Big Changes
Well our family is experiencing some big changes.
No I am not pregnant.
First of all we moved about 45 minutes away at the end of last month. We are now living with my in-laws and we are all really excited about it.
Second, we are getting ready to become a homeschooling family.
I am so very excited about this and I wanted to share our reasons for doing so.
1. It was the choice of my older sons. We talked about what it would involve in detail for months, then I sat them each down separately and asked for a choice. The decision was unanimous.
2. We were able to get in through the lottery at a charter school. This means I'm not flying blindly to figure this transition out. We have an advisor at the school and he helps us come up with individual learning plans for the children and order their curriculum. They are also able to take supplemental classes there, for instance science labs are offered. We are blessed to live in a state that provides great funding to homeschool families, which makes it possible for us to do this.
3. I have two sons who are gifted. In the mainstreamed classroom they tend to get bored. The gifted program has been a huge blessing for my Avery, but public schools are losing funding and this is one of the programs that takes the first hit with funding cuts. My sons need to be challenged, they aren't getting that, so I am taking it into my own hands.
4. About 4.5 years ago I was an assistant preschool teacher and then after that I started going to school with the goal of being a teacher. I am a senior and have only a few classes left for my bachelor's degree, but it'll probably be at least another year and a half before I'm able to graduate (I'm waiting around for a class I need to be offered as a night class because being on campus an hour away in the middle of the day does not work for me anymore). My children will be able to benefit from my education and experience, and that's exactly how it should be.
5. I notice many moms counting down the days until summer vacation is over and the kids go back to school, I am not among them. I might have been, but our life is a different one. My sons leave for 9 weeks every summer to visit their dad 4,500 miles away. They got home late Thursday night. School starts this Thursday. I just don't want them to come home and then go straight back to school for 8 hours a day. I miss them too much. I did not have kids for someone else to raise them. I do not have a choice in the matter of them being gone in the summer, I do have a choice in this matter.
I know homeschooling isn't going to be easy. I know I am giving up what small amount of "free time" I did have, but I'm giving them something so important that it doesn't matter. I'm a little nervous about the transition, but at the same time I am confident in this decision. There has been a lot of thought and prayer involved, and I am blessed with an amazingly supportive husband who let the children and I make this decision together. Homeschooling definitely isn't for everyone, and I never thought it would be for us. Sometimes life throws curve-balls and we have to deviate from our plans. What my life has taught me over the last 5-ish years is that sometimes "plan B" turns out to be a way bigger blessing than plan A ever was.
I am so excited for what is to come this 2013-2014 school year for my darling boys!
No I am not pregnant.
First of all we moved about 45 minutes away at the end of last month. We are now living with my in-laws and we are all really excited about it.
Second, we are getting ready to become a homeschooling family.
I am so very excited about this and I wanted to share our reasons for doing so.
1. It was the choice of my older sons. We talked about what it would involve in detail for months, then I sat them each down separately and asked for a choice. The decision was unanimous.
2. We were able to get in through the lottery at a charter school. This means I'm not flying blindly to figure this transition out. We have an advisor at the school and he helps us come up with individual learning plans for the children and order their curriculum. They are also able to take supplemental classes there, for instance science labs are offered. We are blessed to live in a state that provides great funding to homeschool families, which makes it possible for us to do this.
3. I have two sons who are gifted. In the mainstreamed classroom they tend to get bored. The gifted program has been a huge blessing for my Avery, but public schools are losing funding and this is one of the programs that takes the first hit with funding cuts. My sons need to be challenged, they aren't getting that, so I am taking it into my own hands.
4. About 4.5 years ago I was an assistant preschool teacher and then after that I started going to school with the goal of being a teacher. I am a senior and have only a few classes left for my bachelor's degree, but it'll probably be at least another year and a half before I'm able to graduate (I'm waiting around for a class I need to be offered as a night class because being on campus an hour away in the middle of the day does not work for me anymore). My children will be able to benefit from my education and experience, and that's exactly how it should be.
5. I notice many moms counting down the days until summer vacation is over and the kids go back to school, I am not among them. I might have been, but our life is a different one. My sons leave for 9 weeks every summer to visit their dad 4,500 miles away. They got home late Thursday night. School starts this Thursday. I just don't want them to come home and then go straight back to school for 8 hours a day. I miss them too much. I did not have kids for someone else to raise them. I do not have a choice in the matter of them being gone in the summer, I do have a choice in this matter.
I know homeschooling isn't going to be easy. I know I am giving up what small amount of "free time" I did have, but I'm giving them something so important that it doesn't matter. I'm a little nervous about the transition, but at the same time I am confident in this decision. There has been a lot of thought and prayer involved, and I am blessed with an amazingly supportive husband who let the children and I make this decision together. Homeschooling definitely isn't for everyone, and I never thought it would be for us. Sometimes life throws curve-balls and we have to deviate from our plans. What my life has taught me over the last 5-ish years is that sometimes "plan B" turns out to be a way bigger blessing than plan A ever was.
I am so excited for what is to come this 2013-2014 school year for my darling boys!
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