Playing catch up... again!

What do you know, I'm finally posting and catching up!

Things have been downright busy in our household the past few weeks! Thanksgiving brought a lot of pleasure and fun, but talk about exhausted! So much time spent with family can wear a person out! (Even if you are enjoying every minute of it!)

I realized at the end of the girls Karate class they took with our homeschool group this past month, that I never got a good photo of either of them! I do have some class photo's (thank goodness!) but nothing really post worthy. I am going to make sure that doesn't happen again! The girls had a great time learning some basics of karate. Kenzie came home after every class complaining of sore ab muscles (so I know she was working it!) and Chloe loved showing us all her new kicks and punches. Hopefully our group will do something like that again next year!

Other than that, things have just been coasting along. We ended our Africa Unit a few weeks back. The girls spent a good week and a half summarizing the things that they learned in report form. That was a big task! Now we just have to plan when we are going to have our Africa Night so we can invite family over. That way the girls can share what they've learned and their various projects. I am hoping to do that very soon so I can mentally move on! It was a great unit, but it's exhausting me! (Seems to be a running theme. ;)

Today we started our study of, "Early American History". It's a literature approach, which means we do all our learning from real books. The girls and I really enjoy that kind of study. Today we started studying Leif Ericson and the the girls enjoyed it. They shared with me things they already knew about the Vikings, and we read from a very colorful art filled book. I think it's really going to be great! (and unlike Africa, this time I have all the books ahead of time!) The girls also defined, "The Principle of Individuality" and discussed how everything God creates in unique, yet all works and fits together. What is God's purpose for us as people? For us as a nation? Yes... it's going to be good!

Other than that, things are just moving along. The girls are masters of using the verbs raise/rise, sit/set, and lie/lay. Well, master might be a strong word, but we are actively trying to find ways to work those words into conversation so we can use them properly! How often do you use the verb phrase "had lain"? ;) That's been fun.

I had a moment of happiness a couple weeks ago when Kenzie informed me, "It's so weird, I love all my school subjects now!" All I could think was, "Wow..." I feel like we really have to be making some progress! Learning?!? Fun!!!??? ;)

Catching up!

I have been terrible about posting any updates lately. For some reason I can't seem to find the energy to invest much extra time into thinking. (smile)

Things have been going very well, nothing too exciting to report. The girls and I are coming to the end of our Africa Unit. I am excited and bummed at the same time. It will be missed. If you notice, half of anything interesting we do has had something to do with this unit! Whatever will I talk about when it's finished? After Africa, we are starting an Early American History study. I am looking forward to it!

I meant to post a week or so ago about the "feelings" that homeschooling has erupted in Chloe. She has decided that she hates math. She's good at it, she just doesn't like the large numbers that she has to subtract right now. Plus all the carrying she has to do. She also despises word problems. This has been something we have had to work through. Oh the tears that have been shed! She decided about a month ago that she didn't really want to be homeschooled anymore, and she wanted to go back to public school. Ugh! I of course tell her repeatedly over and over the advantages she has at home, and remind her of all the things that she disliked before. She would say that she knows all these things, but missed her classmates. After a couple weeks of this, she told me great news. (For me great news! I was stressed!) She told me that she had a dream and that she really feels that God was showing her the benefit's of homeschooling. She said, "You don't always get what you want" and some other 8 year old explanation that is rather difficult for me to piece together. ;) But it made sense to her, and she has done a 180 on her feelings about school! She is starting to see the things we get to do at home as a blessing, and fun. Thank you Lord! :)

Last week we went to the zoo on a "safari" because we were studying the Savannah and grasslands of South Africa and Madagascar. It was fun. This week we are studying the Zulu tribes, and this will be the end of our unit! The following week we will spend preparing an "Africa Night" to invite family too. The girls have to prepare reports about what they have studied and learned. At that time we will make a couple dishes that are eaten by the people we studied, and dress in our African clothes. They will also get a chance to display the projects they have worked hard on. It should be a lot of fun!

The girls were also supposed to start Karate today with our homeschool group. I ruined it by having a hair apt and not remembering that until this morning. But they will get to go on Thursday, and the class lasts 9 weeks! They are super excited, and I am happy to get them involved in something where they can meet and hang with other homeschool kids.

