So I’ve mentioned a couple of times here on the blog that we’ve thought about trying out homeschooling this summer, and we’ve been underway for about a month now already! There’s so much I’ve been wanting to share with you all, but it’s felt like such an overwhelming decision to make. We have so many reasons for considering homeschool, and it’s hard to explain them all.
I found myself walking by the back to school aisle in the grocery store earlier this week, and I realized the clock is ticking for us to make our final decision about the upcoming school year. To homeschool or not to homeschool, that is the question. But is it really?
All parents, whether our children are in school outside of home or not, are still ultimately responsible for their education, and do some level of “homeschool” whether it’s homework, extracurricular enrichment, etc.
I don’t want to get into some big debate here, but I think the real challenge for us has been can we actually make it with our kids home 24/7? I’ve struggled over feelings of selfishness about giving up that time when our kids would be in school–and I realize having that choice (as a stay-at-home-mom) is not an option to everyone. Of course there are questions about opportunities like socialization or things perceived to be only available from an outside group education–but there are SO many sources out there and in our community, it’s hard to let that be the reason we stay in public school.
It’s definitely been a learning curve figuring out the gist of things with what we’ve been doing so far (we’ve focused primarily on reading, and writing, as well as some history and nature study to dip our toes in). We’ve had to figure out how to be more intentional about our time, and things still aren’t working like clockwork or anything, but we’ve gotten a taste of what it would be like if we decided to buckle down and really do this.
There are also a lot of joys in working more closely with the kids. We’ve been able to get a closer-than-usual glimpse at how their minds work and how different their personalities are as they try to grasp something new or show pride in their accomplishments. And we’ve been working even more closely on coming together as a family. Being together this much forces you to figure out how to get along–and so far it’s been working! It’s been hard, but we’ve been doing it. And we should be. But it becomes such a rush when the kids are off at school and we’re playing catch up at the end of most days. When the boys are at school all day, we hardly know what they’ve been experiencing, what thoughts and emotions have been going in their little bodies. And I don’t think I like that feeling of being so disconnected.
I think we already know our answer, it’s just hard taking that leap of faith–and it will take a lot of faith, but I think it’s been leading us here for a while already. Your prayers would be wonderful as we continue exploring this path!
What challenges are you facing as a parent right now? Have you made the switch to homeschooling before? Are you in the same boat we are? I’d love to hear your stories!
