I don’t know that I ever thought I’d be writing this post. I consider myself a public education advocate and I always thought I’d be really terrible at schooling my own kids. And yet, 2020 is a year of firsts in many ways. So, as the school year is starting, I’ve been researching curriculum, trying to get books (while avoiding Amazon as much as possible), and working with Billie to figure out…what’s the right option here, for our (almost) 10 year old?
After a whole bunch of consideration, we decided to dive in to homeschooling. Not just to try to replicate the school environment at home, but to REALLY think about how we might approach education if it doesn’t need to happen from 8:30am – 3:00pm in a classroom.
We heard from Corbin in the spring about how he was bored. Listless. Didn’t know what he was interested in. At times, we were all in tears trying to figure out how to keep this kid happy, engaged, and even excited. The most excited I saw him? When we asked him to put together a slideshow to teach us about our new COVID chickens! He delighted in researching chickens, how to feed them, what to expect as far as eggs, and then presenting it to us on the big TV we have in the living room! I wanted to find a way to channel that excitement about more.
So, as the summer wound down, and the plans from our district were still up in the air, we decided to really dig in to what homeschooling could look like. And by the time the district announced the options, we were pretty certain none of them sounded like the right fit for our working schedules, and finding that spark for Corbin.
So here we are. A few days before the “official” start of school in Colorado. And we’re stocked up on some books to read, some things to try, and we’re partially clearing our work schedules to make a go of homeschooling. We’re planning to share more about it, including Corbin’s writing and engagement. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.