We also took the girls to their first, big concert! We went to a Christan concert in our area (Casting Crowns and Matt Redman!) and it was awesome. The girls knew most of the songs, so that made it a lot of fun for them. It was a great experience that will surely mean more to them in the future! I fully plan on investing in my girls this way. Plays and concerts... and I look forward to the experiences myself!

The Congo and Pygmies!

These are pictures of the Pygmy (Mbuti) camps that the girls created! They had a great time making these! It's always interesting to me how long school can run over on art days, and no one seems to mind! :)




Getting through our study of the Congo has been tough. Talk about one distraction after another! Last week I went on a surprise trip to visit my sister-in-law in Georgia. That was a great opportunity and lucky for me my mom was not only willing to keep the girls, but willing to study all their basic courses with them so school didn't have to come to a stand still! Shout out to mom, THANK YOU!!!!

After a choppy week getting started, and a week off, this week is back on full swing. We are finishing up our book about the Pygmies over the next couple days. We have been studying the rain forest, and the animals that live there. Different terrifying fish in the Congo river, apes and chimps, and the Mbuti people that call the forest's their home.

We are really enjoying learning about all these wonderful things! But I have to say, I will be happy to finally make some headway and move on! (That's just between us! ;)

Nigeria Night!

My goodness, am I ever behind on this blog! I know that by summing up a couple things, I am going to miss so much! I will try and get here sooner from now on! :)

These photo's are from our "Nigeria Night" that we had over at the girls grandparents!

The girls Great-Great Grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria. Their grandparent's, Jim and Vicki, took a trip about two years ago to Nigeria. They visited the school that Great Grandpa Ummel started, seeing the home where he lived and meeting wonderful people! There were many fun and interesting stories shared, about the past and present!

This is a night that I am sure will mean something to all of us for years to come!!!

Kente, talking drums, and peaches... OH MY!!!

Things are going very well this week. I find that I'm learning more and more "school" can happen around the things life throws our direction. It's flexible!!! As long as I remain flexible. :)

Last Friday we started a unit study on nutrition. I'll throw in my own selfish motives for this 'study', I have been trying to loose the same 15 pounds since... well January. I did great at first, I have been yo-yoing ever since spring! So I hope that by going "clean" with our eating as a family, I can find renewed motivation myself. (smile) It's actually working out very well!

Anyway... back to school. ;) On Friday we started by talking about the food pyramid and things we can do differently to eat more fruits and veggies. I had checked out some healthy kids recipe books from the library and they picked out a couple 'snack' recipes. They made their own shopping lists, and we made a trip to the store! Since we are doing a giant over-haul in all our eating as a family, we had some major shopping to do. Eating clean and organic is no piece of cake when you're starting from scratch! It's going wonderfully though, and with the girls being so heavily involved they are much more willing to try or eat something.

Yesterday we also made a trip up to my grandma's house and the girls and I learned to can! We canned peaches, and it was a lot of fun! I feel so blessed to have been able to spend that kind of quality time with my grandma. Also to have my girls involved, I know it will last forever. I am very thankful that being a homeschool family offers me many opportunities like this!

This week in our Africa Unit we are studying the bulge of Africa. Mostly Ghana and Nigeria. We are reading fiction and non-fiction books. We find ourselves very curious about "talking drums" (which I had no idea about and find absolutely fascinating!) and the culture of the Ashanti people. This study is going to be drawn out into next week as well. I have mentioned before that my husbands great-grandfather lived and was a missionary in Nigeria. So we are going to have "Nigeria Night" over at their grandparents next week! A couple years back they also made a trip to Nigeria to visit the school where he ministered. They have lots of photo's and pieces of Nigerian heritage. The girls also own a few African pieces they were given after their Grandma passed away last winter, she was the daughter of the missionary. So this is really a special week of study for us, and I want to get in all that I can.

Well, that's all the interesting stuff. Math and grammar, among other things, trudge forward for now! The three of us are having a lot of fun! Even the neighbor girl asks me when she get off the bus, what we learned today. My daughter loves to tell her about all the African things she is learning. So I breathe a sigh of relief... I must be doing something right! (Thank you Lord for your daily guidance!)

Styling with Moroccan flair!

Did you know the fez in Moroccan is called, "tarboosh"? :)

Is it only Wednesday? Really?!? I am wiped out! It's been a hard week though, I have been fighting something, and of course there's no time for rest when you're the teacher!

