School at home < homeschool

As I previously posted, we pulled my boy out of school and set up arrangements for homebound service. Well, these services are a complete joke. It took a month to actually find a teacher to come to the house. Then, she frequently points out that she typically works with high school students and doesn’t know what to do with a 3rd grader. The home teacher doesn’t actually teach; she picks up work from school (often without talking with the classroom teacher), delivers them to our house, and takes back things to be graded. Although I am sorry her friend’s husband passed away, I can’t help but feel that my son is falling farther and farther behind whenever the teacher doesn’t show up. Hopefully, now that he has both flu shots, we can put him back in school without too much disruption.

Flu Season & Dumb Rules

We pulled the Gamer out of school recently after many kids (including the one who sat right behind him) came down with the flu.  We had a medical plan in place ahead of time that states that he will be provided with homebound services from the school should this occur.  However, we were not informed of the crazy rules that they have in place for homebound students.  They state that should he be out in public (soccer practice, church, etc.) homebound services will be terminated.  The rationale: if he is too much at risk to be at school, he is too much at risk anywhere.  By trying to eliminate one major risk factor, they wanted him to live in a bubble (even though there is also risk at home!) Based on a doctor’s note about the benefits of exercise and Cystic Fibrosis, we have got them to let him finish the soccer season and receive homebound services, even though I wanted to pull him out totally and be done with this madness.

Me…A Teacher?

I have been asked and may offer my services as a teacher in our church homeschool co-op group. I want to help out any way that I can and they are looking for classes for the older kids. All through school, I thought teaching would be the last thing I would do. I have been teaching occasionally at work and find it thoroughly enjoying. I offered up subjects I feel comfortable with such as Chinese, geography, politics, a Bible study or a science class. This would not start until the Fall. I’ve never taught teenagers before, so any advice would be appreciated. Stay tuned to see how it goes.

Back to Homeschool

My wife and I decided to pull the kids out of public school and teach them at home. We have done this temporarily in the past, but this time they are not going back. We came to this conclusion for several important reasons.

First, I believe it our duty as parents to teach our children, a job we had been delegating to the public school.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Second, for medical reasons, the doctors wanted us to pull Trey out for three months of the flu season. Every year he gets sick around Nov/Dec. Last year he was in the hospital for two months. Rather than subjecting them to the germ breeding ground that is school, we want the opportunity to control the environment.

Third, we are concerned with some of the content being presented. Without going into evolution, sex education, or sexual orientation, the district voted to use the curriculum from Everyday Mathematics. This is a curriculum that every parent should protest and run away from.

It all comes down to the fact that I know my children better than anyone and it’s my responsibility to raise them. So, now my quest is to give them the best education that I can, so expect the focus of this blog (as if it had one) to shift in that direction. All tips, hints, suggestions welcome.