Home School Life 1st Year

This is truly where my story began

Hello there again...welcome back.

Some of my friends here may know already and some may not that are just visiting, this is my very first year of homeschooling.  I tell you what too, this is definitely a journey that was one of those that began with that calling.  The only difference was I didn't just ignore the Lord for a few minutes about that one,  I ignored him for a year and an entire six weeks of another year.

You see I knew long before I had kids that I wanted to be a stay at home mommy, oh it was just my dream.  Of course prior to actually having kids, I thought what an amazing dream....life would be a piece of cake. Oh the joys we are going to have, it was going to be like actually living in Candy Land, just that fun and exciting....all the time.  I also knew that homeschooling might always be something to consider, simply because there are so many options out there for schooling.  No reason to rule that out, right?  After Chad and I got married and we got pregnant with Kara 2 years later, my wonderful husband fulfilled my dream.  He has worked so very hard for the past 8 years so that we can keep our children and me at home.  What a blessing he has been, I can only hope that I tell him enough of how so very proud I am of him.  God knew so much about what he was doing when he placed the two of us together, that the crossing of our paths 11 years ago has become one of his greatest Divine Appointments in my life. 

Kara

So when I had Kara in 2004, oh what a beautiful, precious little baby she was.  She was perfect, my first little perfect bundle of joy.  I could not imagine how much she would change my life, in so many ways I have grown from just getting the opportunity of knowing her.  All I could think about was Candy Land when I had her, oh this new journey we were going to embark on together was going to be wondrous.  We spent 4 amazingly fun years together, a lot of our time we spent together alone simply due to Chad's work schedule.  So we were buddies, pals if you will, matter of fact she was in essence my very own side kick.  One thing that God did had given with her was a very strong willed child, Lord I tell you I own every book on her kind.  Yet they haven't quite penned one on her exactly, most of those books didn't touch her personality.  In saying that, we had our downs of course and at the time that God called me to school her, my answer was MOST definitely UNEQUIVOCALLY, "No Sir, I'm not qualified for that and there is no way that I would have the patience to teach my child."  I was like Lord, you have been present the past 4 1/2 years, are we missing something here??!!  At the time I also had my little man Caden who was only on the verge of being a 2 years old.

Caden

I thought this is not possible, I need some me time.  Self was in on that one, just to clear the air.

1st Day of Kindergarten

So you know what I did?  You guessed it, I sent my child to Kindergarten.  Put her precious back pack on her that first day, cried that my baby was officially growing up, took pictures and we had a semi great year.  We had an amazing teacher who I felt at that point set the bar high for her following teachers.  We struggled quite a bit that year with getting ready for school, organization after school, because she wanted to just bounce off the walls and play.   

For what it was worth I enjoyed my two days a week that I got "free" when I took Caden to his Mother's Day Out program.  However, deep down I still knew what God was asking of me and I just felt like if I could keep justifying why it made more sense for her to go instead of doing what has turned out to be quite difficult at times, then it wasn't necessary for me to home school.  I asked myself all the typical questions...where do I start?  How do I know what to do?  How will she feel?  How will she make friends?  Am I hurting her pulling her out?  What if, What if, What if??!!  Want to know God's answer for all the questions I was asking myself?  He said this to me "Child if you will do as I am asking of you, then what you sow with your children you will reap", He said "I will put it all into place if you will just obey."  I am quite ashamed to say that I denied my calling at the start of 1st Grade for Kara.  I once again, put her back pack on her and I sent her on her way.

The one major difference 1st grade for Kara was as follows:
Mornings getting ready- sheer madness
Constant fighting with her to get her dressed
A change in her demeanor
Went from loving school the previous year to hating going
Cried on several occasions about going
Clung to me as if she couldn't let go sometimes
Stated she felt alone a lot

The 2nd major difference this year for Me was as follows:
Sheer conviction every time I dropped my child off at school
It finally came time for change the day that I drove away in such a sob, it was uncontrollable, I gave up that fight and I obeyed.

At the end of her first six weeks of 1st Grade, I pulled her out and she has been home with me ever since.  I will not lie to you and say that Home schooling is a piece of cake.  There are times it is hard, I have cried when feeling at a loss, I feel overwhelmed.  Yet, everything has fallen into place just as he said it would.  The times I need encouragement he places a beautiful home school mom in my path, when I need a hug and total love my husband has me in his arms, when I need a pick me up my phone rings and it's my mom with just the right words, when I feel alone and tired, I get a call and it's my sister-n-law inviting me on a date with her.  When I'm not certain of curriculum, I get just the guidance I need that works for Kara.  God has provided for me in such a way up to this point, just as he said he would, just by my utter obedience to his Calling for Me.   The scripture that he gave me to confirm what I should be doing was this:

John 15:8-11 
(8)My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 
(9)Just as my Father has loved Me, I have also loved you.; abide in My love. (10) If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. (11) These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.


I will do my very best to post pics of our journey and shorten the length of my writings, as I know most people are pressed for time.  Just a quick shot below are a couple of pictures from our activities just today.

Here is a tidbit of how we do some of our school through out the day.

Taking some time to just read

Counting coffee beans for math

She asked her bear Sassafrass to join her for school this day

Below is us including Caden in schooling, while taking the time out of the day to cook and make something as a thank you gift for a dear friend that has lent us so much encouragement and help with this beautiful process of schooling. 

As I stated previously I enjoyed my "free time", this amount of time I am learning is just gained at other times.  I may not have it during the day, but I am "free" from the activities, projects, homework and other things that come with school in the evenings and on the weekends.  I am also totally "free" to pack up my kids and drive to stay with their daddy out of town whenever we need to be close to him.  Please do not get me wrong, I think teachers are amazing and bless them for the job that they have chosen in helping millions of children around the world.  I also will never condemn or judge for someones choice in their own schooling decisions.  I just know that God is teaching me through this all that right now He is the best teacher there is for me and my kids.  While I have the opportunity and he still has me to home school, even on the worst of days I will seek him and revel in the blessings he has given us because of being obedient. Through obedience once again, my joy is most definitely being made full.

Their faces express exactly how I feel.  Excitement, joy, laughter, and disbelief at it all coming together.

Can you imagine if a goat can make kids feel this way, how we can really feel with just having a true relationship with our Father.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  We are in essence his children you know.