About the time The Girl entered school, I made friends with a woman that was homeschooling her two children. Let's call her D. At the same time, my brother and his wife were also homeschooling their two elementary aged children. Suddenly, homeschooling was very much on my radar.
You would think that talking about homeschooling would get me interested in pursuing the possibility for my daughter, but all it did was make me more certain that homeschooling was not for me.
D. and her kids are unschoolers, and while I admired how well it worked for them, I didn't feel like I could do it and provide all the skills and information my daughter needed. Unschooling is child led, and it seemed to me that parents had to be ready with all kinds of references and information for whatever happened to come up.
In short, I was intimidated beyond words.
My brother and his wife were using a curriculum that was more of a school-in-a-box. It worked for them, but as a single parent I didn't think I could earn a living and have a school at home.
On top of that, I had the classic "what about socialization?" fear. I did okay when she was home, helping her with homework and taking her on the occasional play date, but I was trying to build a business. How was I going to get anything done if she was home all day? I had visions of her sitting in front of the TV morning to evening while I typed. Not good.
Thus, it was decided. School was the best place for her to learn, no matter how intrigued I was by the idea of homeschooling.
I found out at the beginning of second grade that pretty much all my preconceptions were wrong. I look back on it now, and all I can say is... Oops.
Next time... More on throwing out preconceptions and looking for curriculums.
