The Withdrawal

Sigh...today was the day that we withdrew our little bumpkin from public school. She was as happy as a lark and deep down inside, I had complete and total peace. I don't know how to describe the feeling but I felt that I was certain that this is what we're supposed to do. In my mind it is the very best option.  I mean if you had an enormously large scale and you placed public school on one side and home school on the other, in my house and heart, the advantages of home school totally outweigh the advantages of public school.

When I share the information with my friends, they gasp at some things that we experienced while in the system. However, while going through those things, we didn't respond the way that our friends say they would have or that they say we should have. That doesn't make me feel bad though. Actually it confirms with me that we were willing to be compliant and tried to believe the best  and to work with the public school system. Be all of that as it may, I called the school, gave notice of our decision to withdraw, picked up the withdrawal form and filed my declaration of intent with the Superintendent's office. So that's that and we proceeded to have our first day of school at home. My daughter jumped up and down when I informed her that we were starting now rather then later and her elation was enough to let me know that I'd done the best thing.

Our official curriculum has not arrived yet so we are starting with some 1st grade work that I purchased at the beginning of the summer and that she has been working from since. It covers math, reading comprehension, language arts, analog time, counting money and much more. Just the other day, we learned what compound words are and how to identify them. Such a rewarding feeling to explain a concept to my own child and watch her "get it."

This transition though has been bitter-sweet. I thought about Madison's school friends before I made this decision and what not seeing her at school everyday would be like for them. Of course I thought about Madison too, but figured that her being with her sister and mommy everyday would make up for any friendships she might initially miss and I was right. But these little kids with their precious little hearts cried when the teacher told them that Madison would not be coming back to class.. That was hard to hear. The parent that I served as Room Parent with emailed me and told me the reaction from her classmates and the fact that her own son said "I so miss her." That's hard to hear and my husband really "felt" for the kids and was sorry that they took it so hard, But these are the hard decisions that have to be made.


*What about you? What are some of the things that you feel will make it hard for you to take the leap to withdraw your kid(s) from public school. If you already have what was your experience?