We never intended to homeschool, but here we are, and our
lives were flipped in the best possible way because of this
decision.
Sadly, I think we hoped our sweet squiggly-peg daughter would fit in
the square-peg of a traditional school setting. It took us 3 ½ years to realize
that the best place for our daughter to learn was at home, so we took her out of the
“safe haven” of a private school, and our homeschooling journey began.
Little did we know that within a few years I would advocate to
homeschool all of our children.
Our daughter is now in the fourth grade and excelling. She is still challenged by certain academic subjects and skills, but she reads Moby Dick and Charlotte’s Web, takes art class, and plays the piano.
Our son is in the second grade, and he unknowingly motivates his
older sister to challenge herself. Our 4-year old begs to do school every day,
and our 1-year old garbles out historical timeline facts hoping to be like her
siblings.
A dear friend said to me, “Lauren, your children are growing up in
a home where education takes place at the kitchen table, and they live where
they learn.” I could have cried. I feel privileged to have the opportunity
to spend 12 years with my children teaching and learning with them at home.
Millions of families have flipped from
traditional schooling to homeschooling and have proven this is a viable and
successful educational alternative on all levels. We are living proof!
And I have actually returned to the workplace, but I work from home, and teach composition courses online for 4 different
universities. I love my flipped life!
Disclaimer: I am not one who
believes that homeschooling is the only way to educate children. Each family is
unique. Our daughter has epilepsy, a sensory integration disorder, and an
auditory processing disorder. We believe home-schooling has given her
confidence and a safe place to be “different.”
I felt the need to prove to my husband that if we homeschooled our children, they could still go to Ivy League schools, so I sent him these articles when I wanted to homeschool all of our children:
Foster, C. (2000, Dec.) In a class by themselves. Stanford Magazine. Retrieved
from
NPR. (2010, July 21). Cab-Schooled student earns ticket to Harvard. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128674314&
Sheehy, K. (2012). Home-Schooled teens ripe for college: Myths about unsocialized home-schoolers are false, and most are well prepped for college, experts say. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/06/01/home-schooled-teens-ripe-for-college
I recently found this online journal:
Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives "aims to become
a focal point for the cumulative development of knowledge, understanding, and
scholarship on educational alternatives worldwide, and aims to contribute to
the visibility and quality of scholarship on educational alternatives."
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