I’m sure we’ve all been there before, wondering if our children are learning and enjoying their time at school. For me, when I got pregnant I knew I wanted to homeschool my kids. I personally, wasn’t a huge fan of the public school system. But, I got pregnant at 18 and gave birth at 19 which put a bit of a wrench in my plan to homeschool. Both my husband and I having to work full time made it very difficult to be able to find the time to homeschool a young child.
When my son was an infant, we were fortunate enough to have family able to help watch him while we were at work so we didn’t have to pay for a daycare bill. But, as he got older we wanted him to be able to be around other kids his age, and of course, the age old “socialization” conversations were coming up from many people. So we put him into the best daycare we could find near our work. They truly were awesome, they had everything and even the youngest kids there were learning something. But at the price tag of $1,100 per month for 3 days per week that wasn’t really sustainable. And then, COVID hit.
Our son came home as we did from work. So we all were at home all day, every day. We tried to get in a groove of learning after my husband and I finished work, but just couldn’t find our flow. So we gave up on that. Once we moved to Florida we tried again through the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) flex program. And while I have nothing negative to say about the school or teachers, we found it too structured and demanding for kindergarten.
After about 9 months of living in Florida we finally took the plunge on public school. We enrolled him into Kindergarten in our local school and had our first day! Which, in and of itself was very exciting. My son loved getting to bring his lunch to school! About one week in however, we found that some bullying was starting to happen. See, my son likes to paint his nails. And of course, young children who aren’t exposed to that made a point to let my son know “that’s for girls”. This made him self conscious which I didn’t exactly love. I want my son to express himself however he feels fit! So this just broke my heart to see. One major issue I had is the understaffing of the schools right now (at no fault of the teachers). There was no one at his school that could write an IEP or 504 plan as the original person quit earlier in the year and they couldn’t find a replacement. Amongst some other things we ended up withdrawing just a month after his first day.
I immediately hit the ground running trying to find the best curriculum for our family. I came across Blossom and Root, this caught my eye due to the relaxed scheduling and outdoor activities. So we purchased the curriculum, had it bound, and started planning! We settled on three days of school per week, as that’s what works best around our work schedule.
I’m so beyond excited to begin this journey! I look forward to seeing what my son learns and how he grows to appreciate our Earth.