i just did a search of this blog and would have sworn that sometime over the past 7 years i'd posted about homeschooling but apparently not. *cough* apparently i'm a homeschooling mom now. yeah, i know, just when you thought i couldn't get any crunchier. (or is it laziness?) i vaguely remember discussing hs with rory when we were still together, which means that parker was under 3 years old, and then again when we were doing our parenting agreement during the divorce.
parker had a hard time with preschool (even a co-op), cried every morning for the first half of kindergarten, and finally pulled it together for first grade. this year started out AWESOME. she got the teacher she wanted, didn't even need/want to be walked to class on her first day. and then, things got really really bad really really quick. a combination of a bullying seat-mate, a teacher (male) that yells/humiliates ALL DAY LONG, her own sense of responsibility and sensitivity to noise, plus her food allergies created a perfect storm. a perfect storm of panic attacks every morning, weight loss due to not eating, and clinging/sobbing/hysteria when i'd try to leave the classroom.
wednesday afternoon i watched her stand the pouring rain and alternate between stubborn anger and weeping/begging. and i broke. my daughter who formerly ran to class was telling me that she "hated school" and that she was terrified her teacher would restrain her again. we talked to the principal; i pleaded her case; he refused to put her in another classroom.
so we left. and we don't plan on coming back, at least until third grade...maybe never. the past two mornings parker has woken up, eaten a huge breakfast, dressed and begged me to print out work sheets on alaska (our first unit of study, her choice) and do projects. one series of unfortunate circumstances will not kill her love of learning. i refuse to let it. so now i'm reading up on the many many methods of homeschooling and following her lead for the time being. she, like me, prefers some organization and so i suspect we'll fall into a routine pretty quick here.
wednesday afternoon i watched her stand the pouring rain and alternate between stubborn anger and weeping/begging. and i broke. my daughter who formerly ran to class was telling me that she "hated school" and that she was terrified her teacher would restrain her again. we talked to the principal; i pleaded her case; he refused to put her in another classroom.
so we left. and we don't plan on coming back, at least until third grade...maybe never. the past two mornings parker has woken up, eaten a huge breakfast, dressed and begged me to print out work sheets on alaska (our first unit of study, her choice) and do projects. one series of unfortunate circumstances will not kill her love of learning. i refuse to let it. so now i'm reading up on the many many methods of homeschooling and following her lead for the time being. she, like me, prefers some organization and so i suspect we'll fall into a routine pretty quick here.
anyway, did juneau the capital of alaska? (say it out loud. i motherfucking rock at homeschool bitches.)