We've been having a good week, other than my sluggishness. Kenzie has (in 11 days, mind you) memorized her entire list of 53 prepositions! Now she can move forward in the book! It turned out to be much easier than I thought it was going to be. I was pretty intimidated! She is excited and looking forward to the lessons. Hopefully Easy Grammar Curriculum will be as enjoyable for my girls as some say it is! I just hope I can teach it! :s

We've been studying Morocco this week. Including the Berber people and more about the Sahara Desert. The girls are really enjoying it, and I love that they are learning and doing so many interesting things! We are also going to study "nomads" this week, and look at scripture that talks about Abraham being a nomad at one time!

I am also putting together a unit study on nutrition. This is going to be a lot of fun! (And hopefully beneficial to my waistline at the same time.) I will share more on that later I am sure!

On a more personal note, I am really praying that I learn to balance things a little better. So much of my time is consumed with "school", that I feel somethings are falling by the wayside. I know that's to be expected, but if you know anything about my O.C.D tendencies, you know that this can depress me! I need energy to keep going after school, and get more done! But I also know that I am learning balance in all this. Please keep me in your prayers! That I can continue on this path with a happy heart! I am completely willing to be stretched and taught my potential by my Lord, I look forward to the blessings of living for Him everyday. I just need a little more energy. ;)

What a week!

This week was (already) one of those weeks!

Our family had been planning our vacation for weeks. Counting down the days finally paid off!

This past Monday night we left for a mid-week vacation. As new homeschooler's, we have been looking forward to that advantage! It really paid off, Cedar Point was great! We managed to walk on most of the coaster's with no wait. Never again will we go in the summer!

Getting back in the groove Thursday was tough, we were all exhausted! We ended up doing all our basic things, Math, Grammar, some handwriting practice (Chloe). Today was a much better day. We found our groove again and things were kind of normal. My DH is still home from vacation, so things were still pretty relaxed. Chloe spent the whole day in her PJ's. I don't usually allow that (I like some structure!) but like I said, it's vacation week!

We wrapped up our study on Islam this week. That has been very interesting. I really feel like the girls (and myself) got a good introduction to the Muslim lifestyle. Next week, Morocco, camels, and Bedouins!

I got our first homeschooling news letter for the group we joined! Our first gathering is in a couple weeks, I am very excited! There are a lot of offerings as well. Everything from a swim day at the "Y" to a 10 week art class session! I am very much looking forward to getting the family involved. I really want the girls to make some good, close friends!

Getting in the groove

Whew! I am feeling a little tired today! Is it Friday Yet?!? :)

Today has been an interesting day. Had a mishap happen with the middle school where Kenzie is supposed to be attending band. Apparently she got deleted over the summer. I have made various phone calls trying to re-enlist her, but so far I am not getting my phone call returned. Kind of annoying!

Other that that, our day was wonderful! This was our 3rd day officially. I think we are starting to get in the groove of things. It was a strange morning, watching the school bus pass and my kids not getting on it! (It was the first day in our area.) I think it made 'homeschooling' a little more real to all of us, but I can't help but constantly say how weird it is. I don't know why, it just feels WEIRD! ;) Being a graduate of public education, I just can't imagine that any learning can happen outside of that public, government run ;) school building! (Have I been programed or what?) I am beginning to wonder exactly how long it will take for this to feel normal. Not just normal, but excellent.

Studying the list of prepositions with Kenzie is actually going very well. She still feels kind of funny memorizing a list of words, but I love watching it 'click' with her. I am excited to see how well the girls excel in grammar!

In our bible time we are studying stewardship, as I have previously mentioned. Today we made charts to track our progress over the next 2 months or so that we are doing this study. I made one myself, I figure if I don't lead by example, why in the world would they get it? Our categories are: money, time, talent, home, work, earth, gospel and body. WHEW! Just think about this for a minute. This would be a lot of pressure on anyone! :) I have to "improve" in these areas right along side my girls. I joke, but seriously... I am excited to see the growth that is not only going to start happening in my daughter's lives, but mine (and Jason's) as well!

