I share the following because people have inquired about the decision we made three years ago to homeschool our son.
To the homeschool parents, the reasons you decide to homeschool are varied but hopefully at the center is simply a care for the soul of your child.
Our approach to homeschooling is rooted in our faith tradition and that faith tradition is one built upon sacrifice. There is no way around it. Homeschooling is not easy--actually it can even be downright inconvenient. God Bless my wife who does all the work and lesson planning (on top of being a physician!). Even homeschool families who are not practicing a faith based approach are aware of the additional work and sacrifices necessary for success.
There was a time when we thought the neighborhood catholic parish school would suffice, but it didn't.
We should have known there was a problem when, years ago we had a conference with one of our son's teachers.
The issue was the behavior of another child. Come on we've been there--your kid doesn't even want to go to school--remember those days?
Unfortunately after about two minutes into the meeting my wife and I realized that we would get no where. Want to know why? Because the problem kid was a child of one of the teachers.
Here, take a listen...
teacher: "Well, you know your son has upset the class at times."
parents:(cast a glare towards the boy) "Really?"
teacher: "Yes, just the other day we were discussing spending time with Jesus in church"
parents: "Okay..."
teacher: "And how Jesus is with us when we are in church"
parents: "Okay.."
teacher: "Are you aware that we have quite a few kids who are not Catholic?"
parents: "Well, actually...we're Episcopalians..."
teacher: "Your son listened to all the other kids of different faiths talk about spending time with Jesus in their church and then announced 'You're all wrong--Jesus is only present in the Roman Catholic Church in the tabernacle"
(My son made a terrible Episcopalian...come to think of it...so did I)
So...it goes something like this--don't upset the non-catholic student population, especially because their tuition checks are keeping the school open.
What a bunch of poop.
