A New Light

This past weekend I attended a barbecue and while there visited with a friend who has 5 children and her youngest is now in High School. She homeschooled for a while and then put them back in school. Through the years they were enrolled in public, charter and other types of schools. I thought she would be a good resource to bounce ideas off of.

She said something during our conversation that really got me thinking. I have been so stressed about curriculum and being able to figure out what to teach my children.

She said, "I am an idea person." This really made me think. It's great that she is an idea person, she can come up with lots of ideas and she loves it. I on the other hand love to copy, I may tweak it a bit, but I love to see what others do and just follow suit. And that is okay, because we are all so different and that is what makes the world a wonderful place. If we were all the same how boring would that be?

So, after she said these wonderful words, I got to thinking. Why do I want to homeschool my kids? Why did this idea start anyways? What is the purpose for taking them out of school?

My main purpose for keeping my kids home is that I want them close, I feel that they can do their best learning here at home where they feel safe, where they don't have to worry about other kids teasing, judging, being mean physically or emotionally. Now I know that this is part of growing up. And I am sure that they will get all of this at church, in the neighborhood or even with activities outside the home.

I have decided to either go with Connections Academy or K12. They are a public schools that come to your home virtually. They equip you with all of the supplies needed to teach classes at home on the computer. I know I was opposed to this before but, after thinking about who I am I feel this will be best for my kids. They will be home and will be taught and if I see they are struggling in something I will be able to bring it to the attention of the teachers and they will accommodate the child. At this point I feel this is the best option.

I will be making a decision between these two schools and after I will enroll D. If he does well, I will probably pull E out. E will be able to work more solo but I know that I will have to help D out more until he gets older. It feels good to have made this decision.