GypsySpirit In my blog post “a fun new project emerged…” I published on October 17, 2022 while visiting Brazil, I said a new “project” emerged. That was the project of Jovan, my youngest son, leaving the public school system again and returning to home schooling. I was ecstatic.
I must report it went extremely well. He finished the 10th grade while back in Florida coming back from Brazil last year (Spring 2023). For 11th grade, however, he wanted to try public high school again. I was disappointed and I knew he wouldn’t like the chains of prison after being so free, but I had to let him try it and see for himself.
Going Back to Public School
First, he had to take an annual evaluation to prove he was at the required high school level to enter the 11th grade. Second, I had to provide his homeschooling transcript. To enroll him in the local public school I entered all of his info online through the portal. He had been in the county before so I just had to reactivate his record. Most parents fill out the paper documents but I would rather do the job of the admin by entering it all online than to print paper, fill it out, and have to go to the school in person and wait until someone did their job.
When I finally received a response (email communication is VERY slow and at times non-existent in Central Florida) the admin even emailed me thanking me for entering all the info. By her saying that, it gave me the impression that people don’t typically do that.
If only people were more up-to-date and used technology the only way it’s supposed to be used- and allow it to do what it’s supposed to do, which is to save us headaches and our most precious asset on this earth: TIME.
You might ask, how does it save you time if you’re entering all the info yourself? My answer is (1) I would still have to handwrite or type all the info into the forms (2) print it and sign it, and (3) drive to the school, and get someone to collect the info while waiting for them to do it at their pace. I’d rather input things myself instead of wasting a day or more.
I could be at my home office being productive while I let the snail educational system work. I still had to wait for the school administrators to do the last task of that process and get Jovan officially enrolled with a student ID. Even that still took several emails from me requesting it.
The Public School System (and educational systems in general)
Something I’ve grown to really dislike is government employees not reading or responding to their emails.
I went to Europe and I wasn’t impressed with how things move, although, when it comes to customer service, for the most part, it’s better than the US currently. What they’re progressing in over there just like US is the level of security and monitoring. Cameras everywhere and people obsessed with alarm systems and sensors that track your every movement outside and inside the homes (Airbnbs I used). Very frightening.
At the time of editing this blog post (September 2024) and as of my time spent in Europe this summer, I decided Asia and Africa are the next continents I want to explore.
Back to #1 task which was the annual evaluation Jovan had to do to be able to enroll in classes. Well, that was another super challenge to even get it scheduled. The apathy this country breeds and encourages should be a crime. I was secretly wishing Jovan didn’t want to go back to brick-and-mortar public education, but as a mom I still like to honor what my kids want for themselves. I knew he would eventually see for himself that homeschooling was better. So there he went.
Ran Like A Prison
It took him probably around one month to start voicing how restrictive it all was. He started becoming depressed. The waking up excessively early for a brain that doesn’t wake up until at least 10 am at his age alone is insanely damaging to these kids’ still-growing brains. Then they attend mind-numbing classes that would make a prisoner scream. In fact, I feel like that’s how students are treated in most schools- like prisoners- not even allowed to go to the bathroom without asking for permission.
He started coming home so tired and numb that he just wanted to go to sleep. Then wake up, have dinner, and soon go to bed to do it all over again the next day.
Not even one semester into the school year, I heard all of the complaints that I already knew were coming and, of course, I wanted to rescue my child because that’s not what I wanted for him in the first place. I was trying to keep him away from it. I gave him until the end of the semester to decide whether he wanted to continue his prison time or gain back his freedom. Just like I knew he would hate going back to public school, I knew he would choose homeschooling. He said “Yes please.” So, I started the process of withdrawing him from the brick and mortar school.
Back to Homeschooling (no virtual schools)
Hmm…not so fast. First, I had to deal with the attendance office who never processed my notes excusing his absences, and his counselor who preferred to move my emails to the “clutter” folder in outlook so she never had to look at them again. The faculty was refusing to give him credit for some of the classes due to “unexcused” absences.
What if a child happens to have troubles at home? Unloving and even abusive parents? Just as bad, apathetic parents, and they miss 8 or more days in the semester, and their parents don’t care enough or are not around to write the notes? What about those kids?