The fun part of our day today was studying Pharaohs and pyramids of Egypt. We ended up doing a lot of reading. I also am lucky enough to have a book my mom gave Kenzie that has giant photos of all kind of things related to this. It was great, we must have spent another 30 minutes looking through and discussing that. (Chloe wasn't thrilled by the mummy of Ramses II. That was personally, my favorite part! ;) Anyway, it was a VERY interesting day, and Chloe told me afterward a very FUN day! I'll take that! :)

THe photos above are pictures of the pyramids the girls constructed. Each including their names spelled in hieroglyphics! (Oh my goodness, I spelled that right the first time!)

Our First Day!

Today was a VERY exciting day for us! Our VERY first day of homeschooling!

The girls have been counting down for days, and as the hours quickly approached before bed last night, they were coming unglued! They had a hard time going to sleep last night due to excitement, and quite honestly, so did I! I kept repeating things over and over in my head, making sure that I had everything prepared that I needed, and going over any last minute plans... I finally had to concentrate on NOT thinking! Must sleep! :)

It's funny, Chloe kept saying how shy and nervous she was going to be, thinking of me as her teacher. So the first thing I did this morning was smile and say, "Good morning class!" They both giggled, and Chloe said "Oh no!" Of course after just a few minutes of getting into our bible lesson, she was just fine. As I knew she would be!

For those of you interested in what we will be doing on an average day, I thought I would give you a general idea!

We start each morning out with prayer and our bible lesson. For the first 9 or 10 weeks of the year we are studying stewardship. Today we learned, "What is a Steward?" Over the next few weeks we will be learning what that means to God, how we are to be stewards for Him, and charting how well we do personally in those areas of time, treasure and talent. I think it's going to be great!

Grammar: We are using curriculum called "Easy Grammar". I have to be honest, teaching this subject scares me to death! But... with lots of prayer and study myself (and the help of my DH) I am determined that not only will my girls learn but I will too! I am so excited with how smart I am going to become through all of this! ;)

Math: The girls are both using "Math U See". Jay and I were both very impressed with the quality of teaching segments that come on DVD. This program uses manipulative's, that reminded me of Montessori which Kenzie attended for a couple years. The girls did they're first lesson today, and they loved it! Hopefully that remains true in the weeks to come!

Science: Mckenzie is going to do 7th and 8th grade science with a curriculum called "The Rainbow" It's a serious two year study that comes with all the lab equipment one needs to do at home! I was excited about that. As I've read over the first couple of lessons, I found that the text is written in a fun way that kids are "supposed" to enjoy. I look forward to seeing how much Kenzie will enjoy science this year.

Spelling and Penmanship: 3rd grade is the year that our public schools teach our children cursive. Kenzie learned cursive in 3rd grade, then was never required to use it again. She had forgotten how to write in cursive last year when I brought it up. I was really disappointed with this! Anyway, she has quickly regained her knowledge, and a couple days of each week we are going to work on penmanship. Chloe will be learning cursive over the next couple months, and is very excited to do so!

Spelling is also something we do weekly.

History/Social Studies: The first 10 or 11 weeks of our school year we are doing a unit study on Africa. It's pretty exciting for us, due to our family missionary ties in different countries of Africa! It's a very fun, lively course. Lots of projects and reports while studying different countries and topics like Islam (Which I thought was wonderful! What is Islam that we hear so much about today, and what does the Bible say about it?) Showing the girls strong biblical truths rebutting the religion... I think this will be a wonderful study, for all of us!

Starting in November, when our Africa unit is over, we will start studying Early American History. This is a curriculum that uses real books, instead of a Text book, so we will be doing lots of reading and journaling. This is a broad based study, so the girls and I can do it together, with their assignments geared toward their own age level. I am really looking forward to this as well!

I am sure their will be a lot of other things that pop up along the way, but this is a brief overview of the things we will be doing every day!

Gearing up for our first year!

It's been a long time since I've posted. That's because we've been enjoying a very busy summer vacation! As I finish up with curriculum purchases, and finish collecting all the last minute items on my list, I think of my blog! :)

Things are finally starting to come together. I have all but one piece of curriculum here, and that I just ordered this morning! I am still reorganizing the house. We had a large sale this past weekend. I was very happy to get all the excess out of the house, I feel like I can "concentrate" better that way. ;) Today I am going to look at and hopefully purchase a buffet. I am going to use it in my living room to hold our books and supplies. I am excited to have found something BEFORE school actually starts. The more organized I feel, the better for my sanity. I also have some last minute cleaning projects to get done. I want to shampoo my floors, and scrub and reseal the grout on my kitchen floors. Just knowing that my house is clean (even for a short time) makes me feel like we can start school and I may hold on to my sanity. Even if it's just for a good month! (smile)

I thought I would share a post on what this blog is actually going to become!

