When you start adding words to home though, sometimes the meaning and feeling changes. Such as "home school". That word conjures up many different feelings for many different people.
We are homeschooling Cole for Kindergarten. While I do not think this is a big deal, I know some people do. Part of the reason I don't think it is a big deal is because I have been teaching Cole at home now for 2 years and we will be easing right back into what we did last year (reading, writing and a little bit of math) and adding science, history, and health. We never put Cole into preschool simply because of the fact that I was home full-time and I didn't want to spend the money for something that I could do with him at home. Plus, it's my opinion that kids learn best in their preschool years by playing and using their imaginations and having LOTS of reading time with Mom and Day. TV and computer time (I want to clarify - useless video game type stuff) is VERY limited in our home.
I think it's always interesting to hear other parent's thoughts on their choice for their children's education, so I thought I would write down some of my thoughts. :) These thoughts tend to run around in my head sometimes and I am thankful I have this blog to express them.
First, I want to say that this was a decision we made after thinking and praying about it. When your child nears the age of 5-6, you make the decision of how you will education them. Thankfully, we live in a country where parents can make this decision. I guess we did want to be intentional about making this decision and weighing each option we had. Keet and I think it is very important that we as parents are purposeful about making a decision like this - not just putting our child into an educational environment without thinking about it.
Secondly, neither Keet nor I had any major problems with the three options available to us: home school, public school and private/Christian school. I personally experienced all three when growing up, while Keet experienced only public school. I think we both thoroughly enjoyed our school experiences. We both attended private higher education institutions; mine was secular and Keet's had very loose ties to the Presbyterian Church (USA). By the time Keet finished with his Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, we still did not have any leaning towards a specific educational path. We had seen and experienced both in our lives, and in the lives of our friends, neighbors and relatives the different nuances each choice had to offer, and found ourselves completely dependent on wisdom from the Lord as we made our decision.
The last thing I want to say about our decision is that it is for this next year. In all honestly we will probably re-evaluate this decision again next year. For now, I am doing Kindergarten with Cole and that is it. Obviously I can't say that we won't be homeschooling Cole in the 4th grade, but I guess in my own mind, I foresee him attending school one day. However, we will be trusting and depending on God to lead us, whether that means continuing with this or something different.
And to make a clarification, even for my own sake, I don't necessarily feel "called" to home school. I am guessing there are those who feel "called" into a life of home school, but I don't at this point. This is simply the path we have chosen for this next year. I imagine I will do the same with Parker and Annadee, Lord willing, but I don't know that I could ever say I feel "called" to do this. My personal opinion is that people use that term too freely about things they are doing in life that they don't want anyone challenging them on.
I have more thoughts running around in my head, so maybe I will put those in a different post.
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