an honest answer...

I hope that several of you can relate when I share my home school story with you. I was always skeptical of homeschooling and thought a more traditional approach to schooling would be the route I would send my children on. I thought this WAY before I had children of my own.

See, I loved everything about school when I was growing up. Like lots of little girls, I played school and insisted on being the teacher every time. I made friends easily and did really well in school, too. So, naturally when I graduated from high school, I went to college and got a degree in early childhood education. I was so excited to officially be a teacher that I couldn’t wait to get my first teaching job!

Right before I started my first year of teaching, my husband and I found out that we were expecting a baby! I had my baby in January and 6 short weeks later was back at school. My heart was broken! I ached to be home with my baby girl. I knew my place was at home loving and nurturing her. I finished out that school year and decided that I would take an early retirement from teaching and stay home with Gracelyn! At short 5 months later, we find out that we are expecting another baby! Ella arrived 16months after Gracelyn and still my heart’s desire was to be home with my babies. And yet again, 18 months after Ella was born, Ethan was born and joined our family, too!

We spent our days reading lots and lots of books, playing, going to the library for story time and going on adventures together. Periodically, people would ask me where Gracelyn was going to go to school or if I was going to homeschool and I would always respond “I don’t know” – short and sweet. I was so glad that I still had time to decide which route we would go.

Inevitably, Gracelyn turned 4 and I had a wakeup call. She was going to start kindergarten next year and I wasn’t so sure about that. I knew then that it was time to pray for direction and broach the subject with Matt. After lots of prayer, discussions with Matt – some that went like this… “Are they going to act and look like homeschoolers?”(I’m sorry, I’m just being honest) and battling with myself if I was qualified enough to teach our kids and do I really want to be EVERYTHING to my children, I started researching homeschool curriculums and got even more overwhelmed because I didn’t know which curriculum I should or shouldn’t use and the cost of homeschooling was a little pricey, too.

And then one day, I changed my perspective. I “looked” at the end result of schooling. I asked myself these questions:

1. What do I want my children to know when they leave our house?
2. What kind of people do I want to send out into the world?

After answering those 2 questions, I asked myself if going to a public school would provide my children with what I thought was best for them or if homeschooling would provide that. And without a shadow of a doubt, I knew that homeschooling would be the best route for my children.
And now, 7 months after making that decision, I’m still not sure which curriculum I should or shouldn’t use, the cost is still a little frightening, and some days I still ask myself do I really want to be EVERYTHING to my children, I’m relying on the fact that God’s grace is sufficient and I am determined to give homeschooling my all and realize that I may not choose “the best” curriculum, but I know that the end result will be totally worth it!

*Please know that I am only sharing my heart and my story with you and not intending to offend or imply which route you should send your child/children on.