One Day At A Time

If you would have told me ten years ago that I would actually be considering homeschool, I would have told you that you were nuts. I was very pro-public school, and didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to homeschool.

Even five years ago, I would have still thought you were nuts as Emily attended Kindergarten. Then, life happened. I began to meet new people, see new opportunities, and understand that there is more than one way to parent. I began having a desire for a more rounded, stronger education than what the public school offered. I met some "normal" homeschool kids, and noticed that many of the kids who were homeschooled had a much broader, richer education than those who went to public school. They also had a lot more opportunities open up to them.

So, two years ago, I brought up homeschool to Kevin, and there was no discussion about it, it was no!

The year past, and Emily made new friends, many whom were homeschooled. As we made these new friends, I began to see how there were classes they could go to, there were clubs, there were a lot of things that would socialize them. It wasn't necessarily solely schooling at home.

This year, Emily still mentioned homeschool again and again. Her reasons would range from things she must have heard from other people like, "I could be challenged more at home, I'm not challenged enough at school," to, "I want to be able to get my school work done and play at home, rather than get my school work done and stare at the wall waiting for everyone else to be done." Then there are some really ridiculous reasons to.

These are not necessarily my reasons, but I want to open doors for her. I want her to be able to excel at sports and focus on her education, without missing out on downtime too. I want her to love learning and learn to be a lifelong learner. I want her to stay focused on what's important, not what others think is important.

Then there are the fears, she will miss out on school assemblies, school dances, school functions, the camaraderie of being a graduate of a particular school. There are things we would have to sacrifice if we were to homeschool all the way through. That's when I realized, just because homeschooling is the right option right now, doesn't mean it has to be the right option all the way through.

I have a tendency to try to plan my whole life, but since I have been trying to build a large family for ten plus years, get a degree for fourteen, and have managed to have one child with no degree in sight shows that my ability to plan my future is severely lacking. So I need to relax, plan one year at a time, maybe not that, one day at a time.

Next year, I am leaning towards homeschool, but because I never know what lies around the corner, I have to keep open the idea that public school might be the best option as well.

Well, then there was tonight. A friend who I had not seen in fifteen years, invited me to check out the local homeschooling group. It was so comforting to see what I found. There were all different type of people, not the long dressed Amish looking women, but ranging from sweats to fashionable but all had a joy for family and learning.

They shared their stories of frustration and encouraged one another. They talked about their field trips as a group, which sound absolutely amazing. Field trips that would truly prepare a child to know what they actually want to do for the rest of their life, rather than just reading about careers in a book. They swapped materials, shared info about events going on. There was a lot more available than I realized.

I came home, shared about my experience, only to find out that Kevin has been doing his own research. He shared curriculum advice he got from a friend and his thoughts and feelings towards certain things, and even told me about a homeschool convention I should look into.

What I realized is, we are going to keep going forward, preparing ourselves to start homeschooling next year. Life may drastically change between now and then, because if anything, life has taught me is that it has a way of happening while you're busy planning it.

I understand not all will agree with our decision. Some may not understand it. Some will be adamantly against it, but we have my daughter's best interest at heart, and at any time we feel that it is not the best option, we will change course. Her education is extremely important to me, and I truly feel that she would get a better one using the resources we have around our community than the ones found in our local schools.