Our Journey To Homeschool
Our decision to homeschool has little to do with Covid-19.
The summer before Luke started JK I started to feel like I wanted to homeschool him. I have followed a handful of homeschool moms online for years and their lifestyle was very appealing to me. However, I wondered if my desire to homeschool him was selfish and if it was just based on me wanting more time with him. With just a high school education myself, I wondered if I would be able to teach him everything he needed to learn. With my various entrepreneurial efforts, I wondered if I would still have time to pursue those and teach Luke and play with Elizabeth and care for our home.
So many questions and feelings of inadequacy.
Tyler and I were also not fully on the same page about homeschool for our family at this time and so we decided to enrol Luke in JK. The transition to school was hard emotionally for Luke and it personally felt very unnatural to me. I prayed through my mixed up emotions and asked God to make a way for homeschool in our family if it was the right choice for us, all the while going through the motions of traditional school with Luke.
For roughly two years I prayed about homeschool, continued to do my research and trusted God’s path for education for our children.
March 2020 quarantine begins, Luke took part in one week of online school. I decided it wasn’t the right fit for us and Tyler agreed, I would spend time learning with the kids each day. Inside our home, we read together, played learning games, completed crafts, went on nature walks, observed a tadpole, made snail habitats, cooked and cleaned together as a family and so much more. In the midst of a pandemic and lockdown we started to see how homeschool could work for our family, God started to make a way for our homeschool to form.
God used a lockdown to get our family on the same page about homeschool. God used a lockdown to give me time and space to test my homeschool abilities. God used a lockdown to help me see how I could develop a daily routine within my home that would allow me to work, homeschool and thrive as an individual.
There are a few blessings I want to highlight from this story:
Don’t stop praying for something just because you cant see a way. I didn’t see the pandemic coming but God did and He used it to open the door to homeschool for our family.
God made me for this journey with my children. All of the doubts I held when God first started to place homeschool on my heart, were the enemy trying to hold me back from my calling.
Nothing is too big for God, come to Him with all of your requests and He will make a way.
I am not an expert on education or homeschool but I am an expert on my children and right now they are happy, healthy and learning each day. Luke and Lizzy have endless time with each other and it has changed their relationship in front of my eyes, making them more like friends than ever before. Their ability to imagine and play has expanded beyond what they were capable of when Luke was in school. Yes they fight and I feel overwhelmed at times but I know we are on the right course for our family.
What I am learning about homeschool is that each one is unique and I really need to trust my instincts as to how ours will run. What works for one family may not work for ours and so I learn alongside my children as we find our way. I am lead by God and so I can trust Him. I have confidence in myself as we figure this out with grace and imperfection.
Walking by faith one day at a time.
Give me this day my daily bread.
I will go Lord, if you lead me.
xoxo
Heather
