The how’s, the what’s and the why’s

I’ve had a lot of people (from far away from us) request that I do a post on our decision to homeschool the boys.  And a lot of people around us ask us why we decided it too.  I’ve had really great intentions of doing it, but I’ve been really busy homeschooling the kids!

This goes back to 2nd grade (Ty is now in 5th).  Up until 2nd grade Ty’s teachers (who were/are/have been great) were able to keep him entertained.  He’s a super smart kid, but they were able to do things with him that kept him happy and not bored.  Not long into 2nd grade Ty started getting really bored really fast.  I talked to his teacher and we came up with some solutions that made him happy.  She checked with me a lot to see how he was doing and we made it through.  I’d already started researching homeschooling a little bit.  Then we moved to Parowan.  He finished out 2nd grade ok and third wasn’t too bad.  He said he was bored.  We talked with his teacher and tried to help him out there.  Tyler’s also a little bit shy and has one or two friends that are boys and a few more that are girls.  He’s not a “popular” kid and doesn’t need to be except that he can sometimes be the target of meaner kids actions.  This became a bigger problem in 4th grade and combined with his boredom he was fairly miserable.  Again he had a great teacher that we talked to a lot and tried to help him out.  Tyler, though, wouldn’t tell anyone at school when there was a problem.  He would just come home upset or mad.  And it started to change his personality a little bit and I wasn’t excited about that. 

SO at the end of last year I told Ty that we would do what ever he wanted to do for school  We’d almost homeschooled the year before and I chickened out.  I promised him I wouldn’t this time.  So all summer we’d planned on staying home.  Jesse went back and forth a little bit.  3 days before school started Ty all of a sudden decided he wanted to go back to school.  So we hurried and got everything ready and I sent them.  I even went and talked to Tyler’s teacher before school started and again, she was great.  About a week into school Ty said he’d wished he’d stayed home.  A half a week later we started in with the super negativity and being sad or mad everyday.  Josh and I talked about it and we decided why delay the inevitable we needed to try this for Tyler.  If nothing else, if it doesn’t work out, Ty needs to know that I was willing to try something else for him. 

I can tell you that the day that I went and told the principal I was going to pull them out was one of the most stressful days of my life!  I don’t have a huge problem with public schools, I have loved nearly every one of Ty’s teachers and they have all liked him and been great to try to make school a good experience for him.  So to go to the school and tell them I was pulling him out was huge for me.  It went really well and Mr Porter was awesome.  That was Friday and all weekend I vacillated between excited and “holy cow what in the heck did I just do”

Now what about Jesse?  Jesse is also a really smart kid, but he’s also super mellow and just happy to be here.  He’s happy to go to school and hang out with his buddies, do his work, whether it’s easy or not (Hey, the easier the better right?)  But he can also hang out at home and be happy.  I’ve never seen a kid that can push a one day sickness into three so well or a 4 day tonsillectomy into a week and a half.  Not even kidding.  I knew that the minute that Ty wasn’t having to go to school, Jesse’d want to stay home too.

Then there’s also the fact that I work every other weekend and Josh works one weekend a month and that we’re usually home together only one weekend a month but every Thursday and Friday.  So hopefully we can be together and go do things together more often.

The first week I worked a lot and slept a lot so we didn’t do much.  I told everyone we’re a year round school and this week we’re off track :)  So we’ve been going for about 3 weeks now.  It’s going really well!  I’m enjoying it and I think the boys are too. 

As far as how we’re going about doing it all, I didn’t go with any one curriculum.  There’s tons of stuff out there and free online school through the school districts.  I just read a bunch of reviews and just picked different things based on what I thought would work for us.  I’d already picked most of it out over the summer and had already bought a bunch of stuff.  So far I’ve only found one thing that I don’t like and am not going to use.  We love not having to wake up at 6:30 every morning.  We get up, eat and get some of our morning chores and stuff done and get started with school about 10.  Most days at 10:50 I take Ty to the high school for band.  I get Jesse started on something before then help him finish it up and get started on something else before I pick Ty up.  Then we get all our group stuff done (History and Science) while Link naps in the afternoon.    On Tuesday and Thursday Tracen is also at Joy school so it’s a good time for us to get a lot done.  We’re usually all done by the time the bus pulls up.  It’s nice because by then they usually have their piano practiced and they aren’t coming in with homework to do.  I also have included a little scripture study or reading a story from the friend most days as well as a lot of home ec (we’ve been busy canning!)  The home ec isn’t always done by 3 though lol.

I get the socialization question a lot too.  I hypothesized that part of Ty’s problem was having to deal with social situations too often and I think I was right.  He’s trending more positive.  They go to Karate every week for two hours and scouts each week as well.  I’ve tried to make sure they hang out with friends (we’re getting too old to call it playing anymore) and they will probably go back to crossfit kids soon too.  So I’m pretty sure they’re not suffering socially :)