Come in quietly, choose your desk, be sure your pencils are sharpened...eyes to the front of the classroom, please, we're about to get started.
Oh, wait - we're not that kind of school! Quite the contrary, in fact. Around here, it's more like "come in and play for a bit, sit down with us at the kitchen table (or in the living room floor), grab a pencil or crayon or marker or what-have-you, and don't expect us to stay on topic very well!" After all, one topic inevitably leads to another, and another, another - thus is the joy of homeschooling.
WHY HOMESCHOOL?
Although I've always wanted to be a mother - and feel incredibly fortunate in that I'm able to stay at home full-time with our girls - the idea of homeschooling them actually came from my husband. We were sitting at the kitchen table one weekend afternoon when our older daughter was just a baby, and he had been reading an article in our local newspaper about the decline of our area schools. "Have you ever considered homeschooling?", he asked; my reply was a firm and immediate "NO". I'm not the homeschooling type - I don't have the patience, the energy, the ingenuity.
However, after thinking, praying, thinking, praying...the idea began to sound...not so ridiculous. The public schools in our area have never been top-notch. In the past few years, fully half of them have closed, which means crowding in the remaining schools. Stories of drugs and weapons found in our schools are so much more common now. Test scores are in the toilet. And the one prestigious private school in our area is financially unavailable to the majority of our citizens - including ourselves, what with being a family of four with but one income. And truth be told, I can think of several reasons - albeit slightly different reasons from those mentioned above - why private school wouldn't be ideal for our children either.
I fretted. I worried. I asked myself every "what if" question in the book. What if I do homeschool, and my child turns into one of those "weird homeschooled kids" that everyone seems to know? What if I don't homeschool, and my child is a victim of school violence? What if she falls in with the wrong crowd in school? What if she resents me for homeschooling her later on? What if I take on this incredible job and fail miserably? What if I don't, and later on wish I had?
Ultimately, several factors led me to the decision that I could do this thing after all...
- I want my children to know and love God, and I want for their religious education to be a part of their every day, not just a Sunday morning thing. I do not want for them to have to go to school and tiptoe around their faith.
- I know that they will get a better education at home than they would in our public school system. I want them to have the freedom to fully explore what is interesting to them at the time, rather than being stifled in whatever one-size-doesn't-fit-anyone curriculum that the schools are using this year. I want them to be challenged without being overwhelmed, and don't want for them to become bored while working at a pace slower than that which they're capable of.
- I recognize that homeschooling is not a "do or die" effort. I will have the freedom to reassess each year - is this working for me? Is this working for my child? If not, I can look into alternatives. The world will keep spinning. She will suffer no irreparable harm. It will be okay. It will be okay. It will be okay.
Unless it is truly your fervent wish to see my head spin around a full 360 degrees, please do not ever ask me this in person. I dare speak up for homeschoolers everywhere and say that this is THE #1 pet peeve of homeschoolers everywhere.
Rather than type up my own long-winded tirade, please please take a few moments to read this page: Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization for an adequate summary of my thoughts on the subject.
In case you don't have time to read the full article, I'll share just this tidbit:
"In order for children to become assimilated into society properly, it is important to have a variety of experiences and be exposed to differing opinions and views. This enables them to think for themselves and form their own opinions. This is exactly what public education does not want; public education is for the lowest common denominator and influencing all of the students to share the same views ("group-think") and thought-control through various means, including peer-pressure."
In short, we're all for those "variety of experiences" that a child just doesn't get in school. I'm not about segregating them by age and creating a chasm between child and adult; I would much rather my children be comfortable talking to people of all ages. And besides, anyone who has met the social butterfly that is our firstborn can already see just how laughable the worry of "socialization" truly is.
ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO TEACH?
I am, according to Virginia Code 22.1-254.1! Because I have a high school diploma, I am qualified to instruct my children at home. (Which is a little scary, considering some of the folks I know that also have high school diplomas...) At any rate, beginning next year, we will submit an annual Notice of Intent (NOI) to homeschool to the school superintendent's office, which will include our choices of math and language arts curriculums. (They apparently don't care much about science, history, etc., as long as you're getting math and reading out of the way!)
There are two options for homeschooling parents in our state - one being to submit this NOI and provide an annual report (to include testing, once in third grade) proving that "the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress." Alternatively, we have the option of homeschooling for religious purposes, in which case the state effectively washes their hands of us - no testing, no proof needed, just leaves us alone to do our thing. However, I have chosen to submit to testing, both to be sure that we've covered the material that needs to be covered and (I confess!) to learn how my children compare to state averages on test scores. After all, homeschool students typically score about 30% higher than public school students on standardized tests!
REGALIA ACADEMY
Quite the fancy name for a "school" that generally occurs in the living room floor and is often attended in pajamas, no? In some states, homeschooling parents are required to submit a formal name for their school. This is not the case in Virginia, but what the heck? We wanted a name!
Do you remember those little tile games, where you have to move the numbers around in this little plastic square to try and get them into numerical order? Well, that's kind of how "regalia" came to be...
I started off with my older daughter's initials - first and two middle names - which are RAG. Then you take the end of the baby's name, -elia.
RAG+elia
Then take the first two vowels and switch them.
rEg+Alia
And finally, take into consideration the definition of the word:
re-ga-li-a [ri-geyl-yuh] -plural noun
1. the ensigns or emblems of royalty, as the crown or scepter.
2. the decorations, insignia, or ceremonial clothes of any office or order.
Being that our school consists of two students (one current and one future) who just so happen to be princesses (ask anyone!), wouldn't you say that Regalia Academy is a good fit for them?
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG
I've actually been meaning to set up a homeschool blog for quite a while now - although we only "officially" started kindergarten this fall (although she wouldn't be old enough for public kindergarten until next year), we've been "doing school" for a while now. My hope is for this blog to serve two purposes:
- to document what we've learned and when, and the interesting twists and turns we take along the way; and
- to share them with our family and friends that are interested in what we're doing.
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