Ch-Ch-Changes

Homeschooling my kids in not something I ever saw myself doing. When Dagny was 4 I sent her off to an amazing Montessori pre-school and it was a great experience. She learned a lot, made friends, it was everything I thought it would be. Then it was time for kindergarten, and off she went. A few months into her kindergarten career we realized something was off. Steve and I both volunteered in the classroom and we didn’t like what we were seeing. The teacher, time and time again, would either ignore Dagny or blatantly denigrate her intelligence. After a sit down with the teacher where we were told that since Dagny was more advanced than the other kids it was too difficult to integrate her into the class, and the best thing for her was to sit and read a book while the class worked, we decided that public school was not the place for Dagny. (kindergarten wasn't all bad, she made lots of friends, and learned how to successfully navigate the monkey bars) After researching private schools we weren’t sure that was the answer either, then Steve suggested homeschooling. I have sisters who have very successfully homeschooled their kids, so you’d think that I would have come up with that option on my own, but I didn’t. I never saw myself as a homeschool mom; I always thought I’d send my kids off to school in the morning then go to the gym, meet my friends for lunch, volunteer at the school, basically be like all the other moms I knew. The moment Steve made the suggestion, something clicked, and I knew that being at home was the best thing for Dagny. I spent the remaining months she was in kindergarten doing research and buying curriculum, and fielding questions about why on earth I had chosen to do such a weird thing. Some people were supportive, most were not. Something I didn’t know at the time, but have learned since, is that people who don’t understand homeschooling are very threatened by it. Why if the public school is good enough for their child is it not good enough for mine? Over the years I have answered that question, and others like it, many times. For me, the bottom line is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to education; we’re all just trying to do the best for our kids.

In her very own classroom, first day of first grade

I loved homeschooling Dagny. She was so easy to teach because she loves to learn, it was amazing to watch her soak everything in. I could go on for days about different curriculums, field trips, book clubs... Our homeschooling years were very full and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I'm so glad I had Dagny at home all those years. Last year she decided that she’d like to go to public high school. Many people have asked me how I feel about that decision. I feel great about it. One of the by-products of being homeschooled is that Dagny had plenty of time to become her own person. She has had time to think her own thoughts and form her own opinions. That girl knows who she is. So when people ask me if I’m worried about her going to high school, the answer is no. She’s ready for them, I don’t know if they’re ready for her.