I homeschool because I got mad!

When I look back at the reasons I decided to homeschool my kids, I still get pretty angry. I first heard of homeschooling when my son was only a few months old. My husband came home and suggested that we homeschool our kids. A colleague of his was doing it with pretty good results. I wasn't happy to say the least. Nor was I kind.

Fast forward a second kid and a few years later and I found myself completely frustrated by what seemed like a blatant and purposeful lack of communication. It seemed to me that the schools really wanted no involvement from the parents. They wanted no insight into the kids, an they did not want to tell you now the kids were doing unless it was absolutely necessary.

My very first clue into the troubles that where to come later was at a teachers' conference in January of my son's first year at a Catholic preschool. I had made numerous attempt to explain my sons personality to the teacher. Basically he was pretty quiet and withdrawn until he got to know people. I have no idea what that explanation meant to her. Every day, week, and month up to that point when I would ask her how Jackson was doing, she would say "Well, he's just being Jackson." To me that meant he was a little more quiet that the other kids and not very outspoken. I found out otherwise later.

At this January conference, she, the teacher very timidly suggested to me that we discuss the possibility of taking my son out of preschool and trying again next year. I asked why. She said , well, you know he can't speak... CAN'T SPEAK?? I thought as I narrowed my eyes at her, while the words "WHAT???, WHO?" Escaped my lips. She repeated, Jackson can't speak. Here I am, expecting to hear about the child's prereading skills and she tells me he can't speak!

At that very moment, as if on cue, he stated yelling at his 1 year old sister on the other side of the room. His teacher jumped up, ran across the room like a woman possessed and starts congratulating the child on his speaking skills.

By now Jackson and I were both looking at her like she had lost her mind....

The moral of this story is, if a parent asks a teacher how a child is doing, and you don't think the child can speak. Then don't wait until January... 4 months after the start of school to mention it to the parent.

Was this enough to make me homeschool .... No, but it sure got my wheels turning. The first thing I did after that meeting was go out and purchase kids learning software, since I realized that his actual education would be up to me.

... I'll write more about our saga soon.