Our Homeschool Journey

For some odd reason I'm homeschooling.

It doesn't feel quite so odd anymore, but when I think of me two and a half years ago with an almost three year old moving to Mississippi, I know she would not have homeschooled. She was eager and anxious to find a preschool upon stepping foot in Mississippi because it seemed like that is what everyone else was doing. She was longing for "me" time so that she could do whatever she wanted to do without any interruptions.

But that didn't last long. My heart slowly began to change. I decided to put off preschool until the fall and I enrolled Alyssa in a two day a week school. Fall came and I had AGONIZED for 6 months about whether it was right to put Alyssa in preschool. If I didn't, would she socialize? How would she ever learn to share? What was she missing out on and what would I miss out on?

A week before school started in 2014 I withdrew Alyssa from the class.

That year together was important. Alyssa made important changes at that stage of her life. It is the point where your toddler becomes a little kid and can talk and play and become independent. We had some really hard, frustrating days, but we also had fun.

She went to preschool when she was four. I was pregnant and I felt she would enjoy that time to do something for her. It would give her a school experience and after the baby was born, she would have some place to go that was familiar and all her own.

By mid-year of that preschool year, I knew I was going to homeschool and I became confident in responding that such was our plan when people asked about kindergarten.

Mid summer Alyssa said she wanted to start school, so I jumped on it. We had purchased a math workbook that she enjoyed and I had bequeathed upon me mounds of other people's homeschool stuff, so I thought we were ready to go.

The first few weeks went ok. It was novel and we had fun, but then I started to get a little caught up on the rigidity of routine and the excitement of progress and I met resistance. Oh resistance. It can be such a scary thing. I want my child to succeed, but I don't want to push her until she breaks. I want to enjoy learning and I don't want tears.

But I am learning resistance doesn't need to be scary. It is a sign that humility is needed. It requires reevaluation of goals and priorities. It is a reality check. How old is my child? And I'm expecting what?!

Already in the last 3 months school has morphed to new things. We have really long centers - you know, like you had in kindergarten. Instead of the Lego center lasting 20 minutes, it lasts a week at our house. Math and reading happen, but not to the extent of hating it. And we read out loud often. Books are our friends. We go on adventures, meet new people and experience new feelings.

Sometimes we trap ourselves into cages that society has built with bars of expectations. But when we let ourselves get out of the cages, we find there is so much beauty to enjoy. We are no longer crowded in by judgments, but we find we have wings to fly! (cliche me!)

Maybe when all is said and done I will tell you what my homeschool philosophy is. Maybe I will understand it all better, but I hope now to enjoy each day together with my children and I hope they will have memories to cherish. I hope they will learn and grow and with little stress they will find that the world is theirs to have! I hope that I will not look back and wish I had done things too differently, but that I will know I did my best and that we did it at a pace that is sustainable and enjoyable.

I am excited for our journey of learning that we are embarking upon and I hope we will reach the end together, sane and happy!