Is "good enough" good enough?

Stay at home moms yearn for the end of summer break, dreaming of that moment when all the kids walk out the door to the bus and screaming “Alleluia” as it slams shut behind them. But out there is a special breed of parents, one that has always been peculiar to us – the Homeschooler… That one word seems to invoke fear in all who hear it – including us. But why? Not why do we quiver at the thought of spending 24 hours a day with our children – we certainly understand that! The question in our minds quickly turned to “what is wrong with them; why do they choose to put themselves through such insanity??”

So we set out to answer these questions, leaning on some friends with experience and of course the great World Wide Web that can never be wrong. We read hundreds of statistics and studies… many of which were above our public school education level. Our search for knowledge isn’t over, but it didn’t take long to realize the real question is “What’s wrong with us? How can we rant about societies corruption and dismal morals and they place our children at their mercy?” Not any easy pill to swallow really… Our education system is failing, most logical people will admit that – is that good enough for our kids?

For the last 7 years we have had children in public schools that have span 4 states and included 6 different schools. We have had our ups and downs with the public education system. Some teachers have been great others, well, there is no charitable way to put it so we will let it go… Despite all the ups and downs, it was always “good enough.” That was our mindset… “Good enough.” How bad could it be… we did alright (well one of us did, the other one is questionable… we will leave it to you to figure out which one).

It is amazing what children have to go through in the public school system. We have already had to deal with a number of bullies and mean kids on the bus. AT was in the gifted program and his grades still dropped because he was bored. We’ve watched our daughters self-esteem drop with the entering into middle school. They are learning about things like contraception and the normalization of homosexuality – all at the ripe old age of 9. We have fought to get accommodations for JA, who has a learning disability and ADHD. Trying to get all those accommodations transferred over when we PCS will be even harder.  Even the little things like the school lunches, the equivalent to eating a can of lard, are not adequate and to our surprise, we could not get them to offer Lent friendly means... We also know that when we PCS next year that finding a good school in a good neighborhood will be difficult. In the public school system it has definitely been an uphill battle.

With the new question in our minds and armed with the facts; (not just jokes we always made up about homeschooled children) we were confronted with a choice… They kids surprisingly jumped at the idea. They were over the moon excited. AT just didn’t want to have to eat the school lunches.

We have no romantic fantasies that homeschooling 6 children, one of them a teenager, will be easy. As a matter of fact, we are certain it will require some degree of professional counseling and a great deal of alcohol… We are fully prepared to enter AA when this is all through. There will be sacrifices that will need to be made on all parts. Our life will change as we know it, but we are ready for that change – and maybe we need the change. It isn’t for everyone, and just like discerning any major family decision each family has to make the choice for themselves; but it is imperative to do so on a properly formed conscience. As for us, we are ready to take the responsibility of educating our children instead of leaving it to strangers; most of which don’t share the values we share. We are ready to bring our family closer, maybe too close. So when we PCS in June, schools will not need to be one of our qualifications for a house. We will be official homeschoolers… Time to stock up on some beer!

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

~Proverbs 22:6