Wednesday, November 2, 2016

A new adventure....homeschooling

My sweet Sara is super excited and wants to do homeschooling.  I'm a little nervous but excited too!  Its amazing how far homeschooling has come with all the options and the how many more opportunities open up.  This decision was not made quickly or just from no where.  I believe this is God's plan and Sara and I have been lead to this point.  God has placed it on our hearts.  I have thought about it, researched it and prayed about it.

This weekend at the retreat I was surrounded by several that do or have done homeschool so I heard lots of conversation.  On the drive home two other ladies in the car talked about it.  My boss homeschool.  The flexibility and freedom are nice but whats more important is how you open the world of learning back up to a child that can find the joy in learning again.

Sara has struggled this year in her classes, she is passing with As and Bs but she feels like she doesn't feel like she really knows what they are teaching especially with math.  The program that they use....this Core Math is awful.  There have been many nights that Sara has been so frustrated and in tears.  This year there are a few differences in teachers that really are not cool.

Sara has recently been struggling with energy and fatigue, I think she is suffering from stress.  She wants to learn and understand what she is doing.

We have been told that school is where our kids needs to be.  Homeschooling has been given a negative name at times over the years but I think its because its not understood of how someone can learn and benefit from it.  I still get stuck in the box thinking of school and that will take time to work through.  School is more like a business that they only care if the kid is in the seat so and not so much if they are learning or not.  With homeschooling there is no limit and there is time, no time table, no way to "fall behind".

I'm a little overwhelmed with all the options and curriculums that are out there but thats the beauty of it too.  Every child learns differently, this way you can choose what works and if it doesn't you find something else that will.  There is a huge network or support, co-ops, field trips, learning from books, learning online.......there is soooo much!  I can't wait to start looking to find what we will use for Sara!  Oh and.......she can still do sports, like volleyball at any of the schools so that is a plus!

I signed the homeschooling affidavit today and then I withdrew Sara from school today, she turned in all her books.  Yesterday she told her teachers and friends.  She wasn't given any ugly or negative remarks, her friends will miss her but with social media they will not be disconnected and can arrange to get together.  I just hope that if anyone has anything negative to say or any questions or concerns that they go through me and not her and support her even if they don't understand or agree.  I can tell you that she lights up when she talks about it.  She sees the great potential for really taking time to learn and learn at her pace.

Sara is so super excited!  I can't help but be excited with her and I will support her and we will give this a shot!  I think she will really do well.

When my kids were small I used to teach them things and I would use what we did in our daily lives as teaching moments and it was fun and they learned and enjoyed it.  Then I put them in school and there are ups and downs and frustrations and they lose the excitement of learning at times and go through the motions of school to get by and keep moving on but I wonder how much they really learned, the quality of it. Now I can take those moments again, its like a lifestyle change that can be inserted into life and she can gain life experiences and really learn.

Sara and I are the road to a new adventure......

No comments:

Post a Comment