I first heard of homeschooling in college when I was in a library doing research for a paper on math anxiety in girls (my major was math and this was for a class needed to get certified to teach high school and I was a little bit of a feminist in that the only reason I chose math as my major was because not many women were doing it and I wanted to break the asbestos ceiling).  There on the shelf were two lonely books on homeschooling, and because I had never heard of it and because I am a HUGE procrastinator, I skimmed through them instead of taking notes for my paper.  I was hooked.  I had no husband and no child, but I just knew I wanted to homeschool.  It was actually 15 years before I had a child and during those years, every now and then I'd find another book in a library and renew my interest, and I was ripe for all the information that's out there now when Samuel was born 5 years ago.

The only thing I can't get over is him being an only child.  Where I live there is actually a pretty big homeschool community and we have attended a few field trips, but while others are friendly, neither one of us has made any friends.  We also have no neighbor children and our church is so big that we cannot even guarantee he will have the same kids in his room every week.  So, I put him in a preschool - 2 mornings a week at 2 years old, 3 mornings a week at 3 years old, and last year he went 5 mornings a week. 

I never cared whether he learned anything there though, that was my job!  And we read and read and explored and played games and read some more.  I stole all my good ideas from message boards and blogs and homeschooling websites, but I never really did anything formal.  Like Kellie Ann, by the time it was time to think about Kindergarten, Samuel had most of the K skills already down (except for printing, which is typical of boys). 

I looked at schools, but was unhappy with

1. S being gone all day every day, for a couple of reasons, one of them being that Hubby works second shift and would not get to spend any time with S except on weekends and holidays
2. Lack of educational philosphy
3. Lack of individual attention
4. The disparity in kids coming into kindergarten and the teacher having to teach to the middle ground, with some kids getting left behind and others not being challenged.  I don't think the teachers want this to happen, I think it just naturally does when you have some kids coming in not knowing their letters and some kids coming in reading at first or second grade level.

There are two reasons why I felt I had to look at schools for S -

1. I have a very flexible career in terms of hours, but we definitely need my income and I don't feel up to the task of trying to homeschool full time.  Preschool for me was a good time for Samuel to play with others, but also for me to get work done.
2. For Samuel to develop friendships.  I have tried encouraging friendships, but so far I have not had any reciprocity from any mothers of any kids that Samuel has taken to at various functions.

But that doesn't mean I was happy with it.  Then I heard about a school from a mom of a child in Samuel's gymnastics class last fall that had Kindergarten only 2 days a week.  Her child was in K last year and she couldn't stop raving about it.  I looked at the website and called the school for more info and I thought this just might be the best for our family.  It's a very academic school so he would be challenged.  With only 2 days in school, there is still plenty of time for me to "after-school" in areas where he might need extra help or that I feel might be missing from the class time.  Hubby gets to see him more often.  The tuition is actually about a third of other private schools in the area and only $30/mo more than what we paid for last year's preschool.  They teach on a classical education model and include Christian Studies every year.

So, that is why I want to homeschool, but why I am only doing it part-time for now.  This school is K - 12, but 1st and 2nd is 3 days a week, and even 3rd through 12th is 4 days a week.  I have curriculum goals for this year, which from past experience will be very fluid, but I still feel that this gives us the best of both worlds.