What happens when your teenager doesn’t want to be a homeschooler anymore?
What happens when you’re exhausted from debating and arguing to get Homeschool assignments completed?
What happens when you’re above average freshman becomes lazy and inactive around the house?
What happens when your ‘bored’ teenager starts picking on his younger brother day after day? And he knows being sent to his room means he misses out on assignments he doesn’t want to do.
What happens when the leader of the house no longer believes that schedule freedom and curriculum flexibility are benefiting the homeschool student?
We started homeschooling Prek4 in early 2008. Homeschool was an opportunity for us to travel with my husband and also be home when his flights landed. We picked him up more times than I can count and spent the day together. It meant so much to our little boys! We went to parks, we went to playgrounds, we went to amusement parks, and and we just enjoyed each other’s company.
When we discovered our oldest son was highly tactile … Homeschool provided us an opportunity to teach him a different way. He learned basic skills using ordinary items, toys, and playing new games. It was the perfect fit for our family.
My husband and I agreed every year we would reevaluate our homeschool choice and decide if we wanted to continue homeschooling. All of elementary school was an easy decision. Homeschool was a perfect fit for our family.
But Middle School required a bit more discussion. We saw our son as an extreme extrovert. He would often become depressed if he did not have regular play dates or outside activities. During middle school we decided to try co-ops and umbrella schools so he could at least definitely get one day a week if not two out of the house and around other kids his age.
The summer before his freshman year we knew Homeschool was not a good fit for him anymore. However we all agreed as a family we wanted to take a long 16 day trip to Italy during the public school year. We toured the country from top to bottom and had an amazing time!!
Our hope was to come home and finish homeschooling, but it would not go as smoothly as planned.
Easy homeschool days turned into a complete drag. My relationship with my son started to become tense, unpleasant, and overly difficult. Adding hormones to Biology class felt like a double portion of headache and strife.
My happy-go-lucky teenager was no longer happy. I was no longer happy. The youngest child in the house was no longer happy. So every evening Hubs arrived home he would hear from three different people how unhappy they all were that day.
I knew in my heart if I wanted to preserve my relationship with my son for the long term “school” had to change immediately.
So, we enrolled him in to public school 2 miles from home. It was not easy for me emotionally, but we noticed a complete change in the house the first two days!!
The paperwork was not easy to get all together because we assumed his transcripts would contain all the information that was requested. However the public school’s guidance counselor was awesome working with us trying to get him in classes he is passionate about.
He is taking: US History, PE, Italian, English1, Biology, Algebra, and Drawing 2. {Drawing 2 has a prerequisite of Drawing 1, but the teacher was willing to look at his sketch book and chat with him to see he was more than ready for Drawing 2}.
There are over 3000 students at the high school so it is definitely something we have never experienced before.
I am praying for an easy transition.
I am praying for great teachers.
I am praying for challenging assignments.
I am hopeful the time apart from his brother will lead to less bickering and squabbling in the house.
I’m hopeful for new friends as his last two BFFs moved out of state.
I have received a few snide comments from homeschool acquaintances. The ‘giving up’ questions. ‘Sending him to the wolves’ remarks. It’s okay. Believe you me, I have gone back to our ‘Why We Homeschool’ reason a million times. Yet arguing, strife, discontent and emotional toil were not part of the deal. That’s not how I want to remember parenting or have them remember me as a miserable mom!!
I’m done fighting to keep homeschooling. After 10 years of exciting trips and being together – I’m okay to say we’re no longer homeschooling our oldest.
There is nothing wrong with homeschooling – I’m still home educating my 4th grader! But it’s not one-size-fits-all-all-the-time.
It’s a new adventure and one we are all interested to see how it will go!