The case for homeschooling...and med schooling. At the same time.

Ok, as a former homeschooler, I have always had mixed feelings about the whole world of homeschooling.  It worked out great for me (as a musician, it gave me loads of time to practice), but I've also seen people for whom it didn't work out as well.  But I've seen a number of things in the past year or so that have made me really rethink the whole concept of how and where my children will be educated.

We have three kids in school right now.  One of them needs to be in the school system - Kristen (our oldest adopted child) has some significant learning disabilities, and is thriving in the Rockford Public Schools cognitive impairment classroom.  This class has been fantastic for Kristen and her development.  She has come so far in the past two years of being there, and they are actually allowing her to continue there for another year (even though she is technically supposed to move on to the middle school next year).  We want to spend our time with Kristen helping her to learn the importance of family and relationship, not fighting to try to figure out how to help her learn.  Her special ed teacher is fantastic, and we are thrilled with what she is getting from her school.

However (you knew that was coming, didn't you?), I am less than happy with what's going on with our other two kids and their schools.  Katie (our oldest) is a creative, a very spontaneous yet smart kid (a little like me, but more visual than musical in terms of the creativity).  She rarely if ever brings homework home (she has plenty of time to get it done in class) and is bored with school.  The only things she really seems to like are her electives - band and her special writing class called Myths and Legends.  Plus, the things we hear about and see from the other students in the middle school just make us wonder about the atmosphere there and the kind of people she's around on a daily basis.  She doesn't have any close friends at school to speak of - she prefers to spend time with her friends from church, almost all of whom are home-schooled.  Plus, the schedule is awful.  She has to be on the bus at 6:45 AM (for school that starts at 7:30 AM) and gets home at 3:10PM.  She is not an early riser, and absolutely hates having to be up early every morning.

Daniel (our 8 year old) is at the elementary school that is about a block and a half from our house.  I think I struggle the most with the things I am seeing and hearing from Daniel and his school and classmates.  The most recent thing that waved a huge red flag in my mind was when we were driving to the store and Daniel, out of the blue, said something about somebody having an AK-47 over his shoulder.  Now, Bekah and I have never talked about guns, don't let our kids play (even pretend) with guns, and do not watch tv or movies with the kids - ever - that involve guns like that.  Evidently, Daniel has friends at school who like to play war and guns and talk about that kind of thing all the time.  Daniel is especially impressionable right now, and this incident, combined with some other things that have happened in the past two or three months have really convinced me that I do not want him in this environment right now.

Plus, there is the whole challenge of being locked into the schedule of the public school system...both the daily schedule (having to have kids at the bus at a specific time, meeting them after school, etc.) and the annual schedule (only being able to take vacations when the kids are on break or else pull them out of school).  I don't personally mind pulling them out of school - I mean, what are they really going to miss for that week that we are on a family vacation?  But they get grumpy about it.  And send us letters telling us how many days our kids have missed.  As if we don't know.  And tell us how them missing this much school will keep our kids from making proper progress.  While my oldest is bored out of her mind and my 8 year old is learning about guns and playing war and learning all kinds of nasty things to say to his siblings.

And then there's the whole issue of my wife's schedule.  We want to be able to travel and invest in family time whenever Bekah is off from school.  Which means that we have to take the kids out of school in order to do that.  So we are seriously trying to figure out if we can homeschool in the fall while Bekah is a second year medical student.  I think it can work, and probably better than what we're doing right now.  Especially for the family.  If Bekah has a light day or doesn't have to go in on a particular day, we can take the afternoon and visit a museum, go to the park for a nature walk, etc.  She can do much of her work from home (since all of her lectures are recorded and available online anyway) - so she can do her school while the kids do theirs.  And we can have the flexibility to travel when Bekah has breaks, we won't be tied into a 6:30AM bus stop schedule, and we can make sure our kids are learning how we want them to, away from the kind of influence we want to eliminate in their lives right now.

So on to the usual arguments about home schooling...they won't have any friends / what about their social development?  That's one of the main reasons we want to pull them from the public schools.  Daniel is learning the wrong things from the wrong kind of kids already - and he is only 8 years old!  Katie - well, she's such an independent thing that she is probably never going to even want to be "in" at the school, and as a result, doesn't really care what people think of her.  Both of them have friends at church - Katie in particular - and we would much rather have them plugged into those groups.  We as their parents would much rather be directing their social development, thank you.  We don't need the public school system and the culture / lifestyle / peer group pressure that comes with that system telling our kids how they should think, dress, and act, what they should say and talk about, how they should play, what music / movies / books they should like or not like.

