Hi, welcome to Homeschooling By Grace. Please feel free to stop by and share in our Homeschooling journey.
Back in high school I was given the opportunity to participate in a teaching co-op. This co-op allowed me the wonderful opportunity to teach kindergarten and first-grader students Spanish while getting high school credit. I had felt the calling to teach since the 6th grade but getting that classroom experience definitely sealed that decision for me. I applied and was excepted into a wonderful teaching university and began my journey.
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| My Sweet "Pumpkin" |
In the early summer of 2004, My husband and I got married and planned to finish our education. However, God blessed us with our first child "Pear" the next spring. We both took jobs outside the home and gave up on our educational pursuits in order to raise our growing family. In the fall of 2007 our second blessing "Pumpkin" was born. After pumpkin was born we both promised each other we would finish our education. But life got in the way and we found our selves running on the treadmill of life and always ending up in exactly the same place.
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| Pear's first day of Kindergarten |
In fall of 2010 "Pear" began her first year in public school. She had always been our talkative and insightful one. She has an amazing memory and knack for recollection. So, in mid-october when her kindergarten teacher said "Pear" already scored high enough on the assessment to be promoted to first grade. We were not surprised. Her kindergarten teacher Ms. M (we will call her Ms. M for the sake of this blog) was amazing. She believed in seeing a whole years progress no matter where on the assessment the student started at. And gave "Pear" higher level math and reading so that she could grow and not be stifled academically. She left kindergarten with the highest possible score on the assessment and reading at a 2nd grade level. Throughout the summer she was never without a book(or 3.) She read standing, sitting, running, playing. If I would have let her read in the pool she would have done just that!
During that year we moved to a different county within our state, and "Pear" began her first grade year in a completely new school environment. Mrs. H(we will call her Mrs. H for the sake of this blog) was another amazing teacher! Again at the mid-October conference we were told that she was excelling well above grade level in reading. That she was reading between a 4th and 5th grade level (Reading American Girl books, Charlotte's Webb and others) and that her vocabulary far surpassed that of any other student in the classroom. "Pear" was scoring well enough to be promoted to the next grade. Mrs. H promised us that she expected a whole years progress from "Pear" and would not except work below what "Pear" was capable of. She challenged "Pear" to always put her best work forward. Mrs. H even placed "Pear" in the Accelerated Reader program at her school. Mrs. H told us that this program was reserved for 3rd graders. That sometimes they would let gifted 2nd graders participate. But that "Pear" would be the first 1st grader to participate. By the end of first grade "Pear" continually scored 90-100% on her accelerated reading tests and was reading between a 5th and 6th grade level book. Pear scored very high on her assesment.
Over the summer a fellow cheer mom told me that parents could actually request the next years teacher and if they could give valid evidence as to why they felt your child needed that teacher the principal would oblige. So I asked around and found the most challenging 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. A (for the sake of this blog we will call her Mrs. A). I wrote the principal a detailed letter, mailed it, and prayed it be God's will that "Pear" be granted that teacher. On the day of greet your teacher I think I literally yelled "Praise God" when they announced that "Pear" would be in Mrs. A's class.
In the fall of 2012,"Pear" began her 2nd grade year full of joy, hope, and a social confidence. And "Pumpkin" began his first day of public school excited to be a Pre-Kindergarten student. Pumpkin's teachers were Mrs. R & Mrs. E (for the sake of this blog we will call them Mrs. R & Mrs. E.) Things started out well for both Pear and Pumpkin and at both mid-October conferences my children where well above where they were suppose to be for their grade levels. Pear was reading at a 6th grade level, Had to date never made anything below a 100 on a spelling test(ever), and well above grade level in math. Mrs. A decided to put Pear in the schools AG (Advanced and Gifted) classes for an hour every Tuesday and Thursday.
Pumpkin had a wonderful first year in Mrs. R & Mrs. E's class. He had developed a passion for learning and developed a social confidence. Pumpkin finished out the school year with high marks. And he was excited about what his Kindergarten year might bring.
