Homeschool...? Or not.

Once upon a time, we had the idea to homeschool our kids, at least for the first semester or so while we're adjusting as a family and while they're learning English.

Then we tried it.

Some of it was great. For instance:

1.)  Hanging out together all day = lots of family bonding
2.)  1-to-2 teacher-student ratio = plenty of one-on-one attention and accommodations for different learning styles

Some of it was not so great. Such as:

1.)  Hanging out together all day = everyone driving everyone else crazy. There is such thing as too much of a good thing...
2.)  Parents/teachers who quickly felt overwhelmed and under-prepared to teach four students with four different learning styles, all at different levels and needing all the high school subjects ... who don't speak English yet.

A couple weeks ago, Alfredo told me he wanted to go to school. My mental image of Philly public schools involved armed police officers, drug dealers in hoodies and utter chaos in the classrooms. On the other hand, it was clear to me that homeschool most likely isn't the best option for us after all, at least not for all four at this point in our lives. So with mixed feelings, I called the public schools in our neighborhood. The secretary at the high school invited us to come on over right then, so all six of us walked over and were blown away by how kind and welcoming they were. (Shout out to my pessimist friends and father: sure enough, when you begin with low expectations, you leave room to be pleasantly surprised.)

The school is 55% English Language Learners. In the classroom we observed there were at least a dozen different countries represented. The teachers and the secretaries were great. The principal was great. He came to the U.S. from Cambodia at age 13, never having been in school before and not knowing a word of English. He was a student at the school, then a teacher, then the assistant principal and now the principal. His English teacher then is now his secretary.

Yes, there was a metal detector and yes, we smelled pot in the hallway by the boys' bathroom while the principal was giving us a tour, and yes, some of the students are 3x the size of our little Peruvian kids ... but overall, it seems like it could be a great fit for the kids. The school is well equipped to teach kids with no or little English, and everyone assures us that there are very few of the typical problems with bullying, drugs, etc. among the students in the ELL program. Those problems happen primarily among the 45% of the school who are South Philly kids (so they say). So for the majority of the day, our kids will be tucked away with other newcomers to the country, learning more than we could teach them at home (hopefully!) and making friends (hopefully!).

Today was Day 1. Theoretically, now would be the time I'd be catching up on a ton of work that's overdue. But instead I'm blogging about the kids, wondering how they are doing in school right now, and planning what I'll make for a snack when they get home.

Stephanie: Excited and nervous. Had her notebooks and pens ready yesterday. Made herself a schedule for the week and set her alarm for 5:00 a.m. so she'd have plenty of time to get ready.

Alfredo: Bouncing off the walls excited. Could not sit still during breakfast. Danced or ran most of the way to school.

Joseph: Nervous and reluctant. Held my hand on the walk to school. I'm sure that won't last long, but I'll enjoy it while it does.

Ivone: Nervous, reluctant, excited. She was 1 1/2 years away from graduating in Peru, so she is not at all pleased about being put back a couple grades.

Feeling confident.

Feeling... not so confident. But hopeful.