Posted in In The Beginning
These are my created dolls of Billy and myself. Of course, we are much older than the dolls appear but they didnt have old fuddy-duddy dolls to pick from.
We met when I was just 15 years old and we married 4 days after my 18th birthday. Billy worked (and still does) for the civil service and I entered nursing school. To say the very least, we struggled financially. At that time, neither one of us were Christians and to be honest about it, we had never really given it much thought. I dont know what kept us together over the years, except that it's obvious now that God had bigger plans for us than we had for ourselves.
We are still married. Our children are grown. We have grandkids. And somehow, through it all, we figured out how to make our marriage work.
Posted in In The Beginning
All my girls graduated from home.
Kimberly moved to Montgomery and attended a Christian college. While in college, she met David. They are married now and live near Orlando Florida. David is a baseball coach at a private school and is looking for a permanent teaching position. Kimberly is still working on a degree in journalism and works part-time for a chiroprator.
Kelly married TJ, her high school sweetheart. After graduation, he joined the army and they are presently in California. They have two sons, Ryan and Rowley. TJ is deploying in February so Kelly and the boys are moving here to stay with me during his absence.
Karla married Leonard, her high school sweetheart. Leonard won a college scholarship through Alabama Works and presently works as an operator (manager) in a steel plant. Karla attended Beauty Enterprise and obtained her cosmetology license. She is employed as a stylist at a local salon. They have two daughters, Kaylee and Karsyn.
Karla and Leonard recently bought a house and live down the road from me. We are still very close.
This is my family.
Posted in In The Beginning
I didnt make it clear, in my last post, as to who was to be homeschooled.
As you have probably guessed, when I discussed homeschooling with my children, Karla was more than ready for a change. She did not hate school, she hated being away from home so she was indeed ready to try homeschooling.
On the other hand, Kimberly and Kelly were both thriving in public school; they were very social, they loved everything that school had to offer, so how did they respond? Believe it or not, it was overwelmingly unanimous to homeschool.
Kimberly and Kelly loved school so they equally loved schooling at home and Karla finally found the niche she had been looking for.
Posted in In The Beginning
I did not start out as a homeschooler, nor did my children start out as homeschoolers. As many of you, I was educated in the public school system and thus my children began their education in the system as well.
At age 4, Kimberly, my eldest daughter was looking forward to school. She began getting up and running outside every morning to meet the school bus. Little did she know, it'd be another year before the yellow bus would stop in front of our house.
That year passed quickly and she was enrolled in kindergarten. She seemed to thrive and enjoyed every minute of school.
The following year, Kelly, daughter number two started kindergarten. She had heard her sister talked about school and all the activities so she knew just what to expect. She took to school as effortless as her sister.
The following year, Karla, daughter number three entered the school scene. She was not like her sisters, she did not want to go to school. This became more obvious when we changed schools after the first 6 weeks. The first day at the new school, she sat on my foot, with her arms and legs wrapped firmly around my leg. The teacher and principal pulled her from my leg and escorted her to class. The principal asked "how long does she usually cry" and I replied "not any longer than her mother does". Sobbing, I left the school, still convinced that public education was the best for my children. I believed that she would adjust and learn to love school as much as her sisters.
The following years were more of the same. We tryed everything to help her adjust. I drove her to school, walked her to class, I volunteered as a room mother. I wondered if I was at the school too much so I backed off. I had someone else pick her up for a school, found her a "job" helping a teacher every morning but on what seemed like a daily basis, I got a note from her teacher saying that Karla cried all day.
Through all this, I held to my belief that public school was the only way to educate a child properly.
As a last resort, I carried her to mental health to be evaluated. Their conclusion may surprise you. They said that Karla was suffering from seperation anxiety. They actually said that she needed to spend more time with me!! How could I cure her of seperation anxiety? How could I spend the time with her that she so desprately craved, and make sure she gets a quality education?
It was during this time that I became aware of a family at church that homeschooled. Up to this point, I had never met a homeschooling family and the ones on the news were always painted in a negative way. This family was "normal" with godly, intellegent, well adjusted children.. The kind of children that I wanted mine to be.
I spent the remainder of the school year reading and researching curriculum. I surrounded myself with other homeschooling families, read books, and gathered as much information as I could. When summer rolled around, I accepted a position where I'd only work 4 days a month and I enrolled in a cover school.
