Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?

[jpapadpapa]

So, I ran a quick errand this morning to pick something up from the store and on my way back, I saw all the kids waiting at the corners for the bus to come pick them up. It's been a while since I have seen this and I was struck by my own reaction. I honestly felt sad! I felt so badly that all these children are going off to be put under someone else's care and teaching. I know it's not a biblical mandate that we all homeschool, but I guess I am just feeling more and more like this is so right for our family and I can't imagine anyone else not wanting to do it. :(

Anyone else feel this way when they see all the children outside waiting?

[tmlgarrett@msn.com]

Not only do I feel sad when I see kids waiting for the bus and getting off the bus exhausted at the end of the day, but it breaks my heart to hear people (once even a pastor) talk about parents dreading their kids being home for the WHOLE summer or how much they will look forward to the kids FINALLY going back to school. Pay attention over the summer and you will hear MANY such comments! Like you said, I know that not everyone is "called" to homeschool, but I have a hard time holding my tongue sometimes when I hear people talking like this because it makes me so sad for the kids.

[daddys3chicks]

I feel this way too. My kids are still in public school until the end of this year. The last day of Spring Break we were at the neighborhood playground. I was thinking how I hated for SB to be over and how much I am looking forward to summer and hsing in the Fall.

One of the other neighborhood moms came to the park and her first comment was "Is Spring Break over yet?"

For a couple of months I filled in at the after school program at our church CDC. I almost cried the first day, thinking that these kids are getting off the bus to me - someone they have never met! Every parent who came to get their kid just said hi, and got them. Not one person asked who I was or anything.

I would have HSed from day one, but DH wasn't convinced. Now he is!

[Springway Classical]

I suppose if I were to put myself in the shoes of a working mom and found it necessary to send my child to school on a bus, my greatest fear would be about safety (no seat belts, a stranger behind the wheel, bullies, etc.). It is the disadvantage of living in an urban area with huge school systems, the ever increasing cost of gas and too few buses for the number of riders, which causes the staggered school bell system making many kids wait in the dark to get on the bus, endure a long bus ride, and/or return home in the dark during the winter months.

Of course, for me, the safety issue doesn't end with the bus ride. When I grew up in a small town (a million years ago), everyone knew the teachers. You'd see them at church, play with their kids, our parents knew their families, etc. Those days are long gone, at least in this bustling, growing area. Teacher retention is low and replacements are many. And who are they hiring, often at the last minute to fill a vacancy? Even if they do a criminal background check, the results are likely to be delayed. So many state licensing boards and private employers are requiring criminal background checks before hiring that security firms and agencies performing the checks can't keep up with the requests in a timely manner. Even hiring more technicians hasn't improved the situation because of the time it takes to fully train them.

Okay, and that's just the school teachers and bus drivers and janitors and cafeteria workers. What about the hundreds (thousands?) of summer "camp" workers? Those same kids on the school buses will soon be heading off to summer day camps Mon-Fri. I shudder to think!

I thank God every day for the blessing of keeping my child safe and secure at home and not being in the hands of a stranger with 30+ other children needing attention.

[carolinamom]

I consider it a gift to homeschool everyday. (Well, almost every day.) I tell my husband that too so he knows how much I appreciate that he works so hard so that I can be with them. In return he has peace of mind when he travels that a sane person is watching over his children and wants only the best for them.

Last year, we would watch a kindergartner get off the bus up the street with a backpack SO big I thought it would topple him over. Homework? In kindergarten? Then there are the stories of no recesses or bathroom breaks. I don't get how that makes better humans!

Thank God we can homeschool!