Why I Love Homeschooling with a Charter School, and How That Relates to My Failure As a Piano Teacher

Here in California, homeschoolers get to choose between two ways to do so. We can either enroll in a Charter School set up for supporting homeschoolers, or we can file a Private School Affidavit.

We've been with our charter school from the beginning (when Primus was a kindergartner.)  I love it!  It is such a blessing to our family to have this option!

Philosophically, I disagree with the state required standardized testing (which we wouldn't have to do if we went the private school route.)  So that's an annoying hoop I have to jump through.  But everything else makes it worth it.

The thing I love the most is the funds we receive for curriculum, supplies, and classes.

Another big reason I love the charter is that we have a supervising teacher to support us.  I need this.

Every month a credentialed teacher visits us, delivers any orders we placed, records what we learned, and collects work samples for a yearly portfolio.  These meetings are great.  I love our "ES."  I always feel supported instead of criticized or judged.  I feel like our ES trusts my abilities and judgement in teaching my children.  I also feel like if she felt there were any issues or gaps that she would tell me and help me come up with a plan for remedying it.

So this support I receive is invaluable.  But it's also important to me that I am accountable to an outside person.  I need this.  This is abundantly clear by the fact that I for years have had great intentions to teach piano to my girls but found it extremely hard to do it consistently.  Instead of weekly lessons and regular practice, Primus got a lesson about once a month.  She liked it and plays the piano a lot, but she usually wouldn't practice the things that she was supposed to.  And Secundus got maybe 4 lessons in a year.  Uggh.

The problem is, piano just isn't required by the school.  It's not something that I have to report on to my ES every month.  It's not included in our yearly portfolio.  Therefore it is so easy for me to put it low on the priority list.

However, regular piano lessons are finally happening this year! I'll talk more about my source of motivation in another post.

As far as my need for accountability goes, I think I've finally found something that worked! We see our ES about once a month so the goal is for the girls to have 4 lessons and do 480 minutes of practice before she comes. If they do, then they earn a full pack of gum from me, a much coveted treat.  All of that is recorded on a single piece of paper. When she comes, that paper is put in the folder they use to hold all their other work samples. She pulls out the work samples to take with her for their portfolio, but leaves the piano record there since she doesn't need it. But it still feels like we have a little bit of accountability to her. It would be embarrassing to the girls and I to let her see that page if it wasn't completed.

I'm optimistic that in a year I'll be able to report that both of the girls are making steady progress with piano!