Reflections on the First Year of Homeschooling

The school year began with questions.  Am I capable of homeschooling?  How will I mix being parent and teacher?  Will our daughters learn everything they need to?  Am I being too hard – or too easy?

My hopes were as bright and shiny as the new white board hanging on the wall.  The texts and stacks of workbooks were all neatly arranged, thrilling my former-teacher self to the core.

Answers have come along the way.  I’m learning that often feeling instead of thinking produces the right response and that there is no one standard solution for every problem.

Have tears been shed at some point?  Yes, but thankfully not by all three of us at once!  And the happy days have far outweighed the sad. 

What have been the greatest helps?  Bible reading and prayer – essential to every day.  A supportive husband.  A once-a-week art class at a homeschool co-op that has given me an hour of time to myself and the chance for our girls to interact with a teacher and other students in a classroom setting.    Friends – both homeschoolers and not – who have encouraged me along the way.  A curriculum that I was comfortable with; it’s not always fancy, but it’s straightforward and detailed, exactly what a beginner like me needed.

I am forever grateful that we made homeschooling our way of life this year.  I truly believe that it has changed me and our daughters.

I know that the next year of homeschooling will bring more questions, but I am confident now that, in time, the answers will come, too.