People are starting to ask questions...

For some reason now that Emma is three people are starting to ask about school. And, now that she's three and I know I'm not sending her to a formal preschool or kindergarten (or first or second grade) I guess I have to start telling people. "We're going to home school so I'm not sending her to a preschool."
This harbors all sorts of responses.

Looks of shock and horror, a lot of scrunched up faces and noses and a very cautious "why?" One mom was even bold enough to say "I could never do that, I need school so I can have some time to myself."

Don't get me wrong, it's an overwhelming thought that if my kid can't read, add, write, or subtract it's going to be no one's fault but my own. I won't be able to blame it on her teacher. I won't be able to blame her saying "shut up" on any kid at school....And, the thought that I could some day put my kids on a bus and send them to school, go to they gym and grocery shopping then clean my house by myself sounds mighty heavenly some days.

Well, there are many many many reasons we've chosen this. Some reasons carry more weight than others. I don't think all schools are "bad." I really don't. I do, however, think we can do a better job than any average school. (It sounds conceited but I think a certain amount of confidence is needed to overcome the overwhelming-ness of the task)

Some of our reasons:
-Too many kids aren't raised by their parents and I don't want my kids spending 7 hours of their day with kids who are being raised by PBS. That sounds a little harsh but it's true. I have heard kids say some horrible things. I know eventually my kids will hear them, but hopefully it can be AFTER they've developed the skill of filtering what they say and when they say it.
-We are going to be moving, a lot. We won't have the luxury to find a school district we would want to live in and stay there. We don't want to just take what we get as far as school districts go. We'd rather make our own.
-Also because of the moving-we know hundreds, thousands of kids who's parents are in the military. (if anyone calls my kid a Navy brat I'll stomp on their foot- I hate that phrase) We know they successfully move schools all the time. BUT, we don't want to do that. We don't want them having to move schools in April. We don't want them having to "catch up" or be bored in their classes because the curriculums didn't match up. We'd rather keep their schooling a seamless transition for them. They will still lose their friends, house, and place they live. But, at least school can stay the same for them.
-We also love the idea of not being "trapped" by a school year calendar. When we want to go to Disneyworld some day we won't be limited by when the kids are in school.
-In general the American public school system is falling behind many many other countries in the world. We figure we've got nothing to lose.
-We can get as much schooling done in only a couple of hours because there is more personalized education. We could be "done" with school by noon leaving more time for things like music lessons, dance, gymnastics, swimming, whatever.
-I'm not worried about socialization. We have already joined a couple of home school associations and in the next two years when we DO have two cars we will be joining the groups on more excursions and play dates. The kids will be involved in numerous activities with other children. I don't care if they don't turn out like every other kid. So, what they're a little different. As long as they are smart, confident, kind and well rounded I am happy to see them never eating a cafeteria meal. After all, I'm not raising kid- I'm raising them to be grown ups. And, so far no one has ever asked me where I went to elementary school.