*The Classroom*

I was lucky enough to find my soul mate (yes, i do believe in such things), and we married deep in love. Then we had our first baby, and my world changed. I could not have imagined how much responsibility would feel.  I was responsible for the greatest gift I could ever have the privilege of receiving. My Heavenly Father let me borrow one of his perfect spirits for a time to love and teach and watch over. My mind started racing as I thought about all the things I wanted to teach our children and all the things I wanted them to experience. As my children started to grow older, the idea of sending them into someone else's care for 8 hours a day was hard to swallow. When on earth would I find time to show them all there is to see in this world? Homeschool was always in the back of my mind. Michael wasn't the keenest on the idea, but he wasn't opposed either. Our biggest fear and the thing people continued to warn us about was socialization. Comments like, "your kids will turn out so socially weird if they don't go to public school". My immediate thought was always, 'you socialize dogs, I want to educate my children. Isn't that what school is supposed to be about? Education?'.

Did you know research has found that if you take out lunch, recess, breaks, and all those times when a student isn't receiving engaged learning, a 8 hour school day boils down to your children receiving 2 hours of education? Just 2. At home I can have scripture study, one room learning with all my children on core subjects for 2 hours, individual math for and hour and individual language arts for an hour and my kids will have had a 4 hour school day catered just to them by noon. They will be receiving 2 times the education at home verses in public school. Our world together is wide open. My kids have time to be kids now, we can travel and see the world around us, and our classroom travels with us.

After many prayers and careful consideration, we decided to homeschool. We found the most incredible curriculum (click here, here, and here). Our plan is to homeschool with this curriculum through middle school, then depending on our children and their desires, let them attend high school part time for sports and extra curricular activities.  This coupled with some ACT prep & club sports teams, and my kids are shoe-ins for Harvard (at least I can hope.).

The thing that sealed the deal for us though, was the implementing of common core (read about that here).

I feel peace with the decision Michael and I have made for our family. Homeschooling is not for everyone, I understand, and what ever you and your family decide to do is between you, your husband, and our Heavenly Father. You can't go wrong with that support triangle. We wish everyone all the best in the world on their endeavor raising their families. You are doing an amazing thing.

Read our posts on Homeschooling below;