Home School vs Away School *

*Thanks Sarah for the away school comment! It made me laugh and is so perfect!

I have been meaning to post about this for a long time but you know how life is for me. Ok, really I am just lazy but here goes.
We have decided not to home school Kaileen for this upcoming year. We are always looking to do the best thing for our kids and that changes as they grow. (as you all know) When we originally decided to home school we were coming off of a bad experience in a private school and really needed a change of pace. Life was too hectic and stressful. School was not good, I was working full time and it just did not work for our family. (this is why I have such mad respect for my working mom friends....I have been there and it is hard!) Home schooling was great and just what we needed. We saw almost instant improvement in Kaileen and our whole family was calmer and happier. But things change. For one, we had Evie. When you are home schooling you really need to be able to cart your kids around to various and many activities on an almost daily basis. This gets difficult with an infant in tow. Not impossible, but difficult. (remember what I said before about being lazy) I also began to see that home schooling an only child isn't the best idea unless they are some sort of prodigy. (not that Kaileen isn't but....) Only children have the laser focus of their parents at all times and sometimes may need a break, or so Kaileen tells me every day.
The other major issue I had was the other home schoolers to be honest. From what I have seen home schooling breaks down into two major categories. The first would be the granola crunching, breast feed your kids till college, unschoolers. Unschooling, for those who don't know, operates under the premise that children learn all they need from life and no formal curriculum is needed. So a half hour outside watching bugs counts as science for the day. These are the home schoolers who have no problem with the fact that their nine year old can't read and figure they will learn when ready. I am not kidding. So obviously I really didn't fit in with this particular sect of home schoolers. I would have a huge problem if my nine year old didn't read but that is just me buying into the lies of society obviously.
The other category is the super right wing, bible bashing, beat your kids for discipline, Christian home schooler. I preferred their curriculum as it is pretty advanced and well done, however we skipped a lot of the bible parts because it gets a little ridiculous. They actually expected Kaileen to be able to unscramble long sentences that were these obscure passages from the bible using Thee and Thou from her biblical memory. I told her if I can't do it I don't expect you to. I also rarely ever bash someone with my bible and only beat my kids for fun, never for discipline. So unfortunately, I didn't really fit in with this group either.
The co-op we joined was a disaster. Kaileen had fun but the women were awful and it got to be a very clicky and political mess. (with the two groups I mentioned before battling for ultimate home schooling power) As you all know, I don't play that. My point to this diatribe is that we had an almost complete lack of support. I did manage to find a couple of families who are normal and wonderful but it just isn't enough.
Home schooling is also a huge pain in the butt. All of the education is on me (duh). I have to research and buy curriculum, plan, teach, come up with projects, nag, grade and all the organizing of extracurricular activities and play dates. Did I mention I have a baby and a house to clean? I am so down with letting a teacher handle the education part. Maybe they won't have to nag as much. I actually really enjoyed some aspects of home schooling and I loved having Kaileen around and all the time we spend together. I will miss her terribly when she is away. (somehow I feel she will not miss me as much...maybe because of previously mentioned nagging?) Home schooling is great for some families and in and of itself is a wonderful thing. However, it is no longer my thing. (unless public school is horrible....)
So I am looking forward to away school and I am also very apprehensive. Hopefully this will be the right fit but if not, it is good to know I have other options.