Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Planting the seeds to homeschooling....

I found out recently that a good friend is going to homeschool two of her children.  I also found out that one of her other kids has a lot in common with my own son despite a 6 year age difference!  We got to talking about our boys, homeschooling, and so much more.  And, my friend asked me, "So, what made you decide to homeschool?"  Hmmm...that is a BIG question.  And, to answer, I have to go back to when I was a child myself, in fourth grade and wanting to know what made mushrooms grow.


Mushrooms?  Yes, mushrooms!  Imagine a huge backyard with gigantic redwood trees, undergrowth of ferns and moss, bushes and plants everywhere and tons of shade.  Imagine a yard with all kinds of great hiding spots among the plants and under branches, and behind little hills.  Imagine a yard filled with magic!  That's what I grew up with.  And it did seem magical.  There was always something new to look at or a new game to play.  We spent HOURS outside in our yard.  We had a big hill that we could ride our bikes down.  We had little trails winding through the bushes.  We had a blast!  And, we had mushrooms - lots of them!  We had all kinds of them but the best were the ones that had flat tops that would grow to several inches in diameter.



I was fascinated by the mushrooms.  They looked funny.  They smelled funny.  They felt funny.  (No, I never tasted them....)  In 4th grade I was fully becoming a science nerd.  I loved science and my teacher was by far the BEST science teacher in my entire school career!  But, I wanted to know what made these mushrooms grow.  I disected them.  I read about them.  I sketched and studied them.  But, nothing really gave me the information I was looking for.  So, I asked my teacher.


Boy, was that a let down!  The response?  "We don't have time to discuss mushrooms.  We have more important projects to take care of."  What?  Really?  I hadn't interrupted class to ask my question.  I hadn't said that I wanted to know about mushrooms instead of our other projects.  I wanted to learn about mushrooms in addition to whatever we were already studying.  It was like an intellectual slap in the face to my 4th grade self.  At that moment, I remember thinking very clearly, "I wish I could learn at home! I'd get a lot more done and know so much more stuff!"  At the time I had never heard of homeschooling but the seed was planted...


To be continued tomorrow with having my son, his early elementary years in public school and the transition to homeschooling...  I never did go back to studying mushrooms.  I know a bit more about them than I did in fourth grade, but not much...