I am a mom of two very young boys, as well as a mathematics teacher at a small Catholic elementary school. While I have always enjoyed teaching other people’s children, my true love is working with my own kids and watching them grow. It is rare for families to home school when both parents work full-time, but with a lot of patience and commitment, we are pulling it off. This blog is the story of our journey.
Like any parent, I want to provide my children with the best life has to offer — not in terms of material wealth, but in a childhood that is rich in joyful, meaningful experiences, moments that build strong character, compassion, and wisdom. At times, I feel overwhelmed by the demands of a full-time job, the natural chaos that young kids leave in their wake, and the infuriating reality that every day is compromised of only 24 measly hours.
As my husband and I try to navigate the responsibilities of our jobs, parenting, and educating our kids, we have to reckon with obstacles and questions that your family has probably faced as well. To name a few…
- Is it humanly possible for me to continue working while we home school? If we decide it’s not, can we afford to lose my income?
- Are we really better qualified to do this than professional teachers? Are we really that smart? What will happen if they need to learn something we don’t know?
- What method of homeschooling should we use? Is it better to start with an established curriculum or build our own as we go?
- How are our kids going to interact with the world if we don’t follow the prescribed path of traditional schooling? How do we avoid isolating them? Can we give them all the opportunities for meeting new people, making friends, and joining teams that they could get in school?
- If we commit to this, how long do we do it? Through fifth grade? Eighth grade? High school? College?
- Do we even want them to go to college? Can they do that if they’ve spent their whole lives not following a traditional trajectory? Is there some other, better option anyway?
- How many of these questions do we need to answer now, and how many can we figure out along the way?
As we work through these questions, I will post resources that I find helpful, books I am reading, and answers we are finding, as well as the reality of our day to day adventures!
Join us on the day to day journey of making our home a home school.