Homeschooling

We sort of fell into this world of homeschooling. I wouldn’t say it was accidental and I wouldn’t say it was super planned. We are right smack dab in the middle of those, whatever that means really. After it was clear that our daughter’s learning style was not a good match for the public schools near us and without the ability to seriously consider private schools, we looked to…..gasp…..homeschooling. We were fortunate enough to know a few families who homeschooled at the time so I reached out to set up a time to “observe”. I spoke with a few of them on the phone. They all have a different approach, different styles, and other differences. After about 4 solid months of hemming and hawing, we decided to give it a shot. Just one year, we thought. See how it goes and then she can always go back, right? Well, that was 3 years ago. We brought Lily home after her 1st grade year and it went really well. So well, in fact, that we decided that little brother Ben could come home for 1st grade too.

I’ve found that most surprising of all is that I actually really like it. I know. I KNOW. How can anyone be with their kids ALL DAY LONG and not lose their minds? Trust me. We have our moments. I have MY moments. But I have to say….we have grown closer the last few years. We have felt the feels and cried the tears. We have had mountain top experiences and have wandered in the valley wondering if there was any way to redeem the wreck of the day before us. But we made it through. Glory….I made it through. But I have fallen in love with learning alongside my kids. My education was fine. My elementary years were spent wandering on my bike in the summers, hiking the woods near my Richmond, Virginia home. Making forts. Making things out of sticks and string. Finding crawfish in the creek behind our house. It was pretty carefree. I remember liking school but I don’t recall growing up with a love of learning. I knew what I needed to get the grade. But retaining info? Meh. Who needed that? We want our kids to love learning. To grow and mature into amazing contributors to this world. People who will lead. People who will think outside the box. People who will be strong and bold and stand up for the truth.

And so we have chosen a path that is not that popular. We have become like salmon swimming upstream. People probably struggle to understand us. To understand why we’ve chosen such a silly thing for our kids. Why we would take them out of school and spend our time and energies creating something they could likely get at school. But as a friend of mine said to me this week….We give up the best part of the day with our kids to the schools. And then pour over at least an hour of homework before doing it all again the next day. And do I want that if I have an option otherwise? If I can figure out a way to give my kids an amazing, nature-filled, awe-inspiring, well-rounded and fun education while spending time with them and helping shape them into little people…..why would I not do that?

And the deeper we go on this journey the more I see this is way more than a year-by-year thing. This is something we have embarked on that really doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. We’ve been wooed by this crazy little thing called homeschooling that offers flexibility, time with my kids, the ability to pick and choose how and what we learn and the pace at which we drive. I am so excited to give them this chance to learn in this fashion.

Thanks for reading! Connect with me on Instagram {@intentionalgirl} as I shared the ups and downs of our days!