Finally... I can tell everybody.

After months and months of serious prayer and Jared listening patiently to my endless ramblings, we have decided to homeschool. It may be for a year or it may be until they graduate. I'm sure we'll take it year by year.

All of my curriculum for Will and Jet is bought. I have officially withdrawn both boys from school. Within the next couple of weeks I will start lesson planning.

For those of you that are interested, I'll discuss what curriculum I chose in another post.

But for now, for those of you who think I have lost my mind, I'll list my top ten reasons for homeschooling.

#10. As mentioned in my previous post, my kids are growing up so fast. The years that I have them at home are so short and I truly want to suck in every minute that I can.

#9. Jet would continue to be in Special Ed next year. I have nothing against Special Education and thus far our experience has been really really good. However, I do not want Jet to be 'labeled' Special Ed. I feel that it would a self-fulfilling prophecy.

#8. I have an invested interest in my children's future, obviously. It is important to me that they have an amazing education. I want to know what they're learning, what they're struggling in, what courses we can advance in and places that may need review. I won't have to wait for a parent-teacher conferences to know exactly how they are doing.

#7. The past 2 years have been hairy-scary around my house. Poor Anabella has grown up in her carseat. I am averaging 200 driving miles per week and it was even more when we were going to therapy everyday. I am honest to goodness sick and tired of the daily grind.  I am really excited to have fun with my kids. We are going to go on a field trip once a week and I am so looking forward to making those memories with them.

#6. Freedom. We will actually have total control over our schedule. We don't have to be some where everyday at a certain time. We can go on vacation in September. We can live in tin-buk-tu if we wanted to.

#5. When you homeschool you get to decide what you study. That is one of the things that I am most excited about for Will. For science, we are going to study Zoology. For music, Jared is going to teach him guitar. My curriculum is very eclectic, so I can learn how he learns best. At this young age, I want Will to be excited about learning. I think that in and of itself will take him a long ways.
  
#4. I think that there is eternal value in homeschooling. All of my curriculum is faith based. We will be doing scripture memorization. As their parent, I will ensure that they have solid foundation in scripture. Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

#3. Right now, we really only get to see Will for a couple of hours a day during the week. And during those hours, everybody is tired. We've ran here and there and Will has worked his tail off at school. I am excited to be giving my best to my kids, not my leftovers.

#2. I asked Will why he wanted to be home schooled. He put it best... "I want to spend time with my family. I like my brother and my sister."

#1. This is something that I have felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit to do. We as a family have said "yes" to that still, small and quiet voice (1 Kings 19:12).

So there you have it. Now everybody knows my little secret. Here's to a new adventure.

Confident of His Goodness,
Lela