This 2020-2021 school year has not been ideal for anyone. Virtual school, hybrid learning, on-campus days-- none of it has gone particularly smoothly or without pretty significant challenges. Being a teacher during this time must be so exhausting and disheartening on many days.
Carver and Carson started the year doing virtual school only. The county went to all online learning to start the year, then about 5 weeks into the semester they switched to the hybrid model-- three days virtual and two days on campus. Our days of virtual learning were tricky. And I say "our" because I was, by necessity, heavily involved every day. There were zoom calls, and online assignments, videos, and technical issues. The boys had great teachers who were trying their absolute best, for sure. But there were so many hours on screens. Little to no writing with an actual pencil and actual paper. Unclear instructions and expectations. Some communication was lacking throughout. It was a difficult situation for students and teachers and parents.
I started to have this deeply rooted feeling that I should homeschool the boys. Homeschooling is not really anything I have ever been interested in-- years ago I was adamantly opposed to it, to be honest. I come from a line of educators, so the idea that an uneducated and unqualified person would believe they could do a better job than a "real" teacher was offensive to me. I actually still believe that; but I also believe that a (hopefully educated) mom might have unique qualifications for teaching her own children.
It took me a few weeks to finally commit to this homeschool thing. I was worried about the boys and how they would feel about it. I was worried about the time commitment and juggling it with my own job.
But I never really thought that I couldn't do it.
I like to teach. That's why I chose a career as a college instructor. I prefer teaching adults definitely, but I like teaching children too-- at church, but also planning educational or developmental activities for my own boys, and I have been doing that for most of their lives.
It was a hard decision. To fill out all of the paper work and officially remove them from their schools was overwhelming. We love Black Mountain Primary and pulling Carson out meant he was missing his last year there-- Carver started there over five years ago and I had volunteered countless hours, I knew many of the teachers and parents and students-- it felt like a personal loss for me as well. And pulling Carver out of Black Mountain Elementary meant that he would essentially miss his last year as an elementary student-- it's on to middle school next year. So this decision was definitely not made lightly.
But I know, without a single doubt, that it was the right decision for us. And it is one of the best decisions I have ever made as a parent.
The boys finished out the first nine weeks of school at their schools and then we started homeschooling in October. (Side note: their report cards for the first nine weeks were so good. I am incredibly proud of how hard they worked during the new normal of virtual learning).
I had spent several weeks researching different curriculum and found some that has worked out well for us. Math and Language Arts needed to be strong because those are the subjects that will be tested on at the end of this year. But I really wanted to focus on history and science as well. I have long felt that those subjects do not get the time they deserve in the public school curriculum.
We all adjusted rather smoothly to homeschool life. We have a rhythm to our days that seems to work for us. Some days are better than others, of course. There are days where attitudes are negative and every moment feels like a struggle. But most days we get through the school work by about lunchtime and we cover math, science, history, and language arts every single day. I have loved getting to have a better understanding of what they are learning, where they are struggling, what they like and what they don't like. Figuring out what motivates them and what causes them to completely shut down.
They have already shown so much growth and developed deep interest in both history and science. They are working hard and taking this new form of school quite seriously.
So I am still figuring things out but, I love it. I love this so much. I love choosing what we study in terms of history and science. I love going at our own pace and just enjoying the process of studying and learning. (We spent six weeks just on Ancient Egypt!). I love having the boys at home full time. I love the planning and the organizing and the ordering of supplies and executing activities and outings.
This year has been hard in many ways. But, for me, there has been so much good in it too. I like that we have had to slow down life a bit this year. I am so grateful for the extra time with the boys. I hope that they look back on this year as a memorable one-- for positive reasons, not just the negative ones. I hope that they learn a lot academically and that we grow even closer as a family unit. I am fairly certain that they will choose to go back to public school next year, and I feel confident that we will let them choose what they want to do. But both of them say they like doing school at home, and I really think they do :)
So this may be a one year adventure; but if they wanted to homeschool next year? I just might be tempted to do it again.
