Wildcats Homeschool has been in progress for one year and two months. We are nearing our third county review, and settling into our routine. I have looked back over the past year at the challenges and adjustments I have made as my daughter and I figure out how to homeschool, how to form a routine that works, and I've had to figure out how to organize and record our days and her progress. We've enjoyed our first homeschool co-op, taken field trips (though not as many as I would have liked), and met some terrific parents and kids. I really look forward to seeing where our homeschool adventure takes us in the next year and beyond.
During this past year, we have endured criticisms and encountered the run-of-the-mill misconceptions as well as some suprising supporters. My decision to pull my daughter out of public school to homeschool led to her noncustodial father challenging my decision in court, but the Master held to the law stating that unless homeschooling was proving to "not work" I legally maintain the right to make educational decisions. I have been pleased that her father has reported being comfortable with her progress so far and he can see through the documentation I provide that she is learning and she is not being harmed. Of course, I meet a lot of people who believe the criticisms of homeschool: no socialization, parents who homeschool must be abusing their kids, a parent can't possibly "teach" without being a certified teacher, etc. I usually step aside and let those nay-sayers observe my very social, mostly well-mannered child talk on and on about some recent topic or other that she has learned. But the biggest suprise for me, which relieved my anxiety over this decision, was the support I have found from so many other non-homeschooling parents, my co-workers (I work at a public school), and strangers in the community we meet. Some of my favorite shows of support came from two city firemen, a birder, and my mother. My mother is a school teacher, and I learned a lot about educators and school watching her prepare for and teach her classes; she taught me to value learning- not "just the facts" but true, deep learning- and I credit her for instilling in me an importance on education as well as a knowledge (from my observations) of the work a teacher does. She has been a big source of encouragement in the past year. Recently, we went for a bird-walk and my daughter initiated a conversation with a birder who was photographing; the two had a detailed conversation about each other's favorite birds, and the lady helped my daughter identify male versus female in a couple species flying around. The birder then looked at me, and congratulated me for giving my daughter the opportunity to really participate in her learning. The firemen were also very excited to talk about homeschool. At first, my daughter was just asking questions and answering fire safety questions, and one asked where she went to school. I found out one had been homeschooled, and the other was dating a woman who was homeschooled.
Coming up, I will give some examples of how I record my daughter's homeschool, as I have had several questions about that topic. I also want to elaborate on some of our favorite lessons and resources. This election year, I also want to note our Presidential and other government homeschoolers.
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