I have a confession.
One of the reasons we're homeschooling is because I'm lazy.
That sounds odd to some of you, I'm sure. "What do you mean? You're taking on extra work! What with the planning, the teaching, the recordkeeping, the discipline... It's so much easier to just drop them off and let someone else worry about it!"
Problem is, I wouldn't be just dropping off; I'd be checking homework, reading over texts, quizzing, reviewing, calling the teacher. I'd be spending as much time doing all that as I'm spending now.
Which brings me back to being lazy. I don't know how I'd do it if I had to have our oldest somewhere by a certain time five days a week, every week. It was tough enough two days a week with preschool, where being late didn't really count against you. If school started at 8:30, I'd have to have three children five and under (and myself) out the door by 8:15. Every day. Even though our kids are usually up by 7:30, that doesn't mean we're moving with any alacrity.
I know there are folks who do it, throw coats over pajamas and boots on bare feet, shower and breakfast after. It's still stressful, not to mention cold. And when does the child that was dropped off eat breakfast? I know too that my beloved spouse could drop her off on his way to work, but if he has to be there early or is out of town, that puts me back in the same predicament. Murphy's Law dictates that would be the day the youngest has the flu. Not to mention having car seats in both vehicles. "Where's the booster? Oh, Daddy took it to work. How do I get her home? Or to the doctor?"
I'd like to say it's all academic excellence and character development, but I have to be honest. The whole package is what sold me.
Labels: homeschooling
5 Comments:
We aren't homeschooling this year, but previously I told people I was too lazy to send them to public school, too.
It's exhausting making sure there are matching socks by 6:20 am (when son #1's bus arrives. 1st graders at 6:20 am!!!) Remembering who has a PE day so they have the right shoes. Noting homework, browbeating homework, checking homework (all within the 2 hours between 3-5).
Making sure dinner is served promptly, because the kids HAVE to be in bed by 7:15 pm or they won't make the 6:20 bus. If dinner takes too long to cook, or there is a mishap in the kitchen, the whole schedule is messed up!
Not to mention, they never sleep past 7 am on the weekends, having been trained to wake by 6 am everyday! Even the little ones who are still at home.
On the bus by 6:20?! First graders?!! Holy... something...
So how much time does he spend on the bus? Wait--don't answer that. It's the first in a series of painful questions, so I'll stop there.
Eek. I feel for you.
Amazingly, it takes him an hour and a half to get to school, and 25 minutes to get home. He goes to school in the next town over because that's where the special ed. program is housed.
Heather, this is exactly what is bringing us back to homeschooling (along with a dreadful stubbornness related to potty training). The husband is against public school, and ours aren't particularly excellent. The closest parish with a school that we can abide is still a 30 minute drive away. Preschool starts at 8:15, so I assume that elementary school starts earlier. Since my daughters are slow wakers, I'd have to have them up at least by 6 and out the door, dressed and fed, by 7:15. That puts them in bed around 7 at the latest (the oldest still sleeps 12 hours a night). Since the husband also has a 30+ minute commute, he'd get no time with them during the week, and throw his reserve/NG duties in the mix, and he'd almost never see them.
I'm willing to bet that I'm more lazy than you, and that kind of scares me with homeschooling too, but I'm working on it.
Daisy--
One of the reasons we started homeschooling was the time factor; I just didn't realize how big a selling point it would turn out to be. Parochial school isn't in the budget and I realized I'd spend as much time driving to and from as I'd spend teaching.
I don't have to worry about getting the hour or so of real work done by a particular time on a particular day. We don't have the regimented six hours a day, five days a week program. If it works better for us to have school after dinner, so be it. Or Saturdays. And if we're not done by June, so what?
Madeleine doesn't know the 5-days-weekly program. Why introduce it?
I could go on and on, and even though it's *my* blog, I'll put it in a post instead of comments.
Post a Comment
<< Home