Homeschooling

It is an interesting dichotomy to be one foot in and one foot out of the public schooling system. One side is incredulous towards the other no matter how you look at it. The pulls on one's thoughts and feelings can be tough. No doubt about it, homeschooling is definitely NOT the easier way to go! This has been a year fraught with blender brain-my head in a constant state of buzzing as I consider and reconsider and repeat over and over again while trying to teach three children at one time. (Anyone who's been around my children knows that they don't do anything one at a time!)

This weekend I was able to attend a homeschool convention in Greenville, SC. There is one in Florida at the end of May, but this one had the authors of several of the curriculum that I use so I opted to go there. I'm glad I did. So many different ways of looking at education, so many ideas, so many champions of the difficult decision to homeschool, so much support and encouragement.

This year of homeschooling has been one of the hardest of my life. The weight of responsibility to consider and determine what qualifies as a "good education" and then trying to implement it with three lively children has been, most of the time, overwhelming. As I write the few things I write on email or my blog I now wonder "is that grammatically correct?" since I feel like I am now under a microscope (mostly self imposed) to the world as people determine whether I or not I am "fit" to homeschool.

At the end of the day I am exhausted, body and mind, and sometimes soul, but I know it is the right thing for my family right now. I know my children in very new ways, ways I would never have known without homeschool. I have enjoyed learning right along side of them-tomorrow we study transitive verbs. I enjoyed a quick trip through Charleston yesterday with Braden and Chase identifying the types of columns on the gorgeous structures (Doric, Ionian, and Corinthian) after having studied Ancient Greece. So much to enjoy in these developing minds.

So many people say they admire me for homeschooling. I wouldn't go that far. So many others are far more deserving of admiration than little ol' me. Some days I just wish they would go to school so I could have a little bit of peace and quiet. In the end, it's all for them. In the end, I hope to send out to the world well mannered, well educated, capable human beings, ready to take their place in the Story of the World.