I remember the moment(s) leading up to my first thoughts about considering another form of schooling that wasn’t public school, and guess what- it certainly wasn’t homeschooling.
When we had our first daughter I began looking at the classroom & things taking place in the schools in a whole new light while we lived in Canada. I began asking friends about the private Christian school they chose for their children… about the class size & the amount of behavior challenges & special needs children they saw in those school settings.
But FIRST let me make this point - I’m not against challenging behaviors or special needs, but I am concerned about the lack of support many teachers & students with needs face, and the large classroom size when there are multiple needs in just one room alone. I was 💯 one of those classrooms in 2018 & it took several emails to district + the threat of me walking out to get a physical, nonverbal child the support they deserved. EVERYONE suffers when the proper support isn’t in place & the class size is too large.
After moving back to the states & experiencing a few years in the classroom (which had changed drastically compared to the 5+ years I was in it prior moving) I knew there was no way public school was aligned with what I envisioned for our daughters.
I did not want our five year olds to only get one 15 minute recess a day (if that), to face the stress of multiple tests a month & be solely taught based on their struggles and test scores. Then sprinkle in children learning things waaaay sooner than what we did as kids. Things that aren’t aligned with the values I want our children to have.
I envisioned them spending most of their days playing, exploring, creating, using their imagination, running & building a love for learning. I envisioned a living environment that was God centered and not world centered. I envisioned CHOICE & FREEDOM.
Insert 2020 being the year our oldest would start kindergarten & since we had lived 2019 - August 2020 like nothing changed in our lives, I wasn’t about to put her in a place where masking, constant sanitizing & propaganda was a thing. So here we are. 4 years in the making.
