It's Official! We are Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Well, it's official.  We are now unsocialized, weird, homeschoolers or so some would say.  I officially turned in my letter of resignation at the bus barn and we have completed week one of our homeschool curriculum.  This week has been overwhelming...AWESOME!  I did not think it would go this well but God surprised and put all my fears to rest!  The boys did their work, I got my chores done and we even had time to swim at a friend's house.  And of course, no school on Friday's :)

This is basically how our days go until the end of August when we add the remainder of the curriculum in:  Rise and shine for mama at 6:15, exercise, breakfast and shower.  Kiddos up by 8 and school starts at nine.  We get to do Bible first and learn about our Savior together and about others in the world that may not know him.  We even get to pray in our school!  Then we move onto history and learn about Christopher Columbus.  I read some really cool books to them and they read some by themselves.  After we map out everything that we have just read, the boys and I move onto Spanish.  Yes, I am learning too!!  Then if we have time, we play a game or do a simple Science experiment before lunch.

This will be the routine until the end of August and then we will add in Math, English, PE, music and art.  ELO (our Wednesday school where the boys meet with their grade) starts in September.  So the week went overwhelming great, but was a little on the easy side, compared to what we will be doing.  We will see how it goes when all the other subjects come into play.  I have high expectations and hopes that it will be even better!

Memories from the first week:
1) Got to pray with my boys each morning.
2) Got to read to my boys while they laid against me.
3) Got to laugh with my boys as we checked our first science experiment that didn't turn out as planned.
4) Made new friends on swim day.
5) Watched my boys enjoy learning Spanish.
But best of all was...
6) Got to hold my son's hand while going to get the mail today!

So recap of first week...lessons complete, chores done, mama sane!  Kids normal...that is yet to be determined! LOL!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

From Bibles on the Bus to Homeschool or Bust!

Homeschooling has been on our hearts and minds since our first son was four.  We lived out of the school district where we wanted him to attend and homeschooling crossed our minds.  However, we got jobs in the school district and our son was allowed to go to school there.  After a year of working there as the High School Registrar, I felt an overwhelming calling and urge to stay at home with our youngest son that had just one year before he started school.  This is a whole other story in itself and I will write more about that later.  I continued working part time at the school so our children could continue to go to school there.  Working in the public school system opened my eyes to more than I care to talk about here.  Let’s just say that homeschooling became more and more of an attractive way to educate our children.  We briefly tried homeschooling when our boys started second and fifth grade.  We kind of just jumped right in without putting much thought into it and I quickly became overwhelmed.  My husband changed jobs and we moved all at the same time.  Needless to say, the journey stopped there or so we thought...

Ever since we put the kids back in school my heart has longed to have them home with me.  I did not see how that was going to be possible with some of the decisions that we had made and one of those was me going to nursing school.  Day after day at school it became clearer to me that God had already called me to another job.  It had been there all along but I was not listening.  I was trying to control my destiny and future without letting God have a say so in what I was doing.  I made every excuse in the book to make it look like I was doing what God had called me to do.  But in reality, He had already called me to something more amazing, more rewarding, more ambitious, more courageous and definitely more challenging than anything I could have ever come up with myself….a mother.  Yep, that’s right.  Being a mom has been my one and only calling since the birth of my first child.  How did I miss it all these years?  Why couldn’t I see past the things of this world and realize everything I have ever wanted has been right down the hall from my bedroom.

As mothers we are called to the highest ranking, most influential and certainly the best job any woman could ever have.  I am a nurse, maid, chef, teacher, taxi driver, counselor, financial advisor, accountant, organizational expert, manager, referee, basketball/football/soccer/baseball player, artist, freelance writer, police officer, and judge just to name a few.  How many people can go to school four years or more and be all of the above?  Mom’s have all their dreams jobs wrapped into one 24 hour day.  Being an expert at all of these can be tiresome but SO worth it.  I am here for every tear, laugh, award, bad day, good day, learned something new day, sick day, lost a tooth day, game day, hugs, fits, field trip, knock down drag out fights, and the best of all…"I love you mom", day!  How could I have wasted so many years chasing what the world has to offer, when all along the best was waiting for me at home?

I say all that to say that my children are my most prized possession and God has entrusted them to me for only a short time.  What I do with that time is totally up to me.  Will I use it to glorify God and seek His will for their lives or will I use this time to send them out into the world forty hours or more a week without using those precious hours to train them up in the way that God intended?  We have decided to start listening to God and obeying His word and His plan for our children.  It is clearly laid out in scripture of how we are to do this and we intend on starting to follow Him and never look back.  No matter the financial sacrifice, “me” time sacrifice or what the world has to say, will ever change my mind about the decision we have made.  It is what God has called our family to do and we will do it to the best of our ability.

I do realize that this option is not for every family and that all mom's can not stay at home or that God has called them to a job that requires them to be away from home.  This is what God has called OUR family to do and we are very excited to see what He has in store for us.  I encourage the mom's reading this to truly seek God and His will for your family.  You never know where He may be leading you in the next season of your life.  Listen up and follow where He leads.  I am ready for the journey!!

So goodbye Bibles on the Bus.  It has been an adventure to say the least.  Ready or not, it's homeschool or bust!!!!

Train a child up in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6