Homeschooling for us....

Homeschooling for us has been a beautiful, and wild ride!   I guess it is just my personality, our lifestye, the many, many changes we have had in our life...I don't know.  Before I take you on our crazy journey, I just want to say I think my kids have faired just fine.  They are sweet, mostly well behaved, love life, and are pretty smart.  Our latest adventure in online school had them tested, and they are right on target, and doing great for their grade level.  Now, I did not say any of that to brag, but more of a disclaimer, in case you are wondering what all our flip flopping has done for our children's behavior and academic progress. ;)

 I began homeschooling when N started Kindergarten.  He and L had been attending a preschool, and we'd had a good experience.  I had never had a passion to homeschool....it was in the summer between preschool and K that I began thinking about homeschooling.  I knew only 2 people that did it, and I began asking questions.  He had a late birthday, July 27th, so I figured if I royally screwed up, I would just start him in K public school a year late.  He was sick with asthma a good portion of his pre-K year, and I wanted to keep him out just to see if I could get it under control.  He also had an allergy to peanut butter that I was terrified of.  Twice in preschool he was exposed, I just happened to be there to catch it and give him benadryl quickly.  Plus, he just seemed so little....Daddy had just decided to come home to work in our photography business full-time, and I liked the idea of everyone being home.

Oh they were so little......5,4, and 3.  This photo was taken that fall, the day before we loaded up to move to Little Rock, away from our small town life where we grew up.

 We were living in an apartment...I was adjusting to a new place, a new city, having all of my family together 24/7, homesick, and had a dog that bark on the other side of the wall that made us all just about lose our mind.  I had no idea what I was doing, the only homeschool friends I knew lived back home.  My boy was young, not ready to read, I didn't understand that time is all we needed, and I just threw my hands in the air and said forget it...he was starting school in the fall. 

 That summer we moved to a new home, no more barking dogs, a lot more space, more time to adjust, and it was time for L to start Kindergarten.  Guess what...I didn't want either of them to go.  I had picked the phonics books back up, and realized the time of no school, had actually been just what we needed, and he began learning to read a lot easier.  

Also, L picked up reading very well, and we completed that school year teaching them mostly together, and ready to add one more girl the next year.

 L's first day of Kindergarten!

 I have always used Math U See and I taught all 3 to read using Hooked On Phonics.  LOVE Hooked on Phonics!

 I began that year with all year schooling...b/c we take time off all year long, so I began my girl in K during that summer.  During that time, we were waiting to get our home open for fostering, and I began questioning my ability to homeschool, and have new little ones at home.  I still had ZERO confidence in my teaching ablility.

So, we decided to enroll them in public school.  Literally, Z came to our home the weekend before they were to begin school.  The days that followed were so quiet and lonely with them gone in the day.  I missed them terribly, hated all the homework in the afternoons, and didn't like them missing out on Z's first days with us. 

 Just 2 weeks after Z came to our home, we got A and H.  Daddy was driving a schoolbus leaving at the crack of dawn...with me and 6 kids to get up and get kiddos to school.  That did not last long...at all.   I brought the kids back home, and felt very good about that decision.  We finished out the rest of that school year at home, with me finally confident that homeschooling was right for us.  That brief time at ps was just what I needed to feel good about homeschooling.  That school year had us saying goodbye to A and H, moving to a new home, and welcoming baby T to our home. 

I just had to throw in this photo of Z....Oh those sweet baby cheeks and curls!!!

 We began that school year with 5 children, still had baby T...he'd just come home from being in the hospital for 1 1/2 months, doc apts every week...but we were doing the best we could with school through it all.  We enrolled in a 1 day a week homeschool academy, which they all really liked.  In October, I made the decision that I could no longer care for Baby T, and he left.  We took a mini vacation, had court for Z coming up (to terminate) and were ready to land full force into schoolwork. 

 And....along came baby C!  Oh sweet newborn baby C.  I knew that he would be with us to stay, (hopefully, based on how Z's case went), and at that time, b/c I felt like the last few months had been so consumed with me caring for babies, that the big kids just need to go to school.....the school I could see from our house...that was literally at the end of the street. 

They began that school, and thrived.  We all loved it, knew it was a good decision, never looked back, and decided my homeschool days were over.  I was sad about that, but was so happy that they were doing so well in school. 

Which brings us to this past school year.  We moved over the summer, and decided, to keep from any more transitions, we would homeschool again.  Also not long after that, we decided that the boys need to be home with us, and pulled them out of their theraputic school.  So...here we were....I felt like back to how I was in the beginning....a new home, new town, I was homesick again, the kids were missing their school they loved, adjusting to SEVEN people being home all the time, and adjusting to a new work schedule with hubby.  So....guess what I did?

 I enrolled them in school.  It was a bad time of year.  Right before Christmas break.  We were enrolled for 6 weeks, but between Christmas vacation, sickness, and snow, they only attended about 3 1/2 weeks.  I decided that it was a bad decision....at least bad timing on my part, and I pulled them back out.

 I was just ready to get back into the swing of things with what I had been teaching before, b/c it was actually working, when we got the call that the kids had been accepted to an online school, Arkansas virtual academy.   I had always wanted to try it...I wasn't really ready, but we'd been on a waiting list, so I figured I had better take the chance.   It was a great school, but entirely too much of a workload for us.  We did complete they year, but we will not be re-enrolling for next year.   We now have 2 toddlers...next year a preschooler, and I want a more laidback style of teaching, like I had before.  I see now, after all this time, that it has been the style that my children learn best....and we are happiest. 

  So, there you have it...all my craziness, rolled into one post.  I have been there, and tried it all.  I don't regret any of it though...my children have had so many experiences....and we all know, confidently what works for us.  I am excited about the coming year.  I will have a 5th, 4th, 3rd,  a preschooler, and 1 along for the ride.  I have been looking into curriculum...this may be the year that I buy a set curriculum, or I may continue to do what I have been doing in the past.  I don't know. I am just here to say....you do what works best for YOUR family....and don't worry about anyone else.  If you need to try different things....that is o.k. too.