How we got started homeschooling

I get asked about this so often, I decided to post my response here.

In the spring before William was supposed to start school, Kelly got orders to Korea for a year and the kids and I weren't able to go with him. We knew we were being sent to NC after he got back from Korea. William had a very hard time while his dad was gone. And we realized that while having Daddy gone was a big stressor, starting a new school in the fall would be another, and moving and starting over again in a new community would be yet another. So even though I was hesitant, we made the decision to keep him home. Watching him learn was so much fun. We schooled when Steven napped and we loved our quality time together. We read, sang, colored, played, talked & snuggled.

After we got to NC, we learned our new "home" state was ranked 48 out of the 50 states with regard to education, and the county we were in was dead last. That made the decision to keep him home the following year easy.

When it came time for Steven to start school, I assumed they would both go to public school. But Kelly had figured out we were onto something great and knew we needed to continue. I knew we were onto something great, too, but I was intimidated by the thought of schooling two rambunctious boys. I was campaigning to put the oldest in school and keep the youngest at home. Kelly asked me why I didn't want to school both. I told him my reasons were threefold:

"They out-number me. They out-energize me. And if I'm not at the top of my A game, they'll form a coup and take over."

We were talking about the situation one day and Kelly said, "why don't you pray about it". Oh, I prayed about it, all right. I prayed God wouldn't make me do it. LOL My main concern was about both boys getting enough attention. I've since figured out that when Kelly suggests I 'pray about it', that's code for "I know what we should do but I'm going to give you time to hear what God's trying to tell you."

And about a week later Kelly's boss asked if he'd like to work the 2nd shift instead of first. This would have him going in at 3 in the afternoon and getting off at 11:30. Perfect opportunity for him to school one boy while I schooled the other. Which is exactly what we did that next year.

The following year though, we switched it up; he taught both boys math, art and science; I taught both boys English, geography and handwriting.

After that, we knew there was no turning back. We were enjoying spending our days together, going to lunch as a family, and learning together. It was working.

People asked me about socialization a lot. My response was usually, "Have you talked to my boys?" Those who did, never mentioned it again. Those who didn't let it go because the look that I gave them when I answered their question with my question probably let them know their question was bordering on the ridiculous.

Both boys will tell you their favorite thing about being schooled at home was the ability to manage their own schedules and the flexibility we had as a family. Kelly's done his share of time in Saudi Arabia and Iraq; teaching the boys at home meant that when Dad came back home, we could go out of town to a hotel and have a mini vacay as a family, no matter what time of year it was. Our schedule was ours. And we loved it.

Peace.

C.s story:

I was attending a church with lots of stay-at-home, homeschooling moms. That was all fine and good. But I couldn't afford to stay home, until my son's private school started to threaten to kick him out for being too hyper and uncontrollable according to their standards.

I'd been thinking more and more about wanting to quit and homeschool. But I was really just admiring all my church friends. Not until a real need came up in our own family did it become a personal conviction that I should stay-at-home and homeschool. My husband wasn't so sure about it all. But once we tried the psychologist and the psychiatrist and the Ritalin, and my son was still kicked out of school, my husband was open to "trying" it. That was the second half of first grade. We haven't looked back. Now he's 19. Never regretted it and have continued on with our other children.

Once you step into the world of homeschooling and start researching you find out so much to bolster your decision to do it and keep doing it. I did anyway. The "issues" my son deals with are more to do with his temperament and less to do with some sort of dissorder. Why should I teach him and allow him to use excuses for his weaknesses? We all have some. Some are more prominent than others and more bothersome to others. We have to work within the framework of ourselves instead of expecting everyone else to excuse us. That's my take on the epidemic of AD/HD especially with relation to education and socialization.

So, we have learned a lot through homeschooling: not just educationally, but socially, emotionally, spiritually, and perspectively. I highly recommend it to everyone.