Homeschooling

As I think of the next school year, I wonder who should be homeschooling with me? Who will benefit from homeschooling rather than attending the local elementary. I know K will go to the kindergarten assigned for our area. She is more than ready, and super excited for the day to come when she gets to start, so that's pretty easy. Since they start kindergarten here in Finland the year a child turns 6, I have had her an extra year at home already - and because she's so much like her big sister and spends so much time with her, she has learned to read in English quite well (has read part of a 'Jack and Annie' book), she writes quite alot, tho' not always so accurately, and she can also read in Finn (tho' she may not know what she's reading - all the letter sounds are always the same in Finn, so it's pretty easy to read even if you don't necessarily understand it.)

As for the other 4 school aged kids - I'm almost 100% certain T will be homeschooling. He has the misfortune of having selective mutism (a form of childhood anxiety) and it's heartbreaking to see how hard it can be for him to go to school. Although he has for the most part come around now in this school (actually talks much more to his teacher this year than he has ever talked with a teacher - he can talk English to her, and she has earned his trust), he does not really have buddies on the playground for example (besides his younger brother who is in kindergarten, and twin boys who are also in kindergarten and who speak English.) That's not even so hard to see, because he seems quite comfortable with this. But to see the stress on him as he is getting ready for school many days, and dropping him off ... seeing how terribly hard it is for him to go in front of even a small group of people - these make it so hard to expect him to be able to handle starting a new school again so soon. Especially when he is not yet letting himself talk Finn, and when it would again be a Finn school. Nothing against Finn schools - I know they are rated really high in the world of education. But considering his anxiety, I am perfectly willing (and actually excited) to teach him at home next school year!

Our oldest is 10 years old and has some sensory integration struggles. He has some quite severe tics that seem to come and go (has never been diagnosed with tourette syndrome, but maybe he has that?) He has an extremely difficult time with change, poor kid. He has had some big changes in his short life. Maybe this has made him grow stronger than he would be if he'd never had to move - but he has really had a hard time knowing he has to leave this school where he is now feeling so comfortable. Not so comfortable he will talk Finn (tho' he knows it very well) - but he is just part of the school. His teacher was just telling me how bummed she is that we have to move - of course it has been extra work for her (she's also the principal of this small country school .... 65 students in grades K - 6), but she didn't mention that. She talked of how she has seen Niclas grow over the year, and how he is so diligent with his work and that everyone just likes him so well. I'm not sure if N will homeschool or not. I have promised him that he can, if he really feels he needs to. I'm hoping to bring the kids next week to take a look at the school where they will attend if they are not homeschooling, and we will meet the principal too. Let's see how N feels. I might be surprised if he wants to stay home. He is a little shy at first, but almost seems to need the social part of school. But if homeschooling seems better for him, I would happily keep him home, too.

M will go into 2nd grade, and she would possibly like to homeschool, but seems to quite easily make friends and does well in school once she has adjusted, I will probably encourage her to give it a try at least. It may be what is better for her. But if she needs, she can homeschool too, and I would enjoy having her home!

D will be in 1st grade, and he has some anxiety and would really like to stay home next year. He has come around so much this year in kindergarten here, I wonder if he would actually enjoy going to school once he would get used to it. On the other hand, he may have a hard time adjusting to another new school. One school for his kindergarten year in America, now this school for kindergarten here (since they start a year later here), and yet another school for 1st grade. Let's see, but I won't be too surprised if he is homeschooling.

Anyway - I have been searching on the internet for the ins and outs of homeschooling in Finland. It is not at all common here, but is maybe starting to pick up a little. Seems like quite often it is someone in just our type situation who may decide to homeschool. So I found one website that seemed to be on top of things, so contacted someone thru that site. And she gave me some direction. One thing was to contact the main office in the district/town, and get a contact person appointed to me - with this person we would plan our strategy for homeschooling, based on the Finnish curriculum (they have one core curriculum in Finland, and teachers can decide from that what books, etc. to use), and they would visit us every so often to make sure we are staying on track, etc. So I called the district and talked to the superintendent of schools, I assume her title is. I explained our situation and my plan to homeschool, and after we talked for some time she surprised me and said all I have to do is send her an email stating which children will be homeschooled and why. And she said from there she doesn't care what I teach or how I teach it - that's entirely up to me. Wow!! I was floored! So was another lady who is a teacher in the district and knows this superintendent. She said the Super. is typically very particular. She wants everything done by the book and documented in detail.

So the homeschool contact I had established told me (when I informed her the freedom I had been given) that this superintendent actually made a mistake my giving me this advice, but said 'good for you! you lucked out!\ I do plan to have someone look at the curriculum with me and will basically base my curriculum for the kids off of that, but ... I'm excited to start making plans!

When I contacted our local school there, the principal was not at all excited that I plan to homeschool and attempted to tell me, 'You should just plan to have all the children attend school.' But I told her we will decide and I am quite certain the best thing for one or two of the children will be to homeschool - but that we will let her know.

Tomorrow A and the two oldest boys will go to the 'new' place and make the first stab at starting to get it livable. His work schedule will be really busy between now and move-in time, so with that and remodeling the 'old school/new house', we'll be busy. I am actually planning to hire a neighbor teenager to come clean for me once/week from now until we move. She wasn't able to find summer employment and is a super duper good cleaner, and I think I could use that little extra boost with the work since I'll also be packing and deep cleaning here before we move in about 8 weeks.

That was long and detailed, so maybe a bit boring, but it is nice documentation for myself for the future!