That was THEN...This is NOW...

When I sent my oldest daughter, who is now nine, off to preschool, I felt I was doing what all parents do. Preschool was a breeze. Only two hours a day and I felt she really was learning a lot. Kindergarten went smoothly albeit it was a couple of hours longer, but we still got to eat lunch and spend the majority of the day together. Going to first grade, all day, was when I really started to feel that public school just wasn't what it used to be. At this point it was just a feeling, nothing to act on. Even though it seemed a struggle for her to go that full day, she was learning.

I didn't start to feel real doubt about public school until it was time for my second child, my son, to go to Kindergarten. My son has had heart disease since birth, in order to give him an extra year of protection he didn't go to preschool. Kindergarten at this point was a full day, not half a day anymore. That was THEN...this is NOW. This is where the research for my homeschool journey began. Having a B.A. in English and History with quite a bit of education classes mixed in, I knew I had the ability to teach my children at home.

With many reservations this past fall I sent my son to Kindergarten, my oldest to fourth grade and was doing homeschool preschool for my youngest daughter. It was quite a 'testy' three quarters of a year for all of us as I continued to research and feel the pull to homeschool all three children. My fourth grader was being bullied for most of the year and nothing was being done about it...no one was taking it seriously. My son was exhausted from being at school all day and still having to do most of his learning with me at home. In March, my husband and I decided that public school was of the past and homeschool was of our future. We pulled both kids out of school and immediately I began to homeschool them.

Our journey for the past few months has not been an easy one, but definitely has proven that we have made the right choice to give our children a new path to learn in an environment where they are loved, secure, and can be themselves. I plan to share all of our ups and downs, experiments and laughter as we plunge into our first full year of homeschooling.