Formalities

I met with Jacob’s guidance counselor, and she was very nice about me withdrawing him from school. At my request, she allowed me to keep all of Jacob’s textbooks through the end of this school year so that I can transition him from public school to homeschooling, and check to see what he learned earlier in the year as well as see where he should go according to the old textbooks.

Next, I called the school district office from my work office and told them that I would be homeschooling my son starting February 1. The woman I spoke with said that I couldn’t withdraw him until I got my paperwork in, and that she would send it to me. My friend Nita said otherwise: that I could withdraw him and send the letter of intent within two weeks of withdrawing him. Whatever.

Now that I got those legalities out of the way, I began to surf the Internet looking for books. I had the list of state-required courses, and I want to parallel the public school curriculum as much as possible. It’s not their curriculum that is the problem (although some of the Health topics are an issue); it’s the environment of the school.

"Mom, if you knew what I hear in just one day at school, you'd pull me out right away," said my ninth-grade daughter, Alexandra, whom we plan to start homeschooling in September. It made me wonder.