The Best Laid Plans

My husband and I both attended public and/or private schools growing up. I absolutely loved school; the smell of books, the sound of the bell signaling changing of classrooms, improving my penmanship, reading new literature and cramming for tests. I'm weird, I know! So when we had our son the topic of school came up by the time he was at least 2. My mother-in-law lives next to us and watches our son while I work full time. She was persistent that he should be homeschooled. I literally thought she was nuts. At the time I never considered anything else put public or private school education for him. I don't know why except I knew how much I loved school and wanted him to experience the joys of new friends, challenging curriculum and getting prepared for the great big wide world he would be entering as an adult. In fact I don't recall anyone growing up that I knew that was homeschooled (Forest Hill Academy peeps correct me if I'm wrong).

But something shifted the closer he got to kindergarten. I met Leslie through my husband as her husband and mine knew one another through our business in town. He enthusiastically mentioned that she makes homemade salsa and other items and sells them at the farmers market in the park. He also mentioned that they homeschool as well. So, the next farmers market I went to see her booth and was amazed at the energy this woman has and the fact that she was homeschooling their 8 children. I was immediately curious and we quickly developed a friendship through her passion for and my curiosity about how to homeschool. Everyone probably has that one friend who has more energy than the energizer bunny with an encyclopedic brain of knowledge about most everything......that was Leslie! She gave me such confidence and showed me I don't need a bachelors or master's degree in education to teach my child. I need two things: purpose and desire to do it. If I know my purpose for why I choose homeschool over public education and I have the desire to teach him and research and find the curriculum that fits his learning style, I'm set! After many conversations with my husband and mother-in-law, I finally made the plunge.

All I can say is.....it was worth it! I have enjoyed it so much. We have been able to homeschool on trips as well as see some pretty cool places. Now, granted, our son is a typical boy who dislikes reading and writing but loves science and math. He loves fishing, hunting, hiking, cooking, baking, exploring and a good ole Nerf war. His love of school hasn't been exactly like mine but every year there is hope. He keeps plugging away and I keep reminding him that if he went to public school his days would be dramatically different which he begrudgingly acknowledges.

In the next homeschool blog, I will go into my purpose behind us homeschooling and share some of "the good, the bad and the ugly" curriculum that crashed and burned and some that we still use today. Every day is an adventure I say, even if I fail to add an adjective before the word. Adventure, adventure, adventure...........

Thank you Leslie....forever!