A New Adventure: Here We Go

Here is a blog that I wrote on our family blog last week:

A new adventure is beginning for our family... and it seems like a really, really huge deal to me.  While I have partially homeschooled my kids for 8 years as they have gone to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and been homeschooled the other days of the week, I have never homeschooled them 100%.  I have never chosen a curriculum.  Never considered lesson plans.  Never been totally and completely in charge of my child's education.

Earlier this school year it was clear that the course we were on for Allie's schooling was not working.  At that point, I began looking into our options for a new school situation.  With her entering 8th grade in fall and nearing high school, I knew that there was much more at stake with her education than there had ever been before.  I checked into a few schools and even toured one... Were we ready to move to a 5 day model?  Was a full-time Christian school the route that we should take?  Were we ready to leave our Christian school/ homeschool combination and enter the public school world?  Should I look into homeschooling her full time?  What would that mean? For her?  For our family?  For me?  Was I capable of that?  Would I be able to figure out how to do the whole thing by myself?    I was open to whatever the Lord had for us, but even as I prayed for guidance I was completely confused about what I should do.  As most parents do, I take this job seriously.  The idea of messing my kids up or not providing the best for them makes me ill.  Literally.  The last several months have been very stress-filled as I have anxiously and repeatedly asked God to show me His will in this area and to give me peace regarding the kids' educations.  And I have waited (some-what) patiently for His answer.  A neon, flashing sign telling me what to do would have been my preference, but He doesn't seem to speak to me in that way.

As time went by, Corey, Allie, and I all felt led to consider the option of totally homeschooling more seriously.  In the last couple of weeks I have had a passion to consume as much information about it as possible.  I have talked to any mom of older homeschoolers that I could get my hands on.  I have asked them for advise and prayer, and they have generously shared of their wealths of knowledge with me.  I have researched classes and clubs and curriculums until I was thinking in scopes and sequences.  And I have prayed.  A lot.

Last week, I had the opportunity to take Allie to the art museum - just me and her.  It was an unexpected treat.  I didn't take her there with the intention of deciding about homeschooling her, but that is the day that I think I knew that we were going to do this thing.  We arrived at the museum around 9:30 because I thought that it opened at 10:00.  To our surprise, it didn't open until 11:00, so we strolled the streets of downtown Dallas and ended up in a Starbucks.  While we sipped our drinks I asked her, "If we decided to homeschool you what would you want to learn about?"  We talked about history, and english, and art, and many, many other things.  We talked about her interests and passions.  We talked about our strengths and weaknesses and how we would handle it when (not if) things get hard.  It was a precious time with my girl, and I think I knew - right then and there - that we were about to embark on this journey together.  When we were at the museum, we enjoyed the art - something that she loves - together, and I knew then, "I could do this!"

Today, I went to the huge homeschool bookfair  in our area, and I spent 8 hours learning about different curriculums and piecing our puzzle together.  The last few weeks of researching curriculum and deciding what I thought would work good for us right now coupled with finding the combination of subjects that fit together to meet our needs has taken more brain power than I have expended in a long, long time... and it felt good.  I went from totally confused and overwhelmed with my choices to fairly certain and very excited as I made my decisions regarding which curriculums we will use.

I can't wait to see how this year plays itself out.  If there is anything that I know for sure, it is that we will have to be flexible as we work out the details of how to homeschool in this new way, but I think it is going to be great.  I don't know what the Lord's plan for us is beyond this school year, but I am anxious to get the chance to school Allie in a way that I have never thought that I wanted to before.  I am ready for the challenges that we might face, and I am excited to see where this road takes us.

So buckle up... here we go!

The First Post

Schooling is such an adventure for our family.  Every year, by this point in the year, it has been such an adventure, in fact, that I feel like I am running the last mile of a marathon.  I can sense that the end is near, and as much as I want to sit down on the side of the road and rest, I know that I have to keep running.  So, I kind of find it humorous that I am starting a blog about our family's schooling just as I am at the point that I usually can't stand the thought of it anymore - at least for a few weeks...


