Signing Off

On Wednesday night after work, Mike and I went to see a free Roy Orbsion documentary with a talk afterwards by the writer/director/producer of the film who works for the BBC music journalism department. Then on Thursday night we went to another Arizona Republic sponsored storytelling night, Estamos Aqui/We Are Here. It was so fabulous, and I was so bummed that the kids couldn’t come with us, but they both had classes. As we were walking out, Mike asked me how I hear about all of these cool events, and I gave him my typical answer that I’m on every mailing list in town. I realized then that I am essentially homeschooling Mike now.

So, here’s my point – homeschooling is such a messed up term. If I never had to utter that word again it would be too soon. Yet here I am again writing about it! Today I’m trying to condense our lifestyle for the last 10 years into a one-page “high school transcript” GODDAMIT. I’ve been digging in my heels trying to avoid this bullshit document even though I’ve saved every piece of everything my kids have ever done. In a few weeks Patrick will be graduating with his Associate’s degree from community college, and he will transfer in to ASU as a junior, not having to complete anymore lower division G.E. and already powering out much of what he needs for his major, Urban Planning. Rebecca, despite having taken 50 million music and French classes, will finish her Associate’s and AGEC  in one more year, so I’m going to go ahead and graduate her too, and give her the Ohm Academy diploma as well, as I spent good money at OfficeMax buying the high-quality paper with gold seals. Ohm = OurHomeschoolMystery or the measure of electrical resistance, which we clearly have much of (naming our school was one of the fun days we had here.)

My standard answers are still the same. Yes, anyone can homeschool. No, we did not homeschool for religious reasons (although we’re also not anti-religion either and some of our best friends are both devoutly religious and atheists.) No, we are not unschoolers (although if you truly look at our day-to-day it might look that way.) No, I have nothing against schools, schoolkids, or teachers. Yes, my kids have friends and social lives (we have met some of the most amazing people since starting this journey.) Yes, my kids partook in most, if not all, of the major milestones that school kids do – proms (three of them), plays (countless), band, sports, clubs, etc. (see our blog in its entirety.) Yes, I worked as a registered nurse the entire 10 years that we homeschooled. Yes, my husband also works full-time. Yes, he is one of the homeschool teachers, too. No, we are not crazy (relative term.)

Since I started homeschooling my kids, I have now moved on to doing nurse case management, which largely consists of matching patients with services they need for wellness. I liken this role very much to what I did when I pulled my kids out of school and what I went on to do throughout their homeschooling, which is continually ask the question, “What does my kid need for educational success and how can I get that?” I have been relentless in advocating for my kids, and at this point, my proudest moment is that I see evidence that they can now advocate for themselves. This is how I know that it’s time for me to wrap things up, write the transcript, seal the diploma, and say goodbye to homeschooling in its formal sense, and let it be the lifestyle choice and state of mind that I already know it really is.