Our children have never attended a public school. When our oldest daughter was ready for kindergarten, something like 17 years ago, we decided to try an experiment and homeschool her. The longer we homeschooled the more we liked it and found value in it.
A little over a month Janine saw a post on Facebook from a friend asking if any family was interested in hosting a Japanese student for the school year. We talked about it for a couple days and then said yes. Nine days ago we picked the student up at the airport. It is a bummer, but we were told that homeschooling was not an option. So Janine has entered the lion’s den working to enter the Japanese student at the local high school.
So far we’ve had couple minor issues which reaffirmed our good feelings about homeschooling.
The first was being told that solid blue and red shirts were not allowed. On the first day a school official told Janine that to avoid problems with gangs the school had a policy of not allowing students to wear solid red or solid blue shirts. It was a real challenge for us to explain the reasons why to our Japanese student.
Another thing we’re struggling with is the school has said the student can only have three unexcused absences. Our family likes to go on trips during the school year. A main reason this student has come to America was to learn about American culture. We don’t think this should be just a school experience. We want to travel around and share the wonders of nature.
This should be a learning experience. School doesn’t start for another week, but already I’m a bit worried that the next nine months will have a number of frustrations and challenges.
