Coree's Choice

December 2008...photo by Amy Lemon

Some of you will remember that Coree led the charge to enroll in public school when we got here to Okinawa. The boys wanted nothing to do with it.

The irony of that is, the boys ended up all meeting great friends in the neighborhood and at church who gave them all the inside scoop of the schools here. All three of them then decided they wanted to give it a try, too. They have had great experiences and haven't looked back.

Coree, on the other hand, has the misfortune of being a middle-schooler. Middle school is just miserable...there is no way around it. As a matter of fact, impending middle school is the main reason we started home schooling in the first place. Coree is the first of our children to have to endure it...and she may very well be the last.

I don't know whether the kids are miserable because the school is run like a prison...or the school is run like a prison because the kids are so miserable...but either way, all it's lacking is the barbed wire. For example, it is school policy that if you switch tables in the lunch room once you've already sat down, you get detention. So, if Coree is sitting alone...and sees a new girl sitting alone, she risks landing herself in detention if she goes to sit by the new girl. Nice! Those are JUST the kind of values I want to instill in my children.

That's just a small example, and I won't name names and go into the whole laundry list here, but I have just been completely underwhelmed with her school at every turn...from communication to parent involvement...from teachers berating students to students just being...nasty middle schoolers. I really wanted to bring her home. This is what Coree wanted 2 weeks into last school year, so I was surprised that she didn't jump at the chance.

What she did want to do, I think is a pretty good compromise. Since the school is set up on an A day/B day schedule...she is now only attending 4 classes on A day and we are doing other subjects at home on B day. It's funny how the classes she chose to keep all had things in common...great teachers, great communication with the parents and subjects she is doing well in...and these are core subjects like language arts, math, PE, etc. The classes she dumped also had things in common...teachers who acted like they would much rather be doing something else (and probably should), LOTS of anxiety and terrible communication with home...and these were supposed to be "fun" electives. Who needs that kind of stress for "fun"? We can do just fine on our own, thank you!

So I now have one half-time home schooler! And Coree is thrilled to be home by herself with Mom. We are going to do lots of fun things! We've ordered a microscope and a unit that could last us the rest of the year exploring all kinds of things with it. There are SO many things to explore here on Okinawa in the science arena...and art? SO much art...Coree is going to be able to explore what she loves. She hopes to do some more work with pastels that Grandma Garrie got her started with on our trip...AND, this will finally give her more time to work on writing her first book. You think I'm joking? Just wait!