Tales of a fifth grade dropout

How we got here probably isn’t important, you could hear the same story from any number of parents this year. But after trying online school, trying homeschool, trying in person school - here we are disenrolled from public education - and I’m not even calling it homeschooling. 

We’ve got three months left to make the most of elementary school and we ain’t gonna spend it doing math drills, or taking reading comprehension quizzes or spending the whole day inside six feet apart. She’s ten. 

We’re hackschooling 

It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing, it’s more that I don’t CARE what I’m doing, I only care about the kid and how she climbs out of this dumpster fire of a year.

Our schools are great, our teachers are great, but everybody gets something different from school and for Tiny that something was social. She is not getting that this year in any capacity- we know, we’ve tried them all. So here we are, hacking our way through life.

So far our hack has included:

three math books finished,

34 (and counting) chapter books, lord knows how many graphic novels,

6 essays - one about a prison inmate that I’m really devastated that one but me will ever see,

2 dog bowl trivia competitions,

guest speaking on one podcast,

a desert trail ride on a horse named Courage

art- so much art - watercolor and sculpting and photography and whatever else we can find

two charity projects,

one lazy river ride,

karate classes

creating mummies,

growing bacteria,

staying up late 

morning snuggles and conversations

long walks and hot tea afterward

Mostly we just look for new adventures and try to say yes whenever we can. It’s not what we expected to be doing - not what anyone expected to be doing, but it feels right. I don’t know if my kid will be “behind” next year, all I can hope is that her heart will be full, her load will be lighter, and she will feel energized. I hope we all will.