Big Decisions

To say Nate and I talked long and hard would be the understatement of the year.  We talked, we wrote lists, we researched, talked with our kids, we made choices, we change choices, we spent hours upon hours upon hours this summer deciding what was best...

Homeschooling last year was what I liked to call our accidental homeschool year.  Trent had gone to Kindergarten and first grade in public school and Nate and I had never really considered anything else.  I loved school when I was young (high school not so much, in fact I begged my parents to send me to private school) and Nate will very boldly tell you that he hated school his whole twelve years but survived.  But going to pblic school was just what our kids were going to do.  Then last summer we got ready to move to NH. One delay after another with Nate's job transfer meant that Trent and Dylan would have to start school late.  We hated the idea, absolutely, positively hated it.  We didn't want to give them that awkward "new kid" stress the second we moved into a new state.  The idea of homeschool came up, but even with my sisters being homeschool moms, it just wasn't "normal" for us.  We worried about socialization and the logistics of educating our children well enough. Crossing over into the Twilight Zone where we thought people considered public schools to be evil government-sponsored institutions that turned children into godless heathens or worse, was not what we wanted.  But as we looked into it more we realized our thoughts on homeschooling were far from the truth and it was much more "normal" then we realized.  The whole homeschool idea seemed so big and strange but out of our options we decided it was our best choice.  So with our  "Temporary" stamp we had placed upon our homeschooling we set off on our big year. 

Nate and I still had an awkward feeling telling people we were homeschooling. In fact, most people looked at us as if we’d suddenly sprouted second heads. “You’re serious? You’re going to home school? For REAL?” Some people doubted my ability to pull it off.  But many others were surprisingly on board and supportive.
“It’s just for a little while,” we told ourselves and everyone else. “And it isn’t like we’re going to home school all three of them forever.” 


I spent the year learning how to homeschool, while our children learned how to be homeschooled. It went well, surprisingly well. Trent flew through subjects and never came home with the complaint that he was bored all day long. Dylan got to learn things quickly using his hands and creative ability and even Aliya fell in love with school and would beg to do more at the end of the day.The year was amazing and the kids loved homeschool and surprisingly Nate and I did too. 

So summer came and a decision needed made.  The registration packet for pblic school lied next to homeschooling curriculum and stared us in the face each day.  We talked.  Long hard talks about each side of the coin.  We are not against public school in anyway, and after the last year we realized that we were not against homeschooling either.  We sat down and talked with Trent and Dylan.  “You can go to public school any time you want,” we assured them. (This is an agreement that will always stand with all of my children).  "What do you feel about school?" "What would you like to do this year?"  We talked about their opinions and then Nate and I talked some more.  We talked and talked and talked. The decision this year was not as easy.  We tried to really figure out what our reason was behind sending our kids to public school and doing homeschool and we came to one clear decision.  Our reasons could be for no one but each child.  No worries of what people would say if we homeschooled or sent our kids to public.  No thoughts on what would be easier for ourselves.  Our choice would be based on their desire and where we felt they could learn and grow. We talked deep and hard with our children and finally made our choice.  This year our kids will be homeschooled.
 

  We will homeschool because we feel that it’s the best choice for them as individuals.  We did not wake up one morning and flip a coin to decide on this lifestyle. We prayed about it, researched it, and talked about it long before deciding that homeschooling was the right.  Next year we may decide different (for one or all three children) but this year we are confident (finally) on the path we have chosen for our family.  All five of us are very excited to embark on a new school year.  We feel incredibly blessed to be able to let our kids have hands on learning in a way that may be nontraditional but is an absolutely amazing way to learn.


And that is that. This year we are a homeschooling family, a label that still sounds strange to Nate and I.  We like to think of it as alternatively educating our children (or as Trent calls it Fun Schooling), to meet their needs in the best way we can.  Because really that is what it is all about...trying to give the world to our kids in every way that we possibly can.