So, why am I doing this?  Well, I have been blogging for a few years.  I find it to be a great record of our family's life, in general.  Today, it dawned on me that keeping a blog of our 2010-11 year would be a particularly fun (and condensed) way to keep track of this specific part of our lives.  It might seem a little early to be thinking about next school year since this one is not even wrapped up yet, but as I am discovering that much, much work has to be done in the spring to prepare for the fall.  And preparing is just what I have been doing... 


But before I get to that, let tell you a little about our family....


My husband, Corey, and I have been married for almost 18 years.  We have 3 kids: Allie is 13, Jack is 10, and Cooper is 4 (almost 5).  Since Allie started kindergarten, we have always sent the kids to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have homeschooled them on the other days of the week.  We are fortunate to have not only 1 school but 2 that is set up that way near our home.  Next year, we are switching things up a bit... more on that to come...

We never planned to be a "homeschooling" family, in fact I kind of thought that the idea of keeping your kids home and teaching them yourself was strange... until I had a little bitty curly headed thing that I was about to send out into the world - or at least to kindergarten.  Then, I started to rethink my options and research what was "out there" for me to choose from.  Thankfully, we live in a place that has many options for educating children, much support for most routes taken to do so, and endless resources to take advantage of.  When Allie was about 4 years old, we heard about a new small, classical, Christian school starting in our area.  It was made up of many homeschooling families.  The kids would go to school 2 days a week and be homeschooled on the other days.  The school would teach all new concepts, administer tests, and keep the children's records.  It sounded like a great idea to me!  We quickly gathered information and along with several of our friends from church, we signed up.  Allie was in the first-ever kindergarten class, and we loved it!  It just fit us very well.  I adore spending time with my children, and this option allowed me to still be with them more time than not during the week.  Corey and I would remain Allie's primary influence, and she would be in a Christian environment when she was away from us.  And the education that she would receive sounded superb.


That first year and the next few were great for her, and 3 years later our little boy with his chili-bowl haircut started kindergarten as well.  As time went on, things got harder at that school for Allie.  After a couple of years of she and I struggling to make it work (and struggling is quite the understatement, in this case), it was clear to me that Allie learned in a way that made this particular school incredibly challenging for her.  She had lost the love of learning that most kids have when they start school, and I knew that we had to look for a new option.


As I was looking into options for educating Allie at that point, it seemed like the perfect place fell into my lap.  It was a different 2-day-a-week school, and it seemed to be set up to teach her in a way that was much different than the first school... which seemed like a good fit.  She went there for 6th grade, and it was a good experience.  So, we signed up for 7th grade... which has not been so good.  A few months ago I started searching again...


We looked into several options, and there were some good ones and some bad ones... and there was homeschooling full-time.  That choice kept floating back into my head and my heart.  I prayed throughout my searching and would have loved for God to use his megaphone to let me know which of the options would be a good one for our family, but He didn't do that... so I waited.  I talked to several homeschooling moms and asked them to pray for me, and I researched like crazy.  Finally, it was pretty clear - I came to the conclusion that I was supposed to homeschool Allie next year.  I don't know what the long-term will look like for us, but this is what we are going to do for the 2010-11 school year, her 8th grade year.


Jack is still at "the first school".  It fits him well, and we love it there.  He will continue to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 5th grade, and I will homeschool him on the other days of the week.  


Cooper will turn 5 in the summer, and we have chosen to not start him in kindergarten this year.  All of my research has pointed to the idea of waiting to start a summer-birthday-boy until he is 6-years-old, and that makes sense to us.  He will go to pre-k on Tuesdays and Thursdays next year.


I have heard many parents say, "We are taking this one year at a time." regarding their kids' education, and I didn't understand that statement for a while.  As the kids have gotten older, I have seen very clearly that the one-year-at-a-time decision is the best way.  My goal is to really know my kids strengths and weaknesses and educate them in the way that is best for each one of them.  As is the case with parenting in general, this comes with a lot of weight -so much is at stake.  While that is intimidating, I know that I am not in this alone.  I am so thankful that the Lord is right beside me - and is making up the difference where I fail - the whole time.