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!
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!
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