catching up

The blog has been idle for a while! We successfully transitioned the boys to public school this past school year. They are old enough, the wife and I are both gainfully employed, and the boys were ready. The big kid is now going to a small Waldorf-based public charter school, and the monkey is going to a small public Montessori school. We don't hew to one philosophy or the other; we just know that each kid has his own learning style, and that they are comfortable in smaller communities.

Both are doing well; the big kid has had a TON of homework, but has gotten a lot out of his experience as a high school freshman and is looking forward to growing within his new school. The monkey went to a penitentiary-style meat grinder of a school when he first started this year, and of course hated it, but we managed to get him in the Montessori school by mid-November. He loves being in charge of his own work at his own pace (which is fast), and loves the fact that his class is pretty quiet compared to the first school.

We have always hated standardized testing, and suffered it as a condition of being part of a public charter (that caters to homeschoolers) for the last few years in order to get a little funding. Even though we don't like the system of standardized tests, and don't think it measures anything meaningful, it's still a bit gratifying to find the boys testing at the highest end of the scale, and getting almost all A's (one B for Adon. Still on the honor roll).

It's always been hard to put up with the constant criticism and scrutiny and doubt from people we came in contact with over the years, much less hear the constant putdowns in mainstream media implying that homeschoolers are maladapted morons who never learn anything. The media paints homeschoolers as unmotivated unschoolers or fanatical faith-based cultists, with little room for people like us, who just wanted our kids to be happy. We wanted to preserve their love of learning, and make sure they understood how to think critically. We wanted them to have the time they needed to focus on whatever subject they wanted, and the attention from us to guide them to things they might otherwise miss or find boring. We also didn't mind bypassing all the handwringing and competition and angst about whether or not the boys would be in a "good" public school.

We succeeded. The boys are happy, healthy, well-adjusted (granted, a little quirky), and we never had to hear a teacher tell us our kids should probably be on medication. For those six years, we didn't have to put up with bullying, popularity contests, or heartbreaking apathy. The boys are enthusiastic, well-mannered, and learning to be more independent. They still have a long way to go in public school, but they both have their eyes on college and beyond. They got a chance to do something unique, and their perspectives are forever changed because of it.