Our Choice to Homeschool

As I have said before, Asher had a great Kindergarten year. He had some challenges, but he learned how to work through them...he really grew a lot. 1st grade came and both Asher and I were excited for it. His first week was a tough, but I anticipated that. What I didn't anticipate was his personality and behavior changing...he became very anxious and sad, even. Every day in the carpool line I prayed that I would pickup a happy Asher and often I did, but there were enough days where he bawled in the car... it was gut-wrenching to send him to school. His homework load was insane- 2 hours/night by the time we did reading, overly-complicated math and whatever packets were sent home. Then I started getting reports back from his teacher about Asher eating pencils- literally eating them. A sign of anxiety at school.

One morning I was on Facebook and a friend posted something about Common Core. I had heard about it- seen it stamped all over the homework and papers he brought home. I thought I had better figure out what it was. What I found through research was truly shocking. These new, troubling behaviors Asher was developing had an explanation! The more I discovered, the more my mind and heart became troubled. Nate and I took the matter to the Lord. What were we supposed to do with this knowledge? The answer came clearly- we were to start homeschooling our children. We felt that school was not currently a safe place to send our children. While I feel that Common Core is wrong for every child, I don't necessarily believe that homeschooling is the right choice for every family. It may be the the Lord will direct others to fight Common Core a different way. If you are interested in learning more, you should check out this documentary, and then let me know if you have more questions:

The moment we decided to homeschool, Nate and I changed as parents. Everything we do becomes a learning opportunity. Hikes aren't just for exercise and pleasure- they become tools for teaching about evergreens, insects and water systems.

I had initially thought that we would pull Asher and Collin from school after the holidays- I thought I would need that much time to choose curriculum, make lesson plans and prepare mentally. However, the internet is a wealth of resources and within 2 weeks I had ordered our books and setup our family classroom. I was ready and so were the kids. 

 We are now 3 weeks into homeschooling and we LOVE it. Nate and I have both shed tears of joy at how our boys are blossoming. Our home is actually happier, and less complicated. (We did hire a cleaning lady to ease some of my work load. That has been a blessing too.)

The boys, pretending to be nomads & painting on "cave walls"...

I'm so excited for the adventures we will continue to have. There is something so liberating about being in charge of your child's education- we already have trips to Tornado Alley and the ocean planned. So fun!