It's been awhile since I've written anything about our homeschool journey. Lots of posts about our field trips and the fun we're having, but not much about where we're at and why.
When we moved out here last November, homeschooling was a temporary solution until we figured out what school was going to best meet our needs. I wasn't even sure we'd stick with it for the whole school year. There was a charter school out here that we were looking at that had spaces for us right when we came, and I thought maybe we'd end up doing that in the new year. But, as difficult as last year was, we decided to stick it out--the field trips and traveling were too fun, and on the good days, we were really enjoying each other.
And then, because of the local charter school closing (administration issues with embezzlement ultimately forced them to shut down after being open for 10 years) and our perpetual bad luck with lotteries for schools, we were faced with the choice to send our kids to traditional public schools, or homeschool again.
For Bug, it was an easy choice. He didn't really want to go to school, no matter where it was, and I just can't push him to go to middle school if he's not excited about it. Those years are so difficult even in the best of circumstances. Bean was a different story--she really misses school and had been getting excited about the charter school before it closed. She agonized over the decision for a couple weeks before she finally decided that she wanted to stay home for one last year before high school. That only left Peanut, and I honestly didn't know what I was going to do until a couple weeks AFTER school started, haha. He was enrolled in the local district, on the waiting list for an IB program that I really do hope he gets into next year, and we thought about homeschooling through the district's alternative school while we watched that waiting list, but in the end, I couldn't do it and withdrew him as well. When I listened to a friend's experience homeschooling with the district and met with them, I realized that I've homeschooled on my own too many times to be happy with someone else telling me when and what to teach. Besides, I've always said that homeschooling is easiest when the whole family is doing it together--all or nothing here.
Being our 4th year doing this, we've figured a few things out and I'm doing stuff a little differently this year. A lot of what I've read has said that most homeschoolers relax over the years as they figure out what works best for them. I guess when you start out completely unschooling, like we did Bean's Kindergarten year, you can't really relax from there. We've gone the other direction over time because as much as I like the idea of a completely child-led, free-spirited homeschool, I'm also a Type A planner. It's hard for me to wing it each day, and I actually don't think the kids always love it, either.
So we've made some changes, and are actually planning out our weeks. I have spreadsheets and agendas for each of them (which I have to keep shifting and adapting, but at least we have a starting point.) I've bought more books and am using them to plan out some themes and units. We joined a homeschool charter, which has turned out to be better than I'd hoped. In CA, you can either file as a private school each year, or join one of these charters, where you are assigned a teacher who you will meet with once a month to show that you are "schooling". Depending on your teacher, and you, this can look a lot different from one case to the next. I was dreading having someone try to tell me what I needed to teach the kids, and how we should be doing it, but we lucked out with a teacher who homeschooled her kids and has never taught in a classroom--she gets it. So other than the various state testing required, and some extra paperwork here and there, we're still about to school how we like.
And the big reason for going through the charter is that we get part of the state funding for our kids, to use as we see fit. For our kids, it's art lessons, soccer, swim conditioning and lessons, ice skating, and piano as soon as I find them a teacher. Bean wants to try rock climbing, we may do an animal science class, and our museum entrance fees are all covered. Bean is doing a virtual math class through the charter which has pretty much saved our relationship and made homeschooling work for her :) It really helps take a little of the financial burden of homeschooling off of us. There are still plenty of things that we will be paying for ourselves--the money only goes so far, but we're able to do a lot more in the way of outsourcing now. Last year was the first year I bought any sort of formal curriculum (for math), and we'd only done one or two extracurricular classes per year. But this year, we feel a lot more free and the kids (and I) are loving it.
I feel like this is my bonus year of homeschooling. I really didn't think we'd be doing this again, at least not with all 3 kids, and because of that, I think it's been a little easier to keep a perspective of appreciation about the whole thing. This really is because I want to be doing this, and I know, with 95% surety, that this is the last year I'll have all of my kids home with me for the year. This is our year to snuggle together while I read aloud, get messy as we explore topics through art and cooking and experimenting, visit as many historic and natural sites as we can, and take the time to learn a little more about the things that really interest us. Next year, Bean starts high school, and plans to attend the local school. And then it will be Bug's turn, and then they'll be off on their own adventures.
But for this year, we get to adventure together.
