You might be surprised. I would be surprised if you weren't!
Why are we doing it? It's not what you think. I don't have a hatred for public schools. Actually, my boys have had a very normal, happy and educational experience so far - one of my boys just finished 2nd grade, one just finished preschool. In fact, the 2nd graders' teacher was voted Teacher of the Year in our district, she was incredible. The reason we are heading this direction is because since my older son was about 2, I have been fantasizing about teaching him at home. As he has grown, that desire has grown too, and each year, as I send him back, I feel a little sad.
He and I talked about it quite a bit (as much as you can with a 7 year old) and he is excited about it.
Then there's my other son. I actually thought I would be sending him to public kindergarten, until about 6 weeks ago. Then, the more I started to think about it, the more I became concerned with how he would feel about me being home with his older bro all day. So, one day, I asked him. I decided, it couldn't hurt, right? "Jeff, how would you feel about me homeschooling Andrew and sending you to school?" He replied: "Jealous." I praised him for telling me the truth and for being so smart to figure it out!
It was then, that I realized it was either both of them, or neither of them.
Now, I was AFRAID. Afraid of being with them 24-7, afraid of failing, afraid of feeling overwhelmed and trapped, afraid of just basically stinking it up. I had been carrying those fears around for some time, when I finally decided to just talk to people about how I was feeling. It's amazing how when you open up, you get answers. Gee, we spend so much time in our own heads, and we think we have the answers....
Anyway, in a matter of weeks, I felt God really start to turn around my fear and actually bring me excitement! It was then that I knew it was going to be OKAY.
So, my husband and I attend the local homeschooling conference held in Hartford a couple of weekends ago, and we felt like we learned so much. We learned what we wanted and what we didn't want as well.
This is a photo of my boys at the Lego table at the homeschooling conference.
Yeah, they'll fit right in.
The kids are getting more and more excited and mommy is still praying that God will be her strength as I head in this direction.
The curriculum we chose for Jeff. Kindergarten level mathematics.
Only I would take a picture of that!
I guess I look at this as an adventure. I am not committing to homeschooling for the next 10 years, but I am going to give this year a try. Prayerfully, it will be a blessing to both of my boys and to our family as a whole!
And as always I plan on journaling my way through it on this blog. PLEASE tune in.
Many thanks, Jenny
