Summer Blog Challenge: Day 74 (Back to School)

Today's Challenge: Talk about what kind of schooling your family does and why.

We are currently a homeschool family. It is a challenge well worth the work. Public school just isn't for everyone. When my daughter was in a public elementary school, she was uncomfortable with other children, had difficulty maintaining friendships, had difficulty with her work, and was in counseling because of the bullying of other kids. She was also being heavily medicated for what the doctors diagnosed as severe ADD.  The medicine made her feel sick.  Even in sports, she was often left out and was very aware of that alienation. She was absolutely miserable and became depressed. I felt like things were spiraling out of control.

We began homeschooling in 7th grade and she is going into 8th grade this year. Here's the amazing thing: her self-confidence has improved, she learns more quickly and more easily, she is not taking any medication, and she even wants to go back to playing soccer. Given the choice, she chose to continue homeschooling. We have joined a local support organization for homeschool families called REACH and she will be participating in more activities this year. REACH also has a sub-group called Co-Op that we have joined and she will be able to take a theater acting and production class and do her research paper at Co-Op on Thursday mornings. I also love that REACH is a Christian organization and that our curriculum is Bible-based. Except for Saxon Math, all of our materials are from Alpha Omega Publishers, although we purchased all of them either on eBay or at Christianbook.com.

Our school year starts Friday and I am excited to dive in. I let my daughter decide what day she wanted to start this month and she chose to get started earlier than the public school starts! So, off we went to buy school supplies (which are much more minimal when homeschooling). That being done, I sat down to start planning and getting organized. While I had a tentative schedule in my head, I have been writing lesson plans all evening, hoping to at least get the first semester planned before we start . Much too far in, I realized I had made many mistakes in my scheduling. Uh oh. Guess who will be purchasing a new plan book and re-writing tomorrow?

I know folks whose children are thriving in a public school setting. But like I said, it just isn't for everyone. Do you homeschool? If your children are in public school, how do you feel about it?