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Homeschooling....I never thought that would be a word used to describe my family.....
......I mean, don't homeschoolers wear Wrangler jeans that hit at the ankle showing their white crew socks and Keds sneakers?
.......don't homeschool Moms grow their own food and wear denim jumpers?
.....don't homeschoolers speak Latin for fun and put together science fair projects in their free time??
....don't homeschoolers have 8 siblings who all play the violin and do their own laundry and hang it out to dry?
Yes...I never thought that we would be homeschoolers because NONE of that describes my family! (and I used to be a public high school teacher...shhh!)
Old Navy is the only brand of jeans that makes a slim enough jean to fit my boys.....speaking proper English is a stretch and 3 kids is definitely my limit!
(......although they do work on science projects in their free time if you count that large amount of baking soda and vinegar that disappears from my kitchen....)
....piano lessons are the equivalent of me beating them with a long, thorny stick so I've given up....yes, me who was classically trained for 18 years of my life has thrown in the towel with my boys....and I wouldn't let them near my washing machine for fear it would become one of those "science fair projects!"
I never intended to homeschool....we "stumbled" into it because of some academic issues that we had with our school district......we really felt our boys should be getting challenged a LOT more than they were.....
When I tell people that I homeschool I often get that look....the one where they take a step back and in their mind go "hmmmmm...one of those" or they say "I could never do that"....what does that mean?
Quite honestly...it's hard....very hard. There are many days when I think of how "easy" my life would be to put them on that yellow school bus and wave "bye-bye" until 4:00.....but truthfully, I could never do that....especially after the amazing years of homeschooling that we've had.
Homeschooling is taking on a new "modern" look....one that is getting more attention and offering a lot more options. As I venture deeper into this I am realizing the wide variety of options that are available.
We are currently using a cyber school for one of our kids and have used it with the other 2 in the past.....local private schools offer "specials" for a set fee and I have a close friend whose son has technically finished his senior year and is taking college classes all while being certified as an EMT in his "spare" time.
...and I'm not going to even bring up the socialization issue because we have WAY too much "social" in our life.....I'm constantly scheduling play dates and juggling sports and church events.
While homeschooling is not a path that I would have chosen for myself, it's one that I now wouldn't change.
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Here are some of my recent posts about homeschooling: