I’m confident our teacher worked hard to help her early childhood parents through the distance learning curve last spring.
I also think our school genuinely listened to parent feedback and tried, with all their might, to meet everyone’s needs for this upcoming year.
But we still decided to leave. And now I’m a homeschooling parent.
To be honest with you, I’ve always wanted to homeschool but was scared I’d fail Archie. Then, I realized coronavirus was scarier and that fear ripped the bandaid for me. It also helped that my son attended a private school. We were under contract to return but when the school offered to release its parents, we jumped.
So instead of back to school shopping, I shopped curriculum. This week I dove in and began with the journaling the planning guide encouraged me to do.
“What are your own greatest challenges as you contemplate the next year of teaching?”
I responded, “Balancing Thanks, Julia and Rover-Time with Archie’s homeschooling, his younger sibling, and my basic needs for self-care while navigating a global pandemic. I also want more time with my parents now, to support my Mom and be near my Dad while he’s fighting cancer.”
Cancer.
I’m still coming to terms with that. And so much more. I feel so sad for so many reasons these days. Learning to homeschool because of a global pandemic just isn’t one of those reasons to be sad.
We’re going to be ok.
Archie’s not going to bring something home that will spread to the others. He’s not going to carry something into my parents home and affect his grandparent’s health. We’ll have peace of mind and we will be able to be together this upcoming school year. And that’s all I want out of this horrible time, I want my Mom and Dad.
I hope this decision brings our home some consistency. There’s not much anyone can control these days. Knowing Archie’s kindergarten year will go with less interruption than we experienced at the start of this pandemic, brings me a little peace and I need all the peace I can get right now.
In closing, I’ll add this reminder: whatever decision you make, it’s going to be ok. It’s going to be ok.
6 thoughts on “I Decided To Homeschool”
You’re going to do great Julia!!! Good luck and I can’t wait to see pics of Archie’s field trips!
P.S. Better buy lots of gold stars as Archie is sure to be the best student!
Thanks Sue! One day at a time and lots of gold stars.
I have another mom friend who is pulling her kids out of school and home-schooling as well. She said it’s easier for her to do it that way since home school programs are created to be taught in a home environment, where I think the big miss with schools right now is that they aren’t set up for home learning and are relying so much on technology.
I would love to hear more about what you are doing–for me, the zooms and screen time are so intense and my kids just do not like being on their iPad all day.
Hi Katie! In full disclosure, we were reluctantly onboard for the 2020-21 school year with our classroom due to contract but as soon as they released all EC families, we knew it was our chance to reallocate the tuition to childcare and homeschooling materials.
(A big difference is that private education privilege over the public, which I wouldn’t have unenrolled from because funding is so critical.)
Your friend is right in a way, but the programs can still be rigorous if that’s a priority. We feel really lucky to be planning for a Kinder year vs. an upper grade. In IL this level isn’t mandatory and as a Waldorf family, the academic piece is off the table until he’s seven (or in our case, until he shows interest, which he is, in reading).
It’s sort of soul crushing to watch any child in front of tech for hours a day but I think folks will do what they can do and adapt. And I think our resilience through adaptation will make the best of a really tricky situation. I feel most for those that needed the hybrid model and lost it… there needs to be some in-person learning children with special needs and for children who see school as a safer place than home… and for schools! I don’t think they can afford to wait until a vaccine to reopen. So funding must be prioritized for schools to safely reopen so teachers are ok to return to work. It’s so hard. No good answers for sure.
We have a spine curriculum and a supplemental curriculum for our days out of the house together. I’m also bringing in the parts of life Waldorf misses the mark on. Should be a fun and enlightening year for myself & Archie. What I’m most looking forward to is the sparks of joy and excitement this journey will take us on through a time that I can’t put to words but we all know as an utter disappointment.
2020 can kick rocks.
Thanks Julia for your loving support during this time. Dad and I love you so much.
As your mom and as Archie’s grandma, thank you for all that you do for us, for your family and for others. You are an amazing woman. ❤️
I learned from another amazing woman. Love you mom.
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