When I was growing up I knew 2 homeschoolers (twins). They were nice and they joined us in gym class and band at school. I thought they were pretty normal. Somewhere between my experience with them and college I started thinking that kids that were homeschooled were weird. I'm not sure why. I did meet someone in college that I considered "weird" but looking back I think he would have been that way whether or not he was homeschooled. It's just his personality and the longer I knew him the less weird he seemed. I NEVER thought I would be homeschooling my own children. Not in a million years!
Before Madeline was born I told Eric that I did not want her skipping any grades in school. He had skipped grades twice and graduated when he was 16. Because of this he was not allowed to live on campus at college. I feel like he missed out on a lot of the college experience. Eric, on the other hand, stated he didn't want his child to be bored in school. Since Madeline's arrival this subject has pretty much become moot since in IL it's pretty much impossible to have a child skip a grade anyway.
As Madeline grew she always did things faster then others her age. I can't say that she's gifted or even smarter then everyone else, just faster. At 3 she is already doing kindergarten work. She is well ahead in math and is putting words together. Her body, however, is not on the same level as her brain. Her handwriting, for example, is on par with others her age. She gets frustrated when her body won't cooperate with what she wants it to do. We expect that by the time she is kindergarten age she will be doing 2nd grade math and probably reading at a 2nd grade level (that is if she ever decides that she actually wants to apply her reading skills). She also has amazing comprehension skills for her age and her memory is outstanding! Public School is just not an option for her.
We are supposedly in a good school district. I have no first hand knowledge of this though. I have to go by what "they" say. With all of the teacher cuts happening in our district right now there is no way that a public school would be able to tailor curriculum to fit Madeline's needs. She'd soon be "normalized" at school. I can see it happening already at her Montessori school. She has not advanced much this school year at all. The teachers just can't spend the time with each student that they need to and her school isn't following the Montessori method like they should be because they separated the age groups. Madeline would just be bored, or worse a disruption to the students that need to be learning the material.
So public school is out (and to be truthful wasn't really a consideration in the first place) and her Montessori school is out. We aren't thrilled with the Christian school in our area. We would have sent her there if I hadn't been looking into homeschooling, just by default. But I discovered homeschooling.
I first looked into it so I could start doing some preschool work with her when she was 2. I then just kept searching the internet for more and more information. When Duncan surprised us by coming along we decided to put her in preschool for a year while we got used to having a new member of the family. We went to a preschool fair and discovered Montessori. It looked like a wonderful fit for her. This particular school only goes through Kindergarten so we decided that we'd keep her there and bring her home for school for first grade. Unfortunately, things haven't been going exactly how we anticipated. We were at a loss. She made a couple of nice friends at school. We were struggling to decide if we should let her continue there so she could be with her friends.
Then January happened. Madeline started asking why I couldn't just teach her at home like I used to. She began fighting every morning about going to school. We began praying about it in earnest. Registration is in February so we needed to decide. Socks. Socks were the last straw, the aha moment if you will. If she didn't go to school then I wouldn't have to fight her every morning to put on socks. Our decision was made. Yes, God made our decision for us through socks. Pretty much as soon as we decided to not send her next year, things became easier in the mornings. She began enjoying school again. I'm so thankful that she'll be able to finish the school year with a good attitude and joy.
I am very excited to be able to continue to foster her love for learning. I was so afraid that going to school would stomp that out. Being bored in school will do that to a child. If she wants to go in depth about a certain topic I can do that. School wouldn't be able to because they have to follow a rigid schedule. I am also so looking forward to being able to travel during the school year without worrying about missing school. We can just pick up where we left off when we get back OR take it with us.
We have chosen Sonlight curricum, along with Singapore K math, Horizons K math and Horizons and Abeka phonics. We will most likely be done with the Singapore K math by the end of the summer. The Horizons K math is a little more advanced so I suspect we will finish that up around Christmas. We will go at Madeline's pace.
I'm so glad that I get to be the one to see Madeline's face when the light bulb goes off!
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