"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
-Psalm 90:12
I'm really looking forward to this school year! This time last year I was dreading school starting because my oldest child was about to start kindergarten and she was going to be gone Monday-Friday 8-3:30. I couldn't even imagine! I thought to myself, I only get her the first five years of her life and then I send her away for someone else to teach her all day most days for the next 13 years before she starts college and then is grown and gone?
{I had always just assumed when the time came it would be normal and natural for my kids to go to school, but it wasn't. She was five and I had so much I still wanted to teach her and a relationship I was not finished developing with her. By the time she got home from school every day she was tired and needed to chill while I fed the baby and cooked dinner. Then Grant would get home from work, we would eat dinner, take baths, get ready for bed and the kids went down at 7:00. (Her bedtime was 8:00, but when she went to school and didn't nap all day she was exhausted by 7:00.) Saturdays are always full with birthday parties, Sunday School get togethers, etc... Sundays are always full of church activities and a work day for her dad. This didn't leave much time to read, paint nails, talk, have fun, do homework, play with siblings, do chores, go to the park or library, or be involved in extracurricular activities.}
So, this time last year I was pregnant with baby #3 (born in September) and figured my hormones were getting the best of me and the wisest plan was to send her to kindergarten like most other kids. After all, could I really give her a good education while taking care of her 3 year old brother and newborn sister? Much less the social backwardness she was sure to develop by not being around other kids all day. Ultimately we decided it would be best for her to go to the elementary school 3 minutes from our home, and that is what she did. I took her to school the first week and balled my eyeballs out as I left the parking lot everyday. This is normal, right? I hear it gets easier with each kid, which I can understand, but at the time it was difficult. Since this was such a traumatic experience for me, and my then 8 month pregnant self couldn't control the emotions, Grant began taking her to school the next week which had been our plan all along. As soon as they pulled out of the driveway, I would begin crying and after 4 weeks of this, Weston finally looked up at me one day and said, "Mom, are you just going to keep crying everyday?" Okay, son. Thanks for that!
Around that time, I gave birth to Camille who has turned out to be such a joy to our family (that's her middle name), and I totally could have homeschooled Alivia that first semester. But you live and learn and it was a good experience for all of us. For me, it reaffirmed the thoughts I had about homeschooling, and for Alivia she got a taste of what other kids do all day when they go to school. When she started kindergarten she had just turned 5 - the first day of school, in fact. She had to grow up and overcome some fears of walking in by herself and finding her room each day. When Grant dropped her off she would start crying and cling to him and he would have to peel her off of his body and a sweet lady would walk her to the front door of the school. This lasted about six LONG weeks (I know, because I would text Grant at 8:15 each day to see how she did). She got a little more brave each day and finally started leaving the truck sometimes without remembering to hug her dad goodbye. She always got in the van at the end of each day tired, but with a smile on her face saying she had a great day. She had a very sweet teacher that I was able to communicate with on facebook and who even called my cellphone one day to ask if Livi could watch a movie they were about to play because Alivia had told her she wasn't allowed to watch it. Weston, Camille, and I went to eat lunch with Alivia about once a month in the cafeteria. Our lunches at home had become very quiet. About 4 weeks after Camille was born, I went on the kindergarten field trip and was sad that Weston couldn't go with us, and I had to leave my nursing newborn at home with my mom who drove 4 hours from AL to TN to babysit. Every afternoon I would wake up my precious baby girl and 3 year old boy early from their naps to go sit in the carpool line which took about 30 minutes. Without making this post much longer than it already is, suffice it to say, not much of this whole schooling lifestyle was making sense at this point.
Child #1 missed Baby #3 like crazy, and Child #2 and I missed Child #1 like crazy!!! It did not feel right at all. So much so, I decided her last day before Christmas break would be her last and I homeschooled her for the second semester of kindergarten.
This year I will be homeschooling her for first grade and her brother for PreK. I really like to plan, teach, organize, and spend time with my kids, so for these reasons and so many more it just makes sense. I'm so glad I get to be the main influence in their lives at this point. It's a huge responsibility, but that's kind of what I signed up for when I became a parent. Growing up, I never in a million years would have thought I would homeschool my children, and I may not homeschool them all the way through 12th grade, but we'll just take it a year at a time, continue to pray about it, and try to make the wisest decision. It's interesting to think about the people, resources, and experiences I've had in life that I now see were leading and preparing me for this season in my life. I do get overwhelmed sometimes thinking about all the time it's going to take, and how I really might need a break, but 95% of the time I am super excited about all it involves. For now, I have such a peace about our decision to homeschool. It may not be God's will for every family, but I'm so grateful He's blessed us with 3 healthy children and has us in this place at this time.
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. . . . in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
-Psalm 139:13,16
There is a homeschool tutorial that meets at a Baptist church about 10 minutes from our home that the kids will be attending on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-12:15. It is called Faith Homeschool Tutorial and it has been around about 10 years. I am hoping it will prove to be the best of both worlds, allowing me to homeschool and yet have a teacher and classroom setting two half days each week. For the time being, we are the only homeschool family at our church, so we are hoping to make connections with other homeschool families in our community through this tutorial. They use Abeka curriculum which is what I have used with my kids since they were 2, so we are familiar with that. I have read The Well Trained Mind and researched classical education and I'm interested in doing some of that as well. The kids and I sat in on a day of a Classical Conversations community in the spring, and although we decided not to be involved in that this year, we haven't ruled it out for the future. Pinterest actually has a lot of classical conversations material and a ton of general homeschool ideas, curriculum, and freebies.
According to our state laws we have chosen to be enrolled in a church related school and we have chosen Home Life Academy.
Where we live there are so many options when it comes to our children's education. We can homeschool, choose a homeschool tutorial or co-op, go to public school, private school, private Christian school, Christian classical school, Montessori private and public schools, magnet high school, or homeschool for high school while dual enrolled in college. For our kids to attend a private school I would have to go back to work as a dental hygienist and put my younger kids in daycare. Grant and I see more benefits to me staying at home and educating our children. There may come a day when we feel like sending our kids to school each day is the best option. For now, I'm super thrilled about teaching my kids! I'll let you know if I have this same enthusiasm come February. :)
"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."
-Ephesians 5:15-16
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