Homeschooling update

Last night I was informed by a good friend about an information night that the Cochrane Home Educators association (CHE) was having - so I decided that I would attend, despite the fact i'm a few years from needing to register, etc. I learned SO much and really was able to concrete my decision into my head. It was really great. The format was they had everyone go around and tell their story as to what brought them to homeschooling or why they were considering homeschooling or in some cases why they like homeschooling (there were homeschool students and homeschool graduates present also)

Let me share with you what I learned:

1. CHE offers lots and lots of specialized care for their families - ex: every friday they rent many facilities at Cochrane's community centre - the kids call it "gym day". They also have art classes and if they happen to have a specialized teacher coming in, if I understand correctly Friday is the day they would be available to be seen (a science teacher for example).
2. There are 98 -families- registered in Cochrane this year, that's not including how many kids each family has.
3. There are 4 types of homeschooling. I forget the exact terminology but i'll explain each type.
     a) Type 1 you follow the Alberta curriculum 100% (which means your child will be expected to do all the standarized tests in gr 3, 6, 9 & 12)
     b) Type 2 you follow the Alberta curriculum for certain subjects and find your own curriculum (or way of teaching) for the others
     c) Type 3 you follow whatever curriculum you choose to teach your children
     d) "no"schooling - which means you allow your children to choose what they want to learn when they want to - and it's typically not done through bookwork. (Before you judge this method I have now met multiple children who are extremely intelligent, and as of last night even met one who has a university degree in business)
4. There is funding available to you for your homeschooling venture. I was never 100% sure on this, so now I know. The above types are what determines what kind of funding you recieve. Type 1 gets you the most, type 2 is next, type 3 is next - and i'm not sure if you get any with no-schooling.
5. Cochrane allows you to do a mixed schooling so if you wanted to send your child to school part time for certain subjects and teach them the others you can.
6. Kids aren't homeschooled just because they are struggling
7. Social aspect is all based on the parent and how they involve their children in the communities available to them. Frankly this concern when I was fully judgemental on homeschooling was an issue but as I have sat down and pondered the concept I got to thinking that my biggest issues with public school was the social aspect! Junior High is what destroyed me emotionally, and I even had poor image thoughts as early as grade 4! Its possibly I would have been better off if I had been homeschooled (emotionally and academically). ...so if anyone tries to tell me Logan won't be socially apt because he is homeschooled is completely out of line because that is an outright lie.
8. I learned that each homeschooling parent has their moments of doubt and uncertainty and they suggested giving it at least 3 years before passing final judgement because the first your you are figuring things out, the 2nd you doubt yourself and the 3rd you finally are getting a grip on things! lol

So needless to say after listening to the couple dozen stories and ideas and suggestion (and seeing the major support in the CHE) I really firmed up my decision, so if people ask me now I can confidently say that my children will be homeschooled. This is all of course circumstantial - if we move from Cochrane before then and there isn't as much support or activity available to us to utilize I might change but my first instinct is that I will still continue through with my plan, it just might be a little more work than if I were here still! I love my child(ren) and want the best for them and to me personally this is the best for them.