For the past 3 years, Lily has been attending our church's kindergarten. We started going to K3 three days a week. For K4 we also chose a 3-day program. This year, K5, there was only one option-5 days a week. And the days have been longer too. Instead of a 3 hour day (as was K3 and K4) she is there 5 hours each day. That is a lot of time away from my girl. I am so thankful for this year. She has learned so much! There are 12 students in her class. She gets lots of teacher attention and for that I am thankful. She enjoys her class and loves her teacher.
Unfortunately, this is the last year we can be at the church as they do not have an elementary program. We therefore have a decision to make--public school, private school, or homeschool. Three great options. We have had to pray and seek the Lord for what HE is leading us to do.
As much as I have loved private school these first three years at our church, we quickly learned that tuition for 1st grade is more expensive than what we have been paying. And based on that alone, it pretty much takes private school out of the running. We do not have thousands of dollars sitting in the bank account looking to be spent.
That leaves us with public and home school.
JD and I are both products of the public school system. We turned out just fine. Looking back I do not have any regrets for attending public school. I feel I was well educated. I made the choice to have friends who had the same convictions as I did. I was grounded in my faith and the Holy Spirit guided me in (most) decisions that I made.
Growing up, home schoolers had a stigma. They were those weird kids who had zero socialization skills. They kept to themselves and didn't know how to get along with other kids. They were too smart for their own good.
In moving to the southeast, I quickly gained a new view of homeschooling. Many families here homeschool their children and they are all "normal." I love watching the relationships that these parents and kids have. There is just something different about them that is hard to put into words. But that was not something I could do. I am not a teacher and I would have to find a different option for my kids.
Fast forward a few years. We knew Lily would be attending our church's school through K5. After that we just didn't know what we were going to do. Personally, I did not (and still do not) have a peace about sending her to public school. At the beginning of this school year (K5) I really began to pray about what God would have our family to do for 1st grade. The more I prayed the more uneasy I became in the thought of sending her to public school.
This spring I attended a home school conference to learn more. I prayed before I went that I would be led to the right break out sessions and that through the weekend I would know for sure what God would have our family do. By the end of the weekend I was confident in the decision that we would be homeschooling Lily this year and I was excited about it.
One of the sessions I went to encouraged us to write out our homeschooling philosophy. Why are we doing it? I had had ideas floating around in my brain, but had never taken time to really think and write down. So, I finally took some time and thought about it.
First, Lily, at this time, is not a follower of Christ. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not living inside her to help guide her in decision making. JD and I feel the interactions she has with other children may lead her in the ways of the world instead of leading her to Christ. We have already seen evidence of this in K5. Does this mean we shelter her? No, but if she is with me, we can talk through scenarios as they occur. Plus, Bible is not apart of the public school system. It is more difficult to teach the characteristics of Christ when it cannot be taught.
Secondly, the public school system has a large class size. Over the past few years that size has continued to grow as funding for the public school has decreased. I fear that with a larger class size her personal learning needs could possibly be overlooked. Having a 1:1 teacher-student ratio allows for me to be able to see when there is a trouble area more quickly. Being at home also allows us to move at Lily's pace--more quickly when she grasps concepts and slower if she has a troubled area. With the public school choice, the teacher has to teach to the middle of the class.
Another advantage to homeschooling is the flexibility it gives. Instead of spending 8 hours a day in school, coming home to homework, dinner, and bed time routine, homeschooling allows us to get school done in half the time without having to do homework afterward. We can enjoy time as a family in the evenings. We can also get involved with community activities/sports/dance/etc. without the added stress in the evenings. Homeschooling is also something that is transportable. If we want to leave town, the books can just be packed up with everything else. We don't have to be at home to home school.
All of that said, JD and I do believe this is a year to year decision. Just because she will be at home this year does not mean she will be next year. And just because we choose curriculum x, that doesn't mean we can't make changes if it is not meeting her learning needs. We pray that He will guide us in this decision every year, every day--all bringing HIM the glory in what we do.
