I am a Virgo. This fact alone should be enough to completely destroy anyone's faith in astrology. Virgos are hyper-neat, uber-organized and smell vaguely of Lysol. Pas moi. Virgos are also decisive. No, no, no. I think not. Except maybe sometimes. Anyway, this post isn't about bogus fortune-telling inspired by stars. It's about how I cannot make a stinking decision to save my life, which as my sister and my good friend La-la tell me is a defining characteristic of Libras, always weighing things in that charming little balance of theirs.The current indecision? Should I put the kids in regular public school or continue to homeschool them?
Why would I even think of doing such a thing? I really love having my kids home and getting to be a part of their discovery of the joy of learning, but...capitals, please...BUT my man is working night shift and the children can not for the life of them be quiet. And I'm beginning to feel bad for my poor sweet chronically sleep deprived zombie of a husband. (Coming soon to a blog near you...the amazing cruddiness of night work.)
I have chosen Fall curriculum and have committed to teach in the homeschool co-op. I have bought the Wal-Mart sale school items as if they are going to day school. I purchased school clothes at the Goodwill half-off sale. I am firmly in one camp on Monday and just as firmly in the other camp by Friday. Soon I will look like this.
My mother always says, "Make a list." It rarely helps, but I am in such a quandary that I'll try anything at this point. Positives of the La Kids in Public School
- Comparative silence.
- Sleep for my sweet zombie husband
- Cleaner house
- More free time for me
- Gives my kids someone else to fight
- Gives my kids accountability to other adults
- Encourages kids to get along with kids and grown ups
- Free lunch (I know-TINSTAAFL-different discussion)
- I might be able to talk E-Teen and J-Teen into sleeping at night. (What a novel concept!)
Negatives of the La Kids in Public School
- Three teachers for the little monkeys. Ten teachers for the older monkeys. (Shoot me now. Please.)
- Seminary 6:15 (4 miles), High School 7:15 (2 miles), Grade School 8:00 (2 miles), Middle School 8:45 (5 miles)
- A similar pick-up schedule
- Loss of my daytime babysitters
- Bullies
- Surenos and Nortenos, aka Toss every blue or red thing you own into the garbage.
- Vermin
- Peer pressure
- The baby will be lonely.
- I LIKE teaching them.
- Regular day school (our Montessori charter school experience) taught my younger children that there is a designated time for learning, and conversely that there is no learning during undesignated times.
- We will spend every bit as much time doing homework as we spend homeschooling.
- Much less free time for the kids
- Less extra curricular activities
- No more homeschool co-op kids
- No more homeschool co-op parents
So the nays seriously outweigh the yeas. OK, decision made. They're staying home. Except...there's my squinty-eyed husband coming down the hall having achieved four hours of cruddy sleep. OK, decision made. They're going to school. No wait. Bullies. They're staying home. But think how much how much easier it will be to keep the house clean! OK! Regular school. Lice. Arg! They are staying home. School! Homeschool! Arg!
I'm not feeling so good.
11 comments:
I for one think that horoscopes are nothing but phooey. You are what you are and any person who thinks that you should be someone else is a dum-dum. As for the schooling process I think you should go for the idea you had a couple days ago. Try homeschooling us for 2-4 weeks and see if you like it. If not put us in real school. If you don't like that either or still can't decide, you have a problem.
Was going to respond. Google hates me. P@rn everywhere!!! Also, wont accept my user name or password. So, screw them.
Put the kids in school. There, I Libra-ed your @$$.
Nice, you foul-mouthed Pagan!
FYI, they want your Google username (which is an email address, but only if you registered it as your Google username) and your Google password. But just do name/url and leave the url blank or put some crazy link in.
The question is: Did you like Sponge Bob? I tried to find the picture of the Star Trek android with smoke coming out of its ears (doesnotcomputedoesnotcompute) but had settle for a seriously wonked Sponge Bob.
Strawberry Girl
I agree horoscopes are full of phooey. You be you. I'll be me.
I'm thinking of flipping a coin to decide your fate. Mwhahahaha. (That was an evil chuckle in case you didn't recognize it.)
You know that I know what you know and, you know....it is such a freakin dilemma!!!!
I vacillate back and forth, too but my husband is the anchor (and VIRGO!) who has said that his kids will not be going back to public school.
We tried the public school way once and I don't think I could hack it again. Couple that with having kids in all 3 levels of school and the fact that I'd have to pick them up because the bus is so rough and it makes the answer more clear.
No brilliant wisdom here. Hope you find a decision that you can all live with.
Just found your blog. Love it. You had me at "uber." I tried using that in a scene I was writing once, and not a soul in my critique group knew what it meant.
I officially love people who use funky words like that. :)
Elastic-I know you know. I think my heart may break. It almost feels like I need to choose between throwing my children or my husband to the dogs.
Annette-The Google dictionary refuses to recognize uber. It even thinks dagnabit is a made-up word. I keep adding them in hopes that eventually it will have a full vocabulary.
Thanks for coming by. Come again. I like you. :)
Merriam-Webster online recognizes it.
So there, Google.
(I'll definitely be back!)
You do what you need to do. I know some homeschoolers who do a wonderful job; I know others who should be arrested for educational and/or emotional child abuse.
As for me and my house, my and my wife's sanity is more important than anything else. Public schools it is for us.
Oh, and fwiw, I have a HUGE problem with one parent claiming the right to make this decision alone - especially if that parent is not the one who will be doing the actual teaching and/or most of the homeschooling duties.
Just saying.
Papa D/Ray, My man is very flexible about the kids' schooling. Mostly he just says, " You're the one who's going to be doing it, so it's your choice."
He did get kind of twinkly-eyed when I mentioned the possibility of daytime silence though.
Elastic's husband is a very active participant in their homeschool, so I wouldn't worry on their account.
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