Why I home school my kids.

Boy, I'm on a roll today, guess I'm over the voice recorder.

I've home schooled for 6 years now. Gosh, I can't believe it's been that long.

If you would have known me 8 years ago, you would never have believed that I would home school. Eight years ago, I wouldn't have believed I would. But, times change, and we all have to adjust to whatever comes up.
See, I was at my children's school every day. I was on a first name basis with every teacher, custodian, lunch room worker, and principal. I was on the PTO, the yearbook staff, and the Elementary School Task Force. I volunteered atleast 4 days a week, I was involved.

I believe in education. I think that every American should be able to read and write well. I think there is merit in knowing basic Algebra. I think that if you can't pass high school Economics, you shouldn't be allowed to have a credit card. So, why in the world would I decide to take my kids out of school? There are many reasons, but I'll tell you about the most important few.

In the state of Florida, they have a policy that says that each student can learn at their own pace. They will not hold back a student if they can move on. Sounds great, doesn't it? I thought it was, my son was doing 6th grade math in 2nd grade. But, the teacher was teaching 2nd grade math. My son sat in front of a computer, learning the 6th grade math on his own. He had no book to bring home, because it was all on the computer. But, he was still expected to do homework every night.
When I asked the teacher what we should do, she said that it would always be a problem, because he would always be so far ahead. Her solution was to have him get to a level where he no longer understood it. Then, he could wait for an explanation until the other kids caught up to him, then they could all learn it together.
Since that solution was obviously not the right one, it fell on me to teach him math that year. Every night, he would sit at the kitchen table, and I would help him with his homework. He had been in school all day and was exhausted, but we would keep at it until he finished his work. Sometimes it took 3 hours to complete all his homework.
So, why didn't I teach him at home at that point? Well, I wanted him to learn "socialization". Isn't that what home schoolers are missing out on?
There's only one problem. When you're that far ahead of your class, you're not going to be the most popular kid in the class. Most of the jokes you tell will make the teacher roll on the floor, but the other kids are just going to stare at you. The socialization smart kids get in public school consists of learning how to deal with being picked on, that's just the way it is.
In March of the last year that my son was in public school, there was a school shooting in Santee California. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I couldn't bear my child that I was working so hard to nurture being around that environment every day. He wasn't learning anything I couldn't teach him at home, and the socialization that kids were getting in schools was obviously not working.
I will never regret pulling him out at that point. We spent most of the first year just working on socialization. We looked at pictures in magazines and tried to decide what the people were feeling. We paused movies and talked about why the characters were upset with one another. We discussed how they could resolve their differences. We read stories with character conflict. And, we learned a little math.
Oh, did I even mention that I have a daughter that's two years younger? Her public school career lasted one year. She was in a kindergarten class for 7 days. She was so far ahead, that they moved her to the first grade class, where she was continually teased for being a "baby". She did make friends though, and I think she would have done well. However, her teacher had to have surgery that year, so she had a substitute teacher from December to the end of the year. The real teacher still did all the paperwork, but the substitute was in charge of their learning. I personally think the sub was a wonderful person, but she did not have a degree in teaching. So once again, my child was learning from someone that wasn't any more qualified than I was.
What I will always wonder is, what if I had been less interested in my children's education. What if I hadn't been privy to some of the conversations I heard among the teachers in the lounge? What if I hadn't seen first hand what the principal had to deal with?
I guess I will just count my blessings and be glad I made the right choice for my kids.