Why I began homeschooling.

 

I decided that I needed to focus on my relationship with my children more. 

 

Here is all it all began:

 

  I was beginning to lose my oldest two children.  I didn’t even know who they were.  I got a phone call from my primary president at church wanting to spotlight my children on Sunday.  She had a list of questions for me to answer, such as favorite color, favorite hobby, favorite food, etc.  I could not go ask my children, since it was to be a surprise for them.  But what if I got the answers wrong.  How embarrassing.  I answered my best, and got everything close to right.  But that really made me think.  How could I not know my children.  I mean I live with them.  I spend time with them.   I then started looking at how we spent our time together.  Sure I volunteered in their classes and on the PTA while they were in public school.  Then after school they would have homework.  I would help them with that.  Then I would have to go cook dinner.  After dinner we headed out to extra curricular activities.   Once a week we have Family Home Evening.  Twice a week the girls had Ice Skating. Once a week Tommy has Scouts.  Tommy and Emily both have one basketball practice and one basketball game each week.  Emily has activity days twice a month, and Girl Scouts twice a month.  It was just hectic. In the Summer, all they would want to do was be outside riding bikes, or playing with friends.  I then realized something had to change.  I had to decide what activities to take the kids out of.  After talking with my husband about homeschooling and everything, we decided that we wanted to hear the kids opinions.  We had a family meeting.  The kids were beyond excited to homeschool.  We also decided to let them finish out the season of Basketball, and Ice Skating.  And take a season off.  Now as we begin our second year, we have found that we do have more time for the kids to do activities they love.   They have now discovered BMX racing, and I have rediscovered who my kids are!

 

I have also had to start working a few nights a week.  I would miss my children immensely if I didn’t see them during the days.  I love knowing what they are learning, and what they are NOT learning. 

 

I began looking around on the internet for help, and found a local homeschool group.  I joined right away, and then I discovered homeschooling blogs.  I decided to start my own, since it is a wonderful way to  document the journey.

 

I know I don’t update it as often as I would like, but I am trying to get better at that.  I really enjoy taking  pictures of the kids, and hope to make my blog a memory book someday soon. 

 

Another thing we do to help strengthen our relationships is we have date nights, about once a month, where one child (in a rotation) gets to pick a date to go on without any other kids.  We feel that special time with them is very important.