It was the best of times Part 2

School started and things were going well for the most part. Jacob had an awful time adjusting - to the point of me fighting with him and dragging him down the hallway in the mornings to get him in his classroom. He would do okay the rest of the day - aside from a few tears now and then. Noah had a great teacher and he adjusted like a trooper. He would pace the perimeter of the playground at recess instead of playing with other kids - but that's just part of Noah being Noah. Lucas & Ellie, the two socialites of the group, jumped right in and had friends after the first day. 

The boys took reading level tests the first week of school and they each had the highest reading levels in their classes. They were soaring through the other subjects as well. I was very proud of them.

I guess I started to get concerned when Lucas came home and said "There's a sheriff's deputy in my math class now." Evidently the 5th graders needed a bit more crowd control so they brought in the big guns - literally. He would come home with stories of how disrespectful several of the kids were - talking back to the teachers, refusing to do work they were given, cussing and how often the entire class would be punished for the actions of one student. He said the teachers often had to yell to get the kids under control. That's when I started wondering how much of a positive learning environment this school actually was for him. 

As a teacher I know first hand how hard it is to teach while there are severe discipline issues in the class.  I also know how the well behaved children are often shorted since more time is spent on discipline than it is on actual teaching. 

So I spent the next week wondering whether or not this was actually the best thing. Kyle and I talked and prayed and talked and prayed some more and the only positives we kept coming up with were all social oriented - there were no academic positives for leaving them in school.

To sum it all up - I knew that, even though I had prayed about putting them in school, I had not listened to the answer. My desire to have the day to myself apart from 4 very loud, active kids was put above everything. All I could think about was the quiet. The freedom. The 7 hours of "me time."

All along I was pushing the Spirit's conviction deeper down and passing it off as my anxiousness about sending them to school.

We finally sat down and talked to the kids. They were all in favor of coming back home. Lucas was the most hesitant, but all he said was "I'll miss PE and recess. But I know I'll learn more at home." 

So on Monday they stayed home. We started homeschool back up on Tuesday and things are going splendidly. Jacob - who had been a short tempered, angry little boy since school started, is back to his happy, smiley self. Ellie's even loving sitting down and writing her letters. However backward they may be. (and if you know Ellie, you know how backward that can be!)

When I think back on this whole roller coaster ride of the past 2 1/2 weeks, I laugh. The same people who doubted and were against our decision at the beginning are now joyfully celebrating our return. And the ones who were encouraging and cheering us on are now doubting and left in disbelief that we would want to bring them home. What a lesson in doing what God has called you to do and not trying to please people!

As our family has stated time after time after time - the education of your children is between you and God. There are positives and negatives about everything. Will I miss my days of quiet? YES! Are we done with "school in a building" forever? Probably not.  School is not bad, and I'm sure at some point one or all of our children will be in some school somewhere. Homeschoolers should not castle themselves in their homes away from the world. Christians need to be in the world living out the gospel in all they do so to remove all believers from the school systems would be tragic.

But, for now, for this year, our kids are home. And we're where God wants US to be. And there's no better place than that.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

My kids were in public school for 13 days. Except for Jacob, who just couldn't get over the possibility that he may get an answer wrong, they all adjusted wonderfully. The boys were all at the top of their class and blowing reading level tests out of the water. Their teachers were extremely nice and good at what they do. Three of them loved PE, recess, and eating in the cafeteria (especially ice cream!). The other one loved computer lab. They hated coming home to homework every afternoon and waking up so early, but what kids love that?

To put into words the reason we brought them back home - I'm not sure I can do that. I've put off writing this blog for a few days now. So many people will have so many different opinions and I'm not one to run head-first into conflict. But, since this blog is my way to journal our life and my thoughts, I'm going to try to explain our decision.

From the moment we found out we would be parents, Kyle knew he wanted me to homeschool. Coming from the viewpoint of a public school teacher, there was no way I was considering that. My kids would not be the isolated, weird kids that I had stereotyped in my mind. We did the pre-school thing and life was cruising along.

The year Lucas turned 5, we had a dilemma. Since his birthday is Sept. 7, he missed the cut-off for Kindergarten by 6 days. But, this boy was more than ready for school. He was well beyond what most sets of Kindergarten skills included and I knew he couldn't wait another year to start school. So I got a few books and we "did kindergarten" that year. And we've been "doing school" at home since then.

Teaching the older kids with younger ones running around wasn't always easy. In fact, it left me in tears many days. I vowed that once Ellie was in kindergarten, they would all go to private school.

Ellie entered kindergarten this year. And the money for 4 kids in private school? There was a big sign on our bank account that said "funds not available." Since we had just moved to a much smaller area, I decided to check out the public schools.

I found out they weren't stellar. In fact, if you just looked at their test scores you would probably question that anyone at the school knew what they were doing. But the more I researched, the more I realized that in a lower-income rural area schools are often full of students who have little to no support at home. And it shows up big time in their education. As a teacher, I knew that the best teacher could be in the classroom and still not have perfect test scores.

The teachers seemed nice enough, the kids looked normal enough - so I pushed and pushed my husband until he relented.

