Education Matters US » About Me

More About Me

Lennie — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 16:07:59 +0000

By now, most everyone knows my wife home schools our kids. What most of you don’t know is that we felt forced into this decision. My oldest started in Public Schools. So, yes, my wife and I some attended board meetings, all Parent-Teacher conferences and even called a few of our own. We were also there at every find raiser and after school play. My wife volunteered in the school and went to PTA meetings. We met a lot of resistance when we asked questions about why things were done a certain way. We had bad experiences with long term tenured teachers 2 out of the 3 years we had our oldest in public school. The 1 year that was great was a teacher who had only been teaching in the district about 3 years if my memory serves me. The last teacher was antagonistic toward us and toward my child. My oldest came to us late that school year and asked to go to another school. So for third grade we put both children into a Private School. We sacrificed to make this happen because we care about our kids education.

Finally, this past year, we made the decision to homeschool. It was a long process and many conversations with the Private School administration. We had our youngest tested and were told she needed to skip first grade. The private school was unwilling to do this unless the public schools would also agree to allow her to skip a grade. That was not going to happen, we had tried to do the same with my oldest as well and the public school would not allow it either.

As you can tell, I have 2 gifted children. Our decision was simple, but very frustrating and a lot of hard work. We had to start homeschooling to make sure our kids got the education they deserved. Let me tell you, homeschooling is work. It takes more time and sacrifice to do it right than sending your kids off to public or private school. It would have been very nice to have been able to keep my kids in public school. I refuse to do that because my kids education is too important. For anyone that wonders, when my kids were in public school I still opposed the referendum in the district I was in at the time.

Public schools are failing to meet the needs of my kids and of your kids. Giving them more money is not the answer, reform is. The system needs an overhaul that is long past due.

My Education Background

Lennie — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 03:25:50 +0000

Let me give you some of my background. My parents were always involved in my school and in the studies of my siblings and myself. They pushed us to learn so that we would have a better life. Neither of my parents had ever finished high school. My father farmed and worked the fields. He did not go past eighth grade. My mother went only to the tenth grade. She quit school when they were married. When I was in junior high my mother went and got her GED as a good example for us. My father was the sole bread winner. He made less than $20,000/year when I was in elementary school and that had to take care of a family of 6. He sacrificed and sent me to private school in first and second grade. I was the second oldest. I have an older brother who is Autistic. I did not attend kindergarten. For my 3rd through 5th grades my sister and I attended a church run school. Someone there paid a scholarship for us to attend. I can remember during this time our family was on food stamps. We all went to public school starting the following year since all 4 of us could attend the same school. They had special ed classes for my brother. I did almost nothing in 6th and 7th grade. I was advanced over what the school was teaching. I did not let that stop me and neither did my parents. I continued to learn on my own with their prodding. I continued at the top of my class the remainder of my school years. I was accepted into college skipping my senior year of high school. I worked every summer and during the school year to pay for my college. One of my sisters did the same. I finished my degree by working a night shift and going to school full time every day. I worked hard and was encouraged by my parents. I had class sizes between 25 – 30 most of the time.

My wife and I are involved in our kidsâ€™ education. We make sure they do their homework and they understand it. We stress to them the importance of always doing their best even though it is not required in school. My oldest quickly learned there is a certain amount of work that is required to get A’s. We make sure she knows that we expect her best even if the school does not. My youngest has not learned the same bad habit yet. Hopefully she won’t. She does have her own set of traits to work through though.