Two in School...

For as strong as a conviction that my husband and I have had about homeschooling for many years, you would think I wouldn't have dreaded this day so much! You would think our desire would supersede any fears I may have...sorry, that's just not the case. 


Originally I expected to have the whole summer to sort out any insecurities and get so prepared that there would be nothing left to do but face this hurtle head on. Again, as life does, we were thrown a curve ball causing us to once again divert and readjust. 


With the anticipated arrival of "fluffy", baby #3 in late September, I decided the best way to tackle this hurtle was to go ahead and continue school right through summer. Leaving our "summer break" to be taken in the fall when our new addition arrives. Great! Just what I needed, less time to prepare for what I had been dreading. Left with no choice I used my tactics for the last few years in material prep and simply made room for my newest student, our son John, now 4 and going into Kindergarten. 


You may ask...what is there to fear? My biggest fear was the chaos that would ensue while needing to spend such one on one time with each of my children in 2 different grades. My daughter has needed much direction in the past 2 years and adding a Kindergartner to that I was sure would pull me in directions I just didn't feel prepared to go. As well as having the time left over in the day to do the 100+ other tasks to run a household. 


I'm glad to announce It's just not as bad as I had made it out to be. My son only requires a good 20-30 min of concentrated work. I plan our days to start with Abigail, working on about 20-30 minutes of self paced work as I focus on John. Once his school is complete I have the rest of the afternoon to focus on the more difficult aspects of Abigail's work one on one. Sounds simple enough...what was I afraid of again? 


Although our English, reading, writing and math is all done indoors. Our science is done outside in the garden and caring for our chickens. At the end of September we are planning to reward their hard work with a historical trip to Historic Westiville in Georgia. I'm also excited about the new series of books we are reading to learn history through great christian pioneers from the 1800's and present Called: Christian Hero's then and now. 


Homeschooling is not as hard as it seems, our fears suck the fun right out of it. Although my deepest fear overcame me more than the reality actually allowed, I have to say it's one of the most flexible necessities in life that we could ever partake in. When I share with others that we are a home-school family the first thing that always, without fail, comes out of that other mom or dad's mouth is "I could never do that, I'm too scared I'll mess something up." Newsflash: You can't do any worse than most public schools and more importantly their is a lasting building of relationship and character that can NOT be replaced in any other setting.


I'm thankful for this opportunity...Hair pulling stresses and all!