Homeschooling, Yep, You Read That Right

Now that the Palmetto Hearts 5K is completed I have switched gears and moved onto the next big adventure.... Homeschooling! Our oldest, Zachary, is 5 years old now and will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. We have researched and prayed over what to do about school for the upcoming year. We have talked with the private Christian school, the charter school, the public school - I had enrolled him everywhere because I wasn't sure where the right place was to send him. It really turned into a very big difficult decision that I really never expected to be SO tough! After several months of research and going back and forth Brian and I finally decided on none of the above and decided to homeschool.

It really came out of left field and it was certainly never anything that I ever thought I would do, but we feel that this is the best decision for our family at this time. We are going to take it year by year, but I am moving full speed ahead with homeschooling for the upcoming year. It is exciting and nervewracking and a tad bit overwheling too.

I have set up the school room (thanks to the help of my parents). We have a formal living room which was NEVER used and so it is now the school room and will be used everyday. I have also purchased the homeschool cirriculum that I'm going to use and have joined a homeschool co-op. The co-op gets together once a week and does school together from 9-12. We also all use the same cirriculum so everyone stays together and we can encourage and help each other throughout the year. The co-op is called Classical Conversations and I am very glad that it exists because Zachary and I are both very social and it will be a good outlet for us I think.

Since AG's surgery is going to be in August I am going to start school in June and do school in June and July and take off August and September for AG's surgery and recovery. The State doesn't mandate when you do school, just that you complete 180 days of school, so it will be nice not to have to think about school (or homework) at all during surgery and recovery. It will also be nice to be able to keep the family together in Charleston and not have to have Zachary at home because he has to attend school while we're in Charleston. Of course if you've been following my BLOG for any length of time you know that I am a sitckler for quarantine so I like the idea of being able to quarantine as I see fit after AG's surgery to allow her ample time to heal before having to fight off germs brought home from school which let's face it - Kindergarten is a petri dish of germs.

So the idea of homeschool, at least for the upcoming year, really appeals to me. I think it has the potential to be a really great thing as long as I can manage to stay on task and not get distracted by "things" around the house that need to be done. I think that will be the real challenge, that and the fact that I am not a teacher by trade and so I will be learning to teach as I go. I'm just thankful it's Kindergarten and not 11th grade calculus :) The cirriculum that I have purchased is also very specific about what tasks have to be done each day so I am thankful that it is very structured for me. I will keep you posted on how it goes, it should be an interesting year!

Thanks friends for continuing to follow our BLOG! We appreciate your support and prayers for our family!