Five years ago, our eldest daughter was four. She would often quiz us on alphabet sounds, and eventually learned all her basic phonics out of pure curiousity and determination. A homeschooling friend said, "She is advanced, you could teach her to read; here's a great book you can borrow." So we tried it out and I eventually bought my own copy of, Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
Fast forward a year. My almost-five-year-old was now reading independently. Not a surprise to my husband and I, since we both learned to read at about that age. What did surprise us, was the discovery that our daughter would not be allowed to enter kindergarten until the next year, when she would be almost six years old. By that time, she would have been reading independently for about a year and a half. Also, our then three year old was constantly drawing scribbles while her sister did Saxon K math lessons- little sis wasn't far behind. I found it hard to imagine seperating the girls from each other. They lived hand in hand.
We spent a little time each day on academics, and read aloud all the time... and did housework together, played outside with our dog Jake, listened to music, and watched Clifford on PBS. This was far superior in our minds to what they would be doing in preschool or full-day Kindergarten. Especially because our girls were allowed to grow and learn in the most nurturing, accepting place they know.
I saw my homeschooling friends doing it; what we were doing seemed to be working. Why "fix what ain't broke", right? My husband was very supportive. He was annoyed by the school systems' rules (and we didn't realize then, we probably could have made the appeal for testing her into Kinder.) The laws in our resident state were very loose for homeschool families, so we didn't have any obstacle there. We decided to keep learning, at home.
This didn't seem very revolutionary to us. Though neither my husband nor I were home educated, we had grown up in families where education was valued and encouraged by our parents. In fact, my mom was a school teacher for over twenty years, and E's mom also worked in the school system. So you could say, we were products of the school system. Why reject that?
We weren't making a political statement against the government schools, though we know some who do. We weren't even responding to a spiritual conviction, though we know many who do. We were simply responding to our heart's desires: a home-centered education seemed the best direction for our daughters. We also were not judging anyone else's school choices, but naturally we related better to others who homeschooled. We found community.
We had started home schooling. What is your story? Do you homeschool? Public school? What has your experience been? Do you consider education important? How are school choices affecting your family life?
We currently have our girls in public school. More on that later...
For more information about homeschooling, read this article by Lisa Rivero.
For a more indepth look, read Homeschooling: Our Family's Story, by Gregory and Martine Millman. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering bringing their kids home.
Great post Liz!
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