Anderson Adventures: August 2018

I NEVER thought I would homeschool, and I’m meeting more and more homeschool parents who say that, so maybe it’s becoming a cliche, but it is so true for me. In fact, I used to be one of those moms who was just so excited to get their final kid out the door and to school so I had some free time for 7-8 hours a day. Honestly, somedays that still sounds nice, but what I’m doing now makes me SO happy and give me so much purpose and I know it’s where God wants me to be.

Jase truly enjoyed public school, and he seemed to be thriving there and doing really well. During kindergarten he got placed in the Gifted and Talented program and I felt happy and excited for him to be there. Then when it was time for Maycee to head into kindergarten, I felt the same excitement for her- excited for her to meet friends and have fun teacher and learn. She did not go to school as willingly as Jase. There were a lot of tears and anxiety for her and I felt sad and worried and it broke my heart, but she had an amazing teacher and she always seemed happy when I picked her up at the end of the day. However, instead of getting better with time and it almost seemed to get worse. Some days she did just fine, but most days she cried and cried and was often late to school because I could not get her to go in. When I tried to talk with her about it, it was clear to me that she experienced a lot of anxiety about school. She had some irrational fears and things that didn’t make sense to me, but to her were very real. She worried about being left there, she worried about bad people coming into the school, she worried about expectations and that she would do things the wrong way. She worried about having substitute teachers, she worried about getting into trouble. I could tell she was not comfortable in school and she was, already at such a young age, feeling too much pressure about her learning to ever enjoy it. That is what I truly wanted for my kids, was for them to love learning. I just kept hoping that she would get over it. I thought I just needed to be a “tough love” mom and make her get used to it, but still something didn’t feel right.

During the next two years, Ryan would often see homeschool kids as patients and he talked to them and their families and came to be really impressed by some of them. He would ask me on occasion if I ever thought about homeschooling- half joking because we both just never believed it was for us. Yet, he really liked the idea of being able to vacation whenever we felt like it:). However, my answer was always a resounding NO WAY! Then during my sons 4th grade year and my daughters 2nd grade year something in me began to shift. I can’t explain it other than it was the Lord changing my heart and my mind. I started to see my days with my kids racing away from me and it hurt my heart. I started to enjoy the smallest simplest moments with my children more than I ever had, but I also felt like I wasn’t having enough of them. I started to take a close look at what my kids were getting from me. It bothered me when I had a sudden realization that the word my kids heard most out of my mouth was “HURRY!” We hurried to get ready in the mornings, we hurried out the door, we hurried to our errands, we hurried to pick everyone up, we hurried to grab a snack ,and we hurried around all evening to different sporting events and lessons, then hurried home, hurried and ate either fast food or whatever I may have managed to get on then to table, then we hurried off to bed and the whole thing started over the next day. This was not the life I envisioned for my family. We were happy, active, and busy, but my kids were slipping through my fingers and my only interaction with them was telling them to hurry on to the next thing. I wanted to be a mom that savored every moment I had with my kids, but I was exhausted and stressed and cried myself to sleep a lot wishing I could be a better mom. Near the end of that year when Maycee, in 2nd grade now, was still having a very hard time with school and Jase who was in 4th- would be moving on to a new school (Intermediate school) for 5th and 6th- I didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel good about him going to that school for some reason and I knew Maycee would be going into 3rd soon and start STARR testing and that would cause her even more anxiety. I decided to take a serious look at homeschool and what it would take to do it. When I came across thefamilyschoolonline.com and thegoodandthebeautiful.com and saw that there were resources out there that did all the work for me- that taught good christian faith based lessons- I felt a very strong peace and it hit be like a tons of bricks- I COULD do this and I WOULD do this! Ryan was more on board than I thought he’d be, but he has been super supportive and excited. That was it. With Brynlee starting kindergarten and my oldest two going into 5th and 3rd grade we left public school and haven't looked back. I am still a newby- we have only just completed our 2nd year, but I can say with all honesty that I LOVE IT! That doesn’t mean we haven’t had rough days, or days where my patience is thin or days where I don’t want to throw in the towel, but my life with my kids home is the life I want. I absolutely love to see my kids learn and thrive and grow. I live for our quiet one on one moments and for the lesson we do all together. I love that we have unrushed mornings- we can take our time in the scriptures more too! It