What about extra-curricular activities?  Band, drama, sports?  We don't believe that our kids will miss out here either.  There is an outstanding homeschool band here in Grand Rapids that Katie can play in if she wants to.  Our church has two different co-op groups that I am aware of that offer students opportunities to do advanced science projects, art, and other things like that.  We can also get them involved in MORE other opportunities (like classes at the YMCA, swim lessons, arts opportunities with civic organizations like the Civic Theater and UICA, etc.) and when they get older, they can even do early enrollment for college courses.  Opportunities that do not exist for public school students because of their daily schedules.

And ultimately, it will allow our family to be together more - right now, we are limited by the kids' school schedule a lot more than we are by Bekah's med school schedule.  As crazy as that sounds, it is true - at least in terms of how we would like to do things.

What would that mean for me as the "med school husband"?  Well, it would mean getting to work together with my wife to teach our kids the way we want to.  It will probably mean more work on my part - but it will also mean freedom and flexibility for our whole family.  It will enable us to spend more time together - even if we all "do school" together (Bekah studies or watches lectures while the kids do their school work).  My current situation gives me the flexibility to do this - while still earning enough money to pay the rent and keep the lights on and food on the table.

Am I crazy for thinking this can work?  I don't think so...I am the eternal optimist, but everything I can see adds up to this being a better solution for our family than what we've done this past year.  I think we can prove to the world that we can home school WHILE Bekah's in medical school.  Check with us in a year and find out!  :)

A day in the life...

So, what is it really like in our house right now?

Monday is pretty much our busiest day.  Here's how a typical Monday happens...

6:00 - I wake up, go downstairs, and get some breakfast for myself and Bekah.  Unless she has a test, in which case we've started this at 5:00 AM.  :)  Bekah reads the Bible while she has breakfast.
6:15 - I go into Katie's room and try to wake her up.
6:25 - I go into Katie's room and try to wake her up again.
6:35 - I go into Katie's room and make her get out of bed, since she has most likely fallen back asleep again.
6:45 - Katie rushes out the door to make it to her bus on time.  Bekah is usually in the shower by now.  I have 15 or 20 minutes to read the Bible and prepare myself for the day.
7:10 - I go wake Kristen up for school.  She typically hops right out of bed, as cheerful as can be.
7:15 - I get Daniel up from bed.  Bekah is getting ready to leave for school.  Drew is usually awake by now too.
7:25 or so - Bekah normally leaves for downtown Grand Rapids.  She's gone by 7:00 if she has a test that morning.
7:30 - Daniel, Kristen, and Drew have breakfast.
7:45 - Kristen gets on the bus for school.
8:00 - I walk Daniel down to the bus stop, then get Drew ready to go to preschool.
8:30 - Leave for preschool with Drew.
8:45 - Drop Drew off at preschool, head home to teach piano.
9:00-11:00 - Teach piano lessons.
11:00 - Drive to Calvin College.
11:30-12:20 - Teach a computer class at Calvin College.
12:20 - Drive to pick up Drew, then go to the worship staff meeting at church.
1:00- Worship staff meeting at church.
2:00-2:15ish - head home from worship staff meeting.
3:00 - Katie gets home from school.
3:40 - Kristen comes home from school.
3:45 - Daniel comes home from school.
4:00 - Kids do homework and chores.
4:30 - I make dinner.
5:00-5:15ish - we have dinner.  Bekah's still at school studying.
6:00 - Bekah has a study group at Secchia downtown, and won't be home until 8:00.  We hang out at home, let the kids play for a while, finish homework and chores, and have a little downtime.
7:30-7:45ish - kids get ready for bed and take baths / showers if needed.
8:00 - Read a chapter from our book-of-the-month (currently Fellowship of the Ring) before kids' bedtime.
8:30ish - Bekah gets home from her study group in time to say goodnight to the kiddos.
8:30 - Daniel, Kristen, and Drew head to bed.
9:00 - Katie (theoretically) goes to bed.  Not to sleep, mind you, just to bed.
9:00 - Bekah and I have some downtime together to talk, have a snack, watch a show on TV if we want to, or just hang out together.
10:00 - Katie is still awake, reading or drawing or playing Angry Birds on her ipod.  Go upstairs and tell her to go to sleep.
10:30 - Bekah and I typically head upstairs for bed.  Our goal is to try to get to sleep by 11:00.  It actually happens once in a while.  :)

This is what a typical Monday looks like in the Wakeman house.  Not every day of the week is quite this full, but most are.  They are just different - Tuesdays I teach at Aquinas in the morning, but don't have anything in the afternoon; Thursdays I have no teaching outside the house, but end up doing doctor appointments, dentist appointments, and stuff like that with the kids. I'm gone to church most Thursday nights for rehearsal, and the kids come with me while Bekah usually has something happening at school.  Bekah sometimes comes home in the afternoons to study / hang out with Drew and see the kids - if her schedule allows it.  It all depends on what small group she has, what test she is currently studying for, etc.

