Our new school
When we split our time between Utah and Vermont, we planned to home school. We decided, however, that the Montessori school our kids attended in St. George was probably better than we could do with kids of that age.
Our 12 year old son, Brian, entered public school this year because the Montessori stops at 6th grade. He has attended a public 7th grade since mid August. And it has largely been a waste of time. He spent the first couple weeks being indoctrinated in the school and various class “rules”. He won’t cover new areas in the classes we prioritize (English, Math, Science) for most of this year. In English, it might be two or three years til they reach what he has already done.
Concerned over academic idling, time spent on material we wouldn’t prioritize (Home Economics, Channel 1, Keyboarding), and the general inconvenience of being tied to a bureaucracy’s rules and schedules, we’ve mulled home schooling for the last couple weeks.
Tonight we held a family meeting where we decided to home school Brian for the 7th grade. Jenny will continue in Montessori.
Utah law makes this relatively simple. Our school system also supports homeschoolers via testing services, allowing involvement with extra curricular activities and even attending classes on a case by case basis.
Thinking it over, I believe we started thinking this way on our RV trip this summer. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the flexibility to do this in the off season, we thought. And wouldn’t a trip to Europe be more comfortable and cheaper without the flood of summer tourists accompanying us? We saw so many things we would like to go back and see or do that are only available Sept – Jun.
So off we go. The nation, the world, as our class room. I’ll report periodically.
Update: This KenNelson.com post WAY back in Jan forecast home schooling. Interestingly, I didn’t foresee curriculum problems.