I Bit the Poison Apple

I feel like such a sell out...I enrolled Cora in School today.

But not in your typical school. This is a school/home school hybrid thingy. There is one teacher for all students grade 1-3 (5 kids there today). Every weekday they offer half day "workshops" which everyone enrolled is free to attend or not attend as they wish. Parents are welcome to come and stay all day or leave and then come back. They do creative writing, science projects, drama, and arts and crafts. An art teacher comes in from time to time and gives art lessons. They have special guest speakers and arrange cool field trips. They have a monthly social and put on little plays. Students can also participate in band, choir, and sports through the school.
When you enroll, they check out to you all the curriculum including teachers manuals and print outs. You can choose to use what they give you or use any curriculum of your choice. It's much like a home school coop but with public school funding.

This is no fee, it's all "free".

Here's the only catch, at the end of every month you have to show proof of the child's work in all the core subjects. Which isn't really that big of a deal. They need record of what the kids are learning, because they include these kids in their number of enrolled students, so the school gets money for them.

And thus my guilt. I feel like the Home School lobbyist and activists are shaking their heads at me. We must protect our right to educate our children as we see fit. I feel that I am some how giving up some future right that I will one day wish I had. For no matter how much choice we have in curriculum and attendance, someone is still telling us how much to complete each month. Is this just a poison apple offered in an attempt to gain more control over the local home school population?

And yet I still think this is a great program. I think all school districts should offer programs like this. The public schools get more money and home schoolers gain more options. Best of both worlds, right?

I did have reservations while filling out the enrollment paperwork. They ask for so much information. I understand the names phone numbers, address, and even the medical/vaccination information, but why do they need to know what company we work for, where she was born, race and ethnicity. They even say I need to bring in a copy of her birth certificate. Why?
I didn't have it with me today. Maybe they'll forget I didn't turn it in and not ask me for it again.

I know I'm one of those who puts it out there on Facebook and this blog, but that's my choice. I didn't like being told that I HAD to do something. I had the same defensive feeling when her new, simply adorable, teacher handed her some lined paper and said she needed to write those letters 5 times each. Excuse me? Homework? Who are you to tell my child what she HAS to do? But like I said, in this program she doesn't really HAVE to do that, she could do something else instead. She just has to do something. I have quite the aversion to rigid schedules and deadlines.

After home schooling, I'm not sure how I could handle public school. Right now, we decide what, how, and when they learn. Though that's not quite true either. It's really up to the kiddos. I can't fill their brains if they refuse to learn. My job is to help develop in them a heart that craves knowledge. Learning should be organic. Just something that we do. Life is learning. The world is the classroom and all those other cheesy home school propaganda slogans.

I like what this program offers, some structure, and outside instruction, organized field trips but the freedom for the parent to choose and to participate in their child's education. Besides it's only through the end of their school year, then we'll be moving on. And no one is telling us exactly what we must do, just giving us some more options. Right?