We continue our talk with Vickie Smith, author of The Quiet Doll Queen and president of Ark Essentials Publishing. You can read part one here.
Vickie, after teaching your children at home for a time, you chose to send them to public school. How did the transition go from home to school?
My oldest adapted fairly easily. She’d already made friends and gotten used to things gradually. I also adapted to the huge amount of paperwork and costs that went along with public education. My second daughter struggled a bit, but part of that was by choice. She could’ve dropped down a grade and eased in, but she wanted to do both band and orchestra, so she sacrificed to get what she wanted. It was the hardest on my third daughter. She had recently completed needed eye therapy and was kind of behind in the learning process. I had struggled desperately to get her to read and hadn’t been able to find the problem until she was about eight years old. She also hadn’t had that nice gradual introduction where she could make friends and just get used to all the chaos and noise and school routines. She really struggled with shyness and would cry in class. She had a great teacher who nurtured her along and really went the extra mile. My boy took to kindergarten like a duck to water. He was so mature and ready for school. His bus driver even raved about how well behaved he was compared to all the other “young hoolligans”.
The next year, his brother followed right behind—he was a bit of a handful, but in a good way. He’s a very active boy who loves science and asks lots of questions. This is one I was ready to send to school from day one. This was the child I had difficulties keeping involved in the education process while I home-taught his siblings. He was such a busy little guy! He also attended kindergarten with that most amazing kindergarten teacher and loved it.
Emotionally it was hard for me to send my kids to school full time. I felt “less” for a while. I missed them. I like to teach and it gives me a rush when kids I’m teaching are learning and progressing. My husband says I’m much better at helping the kids with their homework and not having to do everything myself. I agree! But I know if I ever have to I can pull out one or all of my kids and teach them at home, I can. I don’t feel like I’m a hostage to the public school system. I can take it or leave it based on what is best for my children.
It’s great to have skill sets that work with whatever circumstances you face.
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