We are officially a homeschool family

Well here are some words I never ever ever (ever ever ever) thought I’d be saying: we are homeschooling. In fact, I fully acknowledge that I have said on more than one occasion that I pray the Lord never calls me to homeschool my kids. And….here we are. I should know by now to never say “never” (i.e. “I will never have a third kid” That was cute).

So…how did we get here??

I cried when we got the news that schools would be closing down for two weeks in March. I liked my days of uninterrupted time. I was not emotionally prepared to do school at home without any time to prep or plan. I was afraid. And….it was rough. The first few weeks were hard because the school just wasn’t prepared or organized (through no fault of their own….they were thrown into a sudden unexpected position, too). So I didn’t know what exactly my kids were supposed to be doing each day for a while. And that was super stressful. One of my kids handled the work in stride, and the other had a really really hard time with it. It was stressful and just ended in tears every. single. day. The stress of the format we were working in and missing friends and routine was incredibly difficult. Throw a 3 year old in the mix and it was just an all around tough time doing school each day.

But the rest of the day? It was pretty awesome. The freedom to sleep in a little bit and have slow mornings together. The freedom to go outside and play and explore for hours. No rush to be anywhere. No hurried and exhausted evenings. I found myself truly enjoying my kids like I never had before. I knew not going back to typical school days in the fall was a possibility, so I started to do some research on how to make it all more peaceable for us if virtual learning were to happen again. And then one of my kids started opening up about some of the stress and fear he was dealing with at school. He was so fearful of having to move his dang color clip down (I know teachers need a way to incentivize behavior and maintain control over their classrooms, but man I hate the color chart). He said things like “I can never cry at school because I’ll get in trouble”, which is not true but that’s what he believed. No wonder he came home nearly everyday and had a massive meltdown. He was so full of anxiety and bottled up emotions every single day and it was running our house. So we began the conversation about looking at other options for him in particular. We talked about private school, but it just is not feasible for us right now as a mainly one income family.

And then came the guidelines from the state for schools reopening. I just knew it wasn’t going to work for us. The main reason is the uncertainty. Seeing that school could randomly close for 3-5 days or kids may have to quarantine if a classmate tests positive, the social distancing, temperature checks, etc. etc. One of my kids had such a hard time abruptly coming home at the end of the year. I don't want to put him through that again. Like I said, he already struggles with some anxiety and his emotions, so keeping him home is definitely the best option for him at this time. We know he needs stability, routine, and time to mature at home. And seeing the freedom we had with more relaxed schedules, more freedom for them to play and learn on their own and explore...it was eye opening!!! My kids, especially my oldest, are so curious about everything, and thinking of putting them back in school for 7 hours a day where they lose a lot of that freedom we have just gotten is just not sitting well with me. Plus the possible mask mandate…masks all day on kids is a hard line for me that I wasn't willing to do (I know this is a hot button issue, but that’s my stance and I’m not going to argue about it).

All that to say, the opportunity to see life outside of a typical school setting was eye opening and made us stop and think that maybe there could be a different option. Without being forced into the circumstance we were with schools shutting down, I would maybe have never considered that there was another way. I’m a go with the flow kind of girl. Which is great sometimes…but not all the time. It shook me and has changed my heart in the best way when it comes to parenting and family. It has opened conversations. It has led us to get counseling for us as parents and for our kiddo who has been struggling. He is finally doing so much better and I don’t want to throw him back into a high stress environment. It has made our family dynamic more solid and full of joy. I see my kids excited to learn about things and discover things on their own. I am excited and have so much peace about this decision for our family. Total peace for a former “I could never homeschool” mom is definitely only Jesus. We have officially registered with the state as a non-public school, and we have withdrawn our kids from the public school system (Gibson will still go to his preschool program at our church 3 days a week because we love it so much). I don’t know if homeschool will be longterm or just this year, but I know God is in it and He is faithful. And we will make that decision when the time comes.

Here are a few books I’ve read that have helped us in making this decision:

Education by Design, Not Default: How Brave Love Creates Fearless Learning by Janet Newberry

The Call of the Wild + Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education by Ainsley Arment

Currently reading: The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life by Julie Bogart

I plan to keep sharing a lot more about the process, so if you have questions please don’t hesitate to ask them! And if this is a decision your family has made or you’re considering, I’d love to hear from you about it! I also want to be clear that this is the best decision for my kids and our family, and that doesn’t mean that it’s the best decision for every kid and every family. We are all different and all called to different paths. We all just gotta trust Jesus for the ride!!