Back to School

I know, it's January. September is still 9 months away. But the reality is setting in for me that we have to decide where, if anywhere, E will be attending school for the '09-'10 school year.

For many, it's a no-brainer, you decided years ago that your child(ren) would attend public school, private school, or that you'd homeschool. I thought for sure that I'd send my kids to public school straight away. Now the time has arrived (almost), and I'm just not as settled on that choice anymore.

I began thinking about homeschooling a couple of years ago, when I realized how much fun it is to teach your own child and discover the world with them. It's amazing! But honestly, I could hardly believe that I would entertain the idea of homeschooling. When I was growing up, the few homeschooled kids that I knew were weird and out of touch with what was hip and cool, at least from my perspective. Nevertheless, I eventually bagged the idea for a few reasons:

• I decided I wasn't hard core enough to do it: the research to choose curriculum, choosing a "style," sticking with it, doing a good job, etc.
  
• I learned of a Spanish K program in Pittsburgh, that would give E a leg up on her Spanish language development. (For those that don't know me, I studied Spanish and have spoken some off and on with E since she was a little over 1 year old. And we'll be moving to Pgh soon.)
• I started thinking about how nice it would be to get back more time for me and my plans for my life.

Recently, however, I've been thinking about homeschooling again for these reasons:

• I shouldn't can an idea just because of the unknowns or because I don't think I'll be as good at it as X.
• The Spanish K program - beyond costing $6,000 for the year (a good price for what you get, I think, but still $6,000!) - is full day, just like the Pgh public schools.
• Now might not be the time to simply think about me, but to think as a whole about what I want our children to be learning during these early, impressionable years of their lives.

So, the experiment begins. Elizabeth seems very interested in learning to read. So, I purchased a well-reviewed book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I'm getting acquainted with it and will attempt to begin teaching E soon.

Baby steps, folks. I'll keep you posted.