tuesday school

There's a lot of talk about homeschooling this time of year so thought I'd do a post on it. No, I don't think homeschooling is for everyone. Public and private schooling have their own rewards (and drawbacks) but so does homeschooling. The only argument about homeschooling that ever worked for me is that I'm my child's best advocate and have their best interests at heart which is a great educational foundation. I was trained to be a public school teacher but found I liked tutoring kids much better and homeschooling is basically tutoring. But the boys do attend public school every Tuesday and have for 3 years.

This morning we headed 45 miles east to go to real school. Washington state is a wonderful place for education as their laws are homeschool-friendly. Other states make it much harder to educate kids at home. There is always a movement working to abolish homeschooling altogether which makes me scratch my head because most children were homeschooled until the last century. But I'd best not get political here.

The boys love Tuesday school and attend from 9-3. They have wonderful certified instructors that teach such interesting things like:
The Secret Lives of Bugs
Hands-on Medieval History
Cooking
Ceramics/Art
Computer
Reader's Theater
Writer's Workshop
P.E.
Woodworking

This particular program gives homeschooling parents a generous stipend to buy books, etc. I work in the school library while the boys are in classes as parent are required to be on-site. It's fun being with other parents and going on field trips like the Seattle Science Center and experiencing its amazing butterfly garden (you walk through this huge atrium with a waterfall and lots of exotic trees and flowers and real butterflies of all colors and descriptions land on your head and arms - think the Garden of Eden). Anyway, you get the picture. And it's a very pretty one!

The only downside is that I miss my writing while there. I took a hard copy of book 2 (no laptop) and was able to sit in the sun in my Jeep and edit on paper with the proverbial red pen. I really do like editing (it's a challenge) and pray for an editor's eye. So now I'm off to the 18th-century tonight, in deep wilderness just beyond the Falls of the Ohio (present day Louisville, Kentucky), and I can hardly wait to get there.