Yes, I am sad. Very sad. I think I'd rather eat a box of glass than put my children in public schools, especially in the Charlotte system, but alas it appears we will have to. My sweet eldest child and I appear to be a poor fit for a homeschooling relationship, and we've actually been advised by professional help not to test that by homeschooling her. If I'm not keeping her at home, I'm not going to keep the other two girls here either, I want them to be together at least. The last thing I want is for my eldest to feel that she's been sent away somewhere and her sisters get to stay at home. Besides, if they are all together, that will free me up to be a volunteer or nosy-parker in the school, so I can make sure we really are doing the right thing for our children.
The plan is to research the local public schools and try to "lottery" into a better one than the school in our zone. I'm hopeful, but that's the best I can say right now. This fall will be filled with paperwork, letter writing and visits to classrooms to get a feel for the different options. If we cannot get her into one of the three schools on our list of choices, we will seriously reconsider the lesser of the evils--homeschooling a child who's defiant only towards her mother (it would seem) and a gem at preschool, or sending her to our local public school, complete with its uniform dress code and rigid almost institutional feel and curriculum. I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to THAT question, this is ME after all, and I'm not one to shy away from a challenge!
The only reason we're taking this seriously is that we don't want to NOT investigate our options in light of this new feedback and then a few months into homeschooling discover that it's too late to improve the situation for her.
So, if you've read my posts over the years, this will come as a shock to your system, but rest assured this has not been an easy decision, and it's by no means a *final* decision either. I still feel the same way I've always felt about public school, and about homeschooling, what has changed is my confidence in my ability to overcome the challenges and negative aspects of each.
Posted by insomnomaniac at February 25, 2008 9:21 PM | TrackBackHi Deb,
It's been a while. But the other day I was listening to a song and it made me think of you and your girls. I think it had to do with a post soon after Emma was born and you were talking about certain songs suddenly making you cry. Anyways, the song is Safe and Sound by Matthew West, you should go check it out.
And, rest assured, you're not the only one with defiant kids, at least you'll know that when she grows up she'll be independent and won't let people push her around :).