I've been home schooling Steve since Jan'08. Steve had always gone to a private Christian school and we were comfortable with that, we like him having the social interaction. But at that time, there was so much going on with Sam, I didn't have the time to take Steve back and to from school as it was across town. So I started home schooling. I have a BA and for 2 years was an education major until I realized I did NOT want to be with a bunch of bad kids all day long. So I felt qualified to teach him. The Christian school Steve went to in Zephryhills used textbooks where a kid works at his own "pace" and the program is called ACE. It's really easy to teach, most of it is self taught anyhow.
Most of the time I enjoy home schooling. It's not a huge effort on my part and I like Steve being around the house. Sam loves to be with Steve and will often go and sit in a recliner in Steve's room while Steve works so that helps out too. But there are days when he drives me crazy!!!!!
Steve is so sweet and so much like his dad in all the good ways but also in the bad ones. He is a procrastor! He doesn't have any drive to do his work. Now most subjects we do ok in as far as time goes but he hates math and just will not stay focused! Steve is finished with all his 7th grade books except for Math and a couple of English. So everyday is a pain for me! I have banned him from the computer until he finishes the year up and he is not happy with me. With this curriculum, the student must score a 80 or above to pass the book. He never has scored less than that but he just takes forever to do his work and finds any excuse to not do it. This is one of the irritating things about home schooling.
So there is always a debate about public school vs. private vs. home schooling. I will never send my children to public school. It ain't agoing to happen!! I think parents that subject their kids to public school are just asking for trouble. I have friends that would strongly disagree with me but that is how I feel about public school. I have good friends who are teachers in the public school system and they are great BUT they can only control their classroom situation. They can't be free to speak their minds or deal with situations in an openly Christian way. I love that Steve's books have Christian themes. His English sentences that he has to diagram are about famous missionaries or Bible stories. It's a way to get the Word into the kids every day lives.
As a probation officer, I was in public schools alot and it was horrible just walking down the sidewalks. I don't want my kids in that cess pool. Some people will say that you can't shelter them forever...To that I say my kids are so NOT sheltered from the REAL world. As pastor's kids they see alot and they deal with real life. Not a bunch of foolishness. When we were in school in the 70's. 80's, kids would have been kicked out for the things I saw them doing and saying when I'd walk the halls. I remember one girl cussed at Mrs. Blankenship our asst principal and she was expelled for the year. It just didn't happen!! My kids are not going to be in that cess pool where the grownups have in many cases have lost control. I had a friend that taught for a while in a middle school and he told me he couldn't send kids to the office for cussing even at him! Foolishness and mayhem!! That's not the real world. I can guarantee you those kids will not speak to their employer like that or if they do, it'll be the last time because they will be fired! It's a failed system that allows such nonsense to go on.
I say shelter your kids from the world!! That is what the Bible teaches in NO uncertain terms. When God was giving the Hebrew the law and His commandments in Deuteronomy ch 6 He really emphasised to teach the law to the children. In verse 7 it says " You shall teach them diligently and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk in the way, when you lie down and when you rise up." It doesn't say to give the state 8 hours of your child's day to talk to them about all other kinds of stuff. Also if you look at Psalm 1 the chapter starts out with " Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in this law he mediates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that brings forth in his season." I for one am not going to put my kids in a place to sit in the seat of the scornful! Remember we have to stand before the God of this universe one day and He will demand of us an accounting of how we raised our kids!
So what if you can't afford Christian school and have to work so you can't home school? Trust God He will make a way for you to send your kids to Christian school or to home school. God has always provided for us to send Steve. We didn't take him out because of financial issues but rather because of Sam's issues. He was missing alot of school with us going to Miami so much and then the eye drops, at one point I was doing 42 so I didn't have the time to take 1 1/2 hours of my day transporting him back and to to school.
This coming year Steve and Shad will be going to the Christian school and we are just trusting God for the finances. He has never failed us and He won't this time either. Sam will be in the Home bound ESE program through the School Board, he will get all his instruction and therapies at home. If he had not gotten approved, I was going to go through all the steps to home school him as a ESE child. Even though Sam does not understand alot, I'm not going to have him in an environment of chaos! But with all his eye drops and his fragile eyes and health, it was no problem to get him classified as home bound. If there had been or if there ever is in the future, I will home school him. I know more about him and his situation than any teacher ever would. Once I took him to speech therapy through the school board and the teacher was trying to use flash cards with him. I asked her if she was aware he was blind...!!!I think I can do a little better than that!!!
Christian schools are not utopia but there is so much more control over the student's behavior and what they learn and are exposed to. The kids still have to learn social things like how to deal with bullies etc but those are normal things. I had one friend who taught 2nd grade in Lakeland and she had 2 different boys in the same month bring in Playboy to class! Wouldn't happen in a Christian school. Why? Most of the parents are Christians so they probaley aren't going to have Playboy laying around and if a kid did that they would know that the consequences would be harsh. Also in Christian school, you have alot of positive peer pressure. Steve has some good friends that are really trying to live their lives as Christians so really bad behavior is usually frowned on by the group.
So I hope my post has encouraged you to think about the schooling your children are getting. What are they around 8 hours a day. What has more influence on their lives?? It's something to take seriously!!
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