Lukewarm Husband

We've been working on a mission statement for our School of One. In our conversations, Husband's lukewarmness about homeschooling has emerged full fledged.

I was frankly surprised he agreed to it to begin with. He's such a conventional guy and homeschooling is such a left field endeavor. He had a tough home-life himself and school was very important to him--a window of stability.

But our schools were going belly up in our little burg. Elementary school closed, fourth graders shot up to the middle school, middle schoolers shuffled up to the high school, class sizes up to 39 kids in elementary school. What a mess! With the state budget set for two years, this is the reality for at least two years. If Measures 66 and 67 pass, it will worsen substantially--every school will have to cut another teacher. Elementary school class sizes over 40, anyone?

With any luck the economy will turn around in two years, though, and schools will return to normal. Husband will want Daughter back to school by then.

Just in time for middle school, which was the lowest of the low points in my education.

He wants Mi'ita to have a normal childhood. He didn't have one, with lots of divorces and moving around. Along with staying married and not moving around too much, a normal childhood includes going to school, apparently.

Husband equates school will friendships, extra-curricular fun, a variety of adult role models, schedules and discipline, and a good education. When I taught high school two years ago for one year, I saw a lot of kids marking time, walking through classes not learning much, lacking motivation, requirements that didn't reflect their own needs (everyone was on a college track whether they were college bound or not), and learning a ton of negative behavior from their peers. I did see some "good students" that did their work and were there for an education. They were in the minority, though, and mostly I saw a lot of kids wondering what they were doing there.

I don't want that for my daughter. I want her to be excited about learning, learning things that reflect her own interests, self motivated, and not surrounded by negative peer influences. I want her grounded by her family's love and support for her. I want her friendships to be true friends and not a bunch of peer pressure.

I don't know how long our homeschooling will last.