mamamoon Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 (edited) hello, a little background. my daughter went to a montessori program 3 years. did her kinder year there, it ends after te kindergarten year. could not get her into a decent school, and did not like the looks of public schools around here. so hello-homeschool. had some friends doing it, looked easy enough~ i am coming up on our 3rd year. she is thriving. very bright and an amazing reader, she is curious, and is an easy child to work with. so her sister will be joining us this year. she spent 2 years at the same amazing montessori. i have been a bit nervous about the dynamic of having 2 home, but very excited as well. we do classical, with a bit of montessori and charlotte mason thrown in. tonight, as i am busily planning our schedules, printing and laminating, i get an email that a montessori elementary charter is opening this august~i almost fell over. apparently a group of parents had been working on it, but i had no idea, too busy homeschooling..... i wrote the teacher right away. visions of my daughters going there with their fairy princess lunchboxes were flashing through my head. what is the matter with me? why do i feel so insecure with homeschooling, when really in the deepest part of my heart, i love what it does for our family. i love classical, and believe in it. i love being with my children~in some ways i just feel like i have never really fit in with it. but in some ways i feel like i have never really let myself relax with it enough to enjoy it... i will stop now, not sure if i am still making sense. everything is swirling around. lisa Edited August 7, 2009 by mamamoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 tonight, as i am busily planning our schedules, printing and laminating, i get an email that a montessori elementary charter is opening this august~i almost fell over. apparently a group of parents had been working on it, but had no idea, too busy homeschooling..... i wrote the teacher right away. visions of my daughters going there with their fairy princess lunchboxes were flashing through my head. I will tell you, though, that around here the charter schools that have alternative programs like that tend not to end up with a center core of kids to hold the school together. That's what I have heard about all but one of the parent participation elementary schools, the Waldorf charter down south, and the KIPP schools. Some models are better equipped to deal with that than others. Seems like a lot of the children who end up in those schools are there because they were either too brilliant or too disruptive (or both) for the mainstream public schools. The middle ground group of students gradually becomes very small, at least around here. YMMV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 We were part of a year 1 charter and it was an absolute nightmare. Believe me, you don't want your kids to be their test pilots. Stay the course, your kids are thriving! Revisit the charter idea next year, but do not, I repeat DO NOT sign them up this year. Feel better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 7, 2009 Author Share Posted August 7, 2009 thank you~part of me was thinking that the first year is not the best year to try things out. but around here, if you dont get in when there is space, you never get in....... but thank you for the encouragement. just what i needed. lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 what is the matter with me? why do i feel so insecure with homeschooling, when really in the deepest part of my heart, i love what it does for our family. Nothing is wrong with you. Haven't you ever questioned anything before? It's can be a way for us to evaluate a current situation just to be certain we're looking at all the possibilities. I've BTDT. Try making a pros/cons list. It has often helped me make a decision, not that the decision was the correct one at a later time. But hey, making a decision is still a helpful start! After 8 years of homeschooling, I would put my kids into a private school that I felt was educationally beneficial for them. I have only one school in mind for my Asperger's ds13, but the tuition is $17,000 per year. Even if we only did high school, that's $68,000 total. It's just way, way out of our league. So, homeschooling it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 7, 2009 Author Share Posted August 7, 2009 thank goodness i had here to come......that is part of the problem, i don't have a homeschool support system here at all. my one really good friend that was homeschooling, moved:confused:. so i feel so weak at times~so alone~while everyone else is doing school. it is when i shift to all the curriculum shopping, looking at other peoples blogs, etc, then i start to dream and think, maybe i am ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 in the deepest part of my heart, i love what [home schooling] does for our family. i love classical, and believe in it. i love being with my children That sounds pretty powerful to me! Yes, I'm sure your dds would be absolutely *adorable* with their little backpacks and fairy lunchboxes. ;) Really! But is that a fair trade-off when you'd be giving up something you love and know is making your girls thrive? in some ways i just feel like i have never really fit in with it. but in some ways i feel like i have never really let myself relax with it enough to enjoy it... So maybe the real lesson here is that it's *time* to acknowledge how well things have gone, how much you enjoy having your girls with you, learning with them, how much they're growing (academically, individually, as a family unit)... Maybe make your focus for this year a "take joy!" attitude? Your girls are young, and it sounds like they're thriving academically. So let yourself relax a bit -- I don't mean stop working hard together, but don't agonize over whether you're doing it "right" -- and really enjoy this time together. I would have similar concerns that others have mentioned with regard to jumping in with an untested charter... It *might* be great. But I've known enough families to be frustrated and disillusioned by that rather quickly, that I would be hesitant. ... Maybe if you were saying, "home schooling really isn't working well for us -- we have to have a change", it would be worth a try. But you're telling us you're happy, your dd is doing great, you're looking forward to the challenge of having both girls at home... It sure sounds to me like, apart from the idyllic image of packing your adorable girls off in their cute back-to-school clothes with they're sweet little lunch boxes and... Apart from that, there's not a reason why you think *any* of you would be *better* off with the school... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Mamamoon, (Haven't read the other posts yet) I just wanted to assure you that there's nothing wrong with wanting to send your child to school. Everyone homeschools for different reasons, even if we reap many more benefits as the years go by. If you started homeschooling because of a lack of the type of school you wanted, but now see the possibility of the type of school you were looking for, it's only NATURAL to want to try it. The school might work well. You might decide, though, that the benefits of homeschooling would be even BETTER than the school at this point. You might try it, or not. It might work fabulously, or you might choose to homeschool again. Nothing is set in stone. (Of course, if you child goes to school and LOVES it, it might make going back to homeschooling more difficult. I'm considering this possibility for our family's choice this year.) Our family makes the schooling decisions on a yearly basis and each child's needs are considered separately. Others commit to homeschooling as a lifestyle regardless of individual children or future educational possibilities because they truly know in their hearts that homeschooling is what they want to do. No matter what. Our family has enjoyed homeschooling our oldest, and we may choose to do so at some point again in the future, but this year he will go to school for the first time. It was a weighing of the pros and cons and his intense interest in trying school that put us there this year. Dd will continue to homeschool because it is really what is best for her educational needs. I really feel she will need AT LEAST 2 more years of homeschooling, but I'm hoping to homeschool her for longer. Of course we will still make the decision each year. (We also started homeschooling for lack of a certain type of school environment... or perhaps it was more that ds was REALLY a square peg at the time and the schools only had circular holes. I had some really great school experiences and I would love for my kids to be able to have similar experiences at some point. I'm not against schools, though I REALLY see the benefits of homeschooling, too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Look very closely at the backgrounds of the individuals starting the charter. While I'm a big advocate of charters in general and choice in particular, the experience and expectations of the organizers/learders is really important. You want people or organizations with prior success running this type of charter. What you don't want are neophytes. If those individuals have successfully run or are running other schools, whether charter or private, then they may be a safe bet, if not - this probably isn't the time to jump in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 The charters around here that start with alternative models don't last that way long. All of the requirements of the ps system start chipping away at things and within a couple of years they are just a ps with uniforms. The first few years are very difficult and chaotic. I wouldn't want my kids in the middle of it. I watched my friends do it and it was a mess. None of them are there anymore. Oh, hey, good point. (I missed the charter reference.) I know someone who started a charter middle/high school that offered a rigorous math/science program for kids who were driven in that area. She worked REALLY hard, donated SO much of her own time/money, and finally succeeded in starting the school after a few years. Now, after 5 years, many of the original teachers have been replaced, SHE has been fired, and the school is basically a public school with uniforms. SO sad. Parents I know who tried the school said that it was difficult and very chaotic and most of them pulled their kids after a year or two. I didn't know that was such a common occurence with charter schools. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougarmom4 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Just wanted to pipe in and say that I've had a positive experience with our charter school. The first few years were a little challenging--with organization & figuring out details--but it was also a great opportunity to jump in, put my two cents in and help things to happen the way I wanted them to. In other words, it wasn't smooth sailing--so don't expect that--but it was a solid work in progress...and I personally have enjoyed being a part of the process. I love how the teachers and administration listen to parents and work closely to try to make improvements. Every year things get a little bit better. Now, having said that...we brought our oldest home to homeschool, so it didn't end up being a perfect fit...but it was closer than the other public schools had been. Obviously you have a lot to consider with this decision...but I just wanted to make sure you're aware that not *all* charter schools are bad experiences. Not trying to stir the pot here or anything, just offering a different perspective. Good luck with your decision-making process! