Our Decision to Homeschool

I never wanted to homeschool our children.

My plan was to have two kids and go back to work when they started elementary school. It is a plan that works for many families. I did not get the chance to test it.

My husband has always wanted us to homeschool although, he never pressured me. My excuse? There is no way I can teach our oldest child. (We will call her Free Spirited Sweet).

We sent Free Spirited Sweet to public school and she did fine until second grade. Through her struggles that year, the Holy Spirit softened my heart about homeschooling and we all agreed to bring her home for third grade.

I. Was. Terrified.

I was also sure that God was calling us to homeschool Free Spirited Sweet, just not her brother. (We will call him Sporty Sweet). Sporty Sweet was incredibly gifted in academics and he needed to be in school, or that’s what I thought.

So many questions swirled in my head about beginning our homeschool journey. Where do I start? How do you do it? What documents do I have to provide? What are we going to do all day? The curriculum costs how much?

Fortunately, I had a village of homeschool friends to help answer my questions and a friend gifted us an entire curricula for third grade. It was the perfect starting point for me- exact lesson plans, timelines and book lists. The only purchase I needed was the student books. It was a huge money saver. I made our spare bedroom into a school room, complete with student desk, wall posters and a portable white board. Third grade was going to be great!

I’d like to pause here and say what a spiritual, fantastic year we had. Unfortunately, I can’t. It was one of the hardest years of my life. I had a kindergartner in public school and third grader and toddler at home. It was hard. It wasn’t peaceful and many tears were shed – both by parent and child.

We survived and both learned valuable lessons for the following year. The school room became the whole house and even outside. We changed curriculum. We brought Sporty Sweet home to do school. I chilled out a little as a mom and teacher and began the painful art of learning patience.