I guess you all knew it was coming. I have finally made the decision to leave the warmth and safety of the cyberschool nest and make my way in the world.
I can't say exactly what it was this week that pushed me over the edge. First there was the composition mess last week. Then our cyber school decided to update their mail program, losing my address book and most of the useful functions from the previous program. It's funny...I thought a cyber school might be good with the whole 'technology' thing. Then there was the friendly reminder that EM should take the second of four online assessments for the year. I sent an email stating that I thought the tests were poorly designed, that EM had placed above grade level in all the tests in September so I thought he should not need to take them. The answer I was given is that the state is holding the cybers to the same standards as the other public schools. I'm sorry...that's not an answer. The other schools are NOT required to give assessments like these 4 times a year.
So while all of this is going on I am reading a book "Home Schooling: A Family's Journey" by Gregory and Martine Millman. Every page I turn is making me more and more sure the path we are heading down now is not the best option for our family. One of the takeaways from Chapter Two sealed the deal for me... "A school-like curriculum and school-like pedagogy only make sense in the context of a school." I realized I am not fulfilling the vision I had for my children. I also finally faced the fact that fear was the only thing stopping me from taking the leap.
We will finish out the school year with PACyber. However, we will not push ourselves to do as much of their material as we would have. I will be very sad when we have to pack up the laptops and printers and the much coveted Bamboo... We get to keep all of the textbooks (some of them might be useful in the future). I will not miss the excessive testing and busy work given to my children. I will not miss the lack of time to stumble upon new and exciting adventures. And finally, I will not miss the horrible tunnel vision we have been suffering from ever since we tried to conform to someone else's plan for the lives of our children.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
So, will you have to change your name to Home Momma? And will that make JT and EM our Homeboys, yo?
Congratulations! I'm excited to see where this takes you.
I'm not in a place to leave my charter. The funding is too important, and ours has never been anywhere near a difficult as yours. Still, I am delighted to see how this evolves.
And very afraid of picking up your book rec. Who knows where that would lead?
Post a Comment