Homeschooling

I remember back when Jim & I were weighing the pros & cons of homeschooling and decided to "give it a try".  We agreed to take it "one year at a time".  We had such mixed emotions; we were unsure of ourselves, of our teaching capabilities, of our decision, ultimately, to not only take our child out of the school system but also to approach "teaching" him completely different than the ways we were taught as children.  We weren't being influenced by anyone other than ourselves; of our own desire to allow him to be a child; to learn while playing, to have fun while learning,  to embrace his natural abilities to thrive & spread his wings as an individual.
When children enter the school system they automatically get tossed into various groups.  They're stripped of their individuality almost immediately.  They're a face without a name.  They're a number; a statistic.  Their level of intelligence is based primarily on how they test.  Your child may be an absolute whiz at math, but rest assured that if they perform poorly on a test and score low then it's assumed that they're not as smart as they really are.  They aren't allowed to have a 'bad' day.  If they sit perfectly still, listen perfectly well & learn at the same pace as 'everyone else' then they're considered an exceptional student.  They're not given second chances.   Most importantly, in my opinion, they're not allowed to be children. 
Children are born with the desire to learn.  They want to learn.  They want to be challenged.  They want to be creative.  But when they are forced to learn at a "standard" pace, from "standard" books, their once brightly lit passion for learning slowly diminishes & eventually disappears.
Our son was 5 1/2 years old when we saw his flame start to flicker.  5 1/2 years old.  He was in Kindergarten..in a classroom full of over 20 little kids.  And he was lost.  The class resembled that of a poorly run daycare; there was no structure, no organization, little authority...and yet the children were expected to perform, academically, to the 'state' standards.  I showed up early one day & spotted Kyle "trying" to work on his math assignment.  He was seated at a table with 5 other children.  1 child was (literally) tossing crayons around the table.  Another was kicking his seat.  And another was clapping.  When I mentioned this to the teacher, she said that Kyle needed to learn how to focus & "block out" the noises around him.   One week later she told me that Kyle was struggling with his math work.  And just like that, he became the 'not so smart' kid.  The rest of the school year was awful, in my opinion.  I requested several parent/teacher conferences.  During one of them the teacher said that Kyle was very behind in his classroom journal.  I bluntly asked her "why?".  She said that it's up to the children (keep in mind their age here...5 & 6 year olds!) to remember to write in their journal every day, without being prompted to do so.   They'd been working in them for weeks.  I asked her to give me his journal so he could get caught up with it at home.  She went over to the pile of journals & discovered that Kyle didn't have one.  She had 'forgotten' to make one for him.  I left that meeting in tears.  He was the forgotten kid.  He was the one left behind.  And so began a rapid paced downward spiral. 
I spent the entire summer researching homeschooling.  It was overwhelming, to say the least, but fortunately I met a friend via Facebook who also homeschools her children & who gave me some great tips & advice on how to get started.  She became my 'rock' during our first year of homeschooling.  Kyle & I both experienced many ups & downs but through them all my friend gave me the motivation & encouragement I needed to keep going.  As the months passed I began to feel more confident.  I discovered that I was more than capable of teaching Kyle at home, as was Jim.  It didn't take long at all for us to spark Kyle's flame, his passion, for learning and now..3 years later..it burns with an amazing intensity!  He thinks learning is fun & most of the time he doesn't even realize that he IS, infact, learning! 
If I were to feel the need to "grade" him, as the school system is required to do, he is reading at an advanced 6th grade level & is currently doing advanced 4th grade math.  But I don't feel that need.  I don't have to grade him.  I'm physically seeing the results for myself. 
By homeschooling Kyle we have given him the freedom that every child deserves.  The freedom to be a child.  He runs more than he walks.  He stands more than he sits.  He's not sitting at a desk for hours & hours.  He's not struggling with homework or stressing over tests but he is getting an education.  It may be a little different, but it's amazing.  He willingly reads for over 2 hours every day, probably because we allow him to read the things that interest him...like Science & History.  And kid books, too.  We've created a customized 'curriculum' for him, so he's constantly being challenged, which he loves.  If he makes a mistake, we let him try to figure out where he went wrong.  A huge part of learning IS to make mistakes.  He's able to take a 'hands on' approach to almost everything he does.  He spends his days exploring & experimenting.  He's spends his days being a kid.  He'll be a grown up soon enough.  Until then, we want nothing more than for him to be a child, to spread his wings and to be an individual...the way he's meant to be.
Afterall, Children learn what they live, if that makes any sense.