I Really Want to Home School

I love snow days!  Why, you might be asking?  For one, as a stay-at-home mom, I don't have to worry about getting that dreaded phone call from one of my childrens' schools informing me that, yet again, something has happened at school involving one of my children.  I'm not going to say that my children are saints because they're not, but I know what I have instilled in them and that is good, old-fashioned home training.  Can good, old-fashioned home training compete with what's beyond my own four walls?  My philosophy has always been, "Don't start none, won't be none."  When I get a call from school saying that my fourteen year old has been in another confrontation with another student, in the back of my mind I'm wondering, what did the student do to my son to initiate the confrontation? 

Let me give you a little history on the situation.  The school district that I reside in leaves much to be desired.  For starters, they combined two rivaling school districts into one.  Please tell me what sense did that make?  I mean, think about it.  These children are from different neighborhoods that have a history of dislike for each other.  They put them into a confined area and expect there to be peace?  Come on now, give me a break.  At the beginning of the school year, I composed a poem and passed it along to the head principal, hoping that she would make a big deal out of it because it was speaking on the subject of unity within the school walls.  I was really hoping that they would adopt it as their school anthem or something.  Something that the children could recite and get into their spirit, so that they could start thinking as a unit, instead of thinking about the different "sets" they represented. 

Well needless to say, my poem was not taken seriously and the discord continues on a daily basis.  The school is monitored by two uniformed police officers, as well as security guards for the district.  There is a metal detector at the school's entrance, as well as a security guard with a wand to make sure that weapons are not brought into the school.  When I come up to visit, which I often do to let them know that I am, indeed, very concerned about my child's education and well being, they search my purse and wand me down.  I don't mind this because I know that it's for the good of the environment. 

If school is about getting an education, but there are so many distractions in the learning environment that a child cannot concentrate on learning, what is a parent supposed to do?  I'm thinking about the poor mom who used someone elses address to get her children into a better district and was sent to jail for ten days.  As a mother who purposely became a stay-at-home mom to keep a better eye on her children, I am truly considering home-schooling them for the rest of their K-12 educational life.