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.