Our choice

We've made our schooling choice - it wasn't a knee jerk reaction to anything. It was something I've quietly thought about and prayed over for a long time. It started before the boys' first birthdays when we were getting ready for our move to Memphis. We researched the housing market and along with that came looking into the area schools. The schools here in Memphis are very different from what we are used to, and not something we wanted to subject the boys to.

Homeschooling was our solution to that dilema, but ever since that thought crept into my mind... I've been thinking and praying about it. One of my sister's homeschools her daughter, and John's sister homeschools 2 of her daughters. There are many people in our lives that have chosen this option for their families, and it's working great for them. Does that mean it's for everyone? Absolutely not. I'm not writing this to convince anyone else to do it -- or tell you what is best for your family. This choice is only for my family. You've got to decide for your own. (same goes for a myriad of other topics in parenting - what I choose isn't what's best for everyone)

Within the last couple of months, my heart has come to a peace about this choice for us. There are lots of reasons why I think this is what will be best for our family - but one of the reasons that became clear for me is that our boys are only 6 months apart. They would be separated in traditional school programs by a year, but they are very much on the same level in so many ways. James may be slightly behind. while Tyler might be slightly ahead... they very much meet in the middle and challenge each other on different areas of development.

I want to foster that, and I see no real need for them to be separated. They will be their own people with their own interests, and I can foster that through homeschooling. We can go through life learning together at home, and exploring the world in the ways that interest us the most. Tyler already has so much interest in animals and science -- where James is more interested in building and engineering. I can work with those interests and build their learning plan around those things that interest them -- rather than using the one-size-fits-all approach that traditional schooling has to take.

Once the decision became clear, I started researching curriculum programs and reading books about the day to day workings of a home school. We will be free to get our learning done on our time, and still have plenty of time for socialization and sports outside of school -- as well as with co-op programs and things.

I've found our Pre-K 3 program, ordered it for the fall, and mapped out our path of learning as I see it today. That will certainly be subject to change as programs change and our interests become more visible. I'll write more about what I chose in another post, but it is biblical and all the programs going forward will have a Bible study component for us.

I've also started collecting our supplies slowly, and I can't be more excited for what lies ahead for our family. Wish us luck!