For the most part, I want to use this blog to keep my family and friends updated on what the girls and I are up to everyday! I think that sharing pictures and accomplishments will be a fun way to keep family updated and will allow them to feel connected with us. I'm sure I'll have a few opinions of my own to share along the way. (Hey, it is my blog! ;) But mostly it will be concerning our school and the many things we will be up to!

So stay tuned! Our first day is August 17th (less than 2 weeks!) I'm sure I'll have a lot to post!

Telling the girls...

Jason and I had been planning on keeping homeschooling a secret from the girls until after school let out for the summer. For obvious reasons of course, Kenzie’s friends are all pumped and excited about starting junior high, and Chloe has a hard time keeping quiet about things. :) I had told the girls that this summer we were going to work a little on math facts. This is something that Kenzie struggles with, and originally it was going to be my ‘test run’ for homeschooling. See if I felt ‘qualified’ or not. I mentioned earlier the trip to the library. I checked my books out, answering any questions of curiosity the girls had with the answer that I wanted to read about homeschooling, because we were going to do this math study in the summer. That worked for Kenzie. She has the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” feeling about anything that might make her nervous. Chloe on the other hand, she kept pressing me about these books.

First she said, “Mom! You have these books on homeschooling, now you can homeschool us!” In true heart-felt excitement that pleased me tremendously! Kenzie just smiled and gave a nervous laugh. I just kind of passed off the comment and again, talked about the summer. A couple days pass, and Chloe once again raises a question. “Are you reading these books because you want to be a teacher at school then?” Hmmm…. She's starting to get more direct! I am starting to realize that my inquisitive little 7 year old is not only making her older sister nervous, but me as well!

Then the evening came, exactly one week ago today. We were all sitting in the living room, silently reading to ourselves and the topic of homeschooling is brought up by Chloe once again. She is pressing me to please consider homeschooling. I decided that I might as well let the cat out of the bag, she is raising too many questions not to give a forthright answer!

For the next hour or so the girls and I talked about my desire to homeschool, and that I was planning on doing so at the start of the next school year. I told them why I felt this was the best choice for the whole family. All the great things we were going to get to do and learn together. The flexibility this offers them with their learning and how much fun we were going to have. I also calmed their nerves, telling them we were going to be part of a group with other homeschoolers. That most of them would have sports teams, and other activities they do frequently throughout the month. That they were still going to be able to see their neighborhood friends, and that they were going to keep plenty busy.

Chloe was easy. She was so pumped and excited. Now, she is the one that is going to be the biggest handful for me, but she’s so bright, I look forward to all the things we will discover together.

I spent some time with Kenzie alone. I asked her if she had any questions or concerns. She was a little sad of course that she would be missing her friends during the day. But she was excited about homeschooling and looking forward to it. We talked about the fact that half of her friends wouldn’t even be attending her Jr high anyway (they split our elementary school in half and send part of them downtown) and either way, she was attending a completely different school then where she is going now. She agreed.

After a couple days, Kenzie started telling me how much she was looking forward to homeschooling. She likes all the things I share with her, the things we can do and the things that will be so much different than public school. This of course gets her more and more excited.

A week later (today), it’s normal conversation around our house. I share with the girls the things we will be studying and get their input. Chloe has already prompted me to print off some of her cursive worksheets so she could start learning cursive and practice on her little dry erase board I got her to make it more enjoyable for extra practice. She spent two hours doing that this evening! It makes me smile, she is so anxious to learn and get started. She glances through our Africa book and asks me why we can’t ‘practice’ doing school during spring break. (Today!) During your spring break?!? WOW!!! :)

I feel very encouraged with the way my daughters handled this news. I am blessed that my 13 year old has the personality and heart that she does, she’s becoming a very beautiful young lady, inside and out! Chloe, I am encouraged that she is always so anxious and loves to learn about anything and everything. She is always asking questions and keeping me busy. (Not always a good thing!) Anyway, we’re progressing!

Catching up!

I haven’t updated this blog for a while! So much time went by there where I didn’t really feel like I had anything to add. Now, I feel behind and like I have so much to say! :)

I feel like I am making some real progress in my homeschooling choices!

