My husband grew up in a middle class family and went to school in a part of town with lower-income families and a high percentage (in the 80% range) of economically disadvantaged minorities. The stats for enrollment for 2012-2013 for 9th grade were 441 students and 145 students for 12th grade. This is not because they expanded capacity that year for freshmen or that students typically graduate early. The dropout rate is THAT bad and was that bad when my husband attended. The stats also indicate that students are 38% proficient in English and 20% proficient in math. So, you can see why my husband did not have a positive view of the educational system and decided early on that his children would be homeschooled. Of course I did not know all this when he was trying to persuade me. I was the naive girl who had a very different experience in school.
I grew up in a middle class family and went to school in a part of town where kids drove their Mercedes and BMWs to school. (I was the kid who drove the 1987 Buick Century that sounded like a banshee when it started.) My school literally had a 99% graduation rate and I think 90 something percent of the students went on to college. Looking at the 2012-2013 statistics for my school, 63% participated in AP courses, as opposed to 20% at my husband's school. Only 14% were economically disadvantaged at my high school. So I think it is clear we had very different high school experiences. I didn't even know life could be much different than what I experienced. When I went to school I watched TV shows such as The Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Growing Pains, all shows with united families and successful fathers. I watched MTV when it still aired music videos and not shows like 16 and Pregnant.
My husband and I were also very different types of students. He was the incredibly smart kid who didn't apply himself. He was one of the few who were proficient in math, who could calculate how to do the least amount of work, but pass the class, so he could read his science fiction books in lieu of textbooks and assigned literature. He was that annoying kid who didn't do homework or pay attention in class, but could ace the tests. He was a band nerd (saxophone) and ended up graduating with a 2 point something grade point average in his college prep classes and amazingly went on to a good college to get a degree in music composition and started a successful ska band after college. He loved to learn. He took classes in excess in college, because he was thirsty for knowledge.
I, on the other hand, was the studious child. I didn't take AP courses because I knew I was more likely to get a better grade in the college prep ones. I ended up graduating with a 3.9 GPA all because of that darn B in Spanish 2. I paid attention in class, stayed up late doing homework, and studied hard for tests. I loved high school. I was a cheerleader (which my husband wishes he could erase from my past) and had great friends with a fun social life and was in the choir. Naturally I was not opposed to my children experiencing the same thing, minus the embarrassing Buick. I went on to college and got a degree in nutrition. Then I went on to do a dietetic internship to become a Registered Dietitian, but quit two months into it because I could not handle working in a hospital. Turns out hypochondriacs and hospitals are not a good mix. Every night I went to bed thinking I had tuberculosis, cancer, or bed sores. After quitting I became a waitress until I met my husband. I never had a college degree career.
The town in which we live now has schools probably in between the quality of mine and my husband's, but closer to mine. They are located in the same district as my husband's school, so he naturally has a tainted view of them. The size of them is outrageous. It's a popular place to live with kids. The high school here is approaching 4000 students. The elementary schools have an enrollment of 1100 students for grades K-2 and 1200 for 3-5. That is about 15 classrooms per grade! I grew up with 2 or 3 per grade. I am guessing it would be easy for a child to get swallowed up in a sea of students. It makes me wonder how many children have potential that is not being reached because they are on the assembly line. The schools in our town are great in comparison to others in the state, but I think that can give parents a false sense of greatness. They might be better, but are they the best? When our daughter was 5-years-old I was sucked into believing they were good enough, but my husband wanted more, thus keeping him persistent in his homeschooling endeavor.
Ok, I think that is enough for tonight. That gives a background on the some of the whys of our choice to homeschool. Next I will go more into what the early years of what our homeschooling was like....and, ahem, we made a lot of mistakes...(to be continued.)
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