Are My Kids Missing Out?!

Sometimes as homeschool mothers we want to know if we are making the right choice. Skip on over to one bloggers post where she questions this, then come back her and read my comment:

My take is a bit different for this topic.

First of all we are starting our third year homeschooling. My kids grade levels this year are 4th, 1st, along with two toddlers. My oldest went to public school for Pre-K, K, 1st, two months of 2nd. My other one went to Pre-K for just two months. After a hurricane evacuation and a temporary school closing we decided to TRY homeschooling on a trial basis because my oldest was begging to homeschool.

My younger that only went a couple months of Pre-K has been VERY easy to teach. She does not have the pre-set idea of school that my oldest has. My oldest fights me all the way and it causes us to miss out on a lot of fun. Much of it is due to public school. She did have fun and had lots of parties, but it is just not have you fantasize it to be. For instance, a party at school is not like a party at your house. At home kids are walking around playing during a party. At school they all had to sit at their desk, then snacks and drinks were passed out. Occassionally, the kids would have a few songs they would gather in a circle to sing for the parents or something of that nature. They gather their stuff and party over! It is really not much fun, but they do usually get a little (or HUGE) bag of excessive party favor junk to take home to clutter up your house. By the way, you usually have to pay for this junk. ;) ... or make cookies... or buy an assigned snack.... or purchase and bring these favors.

Another thing is waiting in line... I would spend 30 minutes waiting in line to drop off my kids and another 45 minutes waiting to pick them up. And that doesn't count the Pre-Ker. I had to actually carry in two babies for walk-up pick-up (for safety). Not to mention the time your child spends waiting in line... ALL.... DAY.... LONG.

Next issue... SOCIALIZATION.... now this is a big one because we all want our kids to have friends, but we don't really think about some of the details. At lunch as they sit across the table from their friends they are not allowed to talk to them. And what friends they make this year are just "disposable", because the next year they get a whole new class with mostly different kids and their old friends move on to a different class and they rarely see them. I think this is training our kids that their "friends" are disposable. The same is true of their beloved teachers. Kids get very attached to their teachers, but next year they have to "move on". When the kids are free to play outside freely for recess it is poorly supervised. My daughter was put in a headlock by a schoolmate when she was in K. The teacher was so far away she did not even see it or know about it. My daughter had to fend for herself. I went to visit the school another time during recess and witnessed a boy putting a girl in a headlock. I went to the girl's aid and told the little boy to keep his hands off of her. There were NO teachers around.
School supplies.... ahhh, the joy. The joy of searching and purchasing things they often will never use. ;) A great example is this cool little tap-n-go glue cap for bottled glue. You have to go to an office supply store to get it and it is almost $2.... for a CAP! They NEVER used it nor did we get it back at the end of the year. Some stuff you do get back that they never use, so at least you can sometimes find a use for that stuff.

Snacks for younger kids... older kids are not allowed snacks even if they are hungry. For younger ones you have to supply snacks for the whole class. For me I would normally choose non-prepacakaged snacks for my kids, but when you have to supply for a group of kids you are usually required to bring individually packaged snacks for the kids. It gets pricey. Also, when my oldest was in the 1st grade they could bring their own snack; however, if some child did not have a snack they would all sit there eating in front of the ones that did without. Now that is teaching them something!

Lastly, the wasted time.... waiting in line already got mentioned. Waiting for one on one time when they do not understand something.... or when they do understand, but others in class do not... your child will have to wait. Simply put 1/2 day Pre-K is 4 hours. I can teach Pre-K at home for 30 minutes - an hour and learn as much. Oh and we can take the day off when we want and they still can learn better because they have one on one time with us. And our life....it's on OUR SCHEDULE. That's all for now. ;) Hope this helps some.

{This the brief version of my answer. I also have a conviction about homeschooling now. This post is just to discuss a bit regarding "What Are My Kids Missing Out On?".... There are many more reasons to homeschool than what I listed above and there are some great things about public schools, also.}