Thursday, July 14, 2011

Homeschooling

When Joshua was going into the 1st grade I wanted to homeschool him. I bought curriculum and everything. Two weeks before the start of public school he began begging me to go back. We lived in a subdivision with a lot of kids then and he wanted to do what they were doing. I was already a bit nervous... I had a two and three year old running around at that time too.... So I decided to let him return to public school. I wasn't very organized back then and just wasn't ready. I've always admired those who had the patients and skills to teach their kids at home. When we moved to West Virginia I was glad I had chosen to let them go to public school because I didn't think they had the homeschool community Kentucky does. Plus we lived out in the boonies with no other kids to play with. It was good for them though because it help them learn to rely on each other. But now we are back..... The last year has been a huge transformation for our family... Physically and spiritually. Sunday will be the anniversary of Cambreys death... Our turning point. We've become a lot more organized and schedule oriented and we have put God in the center of it all. I also want Him to be in the center of our children's education. I've been stressing out since we started moving about where they are going to go to school this year. I don't think public schools are necessarily bad but I do worry about negative influences... Not that all Christian kids are good either but at least they have a solid foundation. I would like to think our kids would naturally be drawn to the "good kids" but you never know. We looked into private Christian schools but they were a little beyond our budget. And there was still the concern of... Where are we going to be living come August! We are 99% sure we will be in Lexington but of course they are breaking out the hoops. I really hate it that both Joshua and Jacob are looking at having to go to a new school this year and then they would have to go to a different school again next year because they will be going onto middle and high school  Here it is mid July and I still don't have them registered anywhere. I honestly don't recall the moment it came to me but, I had a revelation that the answer is homeschooling. First I mentioned it to Scott(after having a little talk with The Big Guy upstairs) and he was in complete agreeance.  I then ran it by the kids and they were on board as well.  I've spent endless hours this week researching curriculum and other area resources. I'm planning to stick to a traditional school schedule with four 45 minute blocks in the morning and four in the afternoon. Our school day will start at 9 and end at 4. We decided to go for an 8 week summer with longer breaks at Christmas and spring. I have found co ops in both Lexington and Georgetown. They can go to them once a week for a half day to socialize and have some out of home learning time. Plus we have been going back to church so they will have their Sunday school friends. Not to mention all their cousins and my friends kids. We are also looking into local businesses that have homeschool days and group planned field trips. There is one scheduled already for the state capitol in March. We are all very excited for our new adventure!


Family Crest Joshua Created

School Logo Summer Created