William

OK, I said I would go into more detail about our school decisions for the coming year (2010-2011).

First of all, let me tell you about William.

He went to public Kindergarten, then private school for 1-3 grade. I started homeschooling him in 4th grade. I really didn't know anything about homeschooling at that time and had therefore never considered it, but at the end of his 3rd grade year, due to some special circumstances, I was convicted to do it. And let me tell you, that was one time that ignorance was bliss. I didn't know enough to be worried or anxious about it. No, that came later.

Baylee was in 1st grade that year. She had gone to Kindergarten at the same school where William was in 3rd grade, so I had a toddler, a first grader and a fourth grader the first year I home schooled. And as I indicated, that year went by in a worry-free blur.

After that was a serious of progressively more difficult years as I began to understand that I was going to have to drag William uphill academically, as he protested all the while. Wil is not the acedemic sort. So many books tell you that if you love learning and show it through your enthusiasm, your child will learn to love it as well. That never proved true with William, to my confusion, frustration, guilt, discouragement, and even anger. Those were VERY difficult years. You can imagine that we tried everything and anything, but nothing made any difference. That meant that I was never able to "settle in" to homeschooling, never able to stick with anything for very long as I dealt with William from morning to night. We wouldn't get finished with school until evening and I was exhausted all the time and began to struggle with depression.

By the grace of God, I got through those years. My husband and I had always planned, that unless God showed us otherwise, to send him to high school; being responsible to someone besides his mom might be good for him. So we got him tested, got his shots updated, met with the counselor, and sent him off to school. (Quite the relief for me, as you can imagine.)

I tried to be optimistic. My husband and I both did. We had heard so much about homeschool students testing highly, about how they are usually more self-motivated and better workers, how they do well in most situations...well, none of that was true with William. Wil is not a self-motivated person, especially when it comes to what he considers work. And academics sure fit into that category. We already knew William would never be an A student. It didn't matter if he had a brain that was capable of earning As, he never did any of the things necessary to achieve those grades. He never showed interest in anything besides playing and enjoying himself.

William isn't a bad kid. He's a good kid who is controlled by his laziness; like he is trying to stay 10 years old forever because he's convinced if he does that, he'll never have to face the responsibilities of growing up. I think the worst part of being his mom and the frustration that is part of that has been the knowledge of how intelligent and wonderful William is and how he squanders what God has given him in himself, as well as the wisdom his parents have always showered on him.

So William has been at our local High for two years. During those two years, he has kept the same friends he had before(the kids from our neighborhood), and he hasn't participated in any school activities. He went to FCA meetings for a few months last year and those were a big disappointment. There was no meat there, no time, no motivation and no fun. It wasn't a cohesive group...it was just a few kids who go and sit in the big gym for 40 minutes after school once a week. Needless to say, nothing there sparked William's interest. And since the school is so big...the Christians don't even know who the other Christians are; in fact, the kids don't even know who most of their classmates are. My high school graduating class was 325. I knew most of the kids, if not all, by name. Wil's class has over 1000 kids in it and there are supposed to be about 300 more by the time the class graduates. We had hoped he would enjoy all the opportunities offered there that we can't offer him, but he hasn't shown any interest. And his grades have been just as bad at school as they were at home. If he doesn't feel like turning an assignment in, he doesn't. He gets decent scores on tests, but his participation scores are horrible. He has failed Spanish and Health...two classes in two years and he doesn't seem to care. He gets Cs and Ds in most of his classes. So school didn't help him become more responsible about turning his work in. I think the two good things school taught him was that school is not just Mom's silly idea, and that he actually has a pretty good family...telling him those things before never got anywhere with him. He is so hard-headed...some people have to learn the hard way and I fear he's one of them.

Anyway, he wants to come home, believe it or not. I can't tell if it's because he thinks it will be easier and he'll get to sleep in (which wouldn't surprise me), or if it's because school stresses him out more than Rog and I know. Regardless, we've prayed and talked endlessly and have concluded that bringing him home is the right thing. And now I come full circle because, just like it was when I started homeschooling, I don't know much about teaching high school. But I know God is faithful and I trust Him. That's what I'm clinging to.

That brings us to today. I'm still waiting on William's high school transcript to be sent to us before can order his curriculum. I think we're going with C.L.A.S.S. or Christian Liberty Academy. It's the most affordable.

Well, that's William's story. We have two girls as well, one going into 8th grade, the other going into 6th. Their stories are much more simple. I'll get into the nitty gritty of their curriculum in other (hopefully shorter) entries. May God bless anyone reading this.