NoJoMo #22

Today I’m going to share with you the "founding document" I composed when we decided to start homeschooling.  I reread it occasionally when I’m having a particularly stressful day, or see a job I’d like to apply for, or just start to question why we’re doing this.  

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            After giving the issue much consideration, my husband <DH> and I have decided that the best education we can provide for our children will be acquired through home schooling.  We believe we are more than adequately prepared to facilitate their complete education in this manner.  I will be the primary teacher for all subjects, because <DH> is employed full-time and occasionally required to travel for work.  I have been a full-time homemaker since our son David was born in 2006, so this will not require any adjustment to our financial planning.

            I graduated from a private high school in Miami, Florida, in 1992 with a 3.6 GPA, having taken honors level classes throughout my secondary education.  In 1996, I graduated from St. Thomas University (also in Miami) cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature.  I furthered my education at Florida International University, where I completed a Master’s of Science degree in Integrated Communications and graduated with a 3.83 GPA in 2001.  After our son was born, I contemplated a career change and began pursuing a second Master’s degree at Georgia State University.  I graduated in 2009 with a 4.0 GPA and my Master’s degree in Library Media Technology, and am currently a Certified Media Specialist in the state of Georgia.  I keep my professional credentials current even though I have no plans to seek employment outside the home at this time.

            During my studies at Georgia State, I took several general education classes required to obtain teacher certification in the state of Georgia.  My coursework included Methods of Research in Education, Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, Psychology of Learners and Learning, and Integrating Technology in School-Based Learning Environments.  Since I did not have an undergraduate degree in Education, I was also required to take a course in Characteristics and Instructional Strategies for Students with Disabilities.  While the primary focus of this coursework was to prepare me to educate children in a formal classroom setting, I feel that this knowledge also prepared me to be an excellent home school instructor for my children.

            My primary reason for choosing to home school my children is that I believe we can more easily work towards academic excellence in a one-on-one, tutorial-based environment.  I plan to utilize the methods described by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Brown in their book The Well-Trained Mind (W. W. Norton & Company, 2009) to provide my children with a classical education based on the trivium.  Under this system, the first four years of a child’s education (grades 1-4) are the grammar stage, wherein the building blocks for a lifetime of learning are laid.  The second four years (grades 5-8) are the logic stage, because children’s minds have become more analytical and capable of abstract thought by that time.  The final stage (grades 9-12) is the rhetoric stage, wherein students focus on expressing themselves in clear, forceful, elegant language and discovering what branches of knowledge they might like to specialize in moving forward.  Classical education differs from what is offered in most schools because it is language-based rather than image-based; though I will seek to implement technology in my children’s learning environment where appropriate, our primary focus will be on the written and spoken word.

I understand that Georgia State Law requires parents who are planning to home school their children to annually sign a Declaration of Intent to utilize a Home Study Program and submit it to the superintendent of the local school district no later thanSeptember 1.  Since we reside in Cobb County, I have ascertained that the Home Study Coordinator for the district is <name & address>.  In addition to the annual Declaration of Intent, monthly attendance reports shall be filed at the end of each month with the superintendent of the local school system.  The school year must be comprised of at least 180 days with at least 4.5 hours of instruction each day.

At the end of each school year, I will be required to write an annual progress assessment report in each required subject area for each student. These reports shall be retained for at least three years.  Additionally, Georgia law requires that all students in a home study program take an appropriate nationally standardized testing program administered in consultation with a person trained in the administration and interpretation of norm reference tests every three years beginning at the end of the third grade.  The results of these tests do not have to be shared with the local school district, but must be retained by the parents. 

As outlined in this document, I believe we are fully prepared to educate our children in a home study environment for the duration of their primary and secondary education.  I look forward to the challenges and rewards we will face as a family during this process.