An Intro

This blog is pretty much for me, to keep track of what we're doing. But in case anyone wanders in, I thought I'd explain why I'm homeschooling, and the approach we're taking.

We're in the middle of our first year in Kinder. My daughter Nana (not her real name, folks) loves school. A lot. So it seems crazy and cruel I'd yank her out to home school.

Before she started Kinder, I toyed with the idea of HSing. My biggest reason for not doing so is my lack of patience. I'm not a patient mother. Nana and I are like two peas in a pod - exactly alike. That means we get on each others nerves pretty frequently. So Kinder was our "test run".

My biggest reason for home school is this: I'm not involved enough in her education. I'm on the Executive board of the PTA. I'm the room mom. I've been to all her events. But I still don't feel like it's enough. I want a hand in what she's learning. I want to be there when she reads, or learns about plants. I want to re-learn these things with her. 

Nothing extraordinary happened in Kinder. She was sick - a lot. We had bully issues, and parental involvement issues. But overall it's been a decent experience. I love her teacher, and so does she.

So, why homeschool? Everyone you meet will have different motivators. Mine are pretty simple, I think. We're not religious. We don't hate Public School. We aren't doing this out of a place of frustration or anger (not that if those are your motivators, they are wrong). We're doing it out of love. I feel that I can give her a better education at home, simply because it'll be two on one instruction. I can tailor her lessons to her - learning style, interests, and dreams. I can take simple addition and make it magical, so she can really connect with it. Well, I hope I can. I am a bit disgruntled at how PC the school systems are now. No parties, no dressing up, no birthdays. Those are some of my best memories of school - and now she can't even experience them!

We're not immediately pulling her out of school. She's finishing Kinder where she's at - and we're doing a "trial" run of HSing this summer.

The way we're approaching schooling is unit based learning (will give more info and details), touching on all the TEKS for first grade. If she ever decides she wants to go back to public school (and her opinion in this does matter very much), I want to make sure she's on track.

If you're in Texas like we are, you can find the TEKS here. It's a good thing to keep in mind when you're planning your teaching/learning.

I'm both terrified and excited. I know there are many hurdles in our future, bad days and maybe some tears. But those emotions have applied for public school too.