Homeschooling! Are You Crazy?

The poster the kids made on the first day of Homeschooling

January brought about a huge change to our house.  Kenny and I have been debating on the idea of home school for years, well since Sarah started school in Virginia.  We were very unhappy with her teacher out there and really considered home schooling her, but after her kindergarten year we moved to Idaho.  Having the kids enrolled at Rimrock was so wonderful.  Of course there are always things about a school you won't like, but we felt that our kids were getting a good education, that they were being challenged, and that they were happy there.  Leaving that school was one of the hardest parts about leaving Idaho Falls.

We had high hopes for a good education at their new school in Salt Lake.  The kids took a long time adjusting to a new school and new friends.  The move and homelessness was a struggle and probably didn't help with school. Once we got into our own place the kids started doing better socially at school.  Academically was a different story.  Rimrock had done a wonderful job of allowing the kids to learn at their own pace.  They had a lot of programs for advanced learners and both Ben and Sarah were at least a grade level above in Math and Reading.  We learned quickly, after moving here, that this school didn't have any programs for advanced learners.  Ben and Sarah were bored and half way through the school year they were still relearning things they had learned last year, in some cases even things they learned the year before that.  The lack of learning was really bothering both of Kenny and I.  To top it off we watched a documentary on the education system in our country and things just weren't sitting well with me.  I prayed about it, talked to Kenny about it, and then talked to the kids about it.  We decided, over the span of a few weeks, that taking the kids out of public school would be best for everyone.  It was a hard decision and one that took some faith, but in the end I felt confident it was the right one.  (Now, I need to clarify that I don't have a problem with public school in general and this new school is not a bad school, it just didn't work for us.)

We have enrolled our kids in Washington Online which is an online program that helps me teach them.  They get their Math, Language Arts, Science, Music, and Spanish from them.  It's taken me awhile to figure out how to use the stuff that they've given us, but I'm slowly figuring it out.  I started by doing just exactly what the school says to do and having the kids do lessons one at a time.  I quickly learned that the kids were still bored and no one was learning anything.  Since then we've gone on to doing things at our own pace.  Things are moving slowly and we're figuring out together how to get things done.    So far it's been a pain at times, it's been wonderful at times, and it's definitely been a learning experience for everyone.  No matter what I wouldn't change it and the kids feel the same way.