Do I mind this craziness?  No, not really.  While things are crazy and hectic, and it never feels like there is enough time, having a full schedule like this makes the time FLY by.  I actually find that I am enjoying my life...and I love being able to support my wife in her endeavor to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

The ultimate key, in my mind, to making all this work?  Trusting God for strength and wisdom, and working hard to change my heart to reflect how I believe He wants me to do things.  Flexibility and a willingness to break away from a lot of the stereotypes of what "typical" family life is / should be like, while still making sure that we have opportunities to invest in our family.  That's going to be the topic of my next blog post - what are we doing with our family to help make this work?  I feel like it is working (most of the time), but it requires a lot of "out of the box" thinking...details forthcoming!

The politics of medicine vs. the role of the church...

So this has been on my mind and on my heart a lot lately...especially with the campaign stuff going on and all the talk about Obama-care and Romney-care and the Republican candidates vowing to repeal the Obama health-care bill.

It's pretty evident, even to me, that there's a problem with healthcare in our nation.  It seems to be a highly polarizing issue, no matter what age group, political party, or even religious point of view you come from.  Some of the questions that I hear debated include:

Should everyone have access to healthcare, whether or not they can pay for it?

Should only those who have a lot of money (the "rich" or the "1%") foot the bill for everyone else?

Should Uncle Sam pay for everything?

Should only those who are able to get insurance through their employers or some other means (paying out of pocket if self-employed, or through a government program) be able to get basic things like well-child visits, regular checkups and routine tests (i.e. pap smears, mamograms, bloodwork, etc.) on a regular basis?

What about specialists?  How can someone with no insurance (or very limited insurance) be able to handle specialist care?  Or long-term hospitalization?

I know people who are unemployed (or who are employed and, like myself, don't get insurance through their employer).  I know that I, personally, don't go to the doctor as often as perhaps I should because of the cost involved - and I have insurance (that I've paid for).  How much more difficult must it be for those who have no insurance to maintain even a modicum of preventative health care when a basic checkup at the doctor is billed at around $100 or more!

Our son recently broke his arm.  After looking at all of the bills from the ER, the orthopedic office that took care of his cast and after care, and everything, we would have been out over $3500 if we had NOT had insurance.  For a typical middle-to-low class family, that kind of money is not something that is just laying around!

Now, I consider myself a conservative politically and socially.  I admit, I listen to Rush and Hannity and occasionally Glenn Beck.  However, I am growing tired of their constant rhetoric about healthcare and insurance - it seems all they typically do is complain about how Obama is ruining the system by having the government take it over.  I don't hear a lot of solutions from them (or anyone else on the political "right") other than "let's repeal Obamacare".  Romney is even saying that, yet his state's healthcare bill is essentially a carbon copy of Obamacare - or maybe Obamacare is a carbon copy of Romney's bill.  Either way, I would love to hear solutions - solutions that don't break the bank, that don't force the country into even more debt, and that don't pigeon-hole doctors into practicing according to even more government regulations (as if they don't have enough already!).

Enter the church.  What is the church doing about any of this?  SHOULD the church be doing something about it?  Or is that just a social gospel pipe dream that isn't part of a proper evangelical Christian perspective?

Scripture is pretty clear in its instructions to the church about caring for the poor...but somewhere along the way, the government stepped in with its various safety nets - social security, medicare / medicaid, welfare, food stamps, etc.  IF the church had been doing its job appropriately (i.e. caring for the poor, the people in the church giving appropriately, etc.) there would not have been a need for many of the government programs that are currently in place and sucking the life out of our economy.

Should the church get into the healthcare business?  That's not what I am advocating.  I just think it bears consideration that the people who should be the most sensitive to the needs of the poor and less fortunate, the people who are called to care for them and reach out to them with the love of Christ, are often those most vocal against the government programs that are trying to care for these same folks, yet they themselves do not reach out, contribute, or make an effort to help solve the problem.

Our pastor once said that if everyone who attended our church simply tithed (that is, gave 10% of their income), the church would never have a budget problem and would have a significant surplus of funds with which to reach out and help the community.  Statistics show that the typical church-goer gives between 2 and 4% of his income.

Why is it that the non-government agencies and organizations that are trying to help the poor with food, shelter, and medical care are constantly scrambling for funds?  Bekah worked for a clinic in downtown Grand Rapids for the uninsured.  A ministry, supported by donations and grants with very few paid staff and many Christian doctors and other medical professionals donating their time and energy.  Yet, the organization was struggling to be able to raise funds to expand its services - while they constantly had a waiting list for people wanting to become new patients because they had lost their insurance.

