Homeschool Corner: Space!

SPACE!

Not as in the final frontier. As in, we finally have space to play!

We just moved into our new house and I'm pretty much done with the playroom, for now anyway. The kids love it and I anticipate a lot of learning happening here. Because of the homeschooling philosophy I'm more drawn to, I tried my hardest not to make it resemble a classroom. Hence the couch and trampoline and such. My main goal is to provide a safe, pleasant place for the kids to play and provide materials for them to learn from. Without having to do the formal teaching.





BUT...I was almost completely talked out of homeschooling by the staff at Mateo's preschool last week. I decided to let him finish out the year with his preschool class to give him some closure with his school experience. And because he's in the special ed system we had to have his annual PPT (planning and placement team) meeting last week to go over his progress and what his goals should be for next year.

The staff knew that I intended to homeschool so they came with the agenda to talk me out of it. And they almost had me! During the meeting they had me so convinced that I really couldn't provide the best environment for my kid and only they could that I just about started filling out the school application right then and there. But then I stopped for a moment after (talked through some things with family and friends) and got pissed!

How dare anyone tell me that I can't, as a mom, find every way possible to provide my own kid with the best opportunities in the world! Of course I can. No one cares more about Mateo than me and his dad. We will do anything it takes to help him succeed!

But they did have a point about peer models. Having good role models seems to really be helping Mateo learn some perseverance and frustration tolerance. I think that it will be important for us to maintain that. But is that something only a school can provide? No way! There are many ways to provide Mateo with peer models and, again, we care about him the most so we will get it done, whatever it takes.

I'm not saying homeschooling will last forever. Or that it will be the right choice forever. I'm just saying that as of next year, I feel in my gut, the right decision is for him to stay home.

Now, my only concern is for my sanity. But...that's a whole other post.