I'd say, round February-ish, I started becoming completely disillusioned with the public school system. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy teaching. It wasn't the students. It's not the school itself. It was the system. The system that dictated how much your kid was going to learn in a given school year: Knowledge being doled out on the terms of snow days, virtual learning ("learning") days, and sick days. I first realized this was a problem back in 2020 when my students were being quarantined when they weren't even sick and even when I went on maternity leave and, though the teacher who took my spot was hardworking, they couldn't find a certified teacher to finish out 4th grade for my students (going as far as asking me if I were going to take the "whole 6 weeks off" because they were out of options).
Education was been gate-kept. Not intentionally or with malice, but it has. This year, our school had 17 school days off between January and February due to district sick days, snow days, and federal holidays. That's 17 days of 1st grade my kid won't get back. That's 17 days of 3rd grade my students won't get back. Imagine how much content could be covered in 17 days.
Something happened in 2020 where we decided school was "extra", like organized learning wasn't one of the most important parts of childhood. And that trickledown effect has come with us into 2024-2025 and I honestly don't think it's going away.
So anyway: All of these thoughts and experiences were being mulled over in my head, and then I started to think about curriculum. Curriculum is the element of school I'm probably the most passionate about. Especially in elementary, if you don't have a solid uniform curriculum available to all students, and taught by all teachers, you get a mish-mash of skills and standards being taught. Each curriculum is organized a little bit differently, so if you switch from one to the other, especially moving state to state, you might miss a skill or standard that's already been taught. For example, if you don't get "telling time" at the end of 1st grade, you may not see that again until the end of 2nd grade. That's an entire year of not being given explicit instruction by a teacher on how a clock works. That's a lot when you're 7 years old. This is how you end up with gaps and it's how I ended up with a class of 4th graders on a military base who had had wildly varying experiences in 3rd grade in 2020 (some never seeing a classroom that year...Hawaii...). And then the kids didn't even have a certified teacher to carry them through the last 10 weeks of the school year in 2022.
So, thinking about Wells, specifically: When I considered that we'd be moving 2-3 more times before we "settle" somewhere and I thought about how many gaps there would be in his education because of that, I felt like homeschooling would be the right choice for next year. I wasn't planning on working next year, and this way he can get what he needs to be a successful 2nd grader and we'll see where we are when it comes time for 3rd grade the next year. He's one of the more advanced kids in his class and it would crush me to know he's missing bits and pieces if he gets, God forbid, a lazy/unskilled teacher or just has a major gap in whatever curriculum is being used. I've seen a lot lately online about how schools are failing our kids and, with the new school choice laws coming about in 2025-2026, I want to point out that you, the parent, are still 100% responsible for your child. You do not get to blame the school. You get to decide. You have to decide. You can't blame the doctor or the dentist if you don't like them; you find a new one. You need to find a new way for your child to learn, whether that's a new school or taking it into your own hands. You are their advocate.
I made this decision around the end of February. Scott hopped on board really easily for some reason, even though he hasn't liked the idea of homeschooling in the past. I ordered everything we would need to do 2nd grade and it's ready to go. I did do a lot of research and talked to many homeschool moms I know, mostly military, to get a feel for their "why". My "why" seemed kind of selfish at first ("it will be inconvenient to find him a new school and I don't want him to have to deal with that transition") but the WHY popped up after I'd already made the decision...
I'm relieved I made this decision when I did. It's a whole separate long sordid tale, but we probably won't be scuttling off to our new location (Kansas, guys, so not super exciting) as soon as June rolls around. Scott doesn't start work until later in the summer so we will list this house, try to sell it, and then buy a new one in Kansas. Financially, it makes the most sense. So we won't have an address by the time school starts! Meaning, I don't even know how I'd register him. He'd have to start 2nd grade here most likely or miss a huge chunk of 2nd grade. All that transition, when you have two kids who aren't particularly excited about moving in the first place, would make it worse. This way, we have the freedom to basically do whatever we want (like travel) until we find a place to live in Kansas.
It's a lot of change in not a lot of time but the relief in knowing I don't have to have it all figured out today is worth it. I've discovered that homeschool is just the way you do life and you make it fit your life, not make your life fit the local school schedule. With the military still dictating our every move, this is what makes the most sense right now.
But anyway, I'm excited. I will have a lot more to say after we get going but I have a loose plan and I have a curriculum I'm excited about...We still have a lot of life to get through in May, so I'll probably start plotting out the fall sometime this summer.
**Note** Wells has made tremendous progress in the last two years. He had a great two years of preschool, to start, and then he had wonderful teachers for kindergarten and 1st. He actually asked me why I'm taking him away from the school that has taught him so much (*crying emoji face goes here*). I gently explained that he wouldn't be at this school next year anyway since we're moving so it doesn't really matter. I would have no problem with him continuing onto 2nd and then me being his 3rd grade teacher but that's not the way army life works. (he also absolutely hates getting up for school at 6am so, win-win)
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