If someone were to have told me one year ago that I would be home schooling my kids, I would have put money down towards the contrary. Not because I don’t agree with it, but because it requires patience, discipline, and dedication. Precisely the reasons why I never saw me doing this.
Well, shortly after we decided on an apartment, I began looking into the school Raquel would be attending. I quickly found out that the school was ranked at the bottom of her school district.
Great! This did not help the apprehension I was already having about Raquel attending a public school in a big city like LA. I looked into other options. Private schools would require I work full time to cover tuition and charter schools…well, there were none in our area…but one…called CAVA.
California Virtual Academy. A public California charter school done at home. They provide all the material. Including lesson plans, computer, printer, and even an internet stipend. So…after much thought I decided to give it a try.
We just finished our second month of school and to celebrate here are the Top 10 Things About Home Schooling (in no particular order).
1. Initiating school at
any time of the day…which for us means 9:30 or 10:00am. (Those of you who know me--know--that this is reason enough for me to do this).
2. Starting school in our
PJs (which in Elena’s case means her underwear).
3. No rushing to get kids ready in the morning and no need to then load them into the car.
4. Getting to read things like Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.
5. No
homework, in the traditional meaning of the word. Once we are done with school for the day, we are
done.
6. Science and
art projects.
(This here is a anemometer--for those of you not smarter than a 1st grader--that is an instrument used to measure the speed of wind.)
7. Elena getting a lot of side-learning she wouldn’t get otherwise.
8. Going to places like Disneyland in the middle of the week.
9. Having time to make
breakfast. You know. On the very rare occasion that
I may want to give them something besides cereal. (What do you expect? This is me home schooling, not Mike.)
10. Getting to witness the momentary spark of excitement in Raquel’s eyes when she understands a new concept.
Although challenging, we are having a lot of fun. I don't know how long we'll do this, but we don't have intentions of quitting any time soon. I did ask Raquel this morning if she wanted to go to school next year with other kids her age. She paused, put her finger on her chin and said, "Mmm...maybe when I'm ten."