A few weekends ago my hubby and I traveled up to the Detroit area and attended our first homeschool convention! I was anxious to have him sit in on some of the workshops and hear stories other than those I tell him that I read about online. We both very much enjoyed it. We didn’t stay for many speakers. We sat in on their “beginning homeschooling” session. It was great to not only get such wonderful encouragement, but also to see all those homeschoolers! Drawing 8 to 900 people a year, shows me that I am not even close to being alone in this decision! I came away from that experience energized and excited to get started! But still thinking, how in the world do I make all these huge decisions!?!??

Later that week, after returning home I made a much needed trip to the library to get my hands on some books. Since then I have finished 3 titles. (The whole reason why I haven’t had time to catch up on my blog!) The first book I read was “100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum” by Cathy Duffy. I LOVED reading through this book! I was really feeling overwhelmed by ALL the options out there concerning curriculum. Having her share so much information about learning styles, methods, and finally book choices to match those styles I was feeling pretty good! I again spent lots of time online looking up choices and companies that I felt interested in. Narrowing things down and seeing what other people had to say. AND PRAYING!!! I couldn’t imagine making these kinds of decisions on my own! I learned a long time ago to ask God for guidance the FIRST time around, saves me a lot of backtracking and regrouping in the long run! :)

I really feel like I’ve come up with most of the curriculum I’m going to be using to start the school year off. That gives me a big sigh of relief! I feel like a large part of the burden has been taken from my shoulders.

The second book I read was “The Homeschooling Handbook”, by Mary Griffith. This was a good book too. It covers a lot of things I’ve read online and some things mentioned in the first book. But I have found that repetitious reading the past few weeks really helps things sink in to my feeble brain and make it stick.

My third read was “Homeschooling the Teen Years”, by Cafi Cohen. I enjoyed reading other peoples letters that were in this book, as well as all the encouragement of sticking to schooling at home during these years. I had been really nervous at the thought before, being as I am pulling my 13 year old out of 7th grade this upcoming school year. Turns out the more I hear other families’ successes and methods, the more confident I become.

I ended up buying “100 Top Picks” online, I found that this is a great reference book, and there was so much I wanted to be able to mark and highlight as I read through it the first time! I am glad to have my own copy now that will surely help me over the next few years!

All that leads up to this past weekend. I convinced my hubby that we really needed to go to our conference here in Indiana. He agreed, after being in MI and hearing all their laws and things, we knew this would be beneficial for us on the home front.

Once again I was blown away! I couldn’t believe the size of this place, it was incredible! Since we had to pay a pretty penny on this trip, we stayed for more workshops than we previously attended. They were all wonderful, and once again I was greatly encouraged to be around so many homeschooling parents (and children)! It’s not nearly as uncommon as I would have once thought. We were able to meet our regional representatives here in Elkhart County. That was great too, I now have someone I can email and correspond with, knowing she can help me get fitted in a group that will meet my family’s needs.

I also bought my first little set of curricula while I was there! I had been struggling to come up with a unit study for the girls that I could tie History into. I decided on KONOS in a bag, Africa 9-18 week study. This really excited me, finding a shorter unit study that I could do with both my soon to be 8 and 13 year old daughters. We have strong family heritage ties in Africa, my husbands grandmother was born in Nigeria, on the mission field. She’s written a book on the life of her parents there, and told the girls so many stories. So this is going to be a key element in making the study enjoyable and come to life for us. I thought it was a great place to start! I was anxious to buy this book so I could look through and decide what elements I would plan on using.

So as I sit here now, I am feeling pretty good! I have a few books I have picked up, have a general plan of the direction I am going to start. Have confidence in the simplicity of pulling the girls out of school, exc. I am anxious to make the next step, getting in contact and finding a group to get involved with. Having personal relationships with other homeschoolers will make this seem much more normal to me I am sure!

A brief history

As I mentioned earlier, homeschooling isn't something I have felt very confident in pursuing. I thought I would share a little family history.

My oldest daughter is 12 years old. In just a couple months she will be turning 13! Her name is Mckenzie.

When she first became of school age, I did not want to send my daughter to public school, in fact I was a panic. The thought of sending my baby to the wolves?!? For them to devour her, and every value I ever tried to place in her fragile little heart? Ya... a panic. :)

I was very fortunate that my husband and I were able to afford private Christian schooling for Kenzie the first few years of her education. It was a blessing to see her confidence and friendships grow. To know that she was surrounded by Christian people, willing to put in not only the effort to help her achieve academic success, but spiritual success as well.

