Oh my goodness, ONE month from today we will be starting our homeschool year and journey! I have remained convinced that this is what God wants me to do with Peanut this year but that doesn't mean I haven't had my moments of doubt. Oh, how much easier it would be to just enroll her in school, but I know my daughter and I really believe that this is what is best for her at this time.
There are a lot of very very passionate homeschool families out there where it is homeschool or nothing. I am definitely not that person, at least not yet. I see a LOT of value in it but I also have taught public and private school and have seen a lot of value in those educational resources as well. So we are going to take it a year at a time, and kid by kid, to see if this is something we want to continue. My middle son, Sport, went to a Special Education preschool this past year and it has done AMAZING things for his development. Honestly, I do not believe he would be the kid he is now without his excellent teachers and the support they gave him. I am very excited for him to return to this preschool for one year before Kindergarten. I love him to pieces but I am pretty certain I will never homeschool him, and that is okay. It is important to do what is best for each kid individually because God made us all sooo different with so many different needs and skills. My youngest, Fish, is 2 right now so time will only tell what schooling option will be best for him. Because he is my baby I secretly hope homeschooling will be a good fit for him!
For this coming year I have signed up with a school called Calvary Academy to homeschool through. It is associated with the school I used to teach at so I know it has a great foundation and belief system. There will be monthly meetings, help with filing legal paperwork, field trip opportunities, meetings with other homeschool mom (yeah, support!!), holiday programs, and ACSI participation which I love! In the older grades you can also be involved in the sports and arts programs at the main school. I am very hopeful to make some friendships with other homeschool moms with kids my kids' ages.
We will be blessed to have a school room in our house to organize all of our school supplies and art supplies. I have been working on cleaning it out the last few weeks. My daughter is a bit of a hoarder when it comes to art supplies and plastic junk so it has been a process. She places sentimental value on everything so I have to clean when she is not around. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will be done and ready for our year and then I will do a post on our school room. I know I LOVE looking at other people's rooms so I hope people will enjoy looking at ours too :)
As for planning, I have my first two weeks planned out and all the holidays marked off. That is as far as I want to do for now because I want to wait and see how quickly or slowly she works and get a better feel for how it goes in real life. This is all new so there is much to be discovered. One more month!
Until then, enjoy summer!!!
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