And Next Year's Plan for Homeschooling???

For some reason I often wonder if I will homeschool the kids next year. Personally I am ambivalent about it. I could, but I don't have to. Ultimately I want what is best for the kids, but that is not always clear-cut ahead of time.

When I asked Denver a month or so ago to rate how much he liked homeschooling on a scale of 1-10 (10 being "heaven" is how I phrased it), he promptly replied, "8!" I also asked him a week ago, "If you had to choose right now between Bill (the teacher he would have at McNeil next year) or homeschooling, which would you choose?" He pondered that one awhile and finally responded, "Well, I don't have to decide now so I won't!" It did spur a lively discussion of the merits of Bill versus homeschooling. He'd been greatly anticipating having Bill as a teacher and that was one of his big disappointments of switching to homeschooling. His sister thoroughly enjoyed being in Bill's classroom for 2 years, and yet as we discussed it, it came out that the biggest issue with being in the classroom is that they have to go at a slow pace--the pace of the majority. Both my kids were bored in school, which disturbed me greatly since they both are highly intelligent and curious kids. Boredom in school can lead to all sorts of problems, and the focus gets shifted from education to social, behavioral or other issues.

This came out all too clearly when I asked Aurora how she liked homeschooling. She said she liked it 60% of the time, and 40% of the time not. Upon further discussion, it came out that the only thing she does not like about homeschooling is not being with her friends. So friends had already supplanted education in fifth grade as the reason for being there. Hm. It's not that she doesn't spend time with her friends now; nearly every weekend is a whirlwind of sleepovers and playdates with friends from school, and weekdays are filled with social activities too. Yet there is an allure to sitting in school all day, throwing looks at your best friend, giggling, playing on the playground and more.

I believe homeschooling fits my kids' educational needs better than a classroom right now, but I also recognize that pull to be "in school". I don't know when the moment will come that I will "know" that the kids should be homeschooled again next year, or let them go back to the brain-numbing hyper-socialness of school. There may not end up being a "moment." And from what I've read about other homeschooling families, this is typical. So I won't sweat it, but I am curious what we'll end up doing!