The Brass Dragon Academy

In what may seem an abrupt change of events, because they totally were (in a way), we have taken the kids out of school and re-started our homeschooling routine. In lots of ways though, the decision was not abrupt and had been coming for quite awhile, it was just that final few things that tipped us over the edge that happened all in one weekend and we pulled the plug on Public School, got the kids back home and started our curriculum.

I want to go on record as saying that there are pros and cons to each type of schooling, but for us, homeschooling is what seems to be the best and what offers us the opportunity to be ourselves and the best version of the kind of family that we want to be.

Both of my kids were very stressed out in the public school setting, though they were each successful as measured by the system. The constant testing, the rigid schedules, the rules, the inability to use the restroom when Ev needed to (yes, this became a huge thing- if you knew Ev you would really get it), the fact that the better Ev performed, the more they expected. Liam had an IEP but we honestly could not see many results from the program, this was the second year in a row, he was on the Class Dojo system which uses that system of marking children for bad behavior, his love of reading was being smothered out of him. There were just lots of reasons. Also their bus ride was an hour each way so they had to be at the bus stop at 6 am in the morning and did not get home until 4 pm, so their day was technically longer than their father's work day. All of this and I haven't even discussed the social issues that they were facing- the racial insults, the bullying... My kids were miserable. We were all miserable. My family was suffering.

Luckily, my husband and I are in a position where we can do something about it. We could make a change for our kids. We could return to something that we knew, although not perfect, worked for us. We had never gotten rid of our homeschooling stuff. We had homeschooled before, so it wasn't like we were starting cold and were deathly afraid to do it. So we just... did it.

The difference in my kids on the first day of homeschool was palpable.

This is week 2. And yes, there has already been a few "attitudes". Like I said, it's not perfect. But, we love it. Liam is reading SO MUCH. Ev is writing and reading so much more. The history curriculum we have planned is going to be pretty in depth. Lots of Art planned (Ev has told me that I'm a better Art teacher than the one at her school was!) I'm very excited for our Science unit. Some not so fun things like Grammar and Spelling, but hey- that's life.

So, please wish us luck.
I'm going to need it.
I have an eighth grader and a third grader.