How I Decided to Homeschool

I always said, "I can never homeschool, I'm not smart enough!" (I can't believe I ever said that) Then one day someone told me that my problem with my daughter was that she was really smart. "That is not surprising", this person said, "you are really smart too." Excuse me? I've never really thought of myself as smart. I was a high C to B average student. I was good at music, English and History but I flunked high school Algebra my freshman year. I could NOT learn French not matter how hard I tried. Maybe I just didn't want to learn French. Hmmmm.... Curious how I totally judge my smarts on my performance at school.
At the point I realized that maybe I was smarter than I thought the homeschooling seed had already been planted. I had been thinking about it but the realization that I WAS smart tipped me over to the dark side as I fondly call it. The homeschooling seed had been planted at the wonderful little coop preschool that my son currently attends. I heard about the coop style of school and went seeking one out. This one is the first one I saw and I fell in love. The wooden toys, the books, the organic snacks, the paints, the water play, the YARD! It was everything I was looking for that I didn't know I was looking for. The culture at this school changed my parenting style completely, but that is for another post. Some moms at this preschool were already homeschooling AND they were normal people. They were cool actually! They I learned about unschooling. Unschooling is basically a term used to describe the type of schooling that is not doing schooling at home. It is child led. You can learn from a text book or from a literature book of from your neighbor. I do not consider myself my child's teacher but their facilitator. More on unschooling is also for another post. Once I knew that I didn't HAVE to sit down with L every day and do lessons I felt liberated. For her and for me. I can't imagine her sitting in a desk all day being told what she was going to learn. I just couldn't and still can't see school as a place she'd be happy. For one thing she does not sit still. She is distracted easily when there is action around her. I can just hear a teacher having to tell her over and over to focus and to sit still. What a horrible way to spend a day! The year I could have put her in school was also the year of the budget cuts. Student to teacher ratio went from 15 -1 to 30 - 1. I have trouble with two kids sometimes but 30! Really! I then started reading everything I could find on homeschooling. My favorites were anything and everything by John Holt and also a great book called The Well-Adjusted Child The Social Benefits of Homeschooling. Socialization seems to always be the biggest concern when people question homeschooling and this book really put my mind at ease. It also didn't hurt that homeschooling is so counterculture. It totally appeals to my rebellious side. After convincing myself this was the right thing for my kids and the right thing for me I then had to convince my husband that it was the right thing for him. I imagined that this was going to be an enormous task. I read more books and then I started to strategically leave these homeschooling books laying around the house hoping he'd read one and then bring it up to me. No such luck. Then one day I said it. "So, I'm thinking of homeschooling L." I had my arguments ready and I braced for the coming confrontation. His response? "OK. We can give that a try." That was easy.
Since our journey began there have been ups and downs, doubts and worry, good days and bad days and incredibly amazing days. For us, deciding to homeschool was a great decision. Good thing I'm so smart.