A New Teacher, 2011-2012

Our family's journey into the home school world begins one early August morning.  It was my first official work day as a public school teacher.  There weren't any students yet, but the teachers and administrators were having meetings to prepare for the new school year.  Within half an hour I had decided that I would homeschool my children.



I don't know what it was about that meeting.  I know I had a sense that politics were really tying teachers' (and administrators'!) hands behind their backs.  I know that I was surprised at the idea in the air of we-just-have-to-get-them-through.  But there was something else in that meeting that was strong enough to make me want to home school my (unborn) children, and I have never changed my mind about it since.

I worked with a lot of really good teachers.  I learned so much from them.  These men and women who teach in those classrooms truly love their students.  They work long hours and worry about the students.  These teachers aren't only worried about behaviors and grades in the classroom, but about all aspects of a student's life.  These teachers know that they are aware only of a small amount of the stress and burden that these students already deal with in their young lives.

I was not prepared to teach.  Not for what that really means these days.  I definitely knew and could explain the math; but I couldn't organize and manage a classroom in a way that would allow the students to learn, or even hear sometimes.  I'll never forget the day that a fist fight broke out in my classroom.  I wanted to blame the students for not behaving, but somehow I knew it was my fault, too.

I didn't major in education.  I attended Brigham Young University and earned a BS in computer engineering.  (Why I went into education is another story.)  I found an online teacher certification program, completed it within four months, and was teaching in my very own classroom two months after that.   On day one my students were asking me questions about my rules or expectations and I was left thinking, wow, that's a good question... I'm not sure what my answer is to that!

I grew up overseas, and so I didn't attend public school.  When I was going to high school, the social pressure was to study and do well.  We all wanted to do what our teachers asked, because we needed the teachers to help us achieve our goals.  Anything below a B was quite shocking.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my students had mostly been getting Cs in math for the past few years!

My upbringing was about as privileged as it gets, if you want to talk about privilege.  My parents are still married and so in love.  We had family dinner every night.  My parents read stories to us and helped us with our homework.  Both of my parents have college degrees.  My mom stayed home with us.

I was vaguely aware that not everyone is so lucky.  As a teacher, I learned just how true that is.  I had students who had been abused in every possible way.  I had students who were homeless.  Students who weren't allowed contact with one or the other of their parents.  Students who were dealing with the death of a close loved one.  Students dealing with a chronic and/or terminal illness, either their own or in a loved one.  Many of my students knew a world of drugs and crime that I hope to only ever be superficially aware of.  There were other students who came from homes like mine.

These students need so much more than the schools can offer, but I am so glad that they have the public schools!  And I don't believe that every family who can homeschool should homeschool full time.  I have a sister who sends her kids happily to public school, but still teaches them while they're at home by correcting what is not learned well at school, or filling in the gaps where public school teachers simply don't have time or ability to teach everything.  Her children are able to make friends with children who come from all sorts of backgrounds; and while learning of the good in all situations, are likewise able to share the good that they have from home.

So why am I so committed to homeschooling my own children?

I feel called to it.  I'm not sure I can explain that.  For my family, and for my children, this is the choice that I feel God wants us to make.  He knows my children, and He knows what will be best for them.  I feel that He has been preparing me for many years to be a homeschool mom.

I want to give my children every possible privilege.  And I'm not ashamed of that.  My motivation is not to make my children better than other people, but to help them be the best that they can be.

I want my children to stay curious.  I don't want my children to have to sit through a week of fractions when they have their fractions mastered.  Conversely, I want my children to have the time that they need to master those fractions before the teacher feels the need to move on because most of the class already gets it; or the teacher is stressed that there won't be enough time to cover everything else needed for the standardized tests.

I want my children to have innocence.  There were so many "good kids" while I was teaching who would get depressed and discouraged because they couldn't handle the amount of crude, rude, mean, and angry behavior that they saw and heard every day.  And there were some students whose parents would be shocked to know what their kids were doing when surrounded by their peers all day.

I want to shelter my children just long enough for them to know what safety and security and joy are.  I want them to know that we love them, and God loves them.  I want them to feel what that love is, so that as they grow, they can share that love with others.

All of these things are possible without homeschooling your children.  But homeschooling is the solution that is easiest (wait, did I just call homeschooling easy?) for our family to meet these desires.

I keep speaking of my "children."  I didn't have any children while I was teaching.  I married Mr. Perfect half way through my second year of teaching (at a different school, since my contract was not renewed after my first year!), and at the end of my third year of teaching (at yet a third school - this time because we moved across the country) I got pregnant and quit.  I have one (nine months-old) baby girl right now, so a blog about homeschooling might seem weird, but we are homeschooling!  And we hope that we're not done having children yet, hence the plural usage.

I'm excited to document our learning process from (almost) day one.