Education: Part 2

      I'm starting to pack up the textbooks and materials from the last two years of home school.  It's time to send them back to the online school.  My daughter just started attending a charter school for kids on the autism spectrum.  We are very grateful.  She had been on the waiting list for 2-3 years. 

     I do have some mixed feelings as I look through the books and supplies.  Some of the materials we never used.  We never made it through the literature book to the chapters about the Wright Brothers or King Arthur and we never used the sand or the magnifying glass in the science kit.  Division and mixed numbers are still mysteries and the spelling lists for "ph" words and "gu" words will have to be tackled another time. I would have liked to explore all of these things.  I love learning and I wanted to engage my daughter in it.  It would have been so satisfying to say that we made it to the end and finished.

     I wish I could wrap up the whole homeschool experience and call it a major success, but "success" probably isn't the right word.  I can't evaluate it in the same way I might with other experiences in my life. I wish I could say that through effort and hard work and determination we made leaps and bounds in her academics.  There was a lot of effort on both our parts, but the truth is, her progress was slow and labored.  It tested her and me to our limits.  I almost quit several times.  MG was often uncooperative and defiant because of her struggles and I wondered if this was worth it.

     I wish I could say that I knew exactly what she needed and knew how her brain worked and was able to teach to her specific needs.  However, many times I was bewildered and perplexed.  I was often confused (or just exhausted) about how to help her.  Some techniques and incentives seemed effective one day, but were useless the next.  It was easy to blame myself.

     I wish I could say that homeschooling was the right decision, but circumstances being what they were, there didn't seem to be a right choice.  The alternatives had their own problems. Nothing seemed ideal, so we took the situation as it was, made a decision to homeschool, and worked with it.  Many days were smooth and MG was engaged, and many days were a trial and difficult, and some days I just want to forget.  But we kept plugging away.

     So when trying to define how the last couple of years went, I have to be satisfied with "we tried." I think that is a worthy assessment.  We tried, we learned, we grew. We will continue to try and try again throughout this whole journey.  Would I home school again if needed? Yes.  Is it likely? No.