Taking the Plunge

In my last post, I mentioned that I got a shock at the beginning of my daughter's second grade. I'm sure it was something that has happened to a lot of parents, but I couldn't believe it was happening to me. After all, I always reviewed The Girl's work and report cards, I went in for conferences when the teacher asked me to - which wasn't all that often. I helped my daughter with her homework (spelling words and math). I thought I knew about my daughter's school work and education.

Apparently, I was wrong.

My daughter's new teacher, Mrs. C, called me in shortly after school had started and explained that my daughter was almost a full year behind in her reading.

A full year.

Her reading level in first grade had hardly progressed at all - and I hadn't realized it. I found out later that her first grade teacher hadn't realized it either. The Girl is very smart and good at compensating. She didn't need to be able to read to get by in class. She had us all fooled.

That was when I started seriously considering homeschooling. Not because the school was falling down on the job - although I was pretty unhappy with things at that moment - but because I had fallen down on the job. I had abdicated the responsibility for my daughter's education to an institution, and now she was paying for it.

Luckily, Mrs. C was wonderful, and we all worked hard to make up for lost time. Eventually we discovered The Girl had a rather serious vision problem. The eye doctor was seen, glasses were bought, and The Girl began gaining ground quickly.

But I spent second grade living in her teacher's pocket, and The Girl was spending an average of two hours a night on homework - sometimes three - and she was in second grade.

There had to be a better way.

I started researching, talking to people I knew who were already homeschooling, and looking for curriculum. I didn't want to jump in unprepared, so I decided to wait a year. After all, I there was the chance my research would convince me it wasn't practical. More importantly, there was the chance that The Girl would have a strong opinion against leaving school.

Well, in just four days school lets out for the summer, and for the first time my daughter won't be saying 'see you next year' to her classmates and teachers.

Weird.

She's not leaving because she had a bad year - third grade has been wonderful. She's not leaving because she hasn't made progress - she's ahead in math and finally caught up to grade level in reading.

She's leaving because there are so many things she wants to do that she can't do if she stays in public school. (She is planning on starting Japanese in the fall, and is trying to convince me that she can do Spanish at the same time.) Turns out she does have a strong opinion about homeschooling - and is all in favor of it.

And I'm taking her out because I've figured out a schedule that will let me be in charge of her education. I want to do something more integrated, and with greater flexibility, and I think I have found the curriculum that will let me do that.

Most of all, I want to feel like I know exactly where she is at.

And so we are off! Stay tuned (and maybe wish us luck)!