If those same conservatives crying for the end of Obamacare could maybe look at organizations like Health Intervention Services as solutions to the problem, and could put their money where their mouth is, perhaps we would see less of a need for government regulation and control of healthcare.

I don't have answers - probably just a whole lot more questions, especially now that Bekah's involved in the medical profession - but it sure seems like the system is broken.  I would love to see some productive thought coming from conservatives in positions to be able to make a difference.  I would love to hear how we can fix healthcare - WITHOUT a government takeover.

One final thought...Bekah came home recently and told me about a presentation she saw in one of her med school classes.  The presentation discussed the average life expectancy in developed nations, and pointed out that the United States is actually BEHIND many of the deloped nations in the world in life expectancy - including Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, and a couple more of the European nations.  All of whom have universal healthcare in some form or another.  And all of whom are NOT necessarily considered Christian nations.  We constantly hear horror stories about "death panels" and people waiting months (or years) for surgery or specialist care in these situations, but the statistics show that somehow, what those other nations are doing is working better than our system right now.  And the US is supposed to be the world's largest "Christian" nation.  Something is wrong with that picture...

I would love to hear thoughts on this issue.  I believe that it is important...especially in light of what's happening with the upcoming elections.

Until next time...

Blue food coloring, schizphrenic amino acids, and my first blog post...

So here it is...I'm starting a blog. Hopefully I have something interesting to say and people will want to read it. Maybe, maybe not - but that isn't really the point, is it? If what I share here matters, makes you smile, or even just gives you a little bit of a different perspective on family, doctors and the medical profession, being a dad, or breaking stereotypes, then that's all the better.

These posts will probably be pretty random on occasion - perhaps pithy and meaningful sometimes, amusing, thought provoking (but not too much) - but mostly random. This one is definitely going to be random, with some overall thoughts about my first five months or so of being married to a med student.

One of the last things I ever expected when thinking about Bekah being in medical school was for her to come home one night and excitedly start putting drops of blue food coloring onto each of our kids' tongues, so that we could all see the patterns of each others' taste buds. But there we were, everyone with blue tongues, sticking them all out and even taking pictures of them so we could see them better and compare them with each other. Everyone thought this was quite entertaining, to say the least.

I have to say that my knowledge of obscure medical things has also increased dramatically. I learned, in the first couple weeks while she was studying biochemistry, that we have schizophrenic amino acids. I have no idea what this means, but that's exactly what the lecturer she was listening to talked about for about ten or fifteen minutes. I also recently got to watch a video of a white blood cell chasing a bacteria around in someone's blood stream until it finally caught it and ate it. Pretty cool stuff! (available on Youtube - check it out here)

I am a musician; creative and disorganized by nature. I'm not good with remembering details and facts and figures - give me a creative problem to solve and I'll kick its butt, but when I look at what she has to deal with on a daily basis...the first two weeks of this semester her physiology course went through 300+ pages of their coursepack for just the first exam of the semester. And none of it is easy stuff - most of the things I heard and read as she was studying seemed more like a foreign language to me. My respect for what doctors have to learn and how they have to be able to think has increased a thousand fold just from watching her do this.

As has my thinking about the whole field of medicine and healthcare.  For a long time, I was pretty much a wholesale conservative, going along with most everything the typical conservative voices had to say about healthcare...but my perspective is changing.  Do I like Obamacare?  No, but it sure seems to me like SOMETHING needs to be done to fix it.  If the church was doing its job, none of this would be an issue, of course - maybe that's a topic for another whole blog post...

All of this being said - here I am, doing stuff that most guys wouldn't want to do, so that she can be able to pursue her dream and God's calling in her life. Thankfully, God has left us in a position where we are able to make this work.  I get to do laundry, coupon, grocery shop and cook for the family, serve as taxi for the kids to get where they need to go, clean the house, make doctor and dentist appointments, etc.  Because I want my dear wife to be able to focus her formidable mind on her studies and her calling, not the details of running our house.

And I like what I'm doing right now.  I still get to be creative (I do, after all, work as music director for my church, which involves a lot of evening and weekend time at the church, as well as working on creative things from my electronic music studio in my basement), I still get to teach a bit (I am actually teaching a course for three different colleges this semester), and I get to spend a lot of time with my little 4-year-old guy.

And I get to watch my wife's eyes light up when she tells me about the obscure medical fact of the week, or the inside joke from her study group.  I get to stay up late with her when she is studying for an exam.  And I get to enjoy watching her become who she is supposed to be.

Watch for future blog posts concerning such topics as breaking down stereotypes, weird looks I get from cashiers in the grocery store, and couponing.  Yes, couponing.

Thanks for reading...