Why I Ended up Homeschooling!

I want to make this clear. I never thought in a million years I would be homeschooling my kids. I actually thought people who homeschooled were strange introverts who didn’t like being around others. My husband thought of the idea and I seriously took a year fighting it. I did not want to give up my freedom of personal time that I waited 5 years for and I also did not want to ruin my kids.

All this confusion and contemplation led me to saying ok, I’ll homeschool for one year and see how it goes.

Not gonna lie, the first year was a mess! I had no clue what to do and was really selfish that first year. Ultimately looking back, I did a ton of growing that year.

There were a lot of reasons we wanted to homeschool like, my first kept having troubles in pre-schools. The rumors of what was being taught were awful. The class size, the lack of values in our education system. The list goes on.

But in all honesty, I felt God was nudging me to do it.

We did traditional schooling for one year.

We enrolled our kiddo in a pre-school so I had an idea of how he would do in a traditional school setting. That info led me closer to the idea of giving homeschooling for pre-K a try.

Much to my embarrassment… I did hide the fact that I homeschooled the first year to close friends and outsiders because of the backlash I received from many of them. The lack of support and emotional comments did not make it any easier that’s for sure.

However, I grew as a mom and an influencer to my babies and I can honestly say it has been super rewarding. To think I almost let others judgment kill this beautiful thing we have created. I’m so glad I decided to not care what others think.

We continue to homeschool because we have grown as a family and community.

As I said in the beginning I did not want to homeschool and for the same reasons, I didn’t want to, ended up being the reasons I love homeschooling today.

First,  I was afraid I would lose my “me time”

This is a funny one because I actually never had me time anyway I was looking forward to having “me time.”  Homeschooling taught me that I’m in control and we all have to set time for ourselves. We have learned to respect each other and our interest as well as personal time. We don’t just sit around all day. We have a routine that we developed organically. Trust me I tried to copy other mammas routines and that does not work!

Second, discipline… I was concerned my kids would not develop the discipline of sitting still and paying attention if I homeschooled.

Literally, I  imagined them running amuck all over the house and me yelling constantly. My invision was your worst day every day. But what happened was we developed a discipline far greater. We are respectful and talk to each other when we have a problem we deal with it and instead of getting angry for misbehaviour, I am learning to coach.

Of course we still deal with the behavior and I still do get angry.

Third, I often wondered, if I homeschool will my kids ever have any real close friends?

When you are first starting out it is a lonely road for sure. And you can be isolated… if you want to be. Well, that’s not me, so I joined homeschool groups until I found the right fit. There were many that we did not mesh with because let’s face it, I’m not that earthy and I do let my kids have sugar on occasion.

Two years in and we have developed so many close friends in our community that I adore. Also, when there are issues we work them out together so there are no bullying or sour feelings for the most part.

If you are still looking for community reach out to others. You have to take charge in this area and if you are invited somewhere GO! Our first year was a really hard year because all our friends were in school and we had finished early.

Fourth, I thought, I will never be able to actually teach my kiddos!

Ok, seriously I believed this lie for such a long time. In fact, I put them in classes and cherry-picked what I wanted someone else to teach them. It wasn’t until I was actually forced to teach my babies that I realized I can do it and they prefer it.

I was convinced that outsourcing the basics like reading and math would be the only way to go. However, I was holding them back by doing this when they were ready to move ahead. When I started teaching we covered so much more. I love that the only pressure is the pressure I put on myself. So I have control over that.

Fith, will I have to quit my job and can we afford to teach at home?

I felt that giving up my job to teach was giving up another piece of myself. When in reality I ended up gaining another piece of myself. I was spread thin and barely hanging on because there were so many things pulling for my attention. I did not completely quit and that was fear for sure. I eventually cut back because I wanted to give my kids more of a quality mom. I ended up working from home and that became another amazing surprise.

The only way this was all possible was, I truly surrendered to God and what he has in store for my family and I. All things that are not easy to do but have made my journey so beautiful.

Something that was once a never will I do that became… I’m so glad I’m homeschooling.

If your thinking about homeschooling and are fearful. Try not to be judgmental, you have no idea how great you will be until you try. It’s like anything with kids. It’s never the same for everyone.

I don’t want to tell you all the nitty-gritty benefits of homeschooling because you can get that anywhere. But I will tell you anything you choose will be hard. There is no easy choice. However, if it has been put on your heart to try, give it a chance and you may be very surprised.

Good luck beauty

Stephanie