Our Homeschool Adventure

I did not set out as a parent thinking "I'm going to home school my children." Not by any means. I have seen it work for dedicated parents, but it was not for me. Although I had a degree in secondary education, I didn't feel I had the patience or time to home school. I am my family's primary bread winner. My family has gone through 2 sessions of home school, separated by years. The first was when my sons were small and dealing with bullies on a daily basis. A shooting in the park next door to their school was the last straw. We home schooled until we moved out of that district.

We moved to an awesome school district with top marks from the state. I was happy with my boys growing up in the schools. Then, my oldest son cracked a lower lumbar. He says he woke up that way, but he left home fine, then the school calls me to pick him up. I take him to emergency and learn he has a crack in his spine. On the way to emergency, he can not even set in the car. Fishy to me, but my son stands by his story. No doctors in our case would clear him for school or tell the school he couldn't return. I am sure, as the person who was taking care of him that he was not ready to return. He could not even set up. He tried returning to school when 1 doctor released him, but within an hour, called me and needed to come home.

At that point, I pulled him out of school and began home instruction. It has been an adventure. He is 15 and was a year behind in school. I have caught him up and we began exploring things that were not required in school, such as photography, leather working, interior design, anatomy and physiology, among others, as his interests wander. He is learning a lot, but he says the most important lesson he learned was the 4 week class I taught on how to study, research and learn. It has been a rewarding semester, but we are still undecided about homeschooling next year.