Homeschooling is hard! When Steve and I first started talking about homeschooling Leiana when she was preschool age, I thought it would be easy. I get to spend time with my kids. I get to go on field trips when we want. I have control over what they will learn. I got this! Ha!!
We found Christiana when Leiana was in preschool. We interviewed her and enrolled her for Kindergarten. I knew a few people that homeschooled their kids and they had it together (or so it seemed) and I was ready to tackle this new endeavor.
That lasted about 4 months. Then I panicked. I had a toddler at home as well as trying to teach Leiana. I remember telling Steve, “I can’t do this, I can’t even make it through Kindergarten!” Not because of anything at Christiana but because I was feeling inadequate to teach her. Especially with a toddler at home. He reassured me I could but agreed to tour private schools to see what else was out there. We toured all the area private schools but I became torn. Did I want to send my kids 5 days a week and give up control over what they were learning? We spent time in prayer and I felt compelled to homeschool one more year. I told Steve, “No promises for the future but I will try 1st grade.” And here we are 10 years later still at Christiana with a 9th grader and 6th grader. I will tell anyone, “I take it one year at a time. No promises for next year.”
Early on in my homeschooling days, I read an article of a homeschooling mom talking about this very same issue. One thing stuck out to me. She said that an average person lives to be about 80 years old. You only have a child in your home for 18 years out of those 80. Between school, sports, friends, and other activities, we lose so much of that small amount of time that God blesses us with. By homeschooling I get to have more time with them and more influence in their life. By homeschooling at Christiana we get the best of both worlds- quantity and quality time together, plus some healthy separation on Mondays and Wednesdays while they spend some of that precious time influenced by Christian tutors, and like-minded peers. I know that when I look back when I am old, I will rest assured that I raised them to the best of my ability
Is it hard? YES!!! Are there multiple days that I was ready to enroll them in school? YES!! Does it take up a lot of time? YES!! Is it exhausting? YES!!
So many moms tell me that they could never homeschool their kids. I hear “We would kill each other!”, "I would go crazy!”, and so many other things. I am here to say, everyone has the ability to homeschool. As the saying goes, “Choose your hard”. Life is hard, raising kids is hard, marriage is hard. I choose to homeschool knowing that it is hard. Knowing that there are days when the kids are in tears or I am or we both are. There are days when Steve comes home that I tell him he has to finish school work with one of the girls because I just can’t. I spend a lot of time in prayer and then the next day is a new day and we do it all over again. Looking back, I find it so hard to believe that I have made it this far in homeschooling. But with God and the support of other homeschooling families at Christiana we have persevered. I don’t know what the future holds for us as I still take it one year at a time but I am so glad that I committed the time to educating my girls at home.
Disclaimer - I am also realistic to know not everyone is in the position to homeschool. While everyone has the ability to homeschool, I know not everyone can due to life circumstances.
We found Christiana when Leiana was in preschool. We interviewed her and enrolled her for Kindergarten. I knew a few people that homeschooled their kids and they had it together (or so it seemed) and I was ready to tackle this new endeavor.
That lasted about 4 months. Then I panicked. I had a toddler at home as well as trying to teach Leiana. I remember telling Steve, “I can’t do this, I can’t even make it through Kindergarten!” Not because of anything at Christiana but because I was feeling inadequate to teach her. Especially with a toddler at home. He reassured me I could but agreed to tour private schools to see what else was out there. We toured all the area private schools but I became torn. Did I want to send my kids 5 days a week and give up control over what they were learning? We spent time in prayer and I felt compelled to homeschool one more year. I told Steve, “No promises for the future but I will try 1st grade.” And here we are 10 years later still at Christiana with a 9th grader and 6th grader. I will tell anyone, “I take it one year at a time. No promises for next year.”
Early on in my homeschooling days, I read an article of a homeschooling mom talking about this very same issue. One thing stuck out to me. She said that an average person lives to be about 80 years old. You only have a child in your home for 18 years out of those 80. Between school, sports, friends, and other activities, we lose so much of that small amount of time that God blesses us with. By homeschooling I get to have more time with them and more influence in their life. By homeschooling at Christiana we get the best of both worlds- quantity and quality time together, plus some healthy separation on Mondays and Wednesdays while they spend some of that precious time influenced by Christian tutors, and like-minded peers. I know that when I look back when I am old, I will rest assured that I raised them to the best of my ability
Is it hard? YES!!! Are there multiple days that I was ready to enroll them in school? YES!! Does it take up a lot of time? YES!! Is it exhausting? YES!!
So many moms tell me that they could never homeschool their kids. I hear “We would kill each other!”, "I would go crazy!”, and so many other things. I am here to say, everyone has the ability to homeschool. As the saying goes, “Choose your hard”. Life is hard, raising kids is hard, marriage is hard. I choose to homeschool knowing that it is hard. Knowing that there are days when the kids are in tears or I am or we both are. There are days when Steve comes home that I tell him he has to finish school work with one of the girls because I just can’t. I spend a lot of time in prayer and then the next day is a new day and we do it all over again. Looking back, I find it so hard to believe that I have made it this far in homeschooling. But with God and the support of other homeschooling families at Christiana we have persevered. I don’t know what the future holds for us as I still take it one year at a time but I am so glad that I committed the time to educating my girls at home.
Disclaimer - I am also realistic to know not everyone is in the position to homeschool. While everyone has the ability to homeschool, I know not everyone can due to life circumstances.
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