The Cool Kids

It has been made clear to me over the past few months that there is a hierarchy amongst the homeschool community. The "traditional" homeschoolers, those who create their own program, either by ordering a curriculum or creating their own, look down their noses at families who use a cyber charter school. They are the cheerleaders, I'm the nerds, the unschoolers are the stoners...it's just like public school all over again.

My impression is that traditional homeschoolers believe that if you're part of the public school system in any form, you've compromised. You're part of the system. You're one of THEM.

I don't homeschool because I want to stick it to the system. I homeschool because I want my kids to get the best education possible. I don't have time to fight the system, I've got kids to teach. The public school can continue to exist forever if it wants to, and no doubt it will do just that. As long as I have a choice whether or not to send my kids there, no skin off my back. If other people want their kids to get a below average education, go right ahead! Just means more good jobs for mine.

If I hadn't found a great curriculum in k12, and a great online school in Agora, I probably would have gone the traditional route. I was homeschooled traditionally, using a satellite school curriculum, and it was great. I have nothing against the traditional method. For me, I wanted to see what all of our options were. I didn't want to go with traditional just because it was traditional. I knew that there had to be more options since the days when I was homeschooled, and I wanted to look at them all.

I can't do the unschooling thing, either. I don't homeschool because I hate structure. I homeschool because I want my kids to get the best individualized education possible. I love structure. I believe children thrive on structure. Kids are not equipped to know what is best for them. I'm not letting my kids decide what they need to learn when they can't even decide how many squares of toilet paper are appropriate to use when wiping one's rear end...

When I looked at the k12 curriculum, which my Dad had recommended to me years before, I loved it. k12 can be used traditionally, you can just order it off of their site and go at it on your own. But I happened to find the Agora school listed as a participating cyber charter school with k12. I loved the look of Agora's website and their online school. I loved the idea of having all of my lessons organized for me, and all of my records kept for me. You get the best of both worlds; the organizational talents of the public school, which you have to admit are amazing, with an actual academic education! Why would you pass that up?

The only practical tie that binds me to the brick and mortar public school is attendance. Ava has to log in and do school work every day that the public school kids do. But "log in" and "do school work" are very different things. You can log in and record schoolwork that you completed the previous Saturday. So the only real tie that binds you is tied very loosely.

The k12 curriculum is great, and the user interface of Agora's online school is incredible. Ava gets not only a great curriculum, but is also learning computer science at the same time. And let's face it, if you're not highly involved with computers and the internet these days, you're going to be GREATLY handicapped in the very near future. k12 is a mastery based curriculum, if you can show mastery of a lesson topic, you can move on. So my kids who are advanced, when learning that the letter combination "ay" makes the long a sound, can move on in 5 minutes, instead of working on it for 3 weeks so that snot-nosed little Joey Thumb Sucker, who barely made it off the short bus, can really understand this difficult concept. It's a beautiful thing.

And if you really want to argue over who's sticking it to the system more, guess where my school tax money goes? Not to the brick and mortar school...my money goes straight to Agora, who, since they have no brick and mortar building, has less of an overhead and can spend the money on better things! Where does your tax money go, traditional homeschooler?

Let me say, I don't know if I'll continue using a cyber charter school forever. But for now, it's the best option. It's working out beautifully for Ava, and is exceeding my expectations.

So you can take your pom-poms elsewhere, this is one nerd you can't bully. Beneath my pocket protector, we've got the same granny panties on, you and I.