Mentoring Makes A Difference
My husband and I had talked about homeschooling, but
sent our dear daughter to the public preschool after which I almost
immediately confessed my sin when she was taken from an awesome teacher
and put in a bi-lingual class (we are English-French--not Hispanic or
Spanish at all) three weeks into the year and subjected to taunting
because of her height. Other kids said she was stupid (while I was there
as teacher helper) and the teacher and counseling office did
nothing--said she should just deal with it!. If my child had made a
comment about some other child's color which they had no control over MY
child would have been a racist and been punished but you can call a tall
child 'stupid' all day long and get nothing.
We were told that pulling her out was against the law because if you
start preschool your child MUST remain in school irregardless of the 6
year old starting age thing. I know now about the law that states that
you do have to continue to educate the child but I could have started
homeschooling earlier. We already were as she could read and was only 4!
So by October of that year I was in tears as much as my daughter and
prayed fiercely that we would have 2 homeschooling families come by so
that the kids could play or do field trips together... and I would not
be alone in the endeavor. I didn't know about support groups and had
only learned the basics about the 'right' to homeschool in a round-about
way.
And God indeed provided 2 families--one of which has since moved away
and the other is still around in the area . The latter God sent to my
church's VBS after a chance meeting (or was it Divine appointment??) at
the library in line for checkout. We sent a letter to the school stating
our intention to home school and only received a handful of papers
asking for more information which we were told not to answer.
God continued to provide more and more families to arrive at church and
within circles I was associated with so there were many more than the 2
which I had prayed for. I don't know if I could have leaped into
homeschooling without having at least some others as it was very
secluding with 2 smaller children, not working and being in a small
church.
There was some challenges from neighbors who thought it strange that I
would welcome kids slightly older into my home after school and help
them with homework but my child did not get on or off the bus. We only
had one encounter with law enforcement on a walk which was quite
positive even though I was trembling in my boots! Now we are schooling 3
children with #4 (age 2) benefiting from a learning environment in our
home. I have rambled enough and need to check math papers! :-)
nancy
