When Grace turned 4, Monroe and I began talking about how we planned to educate our children.  Since both of us had graduated through the public school system, we had originally planned for Grace and Clark to attend a local school.  However, as the time grew closer for Grace to begin school, we began to explore the option of homeschooling.  I immediately started researching curriculum and asking friends for their perspectives and views.  I contacted homeschooling families and was pleased to learn from their experiences.  And, I prayed.  I knew that I wanted to homeschool our children, but I also knew that I would follow the decision and direction that Monroe felt was best for our family.  I was relieved when he told me that he wanted us to try homeschooling with the understanding that if it did not work out for us, public school would be our next choice.

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I attended a homeschool convention and tried to gather as much information as I could to build for her the best curriculum to incorporate all the subjects that we felt were important for her to learn.  We started school the next August, when Grace was barely 5.  That was 7 years ago.  We are now entering her 8th year of homeschooling.  Clark began homeschooling 4 years ago, and he is starting his 5th year. 

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We have learned so much together along the way.  We have changed curriculums a few times, and I still spend hours each year researching what I feel is the best choice for our family.  Monroe relies on me to make most of the curriculum choices, but I always share with him what I've learned and what I'm choosing, and why I choose what I do.

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We acknowledge that each family has different goals for their children and that each child has different talents and abilities and learning styles.  Recently, Grace and I were discussing our upcoming school year, and our conversation turned where she was questioning exactly why we decided to homeschool.  Her questions help me to solidify in my mind why we do what we do.  Of course, there are several reasons why we have homeschooled and why we continue to do so.  First of all, we are a Christian family, and we are very attentive to what our children are being taught.  We wanted to be sure that our beliefs were reflected in what our children were learning.  Secondly, we did not want our children's progress to be hampered by limitations based on teachers, other students, or a philosophy of testing.  We encourage our children to want to learn and to learn about all different types of things.  And, although these are great reasons to homeschool, they are not the primary reason that we chose this path.  We feel like one of the most important things that we can cultivate in our children is a love for each other and for our family.  We know that Grace and Clark are blessings given to us from God, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible.  Our family's most vital "love language" is quality time.  We absolutely love making memories together.  Because Monroe has a schedule that allows him to be at home a lot during the day and because I have a job where I primarily work from home, we have the ability to homeschool and fulfill our desire of being together.

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As we are beginning this new school year, I wanted to share some of our curriculum choices with you.  I am always gathering new information so that we can be improving, and I am happy to hear from you regarding both your choices in curriculum and why you decided to homeschool.  Click on the links to read more about each one. 

 

Happy learning!