On August 14 we start our 11th year of homeschooling. Our son is in 10th grade and our daughter in 8th grade this year, 2023-2024. We have homeschooled them exclusively – a journey of faith and audacity.
Visiting the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA – July 2023
On August 4, 2013 I published my first blog post here, on this blog. So my blog is as old my homeschool. The two go hand in hand and one has inspired the other. Honestly, I needed to blog just as much as I needed to respond to God’s calling to homeschool my children.
When you raise children, the days are long and the years are short. I can marvel at the number of years, but it would be impossible to describe these years as going by slowly or fast. As I was going through challenges, the process seemed slow and arduous. Once we hit some peaks of successes, we could relax and breathe a bit and exclaim, “This is going by fast!”
My number one lesson is that curriculum is not as important as the atmosphere of our homeschool. Are we frustrated with each other or are we enjoying each other? Is this particular activity stressing us out or is it giving us a lot of joy? Are we learning practical skills? Do we have enough service activities in order to foster a giving spirit in the kids?
Burnout reared its ugly head a few times and we learned to recognize it and take a break. We also learned to switch things up or give things up or replace things: curricula, activities, instruments, sports. Everything is figureoutable and replaceable.
Does this make me a “veteran” homeschool mom? It sounds so weird. Here’s to the next five years, at the end of which my youngest will graduate from high school. That will make me a “graduated” homeschool mom. Ha! If the last ten years are any indication, the following five years will fly by in a flash.
