Homeschool Part 2

Here's how this homeschooling idea got started. A few months ago I was soul searching. Trying to find out my place in the big scheme of things as a wife, mother, homemaker, and daughter of our Heavenly Father. I did a lot of research through the scriptures, homemaking articles and bloggs, the ensign and other church articles. I finally started to understand my place. One of the chords that really struck me was that it is my job (as well as my husbands) to teach our children. I pondered immensely on that and realized that I did not have the time with my daughter that I would like to take to teach her. She's gone for 7 hours a day only to come home, eat dinner, relax for a little while, do homework, and go to bed. That left me only two days a week to really teach her. Sure there are opportunities in every momment, but not to the extent I would like to take. I started to feel like public schooling was a government funded day care for older children. The government through teachers was taking more time to teach my children than I was. The sad thing is they would end up learning things before they could really understand them (lesbians, gays, sex, you get the picture). About two weeks ago I read an article in the newspaper of a state back east that talked about a father who was arrested for refusing to allow his kindergarten child to take home a book about lesbians. KINDERGARTEN!!! Our children are not safe anymore. They are learning the ways of Satan by being taught that this stuff is o.k., socially accepted, and bad if you don't conde these life styles. I remember in my highschool sex ed class my teacher wasn't allowed to talk about abstinence and you could get a free condom from the nurses office. The belief is that they're going to do it anyways so we might as well teach them how to do it safely. GARBAGE!!! These are not the values I want my children to be taught. Will I teach them about STD'S, protection, and birth control? Yes, when they are old enough, depending on the topic, to ask me questions about it and gain an understanding. Of course this would be younger than I would like, but I want them to know more than enough to make their own choices. Too many times we as parents say, "because I said so" without telling why. We think it doesn't matter, but they can't make a proper choice if we don't educate them so they think there's no harm and we're just overprotective. That's why our children rebel. I want my children armed with the knowledge to make their own choices, to decide their own path. I firmly believe that if they know the ins and outs, ups and downs, they will make the right choice. Who would want to drive up a hill knowing there is nothing on the other side but harm or even death. I know I wouldn't. There's also the problem of violence in the schools like shootings, drugs, stabbings, gang violence (which I was a victim of in 6th grade) and other issues. It's happening more and more. I know that anything could happen to anyone, but there's less of a chance at home. No, I'm not trying to shelter my children, but I would rather have them learn from the outside instead of being directly involved. Back on topic, Seth and I discussed this and brought to him all my points. He was excited to try it so the rest of this year will be my trial period. I have decided that I don't want to try to do it, I'm going to do it for all my children until they have graduated home schooling (around 17,18). I have a long term plan to do this. I feel it is my responsibility, and my obligation to teach my children. I have received confirmation from the Spirit, and I'll tell you I can count on one hand the times I have felt the Spirit burn so strong in my heart. My Father in Heaven has told me this is the plan he has for me and my children regarding their education. At times when the world seems to question me and Satan enters my mind I remind myself of the fire I felt I know once again this is what I am to do. You can argue logic all you want with me, but you can't argue with the Holy Ghost. So, on Monday, September 15th my journey begins. It won't be easy, but anything worth it in the end never is.

Homeschool Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted anything. So, here are some updates. I decided, after much research and strong feelings, I'm going to home school. Some people are supportive (thankfully my mom's one of them), and some people aren't. Some people have questions which I'm more than happy to answer, and some decide to give me a novel on their view of why it's a bad thing, and others simply don't care for one reason or another. Questions I get are things like, what about socialization or being a part of the real world. I haven't been asked much else yet, but I suspect as more people know the questions will start flowing in. I have nothing wrong with people asking questions esp. out of curiosity, but don't ask me just to make sure I'm not going to ruin my kids for life and they'll never amount to anything. I'm going to take some time to answer questions and state my reasons for doing this. About the socialization thing. I get that it's important to have friends, but school isn't the only place to do it. There's church, neighbors, and friends of mine who have kids. Rebeka's three best friends are from friends of mine and Seth's and she's know them for all her life. She has a very deep bond to them and they are her world. She doesn't get to see some of them very often, but talks about them all time. I believe it's more important to have friends who will stick with you forever through thick and thin then to have friends that come and go depending on their mood and peer pressure from others. This instill confidence, self-esteem and respect for her friends. These friends love her no matter how she talks, or how annoying she can be, or what she wears, or looks like. At school friends are more based on shallow tangible things. All some one has to do is mention that she doesn't like her shirt and I'll bet ya she'll lose a "friend" over that. I know that sounds extreme, but I hear it all the time and heard it growing up. Kids can be mean like that and can fall to peer pressure in a heart beat. She has lots of friends and acquaintances at church. She enjoys seeing them every Sunday and they blow her kisses and give her lots of hugs (the girls anyways). There are places like parks, family gatherings, home, church, the swimming pool, ect. that she will have plenty of opportunities to socialize. She'll have more opportunities outside of a school setting then she will inside. I'm sorry, but sitting at a desk for four hours and restricted group activities don't provide much in the way of socialization. Plus, she's learning how to socialize with children who don't know how to socialize either. It's not fun hearing your six year old daughter come home joking about poop and pee and sticking her bottom out. If that's the type of socialization my children are going to learn, NO THANKS. That isn't even as bad as other words that I'm sure she'd be bringing home eventually. Which, by the way, she could have been saying at school for a month before repeating it at home. As far as being a part of the real world, where in our entire lives are we going to be sitting in an age segragated classroom for six hours a day? NO WHERE! In all other places in the span of our lives we are always among people of different ages including college. So somehow my children are supposed to know how to get along with people of different ages when they grow up in the public school classroom. To me, that's a total oddity in our lives and is in no way preparing our children for the real world. I want my children to know how to communicate with an elderly person, and adult, a teenager, someone their own age, a toddler, and an infant. That's how the world is set up and that's what I want my children to be prepared for. I know someone out there is probably thinking about my teaching credentials which I have no degree for. Teachers don't know everything. They're learning right along with their students. Teachers aren't great in every subject they teach yet somehow they're allowed to get a degree. There are a lot of teachers that don't even have kids and have only been teaching for a year or two. That doesn't mean they know everything about children, how they learn esp. on an individual level, how to effectively discipline while still teaching 23 other kids. I've discovered that because of my daughter's "disabilities" (ADHD) she needs one on one time to focus,learn, and understand. This can not happen in a public school. She'd go to the resource room for two hours to get this one on one time while missing time in the classroom putting her further behind. I do not want to put her on medicine just so she can learn the way the teachers feel is the easiest for them. I feel that by having her at home getting tons of one on one time if she still can not focus to learn then and only then will I put her on medicine. The same goes for all my other children. I know that I can give her the time she needs to learn a subject before dragging her on to the next. The ironic thing is that for whatever reason she is not learning basic skills at school to do math, read, or write. I end up teaching her these things at home during homework time. These things she has learned from me, not the school. They don't have the time, nor capabilities to teach her things in her own way so she can understand. I have that time, no one else.