I Heart Homeschooling

School has been a struggle for Isaac from the beginning. We have had ups and downs, but things became especially bad during his 3rd grade year. I made the decision to pull him and Katie (Kindergarten) out of school that spring to try homeschool. We all loved it! But, a new job made me decide to send them back to the neighborhood school in the fall for 1st and 4th grades.

I didn't feel I could do their education justice with my attention being split. If only I could send them to school one day a week!--I thought. I looked into a private program for homeschoolers that provides exactly that. But, I decided to abandon the idea due to cost and the fact that it was 20-minutes away.

It turned out to be the biggest blessing because Isaac's 4th grade teacher was the exact perfect person for him in his life at that time. We had the BEST year. I also adored Katie's first grade teacher, but when I found out about a charter distance program in Ogden that provides homeschoolers with all kinds of support including ALL curriculum and supplies plus 1.5 days of school per week, Katie wanted to try it. I transferred her right away (halfway through her first grade year). Isaac didn't want to make the change and I fully supported his choice since I loved his teacher so much.

I tried to persuade Isaac to join Katie's distance program at the beginning of this school year (2nd grade for Katie, 5th for Isaac), but he is at the age now where he doesn't want to be "different" so he refused. It has been a miserable school year for him and hard for me to watch him struggle so much and be labeled by his teacher as a bad kid.

At the beginning of February, I sent him to one day of school at the DaVinci Distance program. He complied, convinced he would hate it, and letting me know he was only doing it so he could get out of a day of going to his own school. But, when I asked him how his day went, he was speechless. He could not put into words how he felt about his experience. After everyone in the house had gone to bed, he came into my room and woke me up to say that he felt like he was going to cry because he loved DaVinci so much, but going there would mean he would have to leave Polk and that made him want to cry. And not going there also made him want to cry.

I asked him why he loved it so much and he said, because it made him feel generic. I asked him what that meant and he said that every day when he went to school he just wanted to blend in like "the generic kids who did what they were suppose to do." But, instead he was always getting embarrassed by the teacher calling him out for his behavior. "When I was at DaVinci, I finally felt generic."

He decided to remain at Polk. I said, "I know you want to stay at Polk because of your best friend." He said, "I never get to see him at school because he is in the other class." I said, "I know you want to stay at Polk because you love recess." He said, "My teacher always takes all of my recesses away." I knew the answers to these and other questions, but I asked them anyways and I knew it would be a short time until he chose the distance program. I wanted it to be fully his decision. It was fine because I had already signed up to be the room mom for the Valentine's Day party, so I figured I should see that through. The day after Valentine's we went on vacation to Denver and while I was sitting quietly by the pool the spirit told me that I needed to get Isaac out of his current situation at school. I took him on the next DaVinci Distance field trip right after we returned from Denver--to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point--and while he was there having the time of his life, I lowered the boom by saying, "Don't you wish you went to DaVinci Distance so this could be a school day?" At last, he conceded.

He has been so much happier since we made the switch and that makes me happy! We are definitely sticking with it next school year too. My boy is finally where he needs to be. Both he and Katie are loving it. On Tuesdays, Isaac takes an art class, Karate and wilderness survival from the coolest lady ever. Wilderness survival! How awesome is that?

On Wednesdays, Isaac has the most kind and patient teacher. He is in a class with about fourteen 5th and 6th graders and I think he feels "generic" because the other kids are like him. They are cutting and gluing and drawing or folding paper while the teacher is teaching and as long as they are not being disruptive, she compliments them on whatever they are doing instead of making them put it away. It is such a supportive and wonderful environment. This teacher already has my heart for being so kind to Isaac. I told his previous 5th grade teacher, "It's really hard for Isaac to be Isaac. He has a lot of struggles. It's nice to acknowledge that and not make his life harder." But, I think he thought discipline would mold Isaac into being just like all of the other kids. I am here to tell the world--it will not. Punishing him will not bring out the best in him, but loving him might.

Yesterday we took a field trip to Loveland Aquarium in Draper. I had the most magical day exploring those wonderful enormous tanks (and the penguin exhibit) with Katie and Isaac. As we sat for a long time in the calming shark tunnel, I felt pure joy flowing through my whole body. I love this homeschool program for these two SO much.

Later, I shared the story of Isaac loving DaVinci because it makes him feel generic to a very insightful person. I thought it was lovely that he feels generic, but this person responded, "You see, that is part of the problem. Isaac will never be like everyone else but he describes being generic as a positive thing because he thinks it is good to be like everyone else and he thinks he has to be like everyone else to be loved and to love himself. Isaac will never be O.K. until he understands his uniqueness and accepts it. You have to let him be O.K. as he is so he can accept himself as he is." Not only is this special time with my kids one of my greatest joys at this moment in my life, I also feel like this program will have a healing effect on Isaac. Keeping that in my prayers.