Since blogging is "fairly" new and I am just now engaging in this intriguing way of communication, I would like to begin at the beginning of our homeschool adventure.

How many of you remember the exact moment that you knew you were going to homeschool?  Not me!  When my first son was old enough, we sent him to preschool two days a week.  Sometime during that year, whether I spoke with a friend or heard something about the schools in California, there was a change of heart and I just KNEW that we would be homeschooling our children.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the preschool, per se.  There was just SOMETHING – maybe God was instilling it in me – and I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time.

Although not as excited to begin this new adventure, my husband didn’t say anything against me taking on something he knew would be huge.  Homeschooling a few years and then putting them into public school when they got older was something that I think was in the back of his mind.

Eleven years ago, there weren’t as many choices of curriculum as there are now.  Shopping for curriculum today would just about send me into a breakdown.  “Where do I start?” I would be thinking.  As it is, we have changed what we use and how we do school many times.

ABeka was one of the curriculums I looked at for our first year, but with my dear husband being between jobs, I opted for a mixture of things.  Our first year we used Rod & Staff and bought a few used workbooks.  I enjoyed R&S that first year, however it wasn’t quite the way I wanted to do things.

Sonlight became our curriculum of choice for the second and third years.  I truly loved Sonlight and am considering using again with the current curriculum I have. 

Near the end of our third year, we moved from our home in California because my husband was offered a job in Texas.  This threw me off a bit with having to prepare a house for the market and having my husband in another state while I stayed behind for a while.  By this time we had four children; two boys and two girls.  The youngest being 7 months. 

Once in Texas, we continued using Sonlight, however my husband thought it would be a good idea to put our kids in public school at this point.  “The schools are much better in Texas,” he said, adding, “They are run by the county, not the state.”  I wasn’t comfortable still and told him so.  We ended up deciding to continue our homeschool adventure.

I later tried putting them in a private school but was not able to follow through with that either.  I supposed that the Lord was telling me that I would be homeschooling them until he told me otherwise.

At our first church in Texas, we met another homeschooling family with four children who had removed their children from public school just the year before.  The mother and I became close and we talked about using KONOS and getting together once a week for a sort of co-op.  The unit-type study was something I was yet unwilling to try but figuring I’d have someone to be accountable to at least one day a week, I went ahead and ordered the curriculum.  We met a couple of times, but then this family decided to give up homeschooling again and I was left alone once more.  I hadn't joined a homeschool group (which I highly recommend, especially if you are just beginning your homeschool adventure) so I continued using KONOS on my own until the next year when we moved yet again.  This time I decided to join a group that was in my area and dropped KONOS and took up using Sonlight again.  I enjoyed reading aloud to my kids, and they enjoyed being read to.  I had a schedule to follow and even though our days were not perfect, we were forging ahead.  For a few years we continued with Sonlight until one day, when Dr. Bennett came up with the K-12 curriculum, I jumped at the chance to be one of the first to test out this new curriculum.  Everything was sent to you for free (computer, printer, supplies, crafts, everything).  Wow!  What an opportunity.  Halfway through the year, I became discouraged.  There was too much time being wasted, in my opinion.  Added to that, I wanted to start my then 5 year old on the curriculum but she wasn’t old enough to participate.  Her birthday was a few days short of their cutoff. 

Well, it was back to Sonlight for us.  We used it for a couple years and then I felt the need for a change... AGAIN!   

I had thought about doing ABeka video and voiced that thought at my homeschool group meeting one night.  Another mom was using Bob Jones video via satellite and told me about it.  I had heard briefly about it before, but at that time didn’t feel compelled to pursue it.  This time however, I was all ears.

We began using Bob Jones satellite during the middle of the 2002 school year and it’s a good thing we did because in March of 2003, we moved my invalid mother-in-law into our home to care for her.  Soon after moving her in, my husband was laid off from his job.  Thankfully, he was given a fairly good severence and we had all that we needed the time. Severence pay doesn't last forever and we soon found ourselves in need of buying books for the new school year. Our church family came through for us so we were able to continue AND my husband was able to land a contract job (way below his pay before, but it kept us going).  Bob Jones, for the most part was enjoyed by my kids and I was able to keep up with the taping and correcting until the contract job ended too.  So we decided that I needed to go to work and I landed a job the very week my husband's work stopped.  The following week, when my job started was the week I was going to begin the new Bob Jones school year and thankfully I was READY.  All my husband had to do was monitor the kids and look for work.  Easier said than done.

Well, I worked full-time for seven months and just couldn't keep up with the correcting of the papers.  My husband finally got another contract job... WITH THE SAME COMPANY THAT LAID HIM OFF IN 2003.  Ha! 

Before I stopped working, I was looking into using the Robinson Curriculum and after coming back home, I went ahead and purchased it and sold my BJU satellite.  It has truly taken a load off and since I have a 16 year old that will be (possibly) taking dual credit next year, this will make my life a little easier.

I am however, as I mentioned before, looking into using some of the Sonlight material along with the Robinson Curriculum.  Sonlight, I think has been my most favorite of all curriculums.  We used that more than any other.

Well, that’s our story so far.  What’s yours?  I’d like to hear about other homeschooling adventures.  I’ll be hunting them down and hopefully taking some time to comment on other's blogs.

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