Do you know why they have this attendance policy? It’s not because they care that the kids attend school as some would like to think. It’s because if the kid is absent that much, the school loses its already meager school funding.
Homeschooling is like unaccredited private schools and even accredited ones, where you don’t have to follow the attendance policies america’s public schools put in place to make sure they get their funding per student. In private school you pay your tuition and the student’s performance is up to him/her. This ridiculous policy didn’t exist when I was going to school. It makes it even harder than it is for a large population to face obstacles in the effort to graduate with enough credits.
No More Dealing With America’s public schools
This time, since I knew Jovan would not go back to public school ever again, because next year we would be traveling and he’d be in the middle of 12th grade, I considered an umbrella school to get under.
The State of Florida doesn’t require a diploma from homeschooled students nor does it provide one anywhere. However, I want him to have one since he might attend college overseas. To ensure Jovan gets an actual high school diploma, I found the perfect solution. As a student with a parent-built curriculum he could get under this umbrella under Florida law in order to actually receive a diploma. I don’t know why I had not found this option during all my prior research but I was glad it was given to me this time by a counselor.
The name is Home Life Academy. This one is not an affiliate link and it doesn’t make me any money to recommend them. I’m getting the word out in case other homeschool parents are reading this. The annual fee was reasonable and worth it. A huge plus, the classes the public school didn’t want to give him credit for because he had 8 “unexcused” absences (remember, the attendance office never processed my notes), were credited to him by Home Life Academy. As it should be. He attended school, he did the work, and he took the annual evaluation.
What About Extracurricular Activities ?
This is a lot of people’s concern when you tell them you’re homeschooling your kid. If you encourage your kids to follow their interests as early as they show it, your kids should be doing these “extracurricular activities” from a very young age. You don’t need a school to give you a drop down list of activities your child has to choose from. Jovan did always join extracurricular activities and sports while growing up and attending a charter school in California. He played Soccer for many years, and later Track and one semester of Football in freshman year.
Jovan showed interest in weight lifting and fitness in general since very young. He started applying it at the age of 12. Because of homeschooling, he’s currently able to pursue his passions and interests which is to motivate people to do self-care and take care of their bodies through fitness. It gives him time to do a lot of personal development and to learn to manage his time which are two very important life skills.
It’s summer now and Jovan finished 11th grade with flying colors. He continues his business/finance internship with my business and we’re traveling through Italy as I write this.
What About (Advanced Placement) AP Classes and AP Exams?
I will answer this as homeschooling mom of 4 and author Maya Frost does: “…Advanced Placement isn’t so advanced…” To summarize it in one sentence, AP classes and AP exams are just another scam by American public schools to get some more funding while most of those classes don’t even transfer to college credits, even though that’s what they promise to do when the kids sign up.
I welcome you to dig into how deep our children’s education system is by reading this wonderful book: “The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education.”
As I get ready to publish this while we spend a couple of months in Puerto Rico, I have finalized Jovan’s 12th grade curriculum. Jovan is ready for 12th grade. He only needed two subjects/credits to finish high school which are English and Math. This was my situation in high school in both junior (11th) and senior (12th) year and that’s how I ended up taking up a one-year accounting certification during my junior year and a data entry course during senior year. It’s what launched my current career and later facilitated starting my own business.
So, I gave the Jovan the choice to choose a business course in addition to the business internship he’s doing with my company, plus a psychology course as electives. Happy to report that I just received a stamp of approval from the counselor at Home Life Academy. I highly recommend them!
Dual Enrollment
I had plans to enroll Jovan in college while completing his 11th and 12th grade which is called “dual enrollment.” I found an online college in Arizona he could enroll in to complete college courses online. At the time I researched them two years ago it was about $350 per course. After much discussion with Jovan and taking our travel plans into consideration, we decided sticking with the college-level courses through The Great Courses for his high school diploma. Plus, we don’t know where we’re going to end up and where Jovan will want to attend college, if he even wants to. So, while it is a great option, we’re not going to go the route of dual enrollment. However, I encourage other parents to look into it whether homeschooling or not. Your child can complete two years of college while in high school, a really great shortcut that saves both time and money.
The options for parents to take charge of their children’s education are limitless. If you don’t know where to start I would read the recommended book above.
