Homeschooling: An Intro
I have been meaning to sit down for quite awhile to write about homeschooling and our own personal journey. One of the things I get asked most is where do you even begin? How do you do it? What does it look like? What curriculum do you use?
One of the things that you will discover is that each family and their homeschool journey is completely different. THAT is the beauty of homeschooling. I wanted to start a series that focuses on homeschooling and the different ways it can be done. I’ll be sharing some of our story and what our days look like. But I also will be sharing other stories. I was homeschooled K-12 and my mom taught all five of us kids. She is kind of my homeschool hero 😉 I have asked her to share some of her story and advice. I’ve also asked my youngest sister who is a senior in college to share a bit of her story as well. And I’ve got a few other women who will be sharing their story as well!
Because every story is so different I want to make sure I am completely transparent with what works for us and how our schedule looks. Again, not everyone is the same. What works great for us might not work the best for your family. So, keep that in mind if you are jumping into the exciting journey of homeschooling!
Today I wanted to share my own personal story of homeschooling.
I grew up the second oldest of five kids. My older brother and I are exactly a year apart to the day (surprise!) so we were in the same school grade growing up. My younger three siblings are 5, 9 and 10 years younger than I am. Homeschooling was all I ever knew growing up. The majority of my childhood memories are centered around our family and being educated at home. I love the bond that it created between the five of us.
After graduating I headed off to college, received a degree and found a husband 🙂 Travis and I married the fall after we graduated and started our family shortly thereafter. At the time when we started having kids he was coaching and teaching in the public school system. Homeschooling wasn’t really something that either one of us saw our family doing. Yes, I had been homeschooled. But I wasn’t super passionate about teaching my own kids. Before kids and even when they were babies sending them to public school just seemed like what we would do. As the time approached for our oldest daughter Emma to start Kindergarten, it made my heart hurt at the thought of her being away for so long every day. We made the decision to homeschool that year and jumped right in. Because it was Kindergarten I didn’t feel a ton of pressure. My main goal was to teach her to read and she caught on quickly. The end of that year we prayed about what direction we were supposed to go. We felt a clear calling to try public school. So off she went to public school for her first grade year. We had such a wonderful year and experience. Her teacher was incredible and the school was amazing. We didn’t have a single complaint about any of it.
One night in February I remember vividly waking up in the middle of the night feeling a STRONG need to pray for Emma and knowing without a doubt that we were meant to homeschool the next year. I kept that night to myself for a full month and never said anything to Travis. I was SURE he would think I was crazy for wanting to homeschool again. I continued to pray that the Lord would make it such a clear thing for our family. One night in March I was sitting at the kitchen table with Emma working on her homework. It had already been a long day and our sweet girl who requires a lot of sleep was looking fatigued. We finally finished her work and she headed off to bed. Without me saying anything Travis said, “I think we need to homeschool next year.” How is that for an answered prayer? 🙂
We finished out the school year at the public school and jumped back into homeschooling this fall. This time around I have a second grader, kindergartner and a preschooler. It has been such an adventure and a journey. One that requires more prayer and patience than I’ve ever needed. But one that has rewarded me more than any other job or adventure I have done.
My hope with this homeschooling series is that you will be inspired and encouraged. Whether you’re in the thick of it or whether you’re trying to decide if homeschooling is for you. Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking more about what our schedule looks like, what curriculum we are using, the social aspect, what the little ones do while we are schooling and more!
And just for fun… a few pictures of our day today 🙂
I'm so glad you're doing this homeschooling series! We have decided to homeschool, and I'm excited to read about your experiences and glean some wisdom…it's exciting and a bit scary at the same time:)
Hi,
Can you share what curriculum you use for your kids, including the preschooler?
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this! I went between public and private school growing up, as did my husband, but we both clearly feel the need to homeschool our daughter. She's still young so it's not on our immediate horizon, but it's something I'm already praying about and researching. I don't even know where to begin!
You give me hope that I can do this!
Your heart shines through as you share your story. Looking forward to your series!! I'm a fellow homeschooling Mom of five.
What tile toy is she playing with? They look really cool.
I'm excited for this series! I was homeschooled and I'm planning on starting with homeschooling my oldest next year. Looking forward to reading the homeschooling stories of others!