Home Schooling???

SO I am probably going to meet many unhappy faces after posting this blog, but since I write it for me, I really don't care at this point. The topic: home schooling. Pretty much any topic concerning children in which you don't smile and nod at everything some other parent believes in and agree with, is going to be frowned upon and argued with and quite frankly, I am tired of it.

In this case, I come at the topic of home schooling as a person who went to college and was trained for 4 years as an educator before entering the public world of education and teaching for 2 years. Does this make me an expert on the subject, no, but it does make me a knowledgeable one and that is the point I am getting at. I am seeing more and more moms out of the blue up and decide "hey, I am going to home school my kids." So, do they even know what that involves? Not a one.

Sure, they know they have to go to the Board of Education and pick up their packet but that is where it ends. To me, it is an insult to regular educators. Whether you are an intelligent person or not, unless you have training or a background in the subject, how can you possibly think this is a grand idea? You get your hair done by a professional, trained in their art. If you do this with something as superficial as hair, how is it justified to take something as important as your child's education and leave it to someone who has no clue what they are doing, even if that someone is you? Just like there are good hairdressers and bad ones, the same can be said for teachers and school systems. Hell, the same can be said for just about any profession.

This is what irks me. I worked hard to earn my degree and was proud to be a teacher even though I am no longer one. Who is to say I will never go back to it? But to pretend to think you know what teaching entails when you have never studied it in detail, to think you can plop worksheets and a computer in front of a kid and call it teaching, does the profession a disservice as well as that child. This isn't like the game you played when you were 8 and made your siblings be your "students". All you are doing is taking away from your child in socialization skills and contributing to their educational detriment. Not only that but in order to teach effectively, you need structure, consistency, and a schedule that is detailed and stuck to. The few people I have heard, boasting that they can home school are unfortunately the same people whom I have never seen show a modicum of any of these attributes.

The only way I find home schooling to be helpful is in the case of some physical and mental handicaps and even then, only if you have proper educational training yourself. If for some reason it has to be home schooling then at least have enough sense to find someone with a teaching background who is home schooling in your area to take them to.

Fat, Old, and Happy

Today is the day before my 31st birthday and I feel no older than I did a year ago really. However, thinking back to 10 years ago, it is surreal how different life is. I was about 30 pounds lighter and full of a vivacious energy that never seemed depleted. I lived in an apartment with a man I was planning to marry, did marry, divorced and now we both are married to other people and haven't spoken to each other in years. I was finishing up college and planning a wedding. I went out dancing and partying at least once a week. I had no money and no car payments and an old Chevy Malibu that carried with it the demeanor of an old codger, with a temperment all it's own. I miss that car. Life seemed so simple and I was sure I had it all figured out. I couldnt wait to legally drink and then it happened and I wondered where the big deal went. I was completely in shape and went to the gym in the afternoons and had a body I would kill to have again. I had a cell phone with a whopping 300 minutes which was way too much and I would never use that much. I had an external caller ID and voicemail machine and used checks or paid cash. All my papers and assignments were stored on Zip drives or floppy disks. All my furnature was hand-me-down from the butterfly patterned couch to the formica table with the egg chairs that were missing wheels on the bottom and wobbled. I was responsible for me and me alone. I did my own thing and thought I was so responsible. I bought beer on every grocery trip and went to impromptu parties at friends houses without hesitation. If only I knew then what I know now.

A small fortune was spent on a wedding for a marraige that lasted 7 months. I went from butterfly couch to pillows on the floor in an even tinier apartment, alone, scared and uncertain but better, stronger. I learned what real unconditional love is. I learned that he can make huge mistakes and so can I but that we always come back to each other because that is the "life doesn't make sense without you" kind of love, the "feels like home" "soulmate" kind of love. I went from no car payment to having two now and thinking that a year lease was a big commitment to a fixed APR and a 30 year loan for more money than I have ever borrowed in my lifetime. I learned about commitment and real responsibility. I felt what it is like to grow a life and in that learned a love too powerful to even be describable. For the first time, I realized what true exhaustion was, what it was like to put someone else's wants and needs before your own without it even being a conscious decision. I went from one cell phone to 4 on a family plan and a car with no air conditioning or power steering to a car with 2 DVD players and a touch screen. My tiny one bedroom apartment turned into a 3 bedroom home.

My ususally neat and tidy ways became more relaxed and toys now line my floors. Going dancing and drinking now makes me feel old as I am aware that those around me were me a decade ago. Sitting at home on a Friday night watching Ghost Adventures with my husband checking on my sleeping children, seems more my speed these days. I store my graduate work on flash drives smaller than my finger and beer and wine are for special occasions. My cell phone has a touch screen and accesses the internet. I have a wood dining table and a couch from an actual furnature store. I haven't seen the inside of a gym in quite a while. My needs and wants come last for the most part. Yet my restless days seem to have been trying and searching for this life I have now. Maybe I wasn't aware of all the details, but unlike then, I am fat, old, and happy.

Soul Searching, Educationally Speaking

Those of you that know me well know I am indecisive and yet impulsive, usually all at the same time. Well, in the decision to further my education, this traits fell into play again. I originally signed up for an MBA thinking it sounded impressive and that I could use something like this to broaden my horizons. Fast forward to six weeks in and I am lost and come to the realization that business sense has escaped me. In addition to that, I was in the corporate world for 6 years and for the most part, didn't like it aside from the fabulous benefits and bonuses. So why oh why, on my quest for self happiness would I try and chain myself to that world forever? The answer is, I wouldn't. Not to sound pompus but I think that who I am is too much to be contained inside a cubicle all day in front of a computer screen. It would literally kill me.

So now what? Well, I have never dropped out of school and I don't plan on starting now. I am simply switching programs. The education field is not for me right now. Having been an educator and being married to one, there is too much frustration there for me. If I had to deal with the bullshit that these poor teachers have to put up with from parents, students, administration, and the board and government, you can bet I would be going postal at someone. My husband and all the teachers in this area must have the patience of saints. No, my undergrad minor is in Psychology and after reviewing the graduate program, it seems like that just might be my nitche.