I enjoyed reading how Tara came to her decision to homeschool, and thought that I would share some of my reasons as well.
There were several factors that contributed to my decision to homeschool. The main one being that our school doesn't offer any half day kindergarten. So Lexi was spending more awake time (7 hours) at school than she was with me 5 days a week. And that just didn't sit right with me. We tried it out and stuck with it for 2 terms(?). At first she was loving it, then she wanted to be home. I am glad we tried it out for a good while to get a good feel for how it would be for all of us longer down the road. It reassures my indecisive mind in some way. Like I gave it a good chance before changing my mind, you know?
Another reason was that I felt like she could learn so much more at home with me. She loves to learn, and I didn't want that to be killed off by being bored at school. She is a really smart little thing, and I felt like her teacher, as good and nice as she was, didn't appreciate how smart Lexi was because she had 22 other students to worry about.
I didn't like all the competitiveness and comparison to others that public school, by it's very nature, promotes. I want to keep that way of thinking as low as possible for as long as possible.
One last reason to add was that I hated that they only had one good recess, and I thought it just a shame for young kids (especially) to be stuck indoors for 6+ hours a day when they could be taking part in creative play outside. It is so good for the body and the soul to be in the great outdoors.
So, how do I do this thing called homeschooling? Well, being the novice that I am, I can't tell you much. But from my research, I have decided upon the Five in a Row curriculum, supplemented with making up my own based on what I see needs work. We have a great workbook, and I asked her public school teacher, whom we still see from time to time, if I could have a copy the core skills paper so I could make sure Lexi ism't lacking in any of the skills kindergarteners are supposed to master. So far, I feel like things are going very well and everything feels right again. *sigh* And this is a very good thing . . .
