The Post About School

Our family has partially or full time homeschooled for eight years. And, getting really technical, if you think of the years per kid, that's 22 years of homeschooling! I think it's safe to say we are homeschool fans.

Our decision to homeschool, initially, came from three factors:

1. Mark is a big proponent of using time wisely, and neither of us were thrilled with the use of time in our local schools.

2. We don't vaccinate, which wasn't a big deal in the beginning because BACK THEN we could just sign a waiver and it was no biggie. Then CA went all - well, Californiaish- and basically it became impossible for us to legally enroll our kids in a public school.

3. What brought homeschooling to our attention was when a family brought us a meal after Mia was born, and in walked this 8 year old boy who was kind, polite, helpful, genuine, respectful, patient, and more. I asked the mom, "Where does this kid go to school? He is incredible! What are you doing??" She told me about a parenting class (Training Hearts for Jesus) and an amazing homeschooling program, and thus began our homeschooling adventures.

As our family grew, and jobs changed, different options presented themselves as we prayerfully considered each school year with an open mind. We went from three days in a school, to two days in a school, to taking a few classes at a learning academy and homeschooling full time. I had never thought I'd be a homeschooling mom, but it was the BEST decision, and I'm so grateful for my 8 (ahem, 22) years of doing it!

Keep in mind those were our initial factors. As we grew in our relationships with the Lord our reasons for homeschooling also grew. We loved having more time together as a family to instill and work on core values. We loved the ability to heart train in the moment, and the flexibility to school the older kids while the little ones were napping. We loved using the same curriculum for a few subjects for all the kids thus saving time and involving everyone. We especially loved the freedom to homeschool anywhere, like the beach, or Mammoth. :)

There were some things we didn't love, of course. I found it difficult to be a really great wife, AND a really great mom, AND a really great teacher, AND serve well at church, AND tend to our house, AND make great meals every single day. Some people are super gifted at being able to do all of those things well, but I never quite earned that badge. I was sort of like, "Pick your top two things you'd like for me to do today and the rest, well, it will be survivable". That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture.

When the move to Idaho became official I assumed I would continue homeschooling. There are some fantastic homeschooling options here ... check out my sweet friend's new homeschool group Garnet Preparatory Academy (think ILA, Orange County friends).  I love homeschooling, I really do. But we started talking about it, and praying about it, and listening to counsel on the matter, and slowly but surely homeschooling didn't seem like the best choice for us anymore.

Which was SUPER surprising to me.

But, I live in Idaho now.

So God is in the business of doing super surprising things, amIright?


Our decision to NOT homeschool this year largely came from these factors: 

1. All six of our kids are now of school age, meaning there are no babies I need to stay home for, no naps, baby stuff, naps, feedings, naps etc. (Which is a totally different post, in and of itself). But, if all of my kids can go to school, then  I will have time. By myself. 5 days a week. For the first time in almost 14 years! 
 Serve at church more? YES! Lunch dates with Mark? YES! Cook great good dinners? YES! Don't get me wrong, I've truly enjoyed including my kids in all of those things (minus the lunch dates with Mark, he's all mine, thank you very much), but you have to admit, there are some very appealing aspects to having kiddos out of the house a few hours everyday, as much as I love my kiddos!

2. Vaccination laws are different here, so we are free to roam about the schools, muahahahahaha. ;)

3. There is a certain gift we've been given in having a lot of children, and we get it. Our sphere of influence (for good and bad, mind you) is larger. We have more opportunities to know more people. This was the case in CA, and it's certainly the case here in ID. Our new friends here we met because of our kids! So, if our heart's desire in moving here is to connect with our community as much as possible, meet as many unchurched and unsaved people as possible, and encourage our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as much as possible, then putting our kids into a full time school widens our pool of potential pals enormously, and turns a good idea into a best idea!

Here's how:

I (attempted) the numbers... I have four kids in three classes (G & N are in the same class) with 32 students each, plus a teacher and a teacher's aid. That's 134 people my kids will have face time with 5 days a week just by going to school. Plus the students' parents, this is a rough guess because I don't know how many siblings or single parents there are, but lets just say there are 200 parents. So now we're at 384 people. Add administration, lab teachers, librarians and lunch aids, the number rises to probably 399. NOW... add the numbers from Ben and Addie in the middle school, with 6 classes each, with mostly different students in each class, plus all their parents. Add their teachers, their administrators and all their staff, we're looking at potentially 530+ people at their school. SO, our family has just increased our sphere of influence by potentially 800 people, give or take. And that's only including kids in their classes, not any other kids they meet on the play ground or different school activities. Obviously we won't meet all those people, but the potential is there, and that is EXCITING!

I looooooooove homeschooling! I know homeschooling families have MANY opportunities to influence the communities around them, and their sphere of influence is quite large as well. But for now, for this season, this is what is best for us. AND, we can always go back! The beauty of schooling is there isn't a sure fit for every kid, so we may very well be bringing one or more back home at some point. But for now, this is very clearly where the Lord wants us to be. (Have I mentioned I loooooooooooove homeschooling?? Love it!)

SO, all that being said, our prayer is that our kids will use their magnetic personalities to meet many, many kiddos, and shine brightly with the love of Christ. We are praying the Lord will equip them when needing to speak truth. We are praying they will make friends quickly, and their first friends will be kids who know Jesus and share a love of His word. We are praying the teachers and staff, and parents of our children's friends will notice something different about them and we'll be given an opportunity to share the Good News a hundred times over. Prayers we can be praying for ALL our kids, yes?!

And, lest you think I'll be sitting around with my feet up, crocheting my days away, I will actually only have TWO HOURS sans children, which is hardly enough time to get to Costco and back. Due to different drop offs & pick up times I will have from 8:50 - 12:30 with just Gabe and Norah (park date anyone??) and 12:45-2:45 without kids, but that's just enough time for my lunch date with Mark, so we're golden. :)

Happy First Day of School, Everyone!