Unschooling

Awhile ago I had considered homeschooling my son. I really wanted to pursue that route, but because of down talk from family (read: My mother), I decided to trash that idea. I'm not sure if it was completely absurd to her that I wanted to keep my son out of the public education system, or if it was a lack of faith in my abilities to educate him myself.. either way, her disapproval smashed my confidence and drive.

But then I think, wait.. this is my child we're talking about, not hers. Do I need her approval? Hell no! Although, the borderline in me says otherwise... because me being me, I need reassurance from a multitude of people before I make a big decision like that.

Anyways, in my internet travels yesterday I stumbled upon unschooling. I'm not quite sure how I missed it while researching homeschooling, but somehow I did.
And yesterday, it was just like... a light bulb turned on. THIS is what I want to do.. this is what I want for my child.

Elementary school, as I remember it, was BORING. I'm not just saying that to say it, it literally was almost painfully boring. The only interest I got out of it was once a week when I went to a difference school for my "advanced" learning class. I was always "above average" on standardized tests.. I was reading before Kindergarten.. and I started doing most of my school at home in the 5th grade. Of course, that was due to health problems (migraines) preventing me from functioning in the classroom, but still. I didn't really go back.
The next three years, my middle school years, were mostly done at home, and I taught myself. I had a teacher bring me certain assignments and then I did those assignments on my own. I guess in a sense I was homeschooled, but I homeschooled myself.

My freshman year came around, and I registered for school. Then the first day of school came, and went. I didn't go. By then, of course, I was suffering from severe social anxiety, depression, and all that fun stuff which probably heavily influenced my decision not to go back to public school. Halfway through the year, I decided that I needed a diploma, so I enrolled in an alternative highschool, because I really saw no other option. I didn't want to get my GED because, .. honestly, it wasn't good enough for me.
Had I known I would have been fine with my homeschooled education, I would have skipped highschool and jumped right into some college courses. But I was told, as we are all told, without a diploma, without a highschool education, you will be nothing. You will amount to nothing, and you will never be able to get a job. Right?

Did highschool prepare me for my future?

I will tell you what I learned in highschool.
I learned to smoke cigarettes. I learned about different things you can smoke marijuana out of. I learned all about popping pills, huffing, and hard liquor. I learned that you can't trust anyone - even people who say they are your friends. I got pregnant, got arrested, and started hating myself more.
But did I get a diploma? You bet your ass I did. And that's all that matters, right?

I have no faith in the public education system. I do not disagree with it and I do believe that it does more good than harm. But is that what I want for my child? Do I want him to spend the next 12 years of his life being taught what they think he should know, what they think is important in order to mold him for a future in the working class?

I am all for education. But I think our public education system needs to be heavily revised and it just tears me apart inside to think about putting my son in public school when I feel so strongly against it.

I have proposed the idea of unschooling to Ron, who wasn't exactly thrilled about it. I have said nothing to my mother, as this is still something I am mulling over..
And Kindergarten registration is literally the next three days.. maybe it's a last minute sign..

Or maybe I will cave and let society tell me what's best for my child.

A Work In Progress...

This blog will be a work in progress over the next little bit... and this is mainly a test post :)

I'm in the process of overhauling the blog and turning it into something new...

To My Son:

MOM IS NOT PERFECT.  I am just like you, stumbling through life trying to find who I am and figure out this big, complicated world we live in.  I've just had a few extra years of practice.

Shane's 5th birthday

Shane turned 5 this year! I made him a cake... which, by the way, is my first cake I've ever gotten creative with ha! I think it turned out pretty well.

He insisted on heading to Blast Off for his birthday... which I can't blame him.. there's not a whole lot to do when there's snow everywhere. We are considering celebrating Shane's "half" birthday.. that way we can do a summer party too.  Spoiled??? I think so.. :)

 We came back to our place (Which is naked! Don't mind the bare walls and windows.. our house is under construction!) where we opened presents, had pizza, and ate some of my wonderful cake...lol.

2010 in pictures.

 The year begins with a birthday. :]

Shane turned 4 this year.

 

Shane and I got a puppy, Kalea!! She's so cute and small here :]

Shane graduated from pre-pre-school! 

Ron decided to grow his hair out.

 

Shane taught himself how to ride his bike without training wheels!

<3

I am back :)

So, I have decided to update. Finally!

I will update later with pics and stuff from the rest of the year once I get them off of my phone [[ which may take me awhile, because for some reason that is always something I put off ]].

For now, Happy Holidays everyone! :)

Here I am :)

Well, obviously I haven't updated this thing in months! So, here goes.

Those of you that know me well know that I've had a pretty busy and eventful year so far. The beginning of the year was spent working on improving my health and I really didn't get to spend much time doing anything else.

I have, however, finally finished my schooling, and I am now working for a medical transcription company called InScribe. I've gone down to part time at the hospital and I'm working on getting up to full time on this other job. I'll be staying at the hospital for insurance purposes, but hopefully Ron and I will get married sometime in the future and I'll be able to quit there. Not that I don't love each and every one of the people I work with... it's just time for a change :)

Our house is getting done as well! We almost have an upstairs bathroom. Since a pipe broke in our wall, we had to fix it, so we just tore the whole thing out and redid it all. It looks amazing! I'm so excited to not have to go down 3 flights of stairs in the middle of the night to go potty, LOL. And Ron has started construction on Shane's room! So Shane will get his own room pretty soon, and it's bigger than ours! Lucky kid.. haha.

I will update (hopefully) a little more often than I have been, since I'll be spending a lot of time online due to my new job.