By now a lot of schools have let out for the moment students and teachers look forward to all 180 days of the public school calendar year -- summer vacation! No more pencils! No more books! No more teacher's dirty looks! Yay! Only, not so yay if you live at my house because we home school year round.
That's right. We do school year round. Last week we finished up our 2011-2012 portfolio review, and the boys passed with flying colors. Phew! Planning the 2012-2013 school year started months ago, because we never really take a long break. School goes on year round, because life goes on year round.
We have some really great friends who also home school. We also have some really great friends who send their children to public school. Each family has to do what's best for their family. One thing they have in common is that most of them look forward to summer vacation. Many choose the time during June, July, and August to go on a family vacation, or at least a trip to the beach.
Our family doesn't do any of that. We home school during the summer because we'd rather be inside where it's air conditioned than outside in the hot, sticky, humid environment. This frees us up to take longer breaks in the fall and spring, often traveling when everyone else's kids are in school.
It's not uncommon for outsiders to look at our lives and accuse us of being on one big, long, extended vacation. A lot of times that's exactly what it feels like! Just a few months ago while millions of public school students were stuck in their classrooms, we were doing math on the beach in the Outer Banks. And a few weeks after that, we were enjoying learning the science of trains.
You might be wondering where we found a textbook on that topic. Textbooks? Ha! While we do use them for some subjects, and not necessarily the same topics two years in a row, we studied trains by researching online, reading information at the local library, and then - the coup de grace - a visit to the North Carolina Transportation Museum, where the boys spent time talking to a train conductor and riding in the engine with him on a 30 minute train ride. And finally, we spent a couple of hours at the museum studying exhibits inside the roundhouse, as well as a dozen or more different train engines, cars, and cabooses on display. It's worth mentioning that we live about an hour outside of Washington, DC and are nowhere near either of those places.
Our family is fortunate that the Fireman's job allows him such a relaxed schedule. The only reason I work is so we can travel. And because I freelance, I can work from anywhere in the world -- as long as I have my laptop and a WiFi connection. While our decision to home school was initially a way to stick it to the public school system (think Katniss versus the Capitol here...yeah, it was THAT bad) after a particularly horrible IEP meeting, but it's turned out to be a real blessing. The Fireman and I are better parents for it. We don't have to deal with a lot of pop culture that goes along with raising teenagers. But best of all, the boys are growing up to be
Do you have any public school nightmares? Have you ever had a nightmare IEP like my good friend and fellow blogger over at Dragonflies@Dawn? Do you home school and dream about the day when your children will beg for you to send them into the public school system? If you have a moment, I'd love to read your comments about children and education!
