You Want Us to Do WHAT?
Growing up as a missionary kid I have been in pretty much every kind of school there is. I went to a French, run-by-Belgians preschool until I was bullied so much by the kids my parents took me out; an American Embassy-run school for 1/2 of Kindergarten; homeschooled for the rest of K and 1st grade; a mission-run boarding school for 2nd; public school for 3rd (we were on furlough that year); back to boarding school for 4th and 5th. We then moved to the other side of the country we were living in at the time, and there was a mission-run school on the station we were living, so I went there for 6th and 7th. We then moved back to the USA for good, and I finished 8-12th grades in public school. I've been around the block a few times, know what's out there, and I believe can say I have a pretty good idea as to the different kinds of schools there are and pros/cons to them. My husband? He did public school all 13 yrs with the exception of K and 1st grade. Why do I say all of this? Well, as a back ground to our family now.
When I was younger and w/out children I was determined NOT to homeschool them. I mean, really, I was not in favor of it. Though I had seen TONS of wonderful homeschooling families and examples I also saw lots of terrible ones! I was too scared of unintentionally becoming one of the terrible ones. When I got married and my husband had pretty much only done public education I felt this was confirmation. HA! HA! HA! HA! You know, God has such a sense of humor!!!! As our life went on, and we had baby #1, and saw that where we were living the schools weren't the greatest my husband told me, "Jen, we need to at least think about homeschooling." I promised to pray and think about it, sure that God would side with me, and we would send our children to either public or find a way to do private school. Insert more laughter here.
As I prayed and sought the Lord in this, He began to change my heart. And I went from not even wanting to consider it to really wanting and looking forward to homeschooling our eldest. And so, we have. This year we've done K with Cora. It's been interesting and good. Don't hear me wrong, we have had MANY imperfect days, there have been MANY days I've scratched my head and wondered about this choice. There have been days I've wondered what God was thinking since I have a 3 and 1 year old who desperately want to be in on the action and make things more...complicated, shall we say? But, I can honestly say that not once have I regretted this decision. Not once have I said we made the wrong decision. I have been so grateful we made this choice.
I'm sure you're wondering: does this mean we'll now be homeschooling until Rebekah is graduated from HS? I don't know. And I think we'd be foolish to answer definitely either way. Things change, life happens, circumstances change, the needs of your children become different. We have taken the one-year-at-a-time approach. As we close on our year of Kindergarten we are looking forward to continuing next year. I've already purchased some of our curriculum. We feel this is the direction we should keep going, for next year. The year after that? We shall see!
When I was younger and w/out children I was determined NOT to homeschool them. I mean, really, I was not in favor of it. Though I had seen TONS of wonderful homeschooling families and examples I also saw lots of terrible ones! I was too scared of unintentionally becoming one of the terrible ones. When I got married and my husband had pretty much only done public education I felt this was confirmation. HA! HA! HA! HA! You know, God has such a sense of humor!!!! As our life went on, and we had baby #1, and saw that where we were living the schools weren't the greatest my husband told me, "Jen, we need to at least think about homeschooling." I promised to pray and think about it, sure that God would side with me, and we would send our children to either public or find a way to do private school. Insert more laughter here.
As I prayed and sought the Lord in this, He began to change my heart. And I went from not even wanting to consider it to really wanting and looking forward to homeschooling our eldest. And so, we have. This year we've done K with Cora. It's been interesting and good. Don't hear me wrong, we have had MANY imperfect days, there have been MANY days I've scratched my head and wondered about this choice. There have been days I've wondered what God was thinking since I have a 3 and 1 year old who desperately want to be in on the action and make things more...complicated, shall we say? But, I can honestly say that not once have I regretted this decision. Not once have I said we made the wrong decision. I have been so grateful we made this choice.
I'm sure you're wondering: does this mean we'll now be homeschooling until Rebekah is graduated from HS? I don't know. And I think we'd be foolish to answer definitely either way. Things change, life happens, circumstances change, the needs of your children become different. We have taken the one-year-at-a-time approach. As we close on our year of Kindergarten we are looking forward to continuing next year. I've already purchased some of our curriculum. We feel this is the direction we should keep going, for next year. The year after that? We shall see!
Love your story, and WOW, you have so many different educational experiences! Your children are SO blessed to have you as a mother and teacher. I laugh because I also went from "I'm never homeschooling" to "Yes, let's do this!" So glad to walk with you in this journey. Making decisions one child, one year at a time! Hugs....
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