Portable Kingdom

We are a family that I have called the Portable Kingdom family. My husband is Brazilian, I am from the USA and our daughter has dual citizenship. We have, in the process of becoming a family, had to spend significant times in Brazil, but have lived mostly in Kansas, USA. Both my husband and I, however, are open and ready for missions should the opportunity come up to live outside the country or in other areas within our own native countries. 

 

Both of us have our own experiences with the public school systems. Cesar (my husband) had a rather negative one. In Brazil, it is often the case that a private (often catholic) education is the education that will open the doors to opportunities. My own experience was a very positive one within the public schools of Dallastown, PA, where I believe I had a very competitive and decent education. What I didn't learn at school, I certainly learned at home and on vacations with my grandparents.

 

My vision for my daughter is to homeschool for kindergarten and first grade and then use the homeschool model to then supplement her public school education. I believe that however broken the public school system may be, it is where people intersect, and where her peers will be. She will see them at the gym, at the playground, extracurricular activities. And I think how better can we be a testimony and alive in our communities than to participate in the school systems. Should she come home with questions I do not deem appropriate, I will have to be a parent and both have an answer ready as well as being prepared to confront the school officials that have made that necessary. I will also be the parent who pushes for academic challenge and success. She will learn well.

 

I will continue to teach her at home even after she is in the public school system. But I also do not plan to over challenge her. I believe there are times where the pressures parents place just make for an overachieving but stressed child. My goals may be different than that of even many of my friends, but my hope is that my daughter could grow up saying; 1-- She had a fun and happy childhood, 2-- Her parents taught her about God and being a testimony, 3-- She was taught to think through things and that her thoughts were her own, and 4-- She was prepared for college academically and socially and hopefully in some part financially. 

 

Disclaimer: Children are different and parents are different. I have based the above ideas, not on the feeling that my methods are best for everyone, but based on the personality and development of my daughter and that my decisions would be what's best for her. I am neither "nature" nor "nuture" in this sense, but believe that we are a sum total of our experiences AND our attitudes towards those experiences.