We've had to stop homeschooling

[TulsiLeaf]

Hello.


We started recently homeschooling our 5 year old this year and so far it has been going alright. I figured the first year (thank goodness it is kindergarten) is getting to know the process and work out the kinks.. M has started to read and is doing really well with it.

Well, my husband and I have decided that in order to get our family life on track he defiantly needs to go to school. I am so proud of him and so excited for him, he is starting school to become a jeweler. The only thing is that his new work schedule makes it impossible for him to be with our daughter when I work part time during the week. I work part time because we need the extra money to buy things like food and pay rent. We talked extensively about it last night and the conclusion was to send our daughter to the elementary around the corner. I am lucky that my husband is really on board with me and how we want to educate our daughter and actually he is more pro homeschooling than I am. In the end it was me that had to say "Look, we need you to go to school because this family needs an upgrade and you need this in your life. So she has to go to school".

I dunno how I feel about this. We have compromised so much in our daughters upbringing for various reasons. The only thing we kept was co sleeping and breastfeeding. Everything else has been bullied onto us, given to us or the universe has just had to work out that way. I feel like this is the next decision that is being taken from us because of circumstance. Obviously we could not have my husband or myself go to school and just stay where we are and homeschool her(my schooling is 1 day a week for an hour and doesn't factor in)but where would that leave my husband? Depressed at work, us with NO money and being exactly where we are for the rest of our lives.

M has already been through mainstream things. She watches tv, knows about the movie characters (you can't get away from it in my family. All the cousins are so media absorbed)has plastic toys. So I know that this won't be jarring to her. But the days are longer than I like for kindergarten, 8:30am-2:50pm, and I am scared she is going to lose this amazing crazy spirit she has because down here in Florida it's more about your FCAT score than anything else. She's is so incredibly wonderfully artistic that I worry about school being just not that. We missed having her signed up for the arts magnet school, so if we can not homeschool next year I will hopefully get her into that (they play instruments, speak a second language, do theatre). So there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm just sad, because this is not what I wanted, not what I had planned. I wanted to be a SAHM with lots of little ones in the house homeschooling and having this wonderful life. Instead I have to work, only have one kid and we have to send her to public.

At least she is very excited about going. So I am excited for her to have a big adventure.

[chaoticzenmom]

I'm sorry If it helps, there are plenty of years to homeschool. We never even considered homeschooling until my son was in 1st grade. It's only confirmed for him that homeschooling is a gift. Maybe becoming involved in the school or volunteering in his class will help ease your mind.

[MaWhit]

I'm so sorry. I hope it all goes better than you expect.

[Rev1053]

I am sure things will work out for the best.

I just wanted to say that I am friends with a single mom who works full time and still home schools her son. He is in 2nd grade and doing wonderfully.

[lynsage]

Is there any way you could put her in day care or get her a sitter while your husband is at school and homeschool her on a flexible schedule when one or both of you is home with her?

Just to let you know, my previously HSed daughter is having a GREAT time in public kindergarten, so it might all work out better than you hoped even if she does have to go to school

[raelize]

i agree there are many years to hs. can you fit it into a 5 year plan? so that you will do x,y,z dh will do x,y,z all moving towards the goal of being able to hs your dd within 5 years or less. whether it is with one sahparent, or flip-floped schedules, or someway to make it work.

[TulsiLeaf]

Originally Posted by lynsage

Is there any way you could put her in day care or get her a sitter while your husband is at school and homeschool her on a flexible schedule when one or both of you is home with her?

Just to let you know, my previously HSed daughter is having a GREAT time in public kindergarten, so it might all work out better than you hoped even if she does have to go to school

The problem is that all our sitters work during the day. And there are NO funds for day care. None at all. We went today and signed her up. I am not thrilled about the school as there was an incident with a sub teacher right when we walked into the kindy wing (she actually screamed at the students getting in line. it was insane and I told the asst principal that we do not allow our daughter to be in an environment like that. and I asked her point blank what she is gonna do about the sub. She is getting her banned from the school) and it just made me so over critical of the school.
I figure this. We will do it for one year. That will afford us the time to get my husband in school, get our new family rhythm established, give our daughter some much needed friends and me a bit of a break to work on some things I need to. We can revisit homeschool in first grade. Who knows, it might work better than. Our schedule might be better.


but to say that I am not disappointed wouldn't be correct. My husband and I were talking and this is the year of family sacrifice.

[CariOfOz]

Hang in there mama, maybe she will continue to thrive at school. I am in the position that I may not have a choice but to enroll my 2 as well... we are trying to work the budget so we can survive so they can at least start in Feb with the new school year. I'm rather nervous about it as well s

[tankgirl73]

It really does sound like, it's not that your daughter needs to go to school. But that you need someone to watch your daughter when you and DP are not available to, and you can't find any other place where you can do that for free.

I'd be nervous about that school too. If it's really your only option, you can probably get through it, though she might need some de-schooling and healing time later on. But I would exhaust every other option first. Do you need her looked after every single day? Is part-time schooling an option? Is your work schedule at all flexible, could you change your hours to fit with your husband's so there's always someone home, or to hours where your usual babysitters would be available? Have you networked with other homeschoolers in your area, sometimes other homeschoolers are willing to baby-sit when other homeschooling parents have to work?

[mich]

I know a few moms who have had to put their kids in school for the free childcare. One mom openly calls it that. One plus could be your daughter meeting neighborhood friends. Then if you do decide to homeschool again, she will already know some local kids.

The last few years we have struggled financially and it has been a family sacrifice time. I am so impressed with how the kids have handled it. We all just do the best we can, life goes on and we all grow and change.

[robin4kids]

The sub screamed at the kids! Welcome to school. I have 3 in school and 2 at home I tried homeschooling the others but they had already been in school and liked it too much. SCREAMING is part of school. The sad truth is that once you send them you have VERY little control over what they see, hear or do! They will have great teachers, that you LOVE and they will have teachers that you hate. When I knew my kids were having a sub I many times did not send them to school.

Unfortunately school is all about testing and being quiet. I have tried going to all the PTA meetings and school board meetings. I have tried being as active as a parent is allowed, but the sad truth is most schools want the parents to just leave them alone.

So my advice is to ALWAYS know that you know your child better than ANYONE. They once wanted to repeat be 1st grader because he was not reading well enough. My husband and I walked in to a meeting with a reading specialist, 2 teachers and the principle and they tried to bully us into it. We asked about his decoding skills test and our son had scored VERY high. We looked at them and asked, what the problem was? They said he needed to be reading better. We told them he was not repeating and that he would read when he was ready, and he would be pulled from the school if they did not place him in 2nd grade. He did fine in 2nd grade because we knew our kids were slow to start readers. He had the skills he just needed a little more time to put them to use.
Don't be BULLIED into anything.