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Why not get them fairy lunch boxes for home? I plan to get the Littles lunch boxes this year, just for fun, and picnics. Just because you're homeschooling doesn't mean that they can't have that stuff. ;) I know diddly about charter schools, as they don't exist where I live, so I can't comment on that...just thought I'd pipe up about what seemed to be a 'missed event' in your perception for the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 7, 2009 Author Share Posted August 7, 2009 (edited) you all are great~i guess what i am trying to uncover right now, is am i happy? i know my kids are happy, and my husband is overjoyed, but, hey, i am doing all the work. it is difficult for me to do anything besides research curriculum, hang out on these forums, etc. i am always so worried, because i feel responsibe for their education. i guess part of me wants to be free of all of it.....in the processing stages..... i want to look at this as a curveball that is just testing my faith. Edited August 8, 2009 by mamamoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 To add to the post above about buying schooly things like backpacks and lunch boxes, I have a great idea. When my children were little, I got them school boxes to store school supplies and books. I bought the portable plastic file boxes that had a top that was hinged onto the box. Then I let them choose a few different packs of stickers to decorate their boxes. They really loved their boxes. They were so durable, they lasted years. For subsequent school years, we'd peel off the stickers and purchase new ones just to make it different. I also let them choose decorative pencils and erasers, supplies that needed to be replenished throughout the school year. I think pencils hide in the same place as missing socks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 it is difficult for me to do anything besides research curriculum, hang out on these forums, etc. i am always so worried, because i feel responsibe for their education. i guess part o me wants to be free of all of it... What could help you feel less worried? What could help you relax and accept that what you're doing is equal or better than other options? Alternately, why would putting them in school make you feel relaxed? Ultimately, you're still the one who is responsible for the education they receive. I suppose that if they're in school, you could blame someone else if things weren't going well, but that's not really the same as knowing it's "all taken care of". What tools would you use to decide whether the education they were receiving in school was adequate? Is there a way to quantify what you have achieved with your daughter over these last couple of years? Could you set specific goals for the coming year? For elementary school? Would it be helpful for you to make some curricular decisions and stick to them and *not* come to this board for a period of time (say, one semester), so that you're not constantly second-guessing yourself? Maybe there *are* ways to relieve some of the pressures of feeling like you're not going to measure up... So that you *can* focus on the joy of home schooling rather than the fear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 really good points~will ponder them.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 9, 2009 Author Share Posted August 9, 2009 update~i went to check it out yesterday~what i saw was a very large empty room. they can't set up till the end of aug. i thought it would help me rule it out.......met with the teacher, and she was great. i think the real issue is going be the drive. it will be a 15 min. drive there and back. i know that is not that far, but i have been doing that for years taking them to the montessori preschool, and i am truthfully burnt out with it. not sure if i want to committ to that for the next 6 years. so in some ways, maybe it did help, because i am thinking no. i spent the rest of yesterday, back in my den, planning away. i guess, even though i don't want to admit it for some reason, i am a homeschooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 I hope you continue homechooling, because it does sound like it's working. I visited my son's Montessori school last year (he'd gone for 3 years in elementary) and immediately thought how wonderful it would be to have my dd there (but it's in Dallas and we are across the country!). It did make me think about what we are doing. A couple things-- One, the curriculum looks very different as the children age, and it is very, very rare to find a true Monti school for upper elementary/jr hi. Most switch over to a more traditional approach after 3rd grade. If you were attracted to the philosophy and the materials at the preschool/K level, you need to know your child's experience at 3rd grade may be radically different. Two, you can incorporate some Monti thing into your homeschool--I particularly like the emphasis on beauty, so I try to put plants, natural baskets to hold supplies (limit the plastic), beautiful examples of artwork, etc. around my school area. I'm not entirely successful, but it does help me feel I'm providing something important in the environment (and Monti is very, very much about the environment in which the children learn). Hope you have a clearer vision of what you want. Don't forget to take the time to nuture yourself. It helps me sometimes to go back over my dd's lovely nature notebook or history work--I can see what I've taught her, and my values come thru in the work she does. I, of course, see most in her own self, how she handles difficulties, how compassionate she is, how she enjoys wholesome things like reading wonderful books--you do have to look around sometimes and just say I'm doing a good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 9, 2009 Author Share Posted August 9, 2009 thanks chris, and i do incorporate a lot of montessri at home, lots beautiful things and manipulatives crowding my house..... you bring up some good points, and i have been wondering, since it would be a grades 1-3 combo, just wondering how much challenging it would be for her-there may be only 4 or 5 3rd graders. it could be wonderful for her to be the oldest in the group or it could be ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I sent you a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 thanks~loved the pm~:grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.