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"...But what about socialization?"

© Joan Archer

When I first decided to home educate my first victim, I had to "run the gauntlet" concerning the usual issues relating to home education. The first was of course, "The Big Descision"-WHETHER I should do it, WHEN should I do it, HOW should I do it, and did my son WANT to do it? Well, to skip a lot of bad-mouthing of our local public school system, I will just say that the descision TO home educate became an easy one, as well as the "WHEN" part. My son (My first victim was my then eight-year-old) begged me to home-school him, so the co-operative part was easily passed. Now, the How-To part comes in several layers. How To do it legally, How To do it educationally, and the big How To--How To Tell The Family. The legal part just included filling out several forms that at that point in time were designed to indicate I was a very religious person and had decided that Public Education was the ruination of my child. I will not say I lied on the forms, but I did religiously believe my child would be better off learning in a caring environment that he was not getting at school. I was (and still am) required to explain why I think I can teach my child at home, how many hours they will be in class monthly (with a minimum listed) and all the curriculum materials listed and Contents pages photocopied for the following topics: Math, Language, Science, Health and Social Studies. The directions state that the curriculum had to follow a logically progressive path. Then all of the forms have to be signed and notarized. Parents are free to select their own curriculum materials, which can range from a Math text purchased at a Goodwill for 25 cents to a boxed-set curriculum ranging upwards from several hundred dollars.I choose to write my own curriculum, as most boxed-type curriculums have become too confining for my children, and bore them silly. I probably end up eventually spending the same amount as for a boxed curriculum, buying the extras to go along with our studies, and doing a lot of photocopying! The next part then, was to tell the family. My family thought it was a great idea, being spiritually based the way we are. If school is too stressful for a child, it is in the family's best interest to see to it that the child is given a different venue to learn in. God Forbid he should come to regard education as a slow torture! My whole family enjoys learning, and loves quizzing each other from atlases and such during the slow parts of movies or when we think we know something no one else does. (Great stuff for those festering Sibling Rivalries!)

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