Seven Quick Takes-our first week homeschooling (again)

1.  This was our first official, purposely planned week of homeschooling since we pulled G. out of school  just a little over three weeks ago, January 5 being his last day at school.  We are easing into a Charlotte Mason approach because it appeals to me but moreso because it appeals to G. more than any other approach that I have talked about with him.  At first I was thinking it would be best to enroll him full time in Seton so we would be more structured, traditional high school approach.  Much to my surprise he wanted more flexibility.  He thought CM sounded more "artsy" with its offering of poetry, art study, and Shakespeare, though we haven't done any of these things yet.  He also liked the idea of reading all those good books. 

2. In a nutshell, our first week went very well.  Our schedule provided structure but it was on the light side so we also had a lot of flexibility.  I have many more books ordered that haven't come yet (maybe too many) so we will be adding more but I am not sure how much more.   With our homeschool schedule this week he had a lot more time to breathe than when he was going to high school.  At public school he was gone for 8 hours and would come home and do lots of homework.  I can see a change in his demeanor.  He is happy to be here and we are happy to have him here.  He is nicer to his little brother and sister. 

3.  I think that the public school doesn't place a lot of importance on family life.  We, the parents are supposed to help them rather than the other way around.  It is so accepted that I don't think that people realize that this is the case, at least in our school district.  We live in a liberal, college town where I think the school tends to pride itself on treating the kids like "grown-ups" which may be one of the reasons they have no problem assigning literature that includes racy bits that the school shouldn't even consider giving to the kids without parental permission if at all.  This time around I have a lot more conviction and confidence in my decision to homeschool.  There is no going back now.  He wouldn't be able to get a diploma from the school district at this point any way. 

4.  It took a big leap of faith to pull him out of school.  I was really anxious about it at first.  Was this the right thing to do?  I was worried about taking him away from the kids he sees everyday and "chit-chats" with.  He would have less of this at home.  G. was taken aback when we/I told him that we thought we would be taking him out of school.  It was very difficult to pull him out when he didn't want to be homeschooled at first.  It was the most difficult parenting decision that we/I ever had to make.  We decided on our own without approval from the kid.  It's not that we didn't think that his opinion was important it was just one of those times where we had to remind ourselves that we are the parents and no matter how good natured, mature, cooperative, hard working our child was he is still an adolescent without the foresight and experience that adults have by the very nature of being adults. 

5. I say "we/I" because I was the one who initiated and pushed the idea of pulling him out of school, and in the middle of the year no less. Though I had tossed the idea around before over the last year and a half, my husband previously dismissed the idea.  This time he saw the real need for it and was behind me in the decision.  He was more confident in the decision than I was at first and encouraged me when I thought we had made a mistake.  I did most of the communicating with G. and husband worked more behind the scenes.

6.  When we sent him back to school his Freshman year it felt good to feel "normal" by not having to tell everyone we homeschool.  I think it is the fact that he is so much older than the other two and doesn't have any siblings his age at. Perhaps I was  buying into the fact that people consider it weird that a teenage boy would spend so much time with his mom.    Even in summer it felt weird because it seems that I am practically the only mom home, or at least out and about with her teenage son, during the day.  That is why I mentioned that I feel much more convinced of the need for homeschooling in one of the above "takes."  It helps to feel convinced that what you are doing is the right thing to stay strong when you feel like the weird ones. 

7.  There are several other options we could have persued to keep him in school if we wanted to fight that fight, and I admire anyone who wants to fight the system to keep sexually explicit literature out of the classroom or at least away from their own kids.  In the end, however, I just don't think it would be worth it for us.  I am so grateful that we are able to homeschool and I feel like I am doing it from a place of prayer moreso than when I homeschooled him the first time.  

Thank you for stopping by.  Please see Jen at Conversion Diary for more QTs.  Since my post seems rather humorless perhaps you can find something lighter there.