Homeschool Question

I like the idea of homeschooling and I don't believe kids need the "socialization" that school brings.  But...I know Ingrid is a social butterfly and loves to be around kids her own age.  So I need to know how other homeschooling parents deal with this.  Are there other homeschoolers around that you meet up with?  I'm trying to get one together around here but I'm not sure how many other homeschoolers there are.  There have to be more, right?  I'm in a city!  There are tons of people here, I'm not the only one thinking of homeschooling. 

Any  advice would be appreciated!!

Sitting for Story Time

A few weeks ago a friend and I took our 2yr olds to a bookstore for story time.  All the other kids sat nicely while our children ran amok and didn't listen to a thing the lady said.  I thought maybe we should talk about that, so we've been really focusing on listening lately.  This morning I said we could go to the library story time if she could listen to the story and sit still.  Ingrid, of course, being on a "big girl" kick, said she could.  She could not.

We got there and she started running past all the other kids sitting there nicely to try to find the toys they usually have out.  I grabbed her and said no, listen there's a guy playing a song, let's sing along!  She gave me her mad look and ran away.  I wrangled her to the back and told her once again she had to sit and listen or we would go home, she screamed in my face that she wanted to stay.  *deep breath* okay. 

She refused to sit down and anything I would say just got a scream instead.  Moms are looking, kids are looking, it was embarrassing.  When we used to go to story time it was for kids under 2, so there wasn't a huge expectation of sitting still.  Half the kids were running around and would only stop to sing a song they recognized.  I never felt bad about it.  But lately it seems like every other kid her age can sit still for a story and a song.  All these little 2yr olds sitting like little ladies and gentlemen, and here's my monster running around like she never gets play time! 

Part of me could care less, I love having my spitfire kid and why should I care if she has the attention span for story time?  She can sit for hours at home reading books, and she knows the words to multiple songs.  It's not like she really needs anything from story time.  So why do I care?  Is it just because of the looks from other moms?  And why are those bitches giving me looks anyway??  I'm sure their kids all have their moments...

Or do kids need to learn to sit still and listen?  Is it one of those socialization things they should learn how to do?  It's rude to not listen and to disrupt story time for others, but is she capable of understanding that?  Am I just expecting too much from a 2yr old?  Until I figure it out I'm just going to avoid story time for awhile.  There's nothing to be gained from it and it just frustrates me and doesn't seem to be very fun for Ingrid.   

Homeschooling

Lyndsey over at Motherhood Moments wrote this blog post about unschooling.  I am so inspired by it and had to write my own ideas down about it. 

My schooling was okay, there was nothing majorly wrong about it, but it left me uninspired and even though I could have gone to whatever college in Michigan I wanted to on a great scholarship, I didn't go to college.  I was burnt out on playing the game of school.  I was always getting negative comments on my report cards about bothering other kids who were still working.  I would whiz through whatever we were doing and I'd be bored, so I would try to help my friends along so they could be done, too.  Teachers didn't think oh here's an intelligent kid, they just said oh, here's a nuisance, we need to shut her up and slow her down.  So I began to think I was doing something wrong.  Teachers would tell me I was going too fast, I wasn't reading the directions clearly, I wasn't double checking my answers.  Yes, I was!  I was just really fast! 

And don't get me started about middle school!  As a girl it is hell.  Absolute pure hell.  I would not wish that on my daughter for anything.  The gossip, the dirty looks, the backstabbing.  I had a group of friends in 6th grade, one of whom was a neighbor girl I would play with often.  One day she decided she didn't like me, so she talked all the other kids into not liking me, either.  Suddenly I was left floating in a class with no friends and no idea why it had happened.  Luckily I was switched to another class and found girls I am still to this day friends with!  But how awful to go through that, right?? 

High school was not much better.  I was "good" at school because I would do the work, but I wasn't interested in any of it.  Most of the classes were spent trying to quiet people down, then teach a little, then make us regurgitate what we were told.  If you had a good memory, you were "smart."  If you didn't, then you weren't.  By my junior year I was over it.  I stopped playing the game, I stopped going to class, I was this close to dropping out.  Everyone thought I was on drugs, or hanging out with the wrong crowd, they never stopped to think that a 16 year old could just be sick of school and all the drama that went along with it!

One thing I remember is that older friends that had graduated would say stick with it, college is so much better!  You know why they thought it was better?  Because they had freedom to learn what they wanted, take classes they wanted, and people were there because they wanted to be there.  There are those classes with people that have to take a requirement, but most classes are filled with people who chose to be there because they wanted to learn that subject.  You know what that sounds like to me?  Homeschooling!  Why make my kid wait until she's burnt out with "normal" schooling?  Why not just teach her that way all along?

I remember our family friends switching their kids to a new charter school.  They went to an info night and when they got back with folders of the new curriculum, I was so jealous!  Sixth graders were expected to read the classics!  They got to take interesting science classes!  I said that if I had a chance to go to a school like that, I wouldn't have almost dropped out of school, I would have gone to college right away, I would have enjoyed learning.  I still remember that, and if I can't find a school like that for Ingrid, I don't want to send her anywhere.  She can stay home with me and read whatever books she likes, and we'll go to museums and movies and look stuff up online.  She can take music classes or dance classes or whatever she wants to do. 

Yesterday we were at the park and there were some older kids playing on the merry go round.  They were going a bit fast and Ingrid wanted to join in.  I thought for sure the girls would give her dirty looks and not let her play but right away they said HI!  Do you want to play with us?  We'll go slow, come on, let's play!  I was amazed, and completely happy.  Then I met their mom--she has seven kids and homeschools.  The kids aren't raised to see kids as younger and therefore inferior, they just see...kids.  That want to play.  How lovely!

This is a bit of a rambling post, but it's stuff that is on my mind so much.  Part of me wants to "get rid" of Ingrid at 5 so I can focus on sewing and stuff, but that's a small selfish part that comes out on the days she acts up and is a true 2 year old!  Another part wonders if she's learning enough social things, and if she'll be okay with other kids if she's not in a preschool or whatever.  Even though I know she's learning social skills from me, I wonder.  And she's just turning 2 so I have time to figure stuff out, but Lyndsey's post inspired me, so here you go!