The Journey Has Begun

As a public school educator and a big supporter of our schools, I never would have thought that I would be homeschooling my children. But as God has taught me over the last several years, His plans are often much different than mine.

"Why am I homeschooling?"... I have heard this question a lot over the last several months. At first, I struggled with how to answer it, not that I didn't know why, but I was cautious because I did't want to offend people with children in public school. Let me first be clear about a few things...I love school, I love our community and in my dream world, my kids would be in public school. As I have also learned about myself, my dream world is often not what is out there. I would love 15 kids in a class where kids are engaged in hands-on activities, driving their own learning, free to pursue their reading, writing and math in a variety of real, authentic ways.

As I watched Noah go through kindergarten, not being excited about reading or writing or other things he was learning, I slowly watched my young, inquisitive boy get bogged down by seatwork. I tried to use some of my teacher tricks with him to encourage his reading and writing but he was done by the time he got home. His attitude about himself as a learner was changing, too. He equated his disinterest in his worksheets with his ability as a learner. That was heartbreaking for me and I think was my main motivation for changing our learning course this year.

I taught first grade..."I could do this," I began to tell myself. So slowly, very slowly, I started gathering ideas, reading inspirational stories and talking with homeschooling families. I gained the trust in myself and had several visions of how it would work out. I chewed and chewed on it and chewed on it some more (which I am great at doing). The first week of school came. As nervous and sad as I was that Noah was missing his first day of first grade, God began to show me all that Noah was gaining.

What I have learned over the last month is not that homeschool is better or worse than public school...it's just different. And right now, this version of school is working for us. Why do I homeschool? I have a much clearer answer now...

• I homeschool because I don't have to rush my kids out the door in the morning
• I homeschool because I can teach them responsibility by taking time during the day to do chores
• I homeschool because I can pray with them and teach them about God any time during the day when it is relevant to what is happening for us
• I homeschool because Noah gets to read books he is interested in, write cool stories to share with his writing club, play math games and work with manipulatives to understand math, and study other areas he is interested in like space and geography
• I homeschool because Elly wants to do what her big brother does so she is eagerly learning to read and write, right along side him
• I homeschool because we can have lunch in fun and different places
• I homeschool because if they are tired or having off days we can switch things around or slow down
• I homeschool because we can cuddle on the couch any time of the day to read a good book
• I homeschool because I get to witness their proud smiles when they complete something special
• I homeschool because I get to watch that lightbulb go off
• I homeschool because I get to spend their rested hours with them and then let them be crazy in the afternoons with friends and sports
• I homeschool because I don't have to worry as much about getting them home early for homework or bed
• I homeschool because this time with my kids is fleeting and before I know it, I won't be cool or the one they want to spend time with
• I homeschool because God has equipped me and provided for my family so that I can spend my days with them...I feel very blessed.

So, now we have a blog! Noah loves writing now and he thought it would be fun to have a place on line where others could see his work. I thought this would be a great place to share our journey and I thought it only fitting to start with how we got to this place. Enjoy and please share any comments you have. We would love to hear from our readers!