First Day of Homeschool

It's back-to-school at my household. I sent my younger 3 kids off to the elementary school across the street and Sarah and I started our first day of homeschooling. Let me say in the beginning that it gives me a new respect for those moms and dads who have been homeschooling for years. It's not always the most popular thing to do. I've had people say very negative things about it, but it hasn't deterred us from still wanting to go with it.  The one concern that most people bring up is whether the child will have interaction with other children.  My children see other children all the time outside of school.  And the children in school are not always the best role models for my children. 

Our public school system is not in very good shape as anyone who is involved with it can tell you. My husband and I are blessed in the fact that our elementary school across the street is a decent one though. We have had excellent teachers for all of our children, partly because we were allowed to request the ones we wanted.  Sometimes, we've wondered how the children learn anything in a class where the teacher spends most of their time dealing with problem children. It all goes back to the home! There are so many children out there that have no respect for authority because their parents have no respect for authority.  I feel for the teachers because they cannot do much to correct the children.

That all said, for years, we've tossed the idea of homeschool around. We knew that the elementary school would be okay. But, junior high and high school was our main concern. The schools in our district aren't good at all and there was no way we'd send any of our children to them. Yes, we could have transferred Sarah, but there was no guarantee that we'd get the school requested. Private school is incredibly expensive (especially since we have four children). And sometimes, the private schools are no better than the public schools. So, the decision was finally made in February of this year to homeschool Sarah. After we made that decision, I started doing heavy research on curriculum. And I always came back to one that we really liked - Abeka Academy. So, we purchased the material at our local homeschool bookfair back in May.


When trying to schedule class times, I didn't want her classes to go any longer than 50 minutes. This has allowed her to keep moving on to another subject without spending excessive time in one. We finished early since most of her teachers were just introducing the subjects today. In addition to the subjects being taught by Abeka, I've included music (piano & violin) and art class. She will alternate music and art. I found some excellent art curriculum online.

When asked if she liked it, she said,"Mom, I'm never going back to public school until I get to college!" We'll see if she sticks with that motto! 

Happy 2009/2010 School Year Everyone!