Cry. No seriously. That is what I am going to do. I am going to go sit in a corner, rock back and forth while hugging my knees, and I’m going to cry like a big baby.
Of course, this is not the answer that I give to my husband or his family or my family or well-meaning (albeit annoying) strangers. I tell them that it can be handled. I’ll just stay a step ahead of my son. Calculus? I can learn it! Physics? No problem!
I die a little inside when people ask me these questions. Because I know that I am going to struggle. I know it is going to be hard and I know I am going to want to give up. However, I also know that nothing worth doing is easy.
I CAN find a way to teach my son calculus. Will I have to send him to our community college? Possibly. Will I have to sign him up for a co-op? Probably. Will I choose a curriculum that includes an instructional DVD or CD? You betcha.
The thing is that I have faith that it will work itself out. I don’t need to know how or when or where or what. I just believe in my heart that we will figure out a way to make this work.
Do I have any proof that it will happen this way? That my son won’t end up back in public school in the ninth or tenth grade? No, I don’t. I just know that I will do my very best to prevent that from happening.
The point of this post is to say if you are trying to decide whether or not you want to homeschool and this is one of your major concerns, I understand. However, I also believe that there are options for when that time comes. Don’t let anyone discourage you from homeschooling if you truly believe it is something you want to do. It CAN be made to work. Yes, I’m sure it will be difficult. I’m sure there will be many tears of frustration and anger. But won’t it also be worth it?
[tags]kids, children, parents, home schooling, pressure, education, effort, work, decisions, possibilities[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by confusedvision, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
3 responses so far ↓
Carol // Aug 17, 2007 at 10:18 am
Everyone always seems to forget that if you have a high school diploma then you’ve already PROVEN sufficient mastery of these subjects…. they wouldn’t have given you a diploma if you didn’t! Sure, maybe we don’t remember every detail of what we learned - but if we learned it back then it seems reasonable we should be able to refresh our memories without too much difficulty.
Stu Mark // Aug 18, 2007 at 9:47 am
While Carol’s comment is supportive and, in many ways, true - I counter that high school is *way* harder now then when we were kids. I completely understand Karly’s apprehension and is the number one reason why I don’t home-school
This is why home-school parents have my undying respect.
Doodaddy // Aug 18, 2007 at 7:18 pm
It sounds like you’re conscientious enough to make it work for you somehow.
Can I make one suggestion, though? I think you can start transitioning from the paradigm of “sending him..” or “signing him up for..” to having him involved in his own educational (and life!) decisions. Obviously, you’re still there guiding the decisions (and gently vetoing, sometimes)… still, one of the most valuable things kids can learn in high school (at home or in a facility, it makes no difference) is to take responsibility for these things — from the big-picture decisions to the paperwork involved.
I used to run a mentorship program for high school students, and one of the key signs that an applicant was *ready* for high school, I thought, was that they’d filled out the application themselves…
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