I thought I'd dedicate this article to how I began homeschooling.  I think its an important thing for me to share because it was something God changed inside of me.  I am hoping others will find it useful in some way.

When I was 12, my dad died of cancer.  My mom pulled us out of our private school and decided to homeschool us (us being my sister and brother and me).  It started out well--my mom took us on nature walks and spent time teaching us what we needed to know.  My brother in law who was an artist taught us art classes.  My older sister taught us Math and how to balance a checkbook.  My mom ended up, I think, becoming stressed.  I don't know how exactly it happened, but I was homeschooled from 7th grade to 10th grade and somehow I ended up just teaching myself.  This sounds great, but it wasn't.  It was up to me and me alone to learn anything.  I ended up being resentful and asked my mom, no begged my mom to go to regular school.  Finally in 11th grade, we did just that. 

I got married at age 21, had my first baby at 22.  I had a family friend that was pro-homeschool.  I was hellbent that I would never homeschool my kids.  Never.  I hated the very thought of it.  No way was I going to be the mom that left her kids to rot inside a house all day with no interaction with other people, left to teach themselves.  Those homeschoolers!! How dare they even offer such a choice.  It's ridiculous, I thought.  Homeschoolers were weird and unsocialized and wore pocket protectors and never dated.  I don't know why I thought that because I was a homeschooler and I didn't do any of those things.  But I pretty much thought homeschool was the stupidest thing ever and only fanatics did it. 

Naomi was doing well in pre-school at her private school nearby.  She made some friends.  So I enrolled her for Kindergarten there because it was such a great school.  Not too far into Kindergarten, we started noticing problems.  Her first problem was she didn't want to hold the pencil correctly.  The teacher thought this was a learning disability.  The teacher also was worried because she couldn't read.  Her friends would do all her worksheets for her.  Naomi would daydream.  She wouldn't listen at storytime.  She was withdrawn although she loved being social with her friends.  I ended up doing alot of her homework (homework for Kindergarten, can you imagine??) with her at home.  I was teaching her already and I didn't even know it. 

That entire year, I found myself looking into learning disabilities and came across many websites promoting homeschools.  I prayed and read and read and prayed about what to do.  I didn't want to homeschool.  One night, I sat there with my daughter working with her on holding her pencil and I realized that I could do this.  I looked into support groups in the area.  Everyone I knew was anti-homeschool.  I think I was honestly afraid of being ridiculed by people in my family, church, and friends.  But the more I researched it (and I spent LOTS of time researching it), the more I felt like God was leading me to do it.  My husband was supportive of it as well which was a huge bonus.  I felt like it was what God was really requiring of me at this time in my life. 

So we stayed at that school all of Kindergarten and she didn't really learn anything there.  Every meeting I went to at the school, I came out in tears.  I felt like Naomi was doomed to be stupid.  I was angry at God for giving me such a difficult child.  I mentioned homeschool to the teacher and she thought that it wasn't a good idea because she needed "specialized" care.  We took Naomi to the doctor and she didn't think the same thing.  She thought homeschool would be good for her.  That was uplifting. 

The first year was so difficult.  I wanted to quit two weeks into it.  I hated it.  My problem was that I didn't understand my daughter.  I was so busy trying to shove facts and learning into her head, that I forgot all about who she was and how she interacted.  It makes me sad now.  I wish I would have had the patience in the beginning to try to understand her better.  We went on many fun field trips that first year and those were so memorable.  She made some friends.  Then I got pregnant and that started a whole new avenue of learning.  We talked about babies and how they live inside of mommy's.  It was something I didn't plan out.  We just talked.  Naomi has learned so much from our little talks--something she would have never had the opportunity to do while in regular school.  When the baby was born, she got to have even more talks with me about how to care for babies.  She put it into practice and was "mini mom" for awhile.  She still is on many occasions.  It's wonderful to see how she has blossomed into a little lady.

I've been blessed to see her grow in so many ways.  She is reading fluently now.  She can hold her pencil just fine (actually she did that after I worked with her for 2 months on it).  She loves to draw and is happy to be around her family.  Michaela is now picking up on learning as well.  Last year, Naomi and I watched an online video of how food is processed.  Michaela later on in the day drew me a picture of an esophogus.  She was 4! 

I've grown too.  I've developed so much more patience...something I did not have at the beginning.  I feel like I'm smarter at teaching to each child instead of teaching only one way.  I've learned how to be wise with my time as well.  I'm not a creative person by nature (atleast not art wise) and I've pushed myself to be that way for the sake of my kids.  They love it and it is contagious.  I love doing art projects with them and seeing all the cute and creative things they come up with. 

I often times think to myself, what if I had not listened to God telling me to go this route?  What if I just sent Naomi to public school?  How would she being doing now--2 years later?  I can only imagine what kind of label they would have slapped on her by now.  She probably would be in a special ed class because of her attention span, which has become better since I've started schooling her.  Or maybe they would have suggested a child psychologist which in turn would have her taking meds so she can stay focused.  I can only imagine.  It makes me sad to think what could have been, but so grateful that God is gracious.  His timing is perfect.  Had he called me to homeschool from the start, it would have never happened.  But He chose the perfect time--a time in which my heart was right.  Any other time, it probably would have failed. 

This isn't to say that everyone should homeschool.  Everyone needs to make their own choices regarding where they send their kids.  For us, its made a huge difference.  We've had alot of ups and downs with family and its just worked out and been so flexible and its a lifestyle for us now.  Some people say that they will take it year by year, but I feel called to homeschool my kids until they graduate.  That doesn't mean they will always be taught by me.   There are so many classes available out there to take on top of homeschooling.  They can enroll in PSEO at the local college in 11th & 12th grade, and get college credits for free.  The opportunities are endless for learning and not confined to one small classroom with rowdy kids.

This year is my 3rd year going into it.  Every year is different in what we do, but each year I appreciate it even more.  I may not have a full support system in place, but I have my husband that supports me and I feel God has blessed our family because of our obedience to Him.  That makes all the unsupportive comments all that much easier to swallow.  I will forever be greatful for the time I've been given with my children and the opportunities of learning we got to experience together. 

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 1:4