Confession

I have a huge confession to make to you all. It's one I have held in a long time.

I am ... a homeschooler.

From here

First, I need to dispel some misconceptions.

• I don't grind my own grains. Though, that would be cool if our grain issues weren't so nutty. 
• I don't wear denim jumpers. I own one. It's too small. I need to donate it. Yeah, I will probably just keep it in my closet. 
• My kids are not graduating at 13 years old and won't be doctors at 16. 
• I am not nuts. 
• I am not stronger than you are. 

From here

Before we had kids, before we even thought about trying, we knew we wanted to educate them at home. Both of us went to public school. My husband went to a school that was small. There were about 200 kids in K-12 total. I went to a larger school. There were about 200 kids in my graduating class alone. So we aren't second generation homeschoolers who know no other way. It's something we have felt lead to do since early in our marriage. 

When our oldest son got his diagnosis of Autism (his first of many diagnoses), we were told the only help for him was at the public school's preschool program for children with special needs (PPCD). We watched our dreams to educate him at home fly out the window. We went to the school, signed him up, had our ARD/IEP meeting, and took him to that little out building each day. I hated it. I wondered why God gave me such a strong desire only to rip it from me. It made no sense at all. 

Then, one day I was at home with our younger son with our older son at school and I thought about it. It really DID make no sense. God said we should home educate. He knew our child before we did. He knew he was growing in my belly before I did. He knows the days of his life already. If God said we should educate our kids at home, He meant it. He wasn't sitting up there while we were at the doctor's office on that fateful day thinking, "whoa, never saw that coming. Change of plans, put him in school." That's why it didn't feel right to me. I was going against God's command for our family. 

However, I am not the only parent here and I was nervous to suggest to my husband that we could educate him just as well as the school was going to do. He came home that night and, after putting the kids to bed, I asked him to sit on the sofa and talk with me. I told him about my thoughts and said, "what if WE can teach him what he needs to know." and I waited. 

His response shocked me. He thought for a minute and then said quietly, "I think we can. This makes much more sense than what we are doing now. Pull him out of school." The next day I walked into the front office holding his little hand, walked up to the secretary and told her we were taking him out of school, thank you. 

Yes, we are a bit nuts. No, I wasn't ready at all but why send him another day when we knew it wasn't his final destination for learning. 

It has been a very long journey. I started with shiny new expensive curriculum and quickly threw that out. I started with another new curriculum and tossed it. I bought a few more and finally we have a plan that works for our kids. It's hard on some days, and really hard on others. But, the blessings have been incredible. My kids have actually thanked me for homeschooling them. Whoa. My kids have told me, more than once, "Mom, we have the best talks." I love seeing their eyes light up as a concept that's hard for them to grasp hits them and they get it. I love that they can tell you about what happens in your brain when you learn a new concept and finally get it. 

If you want to home educate your kids, you can. Education level doesn't matter. It doesn't. Think about it. If the public school system you were raised in didn't teach you enough to teach children younger than you, it failed and you don't want your kids in the same system. Know you will throw out curriculum. Oh, you think it's easy to pick one, it's not. Learning styles, teaching styles, budget, and more will lead you in unplanned directions.

But, above all remember: You can do it. I did it. I am doing it. I finally let go of how I thought it should happen (which looked a lot like public school) and let my kids styles direct how it did happen. Now we are all a lot happier and my kids are learning easier and quicker than before. 

From here