Friday, August 1, 2014

Harrold Hoosier Homeschool



Our oldest daughter turned five last spring, which has promoted The Question. Family, friends, and strangers in the grocery store have all be asking some version of The Question:


 “So, are you looking forward to starting school?”


My girl, who happens to be a wee bit precocious (and a wee bit snarky, like her mom), usually replies, “I already go to school! Ballet school!” 

Thanks to Ramona Quimby, our Peanut really has been looking forward to “Real School.” Desks, chalkboard, a teacher to idolize, recess, and boys teasing girls are all things she has been anxiously anticipating. Our plan was to enroll her in the local public school. 

I started mentally preparing myself for rushed early mornings and being without my big girl Monday-Friday. Peanut is NOT a morning person (it takes quite a bit of effort to get this kid out of bed by 8 every day) and school starts at 7:30, so I knew mornings were going to be a challenge. I was also a little concerned about how little sister Belle (only 13 months younger than Peanut) would do without her sis. My girls are best friends; they do almost everything together. How would they handle all the time apart?

 I also started trying to figure out when we would have family time. My husband is a pastor, and he works six days a week, by default always on weekends. Our family time is always during the week. When would Peanut, a Daddy’s girl from the moment she was born, get quality time with her Daddy? And what about quarterly trips to Midland for conferences? Spur of the moment family trips to the zoo? A relative or friend is in town, so let’s take a week to just hang out? New cousin to be born in Houston, let’s go visit for a few days to meet the new baby? Funeral in another state, let’s stay a few extra days to be with family? In Kindergarten skipping school for these sorts of things probably wouldn’t be a problem, but what in later grades? I was starting to feel sad and anxious at the prospect of the kids and I living by the school’s schedule, while Daddy is tied down to weekends, and even some evenings.

Other things started popping up that made me feel even more anxious about a new school year. I started hearing stories in the news and from friends about negative peer influences, even in Kindergarten. I started thinking about science and history, regretting that Peanut would not be learning it from a Creationist perspective. How much of her education would I have to correct at home?  A stranger in Wal-Mart, wearing a shirt with an emblem from one of the local schools, asked The Question, and then turned to my husband and said, “Get ready for the corruption to begin!”  That wasn’t exactly a boost of confidence!

As an uneasy knot growing in the put of my stomach, I didn’t feel we had any other choice that would work well for our family. I was homeschooled 2nd grade through high school, but I was not interested in homeschooling on my own. Living in a rural setting has many, many blessings, but the idea of homeschooling in a rural setting sounded so lonely. It seemed like it would be essentially cutting ourselves off from the community, something we definitely don’t want to do. The proverbial rock and hard place were squeezing me, and I didn’t see any other alternative.

Enter Classical Conversations. 

My husband heard from another pastor in the area that a Classical Conversations community was starting up at his church. We had never heard of “CC” before, and I was intrigued. My mother homeschools following a Classical Education model, so I was familiar with the philosophy, and knew it would be something I would love to be possible for my kids. So I hopped on the computer and started researching and asking around. The more I learned about CC the more excited I became.
We found solution to our schooling conundrum.

Classical Conversations is a nation-wide program divided into communities of homeschooling families. They meet weekly for classes lead by trained tutors, and provide each other with support, encouragement, and accountability. Their curriculum follows a Classical, Christian model, and it covers History, Math, Science, English, Latin, Geography, and Fine Arts. I may post later with more details about Classical Education and CC, but for now if you are curious you can read here.

We attended an Open House at our local community in December, and we were almost convinced that this was what we wanted for our family. After considerable thought, prayer, and discussion, we chose to enroll both Peanut and Belle. I will also be going through training to become a tutor, working with 10-11 year old students. Classes will begin in September.

We will also be learning All About Reading, a program I recently discovered, and can't wait to begin. We found a couple of old school desks at a second hand store, and are working on finding wall maps and posters to turn our playroom into a school-and-play room.We will also continue to do the sorts of things that we have always done -- spending lots of time reading together, making lots of trips to the library, reading together, observing nature, using our dictionary, reading together, answering questions, playing board games, spending time in the kitchen, reading together, and loving learning as a family. I am anxiously waiting for the FedEx guy to show up with all of our books!

So, yes, we will be homeschooling, but Peanut will also get desks, chalkboard (or dry erase board, as the case may be), a teacher to idolize, recess, and probably even boys teasing girls.

Yes, we will have class and a school schedule, but official classes only one day each week will allow us to keep our flexible schedule spend time as a family during the week. The girls will be in class together, so no worries about Belle being lonely at home.

So, yes, the Harrold Hoosiers will be homeschooling, but we won’t be alone.

1 comment:

  1. "A Teacher to idolize"...Yep! I love you too! Looking forward to following your journey!

    ReplyDelete