Empowering Her Wings: Our Journey Into Homeschool with Our Daughter

My daughter’s first year of public school, also happened to be the year our school district decided to transition into full-day Kindergarten.

I was devastated. I was so upset when I heard this news. She is my youngest child, I was not ready to give up those few, precious hours we were supposed to have together during her kindergarten year.

The school system decided what my child needed and I had ZERO say in the matter. I felt like I was robbed of that time with her. To say I felt helpless was an understatement.

I spoke with my daughter about this, and she was nervous, but excited for the challenge of school. She would have recess, school lunch and friends, just like her big brother!

My husband and I surrendered. We sent her to school.

I sat in my car and cried on drop-off day. My baby had just joined the system. From this day forward, she would be in a school building for seven hour days, with minimal breaks. Even at the beginning of the school year I remember thinking this was insanity.

Fast-forward a few months, and I was in the classroom weekly. Once a week I volunteered in her classroom, I wanted to be involved in her education, and help her teacher out a bit. I was involved in the art class, programs and reading curriculum.

Being so heavily involved in the classroom allowed me to see the daily motions of the classroom. I got to know what my daughter’s potential was. I knew what she was working on, and if she was truly understanding what was being taught in school.

Halfway through the year it became clear to me that my daughter was ahead of the other kids in her class. As the year went by, she seemed like she was left to tend to herself, or to assist others. There were multiple times I saw her sit on her own. She was told to “read or color quietly” while the other kids received extra help.

There were many, many times that she would come home with the back of her papers filled with colorful drawings and sketches because “she finished her work so fast and had to wait for other kids to catch up.”

She was advanced. Everyone could see it. She was quite literally off the charts when it came to reading. She finished every sight word paper and kindergarten book that the teacher had to offer. So she was left to sit and occupy herself.

My husband and I decided this was our final sign to remove her from the public school system. She was incredibly bright, I was fearful that if this continued she would lose herself.

My daughter had a great teacher, who was doing the very best she could with the resources she was given. I understand it is difficult to wrangle a classroom of 25 small students for a full day, and her teacher was doing well. There were not huge issues that were happening in the school or in her classroom. Everyone was kind and for the most part, well-behaved. She was making friends and doing well enough.

If I hadn’t been in the school every single week, I wouldn’t have noticed that she wasn’t being challenged.

The transition from public school to homeschooling does not have to come with a giant horror story of what went wrong. In my situation (with my son and daughter) it was simply that they were not reaching their potential. I knew that they could do more, and be more.

Homeschooling is a choice of freedom. It has allows children to thrive and move forward at their own pace. They get to set the standard, they aren’t told that they need to slow down and wait for the others, or that they need to do more.

Whatever your reasons for homeschooling, whatever your story is, thanks for being here.