These are the blog diaries of my humble and often clumsy adventures in homeschooling. I am a verbal processor, which thrills my husband to no end, I'm sure! :) It was recommended to me, in light of the fact that my life no longer allows me the time to spend hours scrapbooking and journaling and sending out regular email updates to family and friends, that blogging would very nicely sleigh all of my proverbial birds with one stone. Thus, my homeschool diairies.
The beginning: This has been somewhat of an unexpected journey for our family. Homeschooling was something that was always at the back of our minds, but I was never very confident that I could actually pull it off. (There are still days when I wonder...) But two years ago we were put in a situation with our oldest daughter that left no doubt in our minds that homeschooling was indeed the direction that God was calling us to head in. So with quite a bit of hesitation, trepidation and all consuming fear for the educational future of my children, I dove in. About two weeks into our first semester, I sat in the middle of our tiny spare room / school room surrounded by the innards of the complete cirriculum in a box.... A box that promised to awe and amaze and all around entertain my homeschoolers as it turned them into miniature Einstiens all while I just sat back and watched the miracle (because the exorbitant fee I paid for this wonder was promised to be worth it as all of the "work" was already done for me by trained professionals)!
..... that night as I sat on the floor in the midst of the mess that spilled from my magic box and cried the tears of a mom who has just discovered the very thing she had hung her children's future on was quite simply, a fairytale... of EPIC proportions! This was no magic box, only a very expensive skeletal outline, a rough draft, a mere sketch of the cirrciculum I had chosen for my kids! Each lesson called for hours of research, cutting, pasting, visites to craft and hobby stores, internet aids and printables. I soon realized that not only was our family looking at a future of drawing up blue prints and rearranging our home in order to accomidate this new undertaking (because the tiny spare room was just NOT going to cut it for us) but I was also in for a major makeover of my personal schedule and time management! Needless to say, the whole endevour was quite the rude awakening for me personally.
It took a couple of months to settle into a routine and schedule that worked for everyone, but we got there. And without an ounce of hesitation, I declare from the mountain tops that homeschooling has been the most rewarding, uplifting and fruitful endeavor I have ever undertaken! It has created such an amazing environment in our home and has been such an enrichment for our family. I have had the privledge of watching my kids grow in both their education and their character and I love that I am 100% in control of the content of what they are absorbing. And I must also add that through the process my kids have done a fair share of educating me as well. I have learned my strengths and weaknesses, my limits and a few talents I never knew I possesed (like writing cirriculum and even a few short stories when none could be found by the usual avenues).
Homeschooling was certainly an overall lifestyle change for our family and I have had to learn to juggle my time in interesting and creative ways as I continue to be wife and mother, homemaker, and teacher all while running my own freelance Photography business (which has become very part time) and maintaining some semblance of a social life! :) But God has been very good to me and our family and the blessings are overwhelming. I find myself waking up every morning excited to spend the mornings with my kids doing projects and crafts, reading about adventures and often breaking out into a happy dance when new concepts have finally, finally taken root!
The Gang-
Our oldest is fondly known as "Missy", the ring leader and miniature mom of the bunch who is currently in third grade. Our Kindergardener and one and only boy, "Cricket" a nickname earned by his never ending chirping (he too is a verbal processor). And finally the little "Monkey", our preschooler, aptly nicknamed for her uncanny ability to scale furniture, leap from heart- stopping heights and maintain a metabolism that I can only dream of!
And then there is me! I am fondly known as "mom" or Naomi.
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