Skip to main content

Clearing a Major Hurdle


Dawson's father and I divorced when he was two years old. His dad moved to another state shortly after that, so I have been primarily responsible for him and his sister from that time on. His dad has been more active in his life in the past few years. But, mostly, I make the major decisions regarding them because, quite frankly, I'm the one who has been raising them.

But, this schooling issue is a big issue! Although whatever decision made ultimately doesn't affect his dad, it's still one he has the right to know about and understand. And Dawson and I were really hoping that he would be supportive of it. Honestly, though, I didn't expect his support.

Homeschooling is a strange concept to someone who doesn't know anything about it. It's been a strange concept for me, too. Every argument I knew he would have against it was an argument I have already had with myself. And, his mother and sister are teachers, so public school teaching is important to them.

I expected a fight. I wasn't planning on letting his protests keep me from doing what I know in my heart to be the right decision for Dawson. But, I expected a fight anyway. I wasn't looking forward to it. Dawson wasn't looking forward to it.

I gave his dad all of the information yesterday. I heard through my daughter that he was furious about it. I braced myself for "the phone call". I had my arguments all ready. And then I got an e-mail from him telling me that he didn't know what was best for Dawson, that he wanted what was best for him, and that his biggest concern was the stigma attached to homeschooled kids and how it would affect him when applying for colleges and jobs in the future. And that was it. To me, that was support, or as much support as I was going to get.

I was shocked, but so happy that he didn't tear into me, especially since I don't think he really knows enough about what's going on to do that.

Going forward with this decision is so much nicer knowing that I don't have anyone to fight about it with.

For that I am grateful!

Yesterday I ordered the general curriculum I will use next year. I am excited to receive it and will post about it later.

Comments

  1. I know this is an old post and you are still homeschooling (yay!) but I hope that by now all involved know how there really is no "stigma" for homeschoolers getting jobs or college degrees. They do it all the time!
    Bless you in your endeavors.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Last Child in the Woods ~ Chapters 1-4

Welcome to our book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. To be honest, I have no idea what this "study" is going to look like. I imagine that when we get together I will post about all of the things that caught my eye. And I would ask that you leave a comment, or a link to your own blog post in the comment, about what caught yours. This isn't anything formal, ladies, just a place to talk about what we have read. I have now read the first four chapters of Last Child in the Woods two times. It is just so good. Several things have specifically hit me deep, but in general I just realized that "times, they are a changin'." Things aren't the way they were when we were kids. Chapter 1. Gifts of Nature ~ "When I see birches bend to left and right ... I like to think some boy's been swinging them." ~ Robert Frost What is your definition of nature? What feelings, visions, senses does it conjure up? For me, it's not a