Yes. We started homeschooling. Why? People ask that when I tell them. One said "Interesting". One person even said, "How do you make time to home school?" Easy. Homeschooling is THE priority. And if you have time to spend with your kids, you have time to home school!
I can think of many reasons why we want to home school, but for now I'll list the main reasons. Kindergarten. It's too long. Five days a week, and every day, all day Kindergarten. The day before she started I was desperately looking into finding a three day kindergarten for her. I did find one, but it was also 30 minutes away. I couldn't commit to two whole hours in the car, especially with a small baby and winters in Minnesota. So, we gave it enough time to make a decision, which happened to be just three or four days. It helped that Kate (along with probably every kindergartener) was overstimulated and cried about why she had to go every day.
The second reason, which should be the first reason, was a calling from God. I had been called two years ago only to give in to Satan's lies of inadequacy. I've learned that every mom has those same thoughts and was encouraged that my love for Kate would drive me to provide the best education for her. Even if it meant
stretching me. How can you ignore such a calling?
After much, much prayer,( like every hour of the day ) we felt at peace with scripture that jumped out at us, or things we saw/heard. This is what popped up the Friday we took her out of school:
"Opportunities are always lost when we let
fear overrule our faith. When God calls you to a task beyond your
abilities, instead of giving in to your feelings, choose to rely on what
you know about Him and His promises. By moving forward in faith despite
your inadequacy, you will discover the Lord's faithfulness. He always
empowers us for the works He assigns."
- Encouraging words this morning from Dr. Charles Stanley
Coincidence? No. Some people just won't understand. Some will have their opinions. Yet I am trusting in God this season to sustain me and bring me through it. The teaching part is fun. I get to read and teach my kids. What better joy is there than that? What better joy to be able to teach the girls about life and how to live it here at home? Today they learned about trusting God. But it also means working long hours on everything else and literally running around the house at times to get things done a little faster! :) I think honestly one reason why I was unable to breastfeed was that when I'm pumping, at least I get to sit!
And the third reason explains it well in
this link under the "
1. When & why did you initially decide to home school?" section under all the photos; the very first paragraph.
Though I've only had a week at it, it will take some time to get a good routine down. Obviously the perfect situation is to do it during Ella and Maddy's nap time... but that doesn't always work. I have to work around hours of pumping and feeding, preparing meals, tantrums, tiredness, harvest and giggling and wild girls. I don't know where God will bring us with this. Maybe it's just kindergarten. Maybe it's first and second grade, too. I just know that we are taking it one year at a time.
it is the best thing for our family right now.
