do apologize.  I have been crazy busy, but that has never stopped me before.  Truthfully, I’ve felt a little conflicted.

Homeschooling was very successful for Marisa in fifth grade, but I started receiving resistance as her friends headed off to public school in September.  She wants to go back.  No, she doesn’t hate homeschooling, but she misses the ‘school’ experience, wants to fit in and feels she is in a much better place than she was before homeschooling.  I understand the need, and because she wasn’t homeschooled from day one, she has a foot in both worlds. It’s tough. If I don’t allow her to go, will she be resentful? I think so.

 I stood my ground for this year. When we made the decision to take her out of public school we agreed to a two year commitment, until she was no longer in the middle school which has an open classroom system. It’s a difficult environment for a learner like Marisa.  

So this will be my last year homeschooling.  She will attend public junior high school in September with all of her peers moving from the middle school. 

Oddly enough, I’m finding it a little bittersweet.  

The decision to send her back next year has changed our homeschooling landscape quite a bit.  Although we still ebb and flow, don’t run a traditional classroom schedule, and she certainly doesn’t wake up at 6:00 am, I have become a lot more stringent about doing things the way they are expected to be done in public school to facilitate the transition to public school.   I want it to be as easy as possible for her to make the move, so the things I don’t find important, but I know are coming down the pike for her, I am stressing this year.

Believe me, I never wanted to homeschool, but over the last year with so many changes going on in the public schools, I almost wish she were more amenable to it.  The common core standards, teacher evaluations being part of the testing results, Pearson, teacher layoffs, bigger classrooms and arts/music cuts are weighing heavily on me.   Now, more than ever, is not a time to be in public school, but you don’t want to get me started on that tirade.  Suffice it to say that I don’t believe she’ll get a well- rounded education given the changes and I think the rigid programming of the high stakes testing regime is going to be tough for her.

That  being said, I am also, in addition to giving her the tools necessary for success in public school, trying to expose her to as many experiences as possible, because I know she won’t get that for the balance of her education. 

To that end she’s been to the Watermill Grist Mill, done the Longhouse Reserve Tour, had ceramics classes at the Parrish Art museum, seen plays, gone for a tour of a chocolate factory and attended a lampworking class. (See pics- that was great!)    We have a lot of activities set up for the spring already and I’m sure there will be more to come.  She’ll take two classes at Brookhaven National Lab, one in nanotechnology and the other, an engineering challenge. She’ll be attending the 18^th century Innkeepers Day at the Smithtown Historical Society and A Kids Day in Native American Life. She attends a homeschool social group that she enjoys and I run an art class semi regularly.  She takes gymnastics, does twirling and has weekly violin lessons.  She learns so much by doing.

As much as she has gotten out of this experience, I find that I have learned just as much. My prejudices concerning homeschooling have been blown out of the water.   I have incredible respect for the homeschooling community.  The majority  of the parents I’ve met have wonderful children and are committed to excellence. They work hard arranging experiences and dedicate massive amounts of time and energy doing so.  Overall, the kids are well mannered and well versed.  At any event I have been to where public and homeschooled kids are attending at the same time, the homeschooled children, hands down, are much more polite and attentive.

I have also had this incredible experience to spend time with my daughter.  I was unfortunately never afforded the opportunity to interact with my boys on this level, but had I known I could homeschool, I might have, at least for one other.   I think it has been a time that we both will remember forever.

As I write this, it almost sounds like a farewell.  It isn’t.  I will chronicle the next few months- I promise! 

As for whether I would homeschool her if she changes her mind?  Well, probably.  But she has been told that this is a big decision, as big a decision as it was to take her out of school and it’s not a revolving door.  She needs to commit to the year in public school.  We can re-evaluate after that if need be. Either way, what really counts is whether she is learning.

So I sit on the fence. The two sided coin, Yin and yang. Abbott and Costello…the plusses and the minuses.  There’s no easy answer here, but I do know that I too have my feet in both worlds and will miss my homeschooling adventures as much as I miss quiet time.