Why We Homeschool

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be homeschooling my kids this year, I would have laughed in your face. I would have said what most people say to me now, "I could never do that!" I'm still not sure why the Lord wants me to homeschool my children, but I do know that he wants me to. That is the only reason why we do what we do.

I started to have strong impressions that I would homeschool my kids SOMETIME last October. I remember my first impression clearly. I was researching some founding fathers and constitution learning for kids on the internet. I came to a great website that had just what I was looking for. A feeling came over me that I would homeschool my children sometime. Nate happened to be home from work that day because he was sick. I went to wake him up to tell him what I had felt. I was in tears telling him and he just kept telling me to calm down because it wasn't something that we needed to worry about right now. I tried to let it go, but it seemed every few days some other impression would come.

I started to have strong impressions that I would homeschool my kids SOMETIME last October. I remember my first impression clearly. I was researching some founding fathers and constitution learning for kids on the internet. I came to a great website that had just what I was looking for. A feeling came over me that I would homeschool my children sometime. Nate happened to be home from work that day because he was sick. I went to wake him up to tell him what I had felt. I was in tears telling him and he just kept telling me to calm down because it wasn't something that we needed to worry about right now. I tried to let it go, but it seemed every few days some other impression would come.

In the beginning of November I came across a book that I thought my son, Isaiah would enjoy. It was called "A Thomas Jefferson Education." You see, my son loves Thomas Jefferson and anything having to do with the founding of our country. I thought he might be interested in a book about how Thomas Jefferson was educated. Little did I know that it was a book about a specific education method that indeed Thomas Jefferson learned by. I devoured the book and agreed with most of what it said. After reading the book and through prayer and pondering I knew that our family was supposed to learn this way. So, by the end of November I knew that the Lord intended for me to homeschool my children. I decided that I would wait until the next school year so that I could get as prepared as possible. This decision was a good one because I found out the next month that I was pregnant and I spent many months being sick during the beginning of the year.

Nate at this point was very supportive, but very worried. I was in tears all of the time feeling like there was no way I could homeschool. I love sending my kids to school, and I LOVED my kids arts-based charter school. I would literally cry everytime I had to go to the school because I was so sad that we would be leaving. I was very scared for my sanity as my kids would fight every day as they came home from school all the way up until they went to bed. I couldn't be around these kids 24-7 and educate them at the same time! Needless to say, Nate hadn't had the impressions and was questioning mine.

In March Nate and I attended the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJED) Conference. We were together for the opening session, and then attended different classes for all the other sessions that day. At lunch we compared notes and couldn't stop talking about all that we had learned. We both felt the spirit so strong that day and knew we were doing the right thing. I think that this day was the first time that Nate knew we were supposed to do this crazy thing! I was strengthened by the experience, but still had my reservations about my own abilities. This is how this craziness all started and now here we are starting our adventure!