In the beginning...

In the beginning was a family with a smart little boy who drove his parents crazy. Having a child at 21, living in a rural Canadian town, with not much financial stability would be hard enough for most couples. But add in that the child is a budding genius and you have an interesting recipe for alternative education.

Kevin began reading when he was 18 months. Really! I had just finished my early childhood education training and had oodles of educational materials strewn around my house. Flash cards, Dr. Seuss books, felt board creations, magnetic shapes, numbers and letters, play dough, paints, paper, scissors...you name it, I had it!

Kevin was an inquisitive baby, wanting to know "whatzat?" as soon as he could formulate the words (about 13 months). So one day we were on a "field trip" to the bird sanctuary in our little rural town on the coast of B.C., Canada. We were watching a baby deer that had been rescued in the woods take wobbly steps around a fenced in enclosure, when 18-mo old Kevin asked me, "whatzat?"

"It's a deer." I replied.
"Whatzat?!" repeated Kevin, insistently.
"A fence?"
"Whatzat!?!" he said, pointing with his chubby finger and stomping his boot-clad foot.
I imagined myself at his eye-level and looked to see what he could be so insistent about. A sign hung on the fence, admonishing visitors to not feed the deer.
"Oh, that's a sign." I replied, feeling confident that I had solved the mystery.
"WHATZAT?" a hysterical edge was now in his voice.
Worried that an impending tantrum was about to ensue, I bent down and looked closely at the sign, wondering if his younger eyes were picking out some bug that I couldn't see.  No bug.
"It says 'Do not feed the deer'" I volunteered.
"WHATZAT?WHATZAT?" he repeated, now pointing frantically to the words on the sign.
"A 'D'?" I queried.
"D", he smiled and nodded thoughtfully, then his pudgy finger moved to the next letter. "Whatzat?"
Ah! I had solved the puzzle. For the next ten minutes I told my young son what the name of each letter on the sign was. He repeated the letters carefully as if he was storing the information away in his little brain. Which is exactly what he was doing. For the next few weeks, his inquisitive "whatzat?" was always in reference to letters on signs. Soon his vocabulary increased so that he could ask "what's that say?" and I would "read" the signs to him.

At about 20 months, Kevin came toddling up to me one afternoon and confidently told me, "'M' makes a 'mmmmm' sound."
"That's right! " I rallied, amazed at my son's intelligence. Soon he was able to tell me the sounds of most of the consonants, with very little prodding from me or his father.

By two-years of age, Kevin could amaze all of our friends by "reading" lists of rhyming words. One of his favorite books was the "Ear Book" by Dr. Seuss. One day I "caught" him reading this book to himself. At the time I thought 'how cute, he's memorized the book' but within a few days I realized he was really focusing on the words and "reading" what he had memorized and matching those "words" to the actual words in the book. By two and a half, I could honestly say to people, "my child can read" and prove it by giving him a previously unknown word, and watching him "sound" out the word.

By three-years of age he could read simple books to himself with very little prompting. At four, he was reading unassisted, and by age five, he picked up "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and proceeded to finish where I had left off reading to him one night.

Around this time the magical day arrived. He was finally old enough to enter Kindergarten. In Canada, a child must by 5 years old by December 30th of the school year in order to start school in September of that year. Being a January born baby, poor Kevin had had to wait an extra nine months before he was "eligible" for Kindergarten.

He excitedly got ready for "school" that morning, eager to finally enter "big" school. After 3 plus years in pre-school (due to my working and bringing him along with me since he was 2), he was finally ready to do some "real" learning.

At noon, a very dejected little boy came out of the classroom and declared to his expectantly waiting mom "I hate school. I'm not going back." Uh oh, crisis on my hands!  After careful discussion it turned out that he was majorly disappointed with "big" school. It was just like preschool. He had had enough of preschool.

"Mom, those kids don't even know how to read!" he complained to me that night. I sighed. What was I going to do? Had I ruined my son by teaching him how to read so young? Yet it wasn't my doing! He had done it all on his own. I asked him to please give it some more time and promised that I would do what I could to make his school experience meaningful.
Unfortunately by this time we had added another son to our lives, so my time was taken up with looking after Kevin's new little brother and sending Kevin off to school came to be a regular routine in our lives.

Looking back, I wonder if I had taken him out of school that very first day, would it have changed who he eventually grew up to be? Would I have been able to deflect the anger that seemed to permeate his life from that point on? The indifference he had to peers and the superior and sometimes down right rude attitude he later developed? We all have our "could haves, might haves, wished we had" moments in time, and this was one of them.