However, the school year began to take a downward turn for Pear. Her cousin and best friend lost her battle with cystic fibrosis and went to be with our Heavenly Father in mid-November. Pear took a few days off to grieve her loss. When she returned to school one of her better schoolmates asked her what was wrong and when Pear replied that she was sad that her cousin had passedaway the girl told her that she had lost her dog and it was more important than a cousin. The girl told Pear to get over it and that she could always get a knew cousin but the girl could not get a new dog. Being my logical girly Pear kindly let the girl know that she was sorry for her loss. Pear explained that she couldn't replace her cousin but that the girls parents might get her a new dog for Christmas. Well the girl decided to bully Pear for several weeks and turned several girls against her. Everyone and everything straightened out right before Christmas break. When they returned from Holiday Pear and her class mates found out that they would have a substitute teacher until mid-March while Mrs. A was on maternity leave.
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| Pear and Pumpkin (Pear's 8th Birthday) |
The substitute teacher (we will call her Ms. G) seemed nice enough but was overwhelmed and I believe unprepared to deal with a group of 2nd graders. Pear found herself not allowed to selected books on her reading level. She was forced to select books on a 3rd grade reading level only. I would send books that were on her appropriate grade level for Pear to read and Ms. G would tell her that she was to read the library book instead. Pear got her first ever 90 on a spelling test because she capitalized the word happiness(a word she has known how to spell since 1st grade.) In my opinion Pear still should have gotten her 100 the word was spelled correctly and the students were not told that they would be counted of for capitalization. When asked about this Ms. G had no recollection of this. In late February, Pear was out of school for a week due to pneumonia. When she returned to school the bullying began again and continued until early may. Mrs. A came back to school in mid-march but had already lost her foundation with her students. Pear was already so stressed about the bullying that she had developed nervous habits. All of which I was uninformed about until the day my daughter came home with butchered hair 14 inches shorter in places, yes 14 inches shorter when
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| Pear |
I had dropped her off for school that morning! When I asked Pear about it. She said that the one main girl that had been bullying her since November told her she was ugly, too skinny and that if she didnt cut her hair and give herself bangs then she couldnt be any of the other girls friends. My pear is very tenderhearted and a people pleaser so of course she gave in and did what they asked. I mean, what 8 year old wants to be the only girl in the class that none of the others hang out with? I was so mad went to the school they talked to the girls who admitted nothing and the rest of the school year went by very slowly and she lost interest in school and her all-time favorite thing ever, reading.
In mid-May, After the hair incident I had had enough!!! The school system had failed my child. Not alphabetically because she was promoted with high marks above grade level in all categories. But she was failed emotionaly as well as academically. She had not shown a whole years growth in fact she had been stifled and was now right where she left off at the end of first grade! Emotionaly she was leaving 2nd grade a very different child than when she began. She had developed nervous habits and was no longer excited to go to school and often begged me to just let her stay home!
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6 ~KJV)
I had been thinking about and researching homeschooling for the past year but was only really tinkering with the notion. But the tinkering was over and I now felt the pull, the call to homeschool. I prayed and discussed this option with my husband. And we both felt this was the path we are suppose to take. So the very day I was to be interviewed for a promotion I went and gave my two week notice. My last day at work instead of feeling scared or worried I felt a since of peace that I hadn't felt before.
Now, with 95% of our curriculum selected, state school ID given and 25 days until our first day of homeschool, I can't help but ask myself the following questions: Why hadn't I sought God about this sooner? Was God calling me to homeschool all this time? Had I been so naive to think that teaching could only be done in a classroom with 1 teacher and 20+kids?
Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray that you will forgive me for missing this calling earlier. I thank you for leading us to the right path now. Thank you for your blessings upon us and those who read our blog this following year. Help us to always seek your guidance first. In Jesus' Holy Name~Amen.
A few days after we had gotten approval from the state to be a home school, my mom called and wanted to go shopping. She had heard of a home school store in that was going out of business and thought that maybe we could find the boxed curriculum there at a discounted price. So, we went and I was amazed at all the different options there were. Everything was priced for $1, $3, $5, or $8. My mom wanted to buy everything but I was ONLY interested in the box curriculum's I had decided on. My mom decided to buy a few different workbooks, maps, etc. for me to look through in case I changed my mind. I decided to look through them and discovered that I really did like a lot of what she had purchased and felt like my children would really like them too. My dreams of an easy summer, quickly, began to drift away. 
