Why We Home School and The Misconceptions Part 1...

My home school journey began many years before I was ever married with kids.  I went to public school from kindergarten through fifth grade when my mom being a teacher at the school I was attending, made the bold decision to withdraw me from Public School. I will write this post in two parts so I can go a bit more in depth. I have to attribute my love for Education to my mother, who took my sister and I out of day care when she realized we were truly having a miserable time. My mother was finishing up her teaching degree at the time while trying to juggle motherhood,marriage, and home life so our schedule was rather hectic. Everyday after teaching part time at a school and going to college classes my mom would start making dinner and try to finish up her school work. Somehow in the midst of all that she always made sure to encourage every day learning with my sister and I through household chores and tasks. Many times we would beg her to play with us and became restless, especially since we didn't grow up watching any TV. I can clearly remember the five toys I did play with and though they were used toys I felt so lucky to have them and would make up imaginary stories with them. My mother realizing my vast interest and curiosity to learn new things would give me what she called busy work to do.  I saw busy work as fun time, so it worked out on both sides. My mom would cook, do chores and finish her school assignments. Meanwhile I would happily cut out words and pictures from newspapers, play with multiplication cards, make up shows with my stuffed animals and pretend to know how to read novels out loud to my mom. Every time I stumbled across an unfamiliar word, my mom would explain the meaning even if she was busy or slightly annoyed :).  One day I shocked my mom by reading a few sentences from an old classic!  After that day, at the age of 4 my mom started bringing me to the library every week and I would get 10 to 30 books and just read, read,and read. One day while we were at the library browsing I spotted a set of old tattered books in a golden cardboard box for sale. The pictures on the box really fascinated me so I begged my mom to get them for me. The price wasn't bad but the money my mom had on her that day was just enough for bus fare. I felt beyond upset but knew better than to whine and I really didn't want my mom to feel bad. The librarian must have apparently witnessed my expression because out of the blue she said, "Oh they really aren't even in the best condition and sold the set to my mom for 10 cents !!! I was so thankful that God had heard my little hearts desire. The beloved book set that we purchased was a vintage Little House On The Prairie book collection, which I now know was worth so much more that 10 cents !  After that my love for reading and good classic literature really soared. I loved learning so much, that is.... until I entered elementary school for the very first time. I was very unhappy and didn't feel excited or challenged anymore. Playing in school and doing ABC's was almost painful for me and I was always first to finish my school work. In 2nd through 4th grade I wrote reports and did narratives as I was assigned to, but the teachers began to question me to see if I was receiving  help from my mother, who also taught at the school. My mother fought hard for me but things never ended up changing for the better. Seeing my discouragement my mother withdrew me from public school in the middle of fifth grade and registered me for homeschooling, which was a new concept in education at the time. My mom tried her best to home school us while working full time, but we spent most of our time doing assignments while helping out my dad at his bookstore. After seventh grade I really thought of home school as a big fat joke and begged for my mom to give me a chance to go back to public school. My Mom probably should have stuck to her guns because from 8th grade to my senior year of high school I had so many ups and downs. I was advanced in some of my subjects and remedial in others. I didn't care for anything except partying and trying new things that I knew went against the Christian morals I was raised with. Fast forwarding to some years later I settled down with my husband and two children. I started working on and off at preschools while also keeping my kids with me at work. I always had a love for teaching but after messing up my education I only felt fit to work with preschoolers. When my son turned five we came across a wonderful private school that was highly accredited. Though we were struggling in finances we were determined to try. After what I had gone through in the past I was very nervous about the idea of my kids being in public school. We felt we had our answer from the Lord and were headed in the right direction. My son passed the academic entrance exam with flying colors and we couldn't have been more proud ! This was the beginning of our sons future and also the beginning of a monumental change in our life.

Part two of this post to be written soon....

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