The Cons of Home School

#3 Write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence.

Home school: Where you get to be a student for another 13 years!

 I know our family chose to home school so there is no one to blame, but ourselves! Read: I get to do school all over again. I did my time. I did my job as a kid/weirdo middle schooler/hormonal teenager. Maybe I am a perpetual academic type or maybe I am secretly torturing myself. Either way...

There are cons to home schooling and I am not too cowardly to share them:

1. Sometimes explaining how to and why we diagram sentences is about as much fun as an ingrown toenail. Hmmm, is that a adjective or an adverb? Yes, I taught English as a second language and literacy for six years, but the plethora of rules/exceptions in our language just blows.  

2. Being asked, "How do you socialize your kids?" I don't. We only let them out of their cage for food, bathing and school. You didn't take that last line seriously, right?

3. There are no tax dollars provided to educate or feed my sons.

4. I love my children, but sometimes being around them makes this Christian woman consider checking in with a psychiatrist on the condition of my mental health.

5. The myth that home school children are always wide-eyed, eager and enthusiastic about learning whatever and that they sit super still, listen attentively and never-ever tap their pencil...Um, not just no, but...

6. I am the teacher of all subjects (even the ones I struggled with while in school), the counselor, lunch lady, nurse, truancy officer, referee, principal, and sometimes curriculum writer for my sons. I am only qualified by law to be a teacher. Oh, and lest not forget I am the mom (this creates all sorts of conflicts of interests). By the way, I am a decent lunch lady!

No, I am not asking you to feel sorry for me. I really do love this home school journey. There are many, plenty of beautiful benefits, blessings, memories and no regrets to teaching my sons at home. One of my favorite memories is I taught them how to read and it was an incredible experience I am glad I now possess. Yet, there are cons to everything. Insert the cliche: bittersweet.

So for those frustrating moments or weeks, I am reminded of another con of home school: 

Where you get to be a student for another 13 years!

My Valentines through the decades.

Tomorrow, my kids will be attending their first Valentine's Party ever, but not at a public school. It is at the church we attend. They are schooled at home. I always attended either a public or private school, but my family didn't go to church.
    This year, the boys and I made our Valentines for everyone. Good ol' card stock, wax paper and markers! No fancy Pinterest items here, but this idea is not mine...stole it off, you guessed it, the internet. Around 22 kids who are also home schooled will be getting what you see below.

When I was in school (I attended public school), we never made our own Valentine's cards. I remember buying our cards from the nearest grocery store. We were pretty poor, but my mom always managed to find the money to pay for those super impersonal cards and some off brand juice or cookies that we were asked to bring. But, hey, any  excuse to take an hour during school to ridiculously consume too much sugar as a kid was divine.


Gathering inspiration today from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. Go here to join!