OK, sorry guys, but many of you homeschooling parents who are reading this blog are "not normal" in terms of your families and you don't need me to tell you that!


In my research about homeschooling, I have learned that some traditional homeschoolers don’t think virtual school is really homeschooling. The former group homeschools because they want to pick the curriculum, and in many cases they want to include religious instruction. Some take issue with the government involvement and prefer to homeschool to avoid a variety of restrictions imposed by public or community education.


My reasoning was different. I have thought about this off and on, but it is one thing to consider homeschooling a healthy child, and yet another to consider it with an attachment or trauma affected child. I tried it once with a young man who was with us for a few months. He was minimally motivated, hadn’t been in the country for more than a few months (from the Ukraine) and had the usual passive/aggressive attitude about him. I just wasn’t a good candidate to take that very far. (I was wearing enough hats as the therapeutic mom.) He was with us temporarily and I found him another placement where he was homeschooled. He fought it at first, but there were about 8 other kids getting homeschooled right along with him, so he eventually went with the program. He’s doing great now.


I have learned that there are an unbelievable number of opportunities for social interaction, at least in my neck of the woods. However, I have also learned that some are for “traditional homeschoolers” only and not virtual homeschoolers. How weird is that? I guess you can find politics everywhere you go. Lawrence Virtual School has its own group and own listserve for community networking, and I have learned the large, local homeschool group in my area does accept virtual homeschoolers. So we should be good to go either way.


My husband likes the idea of virtual school because we pay those taxes that support this program, and to pull our kids out of public school and homeschool them at our expense is a double whammy. Believe it or not, Lawrence Virtual School costs less than a hundred bucks a child. (As we all know, we're spending more than that on BUSING!) Kansas pays a school district somewhere around $4500 per kid! No wonder the schools fight for your kid to BE there … many schools aren’t that interested in doing what is BEST for the kid—the priority is to have the child’s presence in the building!


I’m not sure what our options will be as it is midyear, but if and when we enroll next summer for the ‘08/’09 school year, we will receive $2200 worth of books, microscopes, loaner laptops, etc. at our door! Can you imagine?


Tonight as I searched for a recipe for a soup I had made before, I ran across all these great recipes I had saved in hopes of preparing them some day. I can't wait until Beth and I can start cooking together. Tonight we cruised around our church's website and looked at all the things she can choose to do that there wouldn't be time for otherwise ... like the youth handbell choir and (next year) the 6th grade youth group.


Beth is a child that is fun to be around. I think that is a vital component to this equation ... but not a given for lots of you!


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