My journey from Public School Teacher to Homeschooling Mom (Very Long!!)

Giving up the grades was my first..gasp...abandonment of my public school experience. When all my teacher friends were bemoaning report cards in Facebook I was GRINNING from ear to ear because I know what my kid knows and doesn't know without sitting and testing him(yes, we took at least a week for "report card testing" at the school where I taught K for 7 years). We still do calendar time in the morning but it's less extensive than I did in public school. I always schooled more on the floor than in desks(drove my para crazy because she would come in and not see me because I was sitting in the floor with the kids). I'm stil making peace with doing less writing and paperwork. I know in my heart we don't need all those worksheets but my son feels more accomplished when he's done more "paperwork" than when we do centers and games. I'm hoping we can move past that as he gets older. I LOVE being able to think out of the box more and add in cooking, projects, art, and music. The thing I notice is that homeschool is so much more FUN than public school and that makes my heart sing!

You're right, it's so much more fun! For me and for the boys. My middle went through a stretch where he kind of wanted to go to school. My oldest told him that what he saw on Sid the Science Kid and other tv shows just wasn't reality. It made me think about how much time many kids do spend at those desks, how punishments are so often taking away the fun stuff. It strengthened my joy in homeschooling.
I hated testing week! The whole school would be in an uproar, the schedule on it's ear, the tension was palpable. It's so nice to never have that. Even when we do the standardized testing, it's just so much calmer.
Quoting Molimomma:Giving up the grades was my first..gasp...abandonment of my public school experience. When all my teacher friends were bemoaning report cards in Facebook I was GRINNING from ear to ear because I know what my kid knows and doesn't know without sitting and testing him(yes, we took at least a week for "report card testing" at the school where I taught K for 7 years). We still do calendar time in the morning but it's less extensive than I did in public school. I always schooled more on the floor than in desks(drove my para crazy because she would come in and not see me because I was sitting in the floor with the kids). I'm stil making peace with doing less writing and paperwork. I know in my heart we don't need all those worksheets but my son feels more accomplished when he's done more "paperwork" than when we do centers and games. I'm hoping we can move past that as he gets older. I LOVE being able to think out of the box more and add in cooking, projects, art, and music. The thing I notice is that homeschool is so much more FUN than public school and that makes my heart sing!

Amen! It is quite a journey from teaching in a public school to teaching your own kids in your own home with your own style, curriculum, rules, etc. It took me quite awhile to realize that it didn't have to be all straight rows and textbook pages as well, and I taught Kindergarten, so I should have already known that! (Well, Kinder for 5 years, and everything else from 1-8th grade, sometimes at the same time, for the last three).

That actually makes me feel so much better. I'm relieved that even a kinder teacher started out with the classroom mentality. I truly wondered if that would be the case or if an elementary teacher would have made the jump faster.
Quoting TigerofMu:Amen! It is quite a journey from teaching in a public school to teaching your own kids in your own home with your own style, curriculum, rules, etc. It took me quite awhile to realize that it didn't have to be all straight rows and textbook pages as well, and I taught Kindergarten, so I should have already known that! (Well, Kinder for 5 years, and everything else from 1-8th grade, sometimes at the same time, for the last three).
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I suppose there are some who would have made the jump faster, but I just thought that was how school was supposed to be :).
Quoting bluerooffarm:That actually makes me feel so much better. I'm relieved that even a kinder teacher started out with the classroom mentality. I truly wondered if that would be the case or if an elementary teacher would have made the jump faster.
Quoting TigerofMu:Amen! It is quite a journey from teaching in a public school to teaching your own kids in your own home with your own style, curriculum, rules, etc. It took me quite awhile to realize that it didn't have to be all straight rows and textbook pages as well, and I taught Kindergarten, so I should have already known that! (Well, Kinder for 5 years, and everything else from 1-8th grade, sometimes at the same time, for the last three).
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Me too.
Quoting TigerofMu:I suppose there are some who would have made the jump faster, but I just thought that was how school was supposed to be :).
Quoting bluerooffarm:That actually makes me feel so much better. I'm relieved that even a kinder teacher started out with the classroom mentality. I truly wondered if that would be the case or if an elementary teacher would have made the jump faster.
Quoting TigerofMu:Amen! It is quite a journey from teaching in a public school to teaching your own kids in your own home with your own style, curriculum, rules, etc. It took me quite awhile to realize that it didn't have to be all straight rows and textbook pages as well, and I taught Kindergarten, so I should have already known that! (Well, Kinder for 5 years, and everything else from 1-8th grade, sometimes at the same time, for the last three).
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- romacox
on Jun. 29, 2013 at 5:19 PMIn the 70s I was planning on becoming a school teacher. But working as a para-professional in the P.S., I saw what was happening, and decided against it. I was going home crying about the children who were smart, but not able to learn with the system being forced on teachers. That is when I developed Ring Around The Phonics to help some of the children handed over to me (the ones not learning from the Conventional method). It physically involves them in a fun way much like you described, bluerooffarm.
It was not until my youngest daughter started homeschooling that I even thought about that possibility. At first I was very skeptical ....you know, all those false ideas so many have about home education got in my way. But I did not think it my place to tell her how to raise her own children. So I kept my mouth shut about my concerns.
DeeDee (my youngest daughter) invited me to participate with her in the home education of my grandchildren. After attending my first home school conference, I was totally sold. The home school moms (and my daughter) actually encouraged, and helped us develop our language arts game that I had used so many years ago, and now college professors and the Florida Literacy Association are asking me to teach my method to aspiring teachers (whole brain/ body teaching) . The whole journey has been a miracle for me and my grandchildren.
My grandson, Koty, has been home-schooled from the start, and is now in Dual Enrollment. He is doing quite well. He is an analytical learning style, so I do not think P.S. would have been good for him. He loves learning, but hated flash cards, and workbooks. Mikki, my granddaughter was home-schooled until 8Th grade. She is now attending P.S, and loves it. She says, she "likes the structure". Perhaps that is because she is a Guardian learning style.
My oldest grandson, Stephen, was home-schooled from third grade. He is a hands on learner, and P.S. was a total disaster for him. Dee Dee and I convinced my oldest daughter to home school him. She was having to catch him up every summer to prevent them from retaining him, so it was not hard to convince her.