Homeschooling - Our new journey

Homeschooling is a word that I never really thought would be a part of our families vocabulary. I knew people that did it, but never thought it would be something that would become a part of our lives. It's a philosophy that many see as different and outside of the norm, so many people assume that the people that home school are also different and outside the norm. Over the last year and a half the term "homeschooling" kept popping up. Over and over more people I knew were homeschooling and it seemed like everyone I met added to the spiderweb of homeschoolers, which got bigger and bigger. It was then the word started to spark curiosity in me.

 I begin to talk to the people that I know that home school, to find out how they do it, what they teach, what curriculum they used, why they did it, and more. I had already been praying for God to give us a solution to our school situation because I knew that Judd was not going to be accepted into his brothers school for Kindergarten, and wasn't about to take them to two different elementary schools. I prayed hard each night if God would show us the path to take or if their current school situation was still right. Many times this year the boys would come home and tell me about the aggression on the playground, Owen got smacked in the face by some girl, and clawed by another girl, both incidents required disciplinary action and a nurses visit. Then another incident Raymond got a sandwich thrown at him in the lunch room by some random kid that supposedly has behavior problems. Again, disciplinary action was required. Raymond repeatedly tells me how him and the other first graders are being bullied on the playground and balls being taken away from them by the 6th graders, and both boys tell me how everyone is beating everyone up and the playground paras are just standing by the door talking the whole time instead of watching the kids. Even with each of these incidents I kept praying for God to show me a sign on whether we should change our school plans or not, stupidly ignoring the signs he was already giving me!!

One day I finally smartened up to the many signs He was showing me. I realized everywhere I looked the word home school kept popping up, and every time I prayed about the boys' current school, something else would happen that would make me upset with their current situation, which I have NEVER been before. I have LOVED their teachers and school, so it was disappointing to have these events happening this year. However, I begin to research the concept of homeschooling.

I spent MANY hours reading websites, talking to friends, going to trainings on homeschooling and finding all the information I could. My husband said I "disappeared" for a few months because I was so engrossed in all this NEW knowledge!! I continued to pray for God to open my heart and mind to the idea, no matter how scary this new journey could be! It was uncharted territory for me or Tony.

I found out I LOVED the philosophy. I loved the idea of having the opportunity to teach my kids what I want, spend time with them, quit the hurried lifestyle that we were having of rushing to and from school and loading and unloading kids, teaching them one and one and letting them explore their interests, giving them the moral foundations that Tony and I find important without the constant influence of peers and peer pressure, and most importantly giving them the Christ centered education that I want for them without the cost of a private school. The positives outweighed the negatives. Of course I talked constantly to Tony about all the things I was learning and kept asking his thoughts. He initially said no, he didn't want to add stress to the family, which he initially thought it would do, and he was scared about something he didn't know about, like myself.

I decided to stop bringing it up to him and instead turned to prayer. I felt like God was calling us to pursue this path, so I prayed that he would open Tony's heart and let him see the value of homeschooling and to believe in it as well. A few months passed and we went to teacher conferences, the first time Tony had gone since the kids started school. As it turned out it was a blessing he came with me that night. We love our boys' teachers, and completely understand how difficult it is for teachers to teach 30 kids, of all different learning levels, behavior issues, cultural differences, language barriers, the list is endless. But our boys are very intelligent and at the top of their classes, and Tony realized that they were being bored in school. They were getting done with their work right away and then left to occupy themselves while they waited for others to catch up, which is normal, but since we had already been talking about homeschooling, something struck a chord with Tony and later that week he told me we should home school. Then he proceeded to share with me all the reasons why (which were all the reasons I had been telling him for months) ha! I knew it would take him deciding for himself. So now this is where we are.

We are finishing up our school year in public school, then will be starting our new adventure in homeschooling in the Fall. We are researching curriculum and different homeschooling styles, figuring out how the days will work with daycare, etc. The kids are SOOO excited, it was refreshing to hear their ideas on homeschooling and how much they wanted to do it. Tess will still be starting preschool at our church for the next two years. It will allow us the freedom to explore our interests, learn on our own terms and time, take vacations when we want without the school schedule and much more. We will miss our teachers at the boy's school tremendously, but really feel excited about this opportunity and feel it is the right decision for now. The kids can't wait, and have already started making lists of things they want to learn more about. We will implement a much stronger chore schedule around here since there will be more time for them to help and learn how to take care of the house. I also intend on teaching them life skills, like wood working, home improvement, yard work, sewing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, finances, etc. The list is endless! I'm super excited.

I love my family and above all love God, and pray daily for me to be good about trusting in Him and believing that He will guide us and give us the tools we need to succeed.