It seems like every year since my daughter started school, we have asked this question: Should we stay the course, or pull her out and homeschool?
Every year it’s for a slightly different reason, but the main problem has always been that my daughter is very advanced, academically, and the schools she has attended are not equipped to provide a challenging curriculum for her. This spring, my daughter’s MAP test scores put her in the 98th percentile for both reading and math, but her school doesn’t have any sort of infrastructure or programs in place to support this kind of advanced learner. On top of that, she has very unique social and emotional needs, which make it difficult for her teachers to help her in a regular classroom setting. I have always felt that I would be the best teacher for her — after all, who knows her better than I do? Who loves her unconditionally, even when she’s crying because of a frustrating math problem? Certainly not any of the teachers she has had so far.
My husband is not 100% sold on the idea. I think he sees homeschooling as a last resort. He’s even talked about sending her to private school, which we definitely can’t afford. But, I’m doing due diligence, emailing lots of people, asking lots of questions, getting all the facts about all of our choices, to help us (mostly him) make a decision.
We are also going to do a trial run this summer, probably for about three weeks, to see how it works for everyone. I am SO EXCITED to have this opportunity to prove that we can do it! I know we will have challenges, but I also know that we will learn a lot, and that’s what “school” is supposed to be all about.
I have set up a separate blog space to record our “Homeschool Experiment,” as I’m calling it. There is a link up at the top of the page, or you can go directly to The Wilson Family Homeschool Experiment from this post.
There will be another post about this right before we start, but I do plan to post some program planning stuff over on the other blog, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