Maybe that was my first mistake. :)

I signed them up and they started school 3 weeks ago on a trial basis. We would wait until Labor Day and discuss their progress.

And since this post is so incredibly long and I must go fulfill my promise to the kids by taking them to the bakery downtown and getting smiley face cookies I will continue later ......

The first day of school has come and gone and we all made it through. Getting the kids up at 6:30 yesterday morning was a breeze. Which is a complete miracle since homeschooling never started before 9:30am. Morning people my kids are not.

I had timed the trip earlier in the week and it took exactly 9 minutes. We left at 7:25 to give us a little extra time since there would probably be a little more traffic. And traffic there was. Oh, the traffic. Did I mention the traffic??? Whatever person decided to put 2 elementary schools, the middle school, and highschool all on the same road should have his degree revoked. The school starting times don't even vary - they're all the same. So the entire county is filing through one street. We were not prepared. The kids arrived at school after 8:00 as did half the other kids and at least one teacher.

Lucas would not let us walk him into his classroom. Evidently 5th graders do not enjoy Mommies hugs & kisses in front of friends. Who knew? :) The other kids were definitely okay with us walking with them. So we did. I cannot express what it's like to watch my kids go into the unknown all alone after being at home under my watch for so long. But I was proud of them for being so brave and I knew they were ready.

I met Amy in Madison for lunch, which was a wonderful thing. Had I come home alone there's no telling how many old videos I would have watched of the kids in their younger days while singing "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. I kid - there would have been no singing. But the videos would've definitely been going on.

After a 45 minute wait in the car line, I finally saw my kids. The smiles I saw when they spotted me were priceless. Those 4 smiles will forever be ingrained in my memory because it was affirmation from God that they were going to be okay. Like He promised, He had been and will continue to be with them. And they're in much better hands when I turn them over to Him than when I try to hold on tightly to them.


All of the kids had much to say about the first day - Lucas made a good friend already, which doesn't surprise me since I think the whole reason that child was put on this earth was to talk to people. He liked his classes okay, but recess was awesome, evidently. And, though the youngest in the 5th grade, he is not the shortest, so life is good.

Noah had a good day. He almost lined up with the wrong class at recess (why does that make me almost cry?) but found his way back to where he belonged. He liked 3rd grade, but can't wait for Christmas holiday. Poor child doesn't realize he'll have 3 breaks before then. :)

Jacob had a good day in 2nd grade and gave it a B+. He had to do spelling which he claims is his worst subject. But the cafeteria food smelled really good and those chicken fingers and french fries looked delicious and can he please please eat in the cafeteria one day?

Ellie's report: We had fun. We played on the playground.
And that my friends, is Kindergarten in a nutshell.

School

Tomorrow morning marks a seriously huge life change for our family. All 4 kids will be in school.

Almost 10 years ago, we made the decision that I would be at home with our kids at any cost.
I was fine with that. There was nothing else I wanted to do but stay home with my babies.

But, as those babies grew and school came into sight, the decision was harder. After much prayer, homeschooling became our way of life. Honestly, it wasn't my idea and I was not wholeheartedly into it. God has a way of changing hearts, though, and soon I was completely on board. I loved homeschooling. Yes, there were many days that ended in tears - both mine and the kids - and days I called Kyle saying "I QUIT! I can't do this anymore!!" But isn't that life? Everyday doesn't always meet our desire for a perfect life. We re-evaluated our decision at the end of each school year to see if homeschooling was the way to go, always ending up at the same conclusion. Overall, homeschooling was, and still is, the best thing we have ever done.

When it was time to talk about school decisions last spring we knew that there was a huge possibility we would be moving. My immediate thought was that I'd never place my beloved offspring into those schools. After all, everyone we had talked to said private schooling or homeschooling was the ONLY way to go here. So it seemed pretty firm that homeschooling would, once again, be our life. And that was great.

Except that I couldn't get those public schools out of my head. I visited the school, talked to people, and prayed, prayed, prayed. I agonized and changed my mind 3 times. Finally, after a lot of prayer and a heart to heart with Kyle, we registered the kids in the public school. Lots of people thought (and still think) we are crazy. But we've had a lot of support too. And since signing them up, I've heard glowing things about the school.

Yesterday was meet the teacher day. I was so encouraged when we left. The kid's teachers all seem to be wonderful. Noah is in a class with another little boy with Asperger's and an inclusion teacher to help him through difficulties he'll have. Jacob's teacher seems to be so much fun and very nurturing and Ellie's Kindergarten teacher's personality was just what you'd imagine a Kindergarten teacher to be. Lucas' teacher seems really firm - just what that boy needs! God is so very good and faithful.

So tomorrow morning I will load up the kids and drop them off. They're nervous, but excited to start this new adventure. I will keep myself together until dropping them off, and then I'm sure the dam will break loose. It's very hard to cut those apron strings, but I know my kids are ready for this. They know "whose" they are and are ready to live out the gospel in their own way.

God certainly has a way of changing our plans. Our life is a testimony to that. Quite an adventure, but I wouldn't want it any other way.