Kevin's story is not uncommon. We are told from the day we give birth to a child, that our job as parents is to raise him or her until they reach that magical age of "5" and then ship them off to "government" run schools, where "professionals" will take over the teaching of our children. After all, they've been trained. We are just parents. What do we know about what's best for our children?

I fought the school system for the next two years trying to get Kevin placed into the best classes. I tried skipping him to first grade, but was told that it wasn't "wise" to rush a child. Halfway through his first year of Kindergarten, the B.C. government decided to implement "dual" enrollment for Kindergarten. Now children who turned 5 by March of the current school year could enter Kindergarten in January. This meant that coming into Kevin's kindergarten class were children who were 4 years old, not turning 5 for another 3 more months. Meanwhile, Kevin celebrated his 6th birthday. He was taller than most children in his class, and almost a full two years older than the newest ones. When the class grew too large for one teacher to handle, a new teacher was hired and the existing class was split in two. The "older" children were placed into this new class, but for some reason Kevin hadn't been moved. When I asked I was told that Kevin was "immature" and "lacked social skills" and that his current teacher felt the move would not be beneficial for him. I asked her to define "immature" and explain what social skills he lacked.

"Kevin doesn't play well with other children. He keeps to himself and has trouble answering questions when asked. He tends to be moody and angry and doesn't like to share his personal space." Mrs. Kindergarten teacher replied.

Ah! Well, could it be that Kevin was acting that way out of boredom? Could it be that Kevin was quite disgusted with having to spend yet another year of his life playing with play dough, blocks and finger paints?

"Oh, and he claims to want to read, but I've had to explain to him over and and over that reading isn't taught until 1st grade," was the teacher's final evaluation of my son's problems.

If I had known about homeschooling at that point I would have withdrawn my son immediately!

I was able to get him switched to the new kindergarten class by going over the teacher's head and appealing to the principal of the school who was an old family friend. Thankfully, his new teacher recognized his abilities and potential and was able to use Kevin's reading skills to their full potential.

First grade approached, and not knowing of any other options I again sent my reluctant son off to school. This year he had an "old school" teacher who emphasized no talking, sitting still, perfect penmanship, no fun. I hated sending my precocious son off to school and once again persued "skipping" him a grade. By now he had read the entire Narnia series and I was at a loss as to what books to let him read next. He was so far beyond the 1st grade level. Again, I was told that "mature-wise" Kevin wasn't a good candidate for "skipping" a grade and that I would regret such a move in the long run.

We moved halfway through the school year, which necessitated a change in schools. His new teacher was of the "whole-language" approach. Her class was more fun and seemed to be what I wanted for my son. Until the day I "dropped" by for a visit (the school having an open door policy) and witnessed the teacher out of control, screaming at a group of cowering 6-year olds. When she saw me she told me, in no uncertain terms, that I should always "ask" ahead before visiting the class. I was once again tempted to pull my son out of school immediately, but had no idea that it would be legal to do so.

After our first horrifying two years of public school I met my first homeschooling mom. It was during this time in our lives that we had undergone some major changes in our lives. The first was our need to move to a more affordable home. My husband worked in the B.C. logging industry in a specialized field known as cedar salvage. It was piece-work, meaning he was paid based on his production. Though the money was good, the expenses were high and the injury and risks were astronomical. After sustaining yet another work related injury and having to live for several months on 60% worker's compensation wages we could no longer afford our beautiful 3-bedroom apartment with its panoramic view of the ocean.  So we moved out to the country where we converted an old saw mill office into a home for our two children. It was from this home that Kevin finished his 1st grade school. The second change in our lives was my husband's conversion to Christianity. I had been a "closet" Christian since the conception of our second son, but now finally my husband joined me in my Christian walk.

We met Debbie at church.

"Colleen, come here, I want you to meet Debbie. She homeschools her children," encouraged my dear friend Louise.
"Is that legal?" I asked.
"Of course!" laughed Debbie. We were invited over to her house to meet her husband (also a recent convert to Christianity) and to discuss the legality of homeschooling in B.C.

My eyes were opened to an alternative education that appealed to all my heart's desires for my children. Here was the answer to my turmoil!

I had spent the last two years watching my inquisitive, naturally curious child turn into a moody, sullen little boy, who's only solace was spent in his beloved books and computer games. His wonderfully creative stories that he used to write for me, pre-kindergarten days, were no more. I couldn't even get him to write his name, let alone a sentence anymore!

Debbie showed my curriculum catalogs, homeschooling magazines,  and examples of her daily routine with her three well-adjusted children. They were the picture of a happy, loving christian family and I had visions of my family emulating theirs.

I had found my new passion! (to be continued...)