Home schooling has always been close to my heart. I believe in the concept and think it is great. However, I do not think it is for everyone. I have tried it once and after meeting a wonderful lady a few weeks ago that home schools her 7 children (she currently has a couple that have graduated), it has come into my mind and I cannot get the idea out!
I talked to DH about my desire to be more available for my boys and that the stress of relying on others (and they are truly a blessing!) has been hard on me. We have decided that we would pray about me quitting my full-time job at the end of the summer. I will still need to work to purchase food and gas but DH's paycheck would pay for essentials. I may have the opportunity to nanny a little one but if that doesn't work out, I will look for work outside the home a couple days a week during "Mom" hours.
What does this have to do with home schooling you ask? Well, I have brought up the subject to my boys and we have agreed to attend the Curriculum Fair here in Chattanooga in late July. DH isn't sure if this is a good idea since the last time I home schooled, it was very stressful! I explained that there were many, many, many factors that contributed to that stress. It was my FIRST year, I was miles away from my friends that were home schooling and didn't have the funds to meet up regularly; I did not know the intranet could be such an information outlet as well as a network through blogs, and on and on. Oh, and I was pregnant!!
So in light of all this pondering, I have been asking myself why I want to try this again. The first thing that comes to mind is that home schooling would be convenient. I know, this is NOT a good reason to home school and I am working that out in my mind!! The next thing is that I will be able to focus on my boy’s spiritual growth more. I would be able to schedule structured time for them to study and worship and pray. I will be there to help them when they have questions or are in situations that are confusing. Another reason is the flexibility for them to be involved in activities including volunteering. We recently volunteered (DH and I) at the Creative Discovery Museum and learned that they have a youth volunteering program for home schoolers as well as those in school. I have researched the local home school organization and see all the opportunities that are available for kids and it excites me.
The cons for my boys include being able to participate in sporting activities since they are very involved. But, the local home school group offers sports, just not all of them. They want to see their friends but I know they will have the opportunity to make new friends through scheduled get together’s with other home schoolers. They will miss out on school trips but I see that they will have the opportunity to be more involved in church activities where they can take mission trips which to me is more important anyways.
Ok, I think I'm done for now. I needed a place to write down my thoughts before they drove me crazy. What do you think?
[Oh and Mom if you are reading this, I was going to talk to you about this at some point but I guess now there's no time like the present :)]
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