One thing that might be a little unusual about me (although, far from uncommon), is that I home school and part-time home school some of my children. I'd like to share a bit of that aspect of my life for today's blog.
Way back in the days of dinosaurs, I got my degree at WSU in elementary education. I worked as a substitute teacher for four years before finally getting a job as a second grade teacher. The ironic thing is that I got pregnant that year, so I only got to teach the one year, before 'retiring' to become a stay-at-home mom. The good thing is that I learned a lot about the public school system, with the hands-on, behind-the-scenes opportunity of my teaching. It wasn't a place I wanted my children to spend 6+ hours of their day, every day, for 13 years.
So, my intent was to home school my children. When Arriah was ready for kindergarten, however, I was pregnant with my third child and didn't think I was up to ensuring that her educational needs were being met. My neighbor had a daughter Arriah's age that was going to be starting in a co-op school, which is a public school, but with required parent participation. That sounded like a good compromise to me, so I signed Arriah up.
It did turn out to be a very good thing. Our years at the Marysville Cooperative Educational Program were wonderful. My kids were enrolled with other kids from good families with similar values. There were almost always parents in the room with the teachers, so teachers were more likely to be on their best behavior, being respectful and kind to all their students (although the teachers there were ones I would have trusted with my kids, regardless). And best of all, I was able to play an active role in my kids' education. Until we moved from Marysville, we kept the elementary-aged kids enrolled in MCEP and I was happy with the education they received and my part in their school.
Arriah went to 6th grade at a 'normal' middle school in Marysville. She absolutely hated it! That was the year we were building our home out in Granite Falls, so life was way too crazy and hectic for me to do anything other than to help her endure it. Our home was finished in April of her 6th grade year, so she got to finish the year out here. She liked being the 'new kid' at school and definitely liked Granite Falls Middle School better than the one in Marysville, but she still didn't enjoy it. Mostly, she wasn't comfortable with the lack of morals in the kids surrounding her every day.
And finally, life was stable enough, that I was able to home school Arriah the following year. She home schooled for both 7th and 8th grade, through a program in Monroe called Sky Valley. This program is also through the public school system and supports families that home school their children. Basically, Sky Valley is set up where you are accountable to them in what you teach your children, although they're very flexible in what and how you do it. They offer a wide variety of classes for the students, from math and English, to painting and pottery, to gymnastics and swimming, to weekly field trips, to drama or astronomy, so you can enroll in as few or as many (with limits) classes you want your child to participate in. The rest of their education is up to you, but you're required to write up a monthly summary of what they are taught. I actually like that aspect, because it helped motivates me to stay on track. Arriah spent two days/week at Sky Valley and used the rest of her school time studying at home. It was a great system and worked well for us.
Since we've lived here, all three of the other kids have gone to a 'normal' elementary schools in Granite Falls. Braelen finished out his 3rd grade year, spent all of 4th grade (a horrible situation), and was accepted into the Highly Capable (hi-cap) program for 5th grade. Even though his 4th grade year was terrible, I didn't give him the option to home school, because he was in a very tough stage, making it very challenging for me to motivate him to even do simple things, let alone taking on the full responsibility of his schooling. Luckily, his 5th grade teacher was perfect for him, encouraging him to expand on his creativity in writing and drawing. He also participated in band (saxophone) and learned to play the basics of violin in music class. His self esteem started the rebound process and he has since become a much easier person to live with.
Khasia had a tough 1st grade year. Even though most of it was at MCEP, it was a hard situation there, as well. The poor kids in that class started the year with a substitute for a few weeks (the teacher that was supposed to teach took a different position a few days before the school year started), then had a regular teacher for a few weeks who went on administrative leave in December (due to an unjust accusation). They then had a series of substitutes while waiting to see if their regular teacher would be coming back or not. Finally, in mid-February, a new regular teacher was hired for the remainder of the year (their former teacher was not happy with the politics of it all and quit teaching altogether). And then we moved in April. Unfortunately, she had a teacher in Granite Falls that wasn't good. It was her first year teaching and she didn't seem to have any patience for a new student and did absolutely nothing to help Khasia feel welcome. It just wasn't a very good year. Her second grade teacher, however, was great! And in 3rd grade, Khasia was enrolled in the Hi-Cap program, which was fairly challenging for her, as all of the other 3rd graders had had the same Hi-Cap teacher in 2nd grade. Khasia had quite a hard time 'catching up', especially in math, but she eventually got the hang of it, and it turned out to be a good year.
Shaya wasn't old enough to go to school in Marysville, so her only experience in public school was kindergarten and first grade in Granite Falls. Both of her teachers were great and she learned a lot. Unfortunately, she didn't do so well socially. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but she was picked on a lot and tried to emulate some of the other students by being mean and rude, which led to worse relationships with the other kids. She had a couple of friends that were nice to her, but they often played with their other friends and left Shaya to fend for herself. Shaya did not like school, at all, which is really sad, especially for a first grader.
This year is quite a bit different. I have spent wayyy too much time writing today's blog, however, so I'm going to write about this year's situation in my next post :-)
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