That is the question.

But it shouldn’t be.

Check out the discussion at Joanne Jacobs’ blog about bathroom breaks in school. Here’s the USA Today article that prompted the blog post.

Bathroom bullying and vandalism are real problems that schools must obviously address, but that doesn’t mean kids shouldn’t be allowed to use the restroom when they need to. Want to get rid of bullying and vandalism in the bathrooms? Keep a limited number of bathrooms open at any time (depending upon the size of the school and the age range of the kids) and have an adult sit in the hallway nearby to check hall passes and to make sure nobody’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing in the bathroom. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, the tone of some of the quotes in the article and the blog comments make my head spin. Not only do some teachers not care that students are waiting too long to use the bathroom because of idiotic teacher and/or school policies, but some teachers (and I emphasize “some”) just really don’t like their students.

One commenter at Jacobs’ site brags about telling students that if they want to use the bathroom during his class period, they have to stay after school for ten minutes. He claims he never really makes them stay, but that doesn’t make his blatant power play and humiliation of the students any less despicable.

It’s official: after ~3 years of research (a.k.a. obsessive blog reading and lurking on mailing lists) and 2 years of alternative schooling (for one of my children), we’re saying “goodbye” to school and “hello” to home learning. My kids will be finished with school by June 15.

Yeehaw!

In September we hope to attend our first not-back-to-school-picnic, as we also start to figure out exactly what home learning will look like for us. I have some ideas, but since the kids haven’t really had a chance to just do it, we’re going to have to wait to see how it turns out.

But I’m also truly thrilled to finally have taken the plunge, so I must take a moment to give a hearty and heartfelt thanks to all the homeschoolers who write or frequent homeschool-related blogs and to the homeschoolers with whom I have spoken or corresponded via email. All of you speak so eloquently of the joys, challenges, and benefits of home learning with your children — you have helped my family understand that homeschooling is more about the way you live your life than it is about how you educate your children. Thank you for sharing your insights and your passion for your — to coin an oft mis-used phrase — lifestyle choice.

Heh.

My daughter marked her last day of school on her calendar as “School Vacation.” The other night we talked about the fact that it’s going to be a really long one. My kids are both excited and nervous about not going back to school in the fall. Their primary concern seems to be who their friends will be — they won’t have classmates for a built-in supply of candidates. So we have feelers out into nearby communities so that we can connect with other homeschoolers in the area. It’s important to me that my kids feel like they belong to a community of people who also opt to learn at home.

Our decision to homeschool has been a long time coming, and it’s a relief to have finally made it. I have the usual concerns about my soon-to-be missing income and whether or not I’ll be any good at my “new job,” but I know we’ve made the right choice for our kids. I don’t know how long the journey will last — we’ve told the kids we’ll take it year by year — but honestly, I hope it lasts a long, long time.

Wish us luck!