Joys of Homeschooling

Just to get a good laugh I went to the local schools school supply request list.
Hmm, If I have to buy THAT for public schools what do they provide? Dh reminded me a seat, but even that requires fundraisers.

Lauren would technically be in 2nd grade this year, so This is what she would NEED for school.
Pencils (no mechanical pencils) (I bought 30 pencils for 30cents at Office max for our Homeschool, this should last us about 3 years, we also splurged and bought an ever sharp liquid graphite pencil becuase someone is obscessed with pencil sharpeners)
Large box of Crayons (Define Large, 24 is more than sufficient but most schools require 48, no more no less, 48 is $3.99, 96ct (our splurge this year) was $4.99, but a 24 ct, is all of 20 cents a box, I have a nice stash of those (about 8 boxes)
2-3 erasers 99cents
Ruler $1.00 I bought later several 10cent ones that are actually higher quality
Scissors (1.79 for 2 pair)
1-2 Glue Sticks (we do not use glue sticks, but I did pick up regular glue clearanced out from last year for 20cents a bottle at Meijer, Glue sticks are too messy and wasteful)
Pencil box or bag for materials (39 cents I bought 3, but Lauren only gets 1, they aren't for pencils though, they are for index card games)
4 Pocket folders (10cents each except we ONLY get the pronged kind since the other is a waste of money)
4 Pocket folders with clasps
Highlighters What does a 2nd grader need High lighters for?
Spiral notebook 5-15 cents depending on where you get them, we have a stock from several years ago when they were a nickel a piece, but we use them for way more than school
3 Boxes of Kleenex for the classroom we rarely go through 3 boxes of kleenex a YEAR in our home, so what on earth does the classroom need with about 90 boxes of tissue thats 10 per month they are there??? and what does our tax money buy, in MI its certainly not toilet paper, last year some company had to donate that to schools....where does is all go?
A pair of shoes to be left at school for gym class Do I look like I am made of money, that would mean I would have to purchase TWO pair of tennis shoes? or send her to school in dress shoes daily, which wouldn't be a big deal if a Uniform was in place, but its not, so I have to get clothes, and a minimum of 4 pair of shoes for my child for school, 2 pair dress (cause Black and white don't go together) and 2 pair of tennis shoes one to be used for MAYBE one hour per week? Hmm, I don't get it, thats about $40-$80 just in shoes.
Sanitizing wipes (once again where are my tax dollars going? I use good ole vinegar to sanitize at home or lysol, and one can can last me up to 3 months, so 3 cans should last a class room 9 months, why does my child have to provide wipes, which are such a waste of money to begin with? when a $1 roll of paper towels (which the school should provide) and a Spray bottle of cleaner which they should also provide) should clean the desks and surfaces in the classrooms for at least a month, 30 kids, uhm, less than HALF of them should need to provide this...thats almost 3 years worth of cleaning stuff or am I crazy. Cleaner concentrate from my local GFS is about $10, but makes about 10 gallons of sanitizing spray...should last them a while, and they also have the bathrooms for WASHIN their hands, the sanitizer is not healthy on the skin too much.
Box of Ziploc bags (ok, I use ziplocs for toys and such, I also use them for COOKING, but what are they going to use them for in school?)

Needless to say if I have to buy all this for PUBLIC school, why not homeschool, the money I save in buying multiple outfits of clothes (a minimum of 7, so they are not wearing the same thing every day) The stuff I have to buy ANYHOW to send them to school, and the cost of having to pay for field trips and the like...well that just paid for my curriculum (a grand whole $230 for the year, and thats my highest year thus far...we are doing 3rd grade instead of 2nd, and our fieldtrips are mostly free or miniscule in cost, because we are not coming in large groups.

Plus she won't be bored waiting for the teacher to catch up to where she is, she wont have to relearn what she has already learned while she waits for others to catch up...

Someone on my support group asked why we homeschool, lots of people answered, but I guess, I don't have an answer that is clear like others...I homeschool because its what we feel is best....It started me not being ready to give up my baby, then somewhere along the line I realized that God gave me the right and PRIVILEGE to TRAIN my children in his ways, not someone else.
I have had to protect my baby from lots of things, but right now, I am just happy she is mine and we are gifted with being able to teach her anything.