What, me homeschool?

I have officially been a home schooling mom for a mere 5 months now. However, home schooling has been on my radar screen since before I was even a parent.

Before we had kids, I can remember my husband insisting that we were going to home school our children. Neither my husband nor I was home schooled - we are both the products of the public education system. However, we both agreed that the public schools were lacking where we were living at the time and that our future children would not receive the type of education we desired for them in that setting. Private school was out of the question at that time - both logistically and financially. And yet, I still viewed home schooling as more of a curiosity than as something that was in my future.

Fast forward a few years, my husband and I have moved to a new location with an academically fantastic public school system. We have two children in that public school system and an infant at home. Long gone are the days when my husband insists that his children will be home schooled. We have several friends who home school their children, and others who have children in private, Christian schools. While we are more than satisfied with the academics our children are receiving in public school, there are problems. So many things are taught or pushed in this school that don't conform with our Christian world view. We need another solution.

For two years our older children are educated in a Christian school. Not only are we happy with the educational aspect of this arrangement, but with the spiritual side as well. Of course, an excellent Christian education (or even a sub-par one) does not come without a price. That tuition check each month, while a fixed amount, seems larger and larger. Our income, like so many other families we know, seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

In July 2009 we came full circle. After prayer, number crunching, belt tightening, discussion, prayer, seeking wise counsel, prayer, more discussion, and even more prayer we made the decision to home school our children.

Was I scared? Sure. What would we tell our parents and what would they think? While my husband and I have 4 college degrees between the two of us, would we be able to adequately educate our children? Would we be disciplined enough to run an orderly home school?

I was also excited. We now had the opportunity to expand the education of our children as we wanted. They would no longer be restricted to working at the pace of their classmates. We could add more foreign language and more critical thinking exercises.

I'm happy to be on this journey with my children and I am looking forward to sharing the wonderful highs and the (hopefully few) lows right here.