Homeschooling is something that never, ever crossed my mind. I never had the desire to be a teacher nor did I think I would have to patience to be one. We are very blessed to live in a small community with a great public school that our kids have always done well in. So what changed? Read on to find out why this year we chose to homeschool.
Why we chose to Homeschool
A lot of things in our life have changed since I became a stay-at-home mother and homemaker back in June of 2019. I truly feel since we’ve given up more of our lives to the Lord’s will, he has opened our hearts to so much. The first pull I had towards homeschooling came from when they shut down schools for Covid. While doing distance learning, I was so surprised at how quickly my children finished up their daily schoolwork and the free time they had because of that. Although I longed for them to keep that freedom, after that summer, they all headed back to school in the fall.
The second pull towards homeschooling came in the spring of this past year. I was following quite a few of holy, Catholic women on Instagram whom all homeschooled their children. Suddenly the beauty of more child’s play, beautiful literature and Catholic faith in our children’s days pulled on my heart. The feeling would come and go, but the Lord had a way of putting it back on my mind and in my heart, so much so I decided to really discern it.
Homeschool Discernment
During this discernment there was much discussion, thought, and endless prayer by both my husband and I. Ultimately, together we decided with me being home, there was no reason to not try. Our older children, who would be in junior high and high school, decided they loved the idea of ‘less busywork’ and more time home, they ultimately decided they would miss their friends and other perks of being in school during the day. We let the decision be theirs.
On the other hand, our younger daughter was preparing to enter 2nd grade and was thrilled with the idea of being home! We tested to waters quite a bit (to be sure she knew what she was deciding) by asking weeks apart, explaining how her days would be and also reminding her she would see less of her friends and a whole lot more of her little brothers 😉 Still, as the school year approached, she insisted on homeschool and I had to say, I was pretty excited myself so after lots more prayer, discernment, curriculum research, legal research and questioning friends, we took the leap!
Reasons We Chose to Homeschool
1. MORE TIME TO BE A CHILD
We wanted Vayda (7 years old) to have more time just being a child. More time to play, to be creative and to be outside. In public school for 1st grade, she was there for nearly 8 hours and would come home with 30-45 mins of homework. Especially in the dark days of winter, this left her little free time. We wanted more time for her imagination to bloom!
2. GREAT BOOKS & LITERATURE
As a family we have been much more diligent in what media are taking in, whether that is through the internet, television or books. A classical homeschool curriculum takes advantage of great literature, fairytales and poetry. I loved the idea of introducing beautiful words to our children without the concerns of too much modern-day culture being filtered in.
3. OUR CATHOLIC FAITH
With our children in public school, there is no faith-based learning. Our children do learn a lot from us at home and attend a once-weekly religion class at our church, but my husband and I felt we wanted more. By choosing a Catholic and Christian based curriculum, God is at the forefront of her learning. She is learning religion daily and her faith is part of her reading and writing. It’s such a beautiful thing!
4. STRONG FAMILY CULTURE
Building a strong, family culture is important for my husband and I. We don’t expect perfection but we long for our children to build solid relationships with their siblings and their parents that they can take with them for the rest of their lives. Along with good relationships, we hope they get a love of being home and belonging. Spending more time with our children in the homeschool setting allows me to bond with them in a unique way (although I would be lying if I said there isn’t stain too!). They also have a lot more time to play with and help their siblings as well as help around the house and learn how a household is ran.
5. LEARNING TO LOVE
Finally, we want our children to love, in all forms of the word. We want them to learn to love people deeply, to love themselves as God does, to love their home and the caring of it, to love their neighbor as themselves and most of all, to love and fear our Lord. This can be done in any circumstance, but having more time to form our children at home while they are young is proving very valuable.
How is Homeschooling is Going?
So far we are 5 weeks into our first year of homeschooling and although it was a bit of a struggle starting out and finding our rhythm, Vayda and I are both thriving! Kip (4 years old) is also much more interested in preschool work since he is watching his sister. They have time to play together, along with Zeke (2 years old) and my husband and I notice the bond that is already strengthening.
We aren’t making any decisions on the future for Vayda’s schooling or the little boys. We will take it year by year and see how we are all feeling. But I feel confident that for right now, this is where the Lord wants us to be and I am so thankful!
Stay tuned for a new post coming soon detailing our 2nd grade curriculum choices!