That brings me to my youngest daughter, Chloe! She is currently 7, soon to be 8! After she had become of school age, we enrolled her into preschool where Kenzie was currently attending. She loved it, she started school at 3 years old. It was wonderful to watch her excel and impress me time and time again with the things she was capable of learning and doing at such a young age.

The girls were able to live blissfully in this Christian school environment for another 2 years. After we were looking at having to afford not only one full day tuition, but 2, the budget began closing like a noose around our necks. I was once again becoming panicked, not wanting to have my only option be sending my kids to public school. But what other choices were there? For me, I just didn't have any at the time.

In the middle of my oldest daughter’s 3rd grade year, she joined the masses at our public elementary school. I found a little peace of mind in knowing that she was attending the best elementary schools in our city. To this day I can stick to that statement! I have had much success from their school, the girls have been blessed with great teachers year after year.

I always thought to myself that one day I would be able to afford having my girls in a Christian school environment once again. That's what God wants for them! (I just felt this in my heart!)

Fast-forward a few years to present day. Kenzie is 'graduating' from elementary school this year, and is on track to start middle school in the fall. Chloe will be going into 3rd grade. Once again I am faced with the dilemma of school choices and what's best for my girls.

I hesitantly started pursuing information on home school. Again, I never saw myself as someone that was qualified to educate my children. I suppose between past experiences, horror stories, and ignorance on the topic, I didn't have a real leg to stand on with my thoughts. So I started doing some research.

I was amazed at the information available out there! I always kind of thought of home schooling as an under ground secret society and I was going to have to learn the secret handshake if I ever wanted to find out anything about these people. I was so wrong! There are people out there excited to share their lives with the public! Also, I was amazed to find the plethora of materials and curriculum available, it's overwhelming in itself!

I still get nervous sometimes, but my confidence is quickly expanding. I am blessed to have a husband that is much more secure than I am. :) I started sharing my thoughts with him on the topic about a month ago. He was immediately open to thinking about it and exploring the possibility. I took him to a homeschool book fair with workshops this past weekend, and he was very much impressed. He too didn't quite realize the large and growing world that homeschooling is, and the opportunity that it offers to our children.

Of course, I've left out a lot of things I could share up to this point, but this pretty much sums it up. :) More and more I am seeing that I believe this is the path that God wants us to take for our family. As the doors continue to open up before us, and he plants dreams in my heart, I start feeling a little giddy. I can do this! Of course, I can do this! God gave me my children. And I love what I have read elsewhere. Why is it that after 5 years of teaching my children to walk, eat, talk, become the person they have become thus far, I am suddenly unqualified? That is an awesome thought! I never knew I had become so programmed by society. God gave me my girls with instruction to "raise up a child in the way he should go". That is my duty. I am already a stay at home mom. Dedicating my young adult years to blessing my children's lives, making them my top priority. And I am blessed by that decision as well.

Someone sharing at a workshop this weekend put it like this: Think of your children as a "Sam's Club" type warehouse. Full of high, empty shelves. These shelves will be filled by something and/or someone. They will be taught values and character by something. TV, Internet, friends, family members, rock stars, exc. Who do you want filling these shelves? You or these people?

This really hit home for me. No one is more capable to know and understand what my child needs than my husband and I. What a blessing it has been to begin to understand the fullness of that statement and the blessing I have been given in such a mandate from my heavenly Father. This journey is sure to change my life! I am excited and in pursuit!

Getting started

Forgive me, anyone stumbling across this blog for the first time. :) I am still in the middle of setting things up and finding my groove. :)

I have decided to create a blog to document my thoughts and endeavors in becoming a homeschool Mom. About a month ago, I would have told you that it's more of a dream, than anything I could possibly ‘do’. I didn't know much about it, or even if it was something I had the patience and ability to pull off. After many talks with my husband and prayers... reading many topic boards and curriculum sites, I am more and more intrigued at the desire to offer my children such a blessed experience as homeschooling.

I won't be starting until late summer, but I wanted to have a place to share all my thoughts and processes on how I get there. I have found many other blogs on this topic, and I very much look forward to connecting with others and learning from their experiences.

I am looking forward to the journey!