Beginning next fall I will be a home school teacher to my children.
"Why" you might ask. Well, God led us in this direction, He placed a homeschooling family in our life, and I was intrigued! I constantly bombarded her with questions about how it works, and her children with "are you happy? I mean really happy?" By the way the answer was always a resounding YES! So after much prayer I asked my Hubby what he thought and frankly, I was shocked at how quickly he agreed!
There were other circumstances that led to the decision of even considering homeschooling. For two years my 2nd grader has been bullied. This year she couldn't get away from him, not only was he in her class but he also rode her school bus home, and often had to sit in the same seat as him due to the way they load the buses in the afternoon. By grade and class, so being in the same class they were often seated together. Now before you start asking "why not say something?" I did! I spoke with her teacher first, which was pretty successful! They were separated during class time. During what they call "specials" there were still problems though. Then I spoke to the bus driver, HA! I could have been talking to a brick wall for all the good that did! Oh Well!
So here we are, for a few months now I have been perusing the Internet and various books- looking for home school information. It is all a bit overwhelming! There is so much information out there! I have discovered some important things! I will share a few here:
1. Find out the laws for homeschooling in your state! Often a quick search of "Home school laws in ___" will turn up easy results!
2. You don't have to spend tons of money on curriculum! There are hundreds of resources that are FREE to use. Mostly these are homeschooling parents who want to share their knowledge with others!
3. Find a support group in your area! These are scattered around your state, you just need to seek them out! They are eager to meet new people to share their experiences and knowledge with!
4. Your local Librarian and Board of education are a fountain of information- just ask them!
5. Try to figure out the way your children like to learn. Will they do better with books and worksheets? Maybe. If they have gone to public school that is the only way of learning they know! But there is so much more out there!
6. Let your children have a say in what they want to learn! It will get them excited just to know that they can choose some of what they learn!
We are blessed to have wonderful families who support us and our decisions for our children! This may not always be easy, and it may not always be fun, but it will always be an adventure! I will cherish the extra time that I will now get to spend with my kids. I will share in their triumphs and witness them first hand, instead of hearing about them at a school conference!
In the days to come I will be sharing some of the awesome information I have found online with the hope that it will help others that are journeying down this path. Stay tuned! Feel free to subscribe - I love followers! :-)
