Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Homeschooling .....



As many of my regular readers know we have begun homeschooling our daughters. (Mia is in the 8th grade this year and Amaris is in the 6th.) Although we have discussed homeschooling for several years, it was not until recently that we decided it was the right time to begin.

Now, for a bit about us...We are a family of 6 and we have 1 pet, Ripely, our Min. Schnauzer. We have just this year purchased a new to us home and put it on our land. (You can read more about it here.) Now, that we are a bit settled, we are beginning our homeschool journey. Our oldest son, Travis, is a sophomore this year and decided he wanted to just finish high school in the county's public school system. Mia and Amaris decided during the school year last year that they wanted to come home and be homeschooled. And Jed, our youngest at 2 years old, will be homeschooled exclusively.

Since we are in our first month of homeschooling I am still doing lots of research. We are looking at how to homeschool without purchasing many materials (for our small budget) and the internet is a wonderful source of lots of information... just sorting it all out is taking many more hours than I first anticipated....LOL!

I opted not to join the local homeschool group after learning that most of the parents had much younger students than my girls. I feared they might not enjoy being the oldest of the group (esp. since we are new at this). However, our children are very active in our Youth Program and the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes program at our congregation, and I don't fear any "social skills" difficulty.

I have had some great encouragement from my best friend Denita and from a wonderful friend from church that homeschooled her daughters. I feel as if I can call or e-mail either of these wonderful ladies and pour out my distress and anxiety over this new beginning. I also hope that I may learn from reading others blogs and posts.

11 comments:

Aprille Roberts said...

Wow Traci, good for you! I am just starting my second year of homeschooling Jordan, who is in the 3rd grade now, and Noelle, who is in kindergarten. I did preschool with Noelle last year, but it was much more laid back than this year! I hope that you really love it, and your girls too (oh, and Jed when he gets a bit older!). I'll be praying for you and your family!

God bless,
April :0)

JM said...

That's a big place to start. I hope your girls enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

Love your entry! I am looking forward to getting to know you!

Blessings,
Jen
www.t2chk.org/jensblog

Anonymous said...

Love your entry! I am looking forward to getting to know you!

Blessings,
Jen
www.t2chk.org/jensblog

Andi Carter said...

Greetings and welcome to homeschooling. How great that you have support from your friend!
You'll probably have a few moments of panic (like, What have I gotten myself into?) but it will pass and you will end up loving it!

Anonymous said...

Wow, well done Traci! I hope it works out really well for you all!

love, Tina :)

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that you have started homeschooling :-)

I have been a homeschooling mom for almost 6 years now and I love every minute of it.

A. is in 8th grade and s. is in 5th grade. I use the Old Fashioned curricullum found on the web and then I take a great deal of books out from the library.

I also print out their schedule on a daily basis and check their work once a week. It is working for me so far, and the boys are truly enjoying their year.

blessings,

mari

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Great to meet you! This is my first year homeschooling, too.

Have a great homeschool year!
Sherry
http://lampuntomyfeetandalightuntomypath.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Yah! You can do it. Great that you have others you can lean on. Remember your greatest scratching post is God Himself.
Many Blessings,
Holly@aiminghigh
www.homeschoolblogger.com/aiminghigh

Dana said...

I wish you all the best in your homeschooling journey. And you CAN homeschool on a budget! The internet, library, friends, neighbors, family....the list goes on....are all sources of great knowledge and information. Congratulations on your decision!

My link: http://cherry-soup.blogspot.com/2008/08/homeschool-memoirs-1-all-about-you.html

MrsMomma said...

Nice to meet you! I hope you have a wonderful 1st year homeschooling.

-Heather