For a while now I have been contemplating homeschooling my children. I home schooled Zechariah when he was in Kindergarten and it went pretty well. I researched the heck out of it, set my toy room up into centers, had a great schedule and found good curriculum too. I felt accomplished after that 1st year and happy with both his and my progress. I was pleased that when we moved to MD and he went to public school, he was WAY above his peers in reading and math. Our elementary school is great. It has wonderful teachers and I really like their curriculum choices. Zech recently got assessed and picked up for TAG and Gabriel is on a 2nd grade reading level already and his teachers call him a wiz at math. I can toot my own horn about Zech's success b/c I taught him how to read and his basics with math but I can't do that with Gabriel. His teachers and school are truly wonderful. So, I vacillated. Why take them out? It's a good school. They are doing so well! I'm about to have another baby!!! Which means I'd have 3 at home, why not 2 more? I'm so tired of not seeing my boys.
When pondering about decisions like this, I typically feel strongly one way or another. My feelings on this issue (to home school or not) was that they were both "good" choices. In May, I even went to the LDS homeschool conference with my SIL. I had still not made my decision but was interested in finding inspiration. I didn't. There wasn't that lightening bolt I was looking for or the "YES!" declaration in my mind and heart. I became frustrated at not receiving a prompting one way or another and not being able to say a definitive "YES! I will homeschool" or "YES! they will go to their elementary school next year". After praying for inspiration for a few days, I woke up one morning hurting-I'm kinda big at this point in my pregnancy :) I decided to take a hot bath. I typically like to read whenever I do this so I picked up the Oct conference ensign and flipped through the talks. I rested on one by Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled, Of Things That Matter Most. It was a good read and I was enjoying his thoughts on simplifying our lives and such when I read this quote that hit me like a ton of bricks:
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in a recent general conference, taught, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.” 2
Well, my friends there you have it. After reading that I knew that homeschooling was "best" for my children and my family. I took it to prayer and He agreed. Wish me luck b/c we have begun a very important journey.
My greatest blessings call me Mom
6 comments:
Good luck Rebekah! Some days are definitely a struggle, but most days are wonderful and at the end of the week i think back on it and all my memories are with my children. I believe that we have seasons in our lives, and this is my season to raise my children and that is my topmost priority. Sometimes little thoughts come into my mind about other "good" things I could be doing with my time, but I know that teaching my children at home where we can talk freely about Heavenly Father and Jesus and about the Plan of Salvation and read scriptures with all of our lessons and have prayers all day long and give lots of hugs and have group discussions on what the Lord's standards are and why some things are appropriate while others are not and focus entire days on "The Friend" magazine and take walks whenever we want to and I could go on and on...these things are "best". This is the end of our first full year doing homeschool. The Lord has sustained me all the way through. I know I am doing what is "best" for our children. I am proud of you for pursuing what you think is "best" for yours!
P.S. I highly recommend the books - "The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook" by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore and "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver Demille!!!!!!!!
I am excited for you! I strongly feel that homeschooling is in our future but I also feel that this year isn't the right year to start. It's been on my mind a lot lately so we'll see when I get started. You sure are brave for doing it with a baby!!!
Rebekah! I've just been catching up on your last few posts. I'm excited for you with your new adventures. I've only been homeschooling for 2 weeks now, but they have been an amazing 2 weeks. There have been a couple of days like Lia said that have been difficult, but let me share an experience with you: After what I considered a really trying day, I was tucking Salem in bed and I said, "Let's have a better day tomorrow with schoolwork, ok?" She got a surprised look on her face and replied, "What do you mean? We had a great day!" What had felt like a particularly grueling day for me had actually been fine for her. Who knew? LOL.
I second Lia's recommendations for books and also suggest "The Well-Trained Mind," and I've found bits and pieces from Sonlight.com that has made my life and the whole experience SO incredibly easy. Good luck! Love you!
my my....MY! i have been playing catch up on ur blog... if u can tell!! How funny how we think very similar and how life for us seems to parallel so often~! I too went back and forth almost up to the first day of school over my boys in school. My answer did not come for some time and I found myself so frustrated...(So i am right there with u girlfriend)... My answer did come back the opposite for our family at this season in our lives.... but like u, the overwhelming sense of calming and faith and trust is exactly what i finally felt. Thank u friend for a great post!!
ps- glad ur blog isn't private... i only check private blogs monthly usually because i forget about them at the bottom of my blog list... glad i will be able to check back up on u more often now when i see u have updated!
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