skristinet

[PrincessFiona]

Just curious....what made you decide to stop homeschooling?

kris

:chat: Sorry...I haven't been on for awhile so I am just now seeing this post. Homeschooling has advantages and disadvantages as does public school. I do believe home is the best place for kids overall (most homes, anyway). We homeschooled because my first grade son couldn't even read and wasn't getting the attention he needed. He had a poor kindergarten experience with a teacher who loved to yell at the 17 boys (out of 22 kids). DH was also going to do a 2 month rotation in AZ & the military would pay for us to have a 3 bedroom if we wanted to go (our family is all there). So we yanked our 4th grade daughter out as well & our 2 preschool boys. Homeschooling REALLY helped us as a family to "gel". The kids became eachother's best friends & we had a co-op of homeschoolers we got together with. DH was able to see the kids since they could stay up late & sleep in the next day. When it comes down to it, I started because we prayed about it & felt it was the right thing for our family at the time. I stopped for the same reason. I have had some health issues for a few years which finally came to a head last year when I was diagnosed with a heart condition. It became difficult to be motivated in my teaching & I started to worry the kids would suffer for it. My condition worsened and it was hard to take care of myself, let alone 4 kids. At the same time, I discovered Randolph AFB was having open enrollment this year & they are FANTASTIC schools. We applied, the kids got in & we felt really good about it. We haven't been sorry. The schools are indeed the best I've ever encountered whether it's the happiness/friendliness the teachers & staff exude (even the cleaning staff) or the fact that they spend 3 times the amount per student than our local school does or that the middle school only has 210 better-behaved students total (compared to the 1200 at our local). We hate to leave it next year when we head for KY. In short, we miss some things about homeschooling (not having to conform to someone else's schedule & far less hours needed for school), but again, we prayed about it and felt it was right for our family this year. We may homeschool again in the future..we are certainly open to the idea assuming my health holds. Not sure if this answers your questions, but I hope it helps. Let me know if you have anything specific you'd like to know.

Sara

[houseelf]

Totally off topic....

I hope that your health holds as well. Please take care of yourself.

Kelly