My Perception VS My Reality

This picture captures my heart when it comes to homeschooling now that we are DOING IT!

Joy ~ laughter ~ deep conversations ~ quality time ~ learning together ~ peace ~ fun ~ spirit led ~ closeness ~ coffee ???

Growing up, homeschool had quite a stigma. You could spot a “homeschooler” from a mile away.
– No eye contact
– Nervous acting
– Awkward in conversation
Now, I know it wasn’t like this for all homeschoolers. MY perception from the few I “knew” growing up was this though. Just being real.

Michael and I both grew up in public school and have great memories of it! We had some amazing teachers, friends and coaches. Michael was a star athlete and I was all about those Friday night lights ?
We never even THOUGHT of raising our kids any other way than in public schools. In fact, our whole purpose in moving back to Ava was getting into my home school district. We changed our whole life – our location – so that they could go to Ava School.

Throughout the last few years we became friends with many “homeschoolers”. People who were homeschooled as kids and parents who homeschooled. It was intriguing to us because they were “normal”. We observed for a year. We allowed ourselves to think and pray about it. Quickly Kindergarten came around for Grady and I didn’t feel led to homeschool. So we put him in public school and he loved it! He thrived and I was confident in the education he was getting. I was also confident in the love he was getting, as I loved his teacher! It was overall a great year! But not one single day did it feel “right” for me dropping him off at school.

There were a few things he came home talking about that Kindergarteners shouldn’t know and there was some bullying and hurt feelings. I tried not to baby him – “kids gotta learn”, right? But it didn’t feel right. For one, I wanted to throat punch the bully ??‍♀️. For two, I was HOME. If I was working out of the home, homeschooling wouldn’t be an option and wouldn’t cross my mind. But there I was at home, perfectly capable of giving him everything he needs. Right? Well not really – I had 3 other small children to tend to fulltime … so I threw away the idea.

Fast forward a little ways and a big long story …

As you know we now live in a fifth wheel full time and travel. We homeschool.
I LOVE IT!!!
The kids LOVE IT!!!

Our kids socialize better than EVER! Why? Because we meet new people every day – plus they are my kids. We are social butterflies ?

We get into a groove after breakfast (anytime between 8-9am). We all go in, hold hands and ask God to meet us there. I get the big two set up with something simple like coloring shapes or practicing letters while I do a puzzle and book with Chason for 10 minutes. We all praise Chason for his work, give him a sticker and out he goes to play with Daddy and Gabriel. I then have what really feels like a classroom. I set a couple of very simple rules to keep the kids from distracting one another while I teach each them separate things. I play classical music and we School. I use My Fathers World curriculum and venture out to Math U See for our Math. I love it and have zero doubt that both kids are above and beyond in their education.

Seeing their lightbulb moments, their looks of pride when they do well, and the questions in their eyes are my favorite! These are the things I was missing. They LOVE getting my praise. They love seeing the pride in MY eyes when they do well and the understanding when there’s room for improvement. I roll with them … if they are getting ancy, we stop and do something silly. If they are focused, we blow through 2 or 3 lessons. It’s wonderful to be able to do that!

It’s truly FUN! I long for quality time with each child and because of this, we have it every day. I have this time to teach them, to praise them, to gently correct them, to admire them, to be silly with them, and to pray for them. They long for quality time with me as well and have voiced more than once how much they love homeschooling.

Let’s talk sports. Another huge fear was that they’d miss that. Here’s the deal, none of the athletes from my class went on to be in the NBA or NFL or whatever else there is. They were great athletes and it was good for them to have something that they love and do well at. Something that they could learn life lessons through. To know the feeling of running out on that field or court! To know the meaning of teamwork! To learn how to be coached! It’s awesome and I still am not at all against allowing my kids to experience it if God puts it in their heart. I will totally rock the quarterbacks Mom role ✌?

With that being said, we were putting way too much emphasis on sports. What if they want to be a doctor or a lawyer or a vet or a marine or a (fill in the blank!) – does that get praised as much as sports in high school? It doesn’t.

So for now we will raise them up in the Lord! We will instill confidence and a freedom to RUN with ANY passion that strikes their interest. They will learn what their strengths and weaknesses are. They will be loved well and learn by experience. They will be educated and be on the same level or higher than the grade they are in.

Homeschooling is great for us! I LOVE all parents who LOVE! I believe in doing what God has called us to do and that it’s different for everyone! So glad that He has called us to homeschool. It’s a perfect fit and feels like the best gift we could have ever received.

If it’s weird – they we’re weird ?
I mean, we are sitting in Virginia – Momma in her onesie (don’t judge) with a cup of joe because it’s a perfectly crisp and cool morning here. Grady laughing hysterically and me with him – because I am truly living in the moment with him. I’d say we love it.