greenbaby

So, is homeschooling one word, or two? I like the one word approach. Its more homey. I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours thinking about homeschooling. I’m really starting to warm to the idea. I’ve been starting to read up on it a little, but I have to be careful, because I already have a stack of about ten books that I’m halfway through. No need to add to it at this time! So I’ve been reading online. I spotted an add for the Oak Meadows curriculum in Mothering magazine. Mothering is a great magazine. It’s a little “crunchy granola” as my friend would say, but it has a lot of resources. My only complaint about it is that it scared the hell out of me when I was pregnant with Sweet Pea. Pookie brought a copy home for me from the grocery store — I had never seen the magazine before. I was reading it and really enjoying it, but then there was this article about mortality rates in pregnant women. For a person like me, who already has a tendency towards hypochondria, it was horrifying. I think I cried for about two hours. But it ultimately did not scare me away from the magazine.
Anyway, I saw the add for Oak Meadows, which is a company that sells a homeschooling curriculum. I’ve only read a little bit, but I really like what I read. Again, this is all premature, seeing as Sweet Pea is only 11 weeks old, but what can I say — I’m a planner. My biggest concern with the idea of homeschooling is that I might not receive the support I’d need from my family and friends. Homeschooling has a bad rap in our culture. I mentioned to my sister, Bella, that I was contemplating homeschooling. She looked at me askance and said, “Just so you make sure she’s well socialized.”
That seems to be the big problem a lot of people have with homeschooling. There’s this myth that homeschooled children are not properly socialized. My immediate reaction is that I didn’t particularly enjoy a lot of the socialization I experienced in school. I know for a fact that Pookie had some negative social experiences related to school. I’ve looked through his family photos and his pre-school pictures show a little boy who is all smiles. Nowadays, it is difficult to squeeze a natural smile out of my husband. I jokingly asked him what happened to that smiley little boy. He replied, “I had some hard times in school.” I think a lot of people have these negative experiences in school. So, as I lean further and further towards the idea of homeschooling, the question is whether or not my friends and family will acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, those negative childhood experiences don’t have to be a “normal” part of growing up.

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