Yes, we won the lottery in December of 2012.  We got into one of the best magnet schools in town.  A school that people used to camp out to get into.  And then we left.  Call us crazy if you will, but school wasn’t working for our family.  Our son was losing his spark.  Yes, he behaved well in school, better than most in fact.  But you could just see how much it took out of him to work that hard holding it together in school all day.  Without the freedom to move and get outdoors he was shriveling up, the joy was slowly seeping out of him.

It was a terribly difficult decision.  One we all talked about off and on for the past year and a half.  It’s a great school, they truly are dedicated to their students and doing the very best they can within a broken educational system.

Simon learned so much in kindergarten.  His teachers were some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met .  But did you know that they don’t really play in kindergarten anymore?There is no dress up bin, no play kitchen area, no spot for imaginative open ended play.  It is all planned.  They only go outside for recess for a short time each day and they have tests, lots of tests.  Did you know that students all over the country are getting sick to their stomachs because of tests? In Kindergarten?  Don’t even get me started on the poor things after third grade!

In a future post I will share some research to show how common sense, physiology and psychology combine to prove we are doing it all wrong.

Anyway, so here we are homeschooling.  We aren’t bringing school to our house.  We are bringing learning to our life.  Follow along if you like, we’re happy to share our adventures with you!