Our First Year As Homeschooling Homies

Our schooling experience 

Homeschooling. When I was a kid and lived in Missouri, I went to public school. From 1st  grade until graduation, I attended the school about 10-15 minutes up the road from my house. My husband had a mixture – he went to private school and public school, then he was homeschooled and did a co-op like homeschool. This year, our big girl turned six so we needed to make a decision about what we were going to do. I really felt God putting on my heart that we needed to homeschool, but I was terrified! This is her education! I’m not a teacher, I was pregnant with my third baby, and let’s be honest – my patience could use some work. 

The Decision 

I researched and asked around and prayed about it and in July we ordered Abeka K5 curriculum with DVD’s. The decision to just teach her myself or use the DVD teacher was stressful and a last minute decision but It turned out to work really well for us!

We started early because I was due in September and I’m so glad that we did. Once I had the baby, it was a whirlwind with all her doctor appointments and testing. We got pretty behind pretty quickly but as quickly as we got behind, we got caught up.

It was definitely a learning experience for all of us but it was a great year! I really enjoyed helping teach her and watching it ‘click’ with her was priceless. My patience was definitely tested but God gave me the grace I needed to finish strong and we both survived. And bonus – I don’t think therapy will be needed.

Did we succeed? 

I was concerned about her learning, but I can definitely say I was worried for no reason. She’s reading, writing cursive, doing math, memorized a bible verse for every single letter of the alphabet, learned so many bible stories, ‘met’ firefighters and a police officer and his dog, and fell in love with her teacher. She cried when we finished because she was going to miss her so much! It was the cutest, most pitiful {and a tad dramatic} thing.

The only thing I plan on doing differently this year is to be more active outside of the house. I want to attempt more field trips and possibly join a co-op. There are also cons to homeschooling but for our family, the pros outweigh the cons!

Are Your Kids Homeschooled or Traditional Schooled?