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Round Two

© Joan Archer

It is with some trepidation that I write this column. We homeschoolers get so used to believing that we are the very best possible form of education, that we greet our child's desires to return to the public school educational environment with extreme, if unexpressed, sadness. We may even feel that we have somehow not lived up to the child's expectations, that we have somehow managed to fail despite our best efforts, because we all know, if we had done our very best, our child would be happy being home educated, and would not dream of returning to a public school system.

However, we are experiencing this very thing in our little homeschool. My son Isaac has been wanting to go back to public school for a year now. Last year I felt he was too immature to not be negatively affected by some of the things I knew he would face in a public school This year, the time seems ripe because he has matured quite a bit. By "matured" I mean I feel confident that he no longer needs to have his hand held to get work done. He works well and competently independently. He can focus on the task at hand, despite distractions. He no longer blushes or hangs his head when he speaks to others-he has learned to hold his head high when communicating with others, which I secretly have felt was our greatest achievement of homeschooling. He is able to discern what suits him and his values, and what does not. He is learning to listen when others are speaking, even though, when it is something he knows quite a bit about, this particular skill just about kills him. We have talked a lot about personal safety and awareness. As much as I will miss him, I am sure he will do well.

Isaac tells me he is not sure why he wants to go back to public school, but he is sure that he wants to. He wants "to feel normal" and I can't really argue with that, because it is important to him. He is old enough to make this decision for himself, and he is an intelligent person. If he were a few years younger, I probably would not let him make the final decision. Here he is, though, on the way to quickly becoming an adult, and he is practicing making decisions that will affect his life and the way he needs to live it. I feel deeply that this needs to be respected.