As a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a teacher. My mom had an in-home day care for nearly fifteen years. Through my elementary school years, the kids she cared for where my "pupils" and we would play and dig deep into our imaginations. At one of my childhood homes, we had a huge shed in the backyard that I had converted into a "classroom". I "taught" every afternoon in that shed to any fellow child who'd play along - we read, colored, did art & anything else "school" related - it was my after school, play time bliss!
Fast forward to Dylan's birth. He was born during my junior year of college while I was pursuing my Liberal Arts degree. I planned to follow that up with a teaching credential, but that never happened. Long story short, my desire to teach in a traditional classroom evolved as I began to pour my heart into my red head. I was teaching, but in a completely different fashion - and it fulfilled me in ways that are beyond words. Rob and I, alongside incredible teachers, aides, therapists, etc, plugged away for sixteen years in every area of his life and he's now flourishing in a full-inclusion setting.
Well, fast forward once again and that desire deep within my heart to teach has resurfaced - but in a fashion I didn't see coming. This past February, I began homeschooling wild thing # 3 and it has gone seamlessly. I found myself enjoying it far more than I ever imagined. Frankly, I'm all for the "traditional" school setting. Being a "home school mom" was NEVER on my radar. EVER. Nothing against it, just wasn't for me.
Funny thing, though, when you allow God to guide your life, He takes you down roads you never plugged into your map system. This past Monday - August 28th, 2017 - I began homeschooling 4 of the 5 wild things. Truth be told, until about six weeks ago, we fully intended to send them back to school - we LOVE their school and sharing with the school our decision to home school broke our hearts!
But the tug of God is something strong. The tug began while we were on vacation, but we tried to down play it. Thing is, you can't ignore God. Well, I guess you can, but it generally doesn't go very well.
Rob and I sat down and finally hashed it out. The answer was clear - homeschooling was something The Lord wanted us to give a go. As we began to tell folks, the initial reaction from 99.9% was pure shock...we MUST be TOTALLY, COMPLETELY insane. How on earth do you home school 4, who are in different grades?! Don't you want quiet time at home?! What about socialization?! You love their school, why change it up?? The questions and comments have been numerous and we get it.
There isn't one single reason why we've decided to travel this road - there are many reasons...
homework & projects...oh the homework & projects with multiple wild things...don't think I need to elaborate on that one...
mornings...even with my grand organizational skills, departing the house by 7:25 AM five days a week to ensure all arrive on time was like winning a daily prize and some days, well, they were kinda ugly...
the afternoon witching hours...5 days a week, it took nearly an hour to empty lunch boxes, back packs and sift through folders and the eternity of paperwork they held. let alone get a healthy meal on the table and get to youth group, practices, etc...
extracurricular activities...we want their lives to go beyond the classroom, but managing multiple kids in varied activities began to prove impossible...literally...
travel...oh my goodness, our family loves to explore and travel, but it's a tad pricey, even on a budget, with a family our size...
illness...we evaluated our sweet girls report card and she's missed approximately one month of school for the past two years & her body will only get more susceptible before her next heart surgery...
lastly, but most important, a heart to teach...I know many count down the days for school breaks to end so their kids can go back to school - I used to be one of them - but that thought process for myself has changed...I have my moments - trust me - but all in all, I love to read to them, enjoy learning alongside them and be adventurous in learning through unique, fun ways...it's the way I was built as their mom...in recent years, I've been saddened by their return to school after a break...
Now let me clarify - we aren't looking for sympathy to anything stated above...we wanted a big family and we adore our big family! BUT, reality is reality - neither Rob or I have super powers to make it all magically happen, so it was time for something to give and home schooling seemed like the thing to explore!
Greg gave me an idea of what home school would be like. I'm just a few days in with the four. Maybe we'll fall flat on our face and it will only be a one year adventure. Maybe we'll soar with success. Maybe we'll do a few years and go back to "traditional" school. Maybe some will love it and a few will hate it. Time will tell. I know some days will be wildly successful and others will make me want to crawl into a hole and hide from all my wild things. But unless I actually give it a try, I'll never have answers as to whether or not it's a good fit for our family of wild things and that I will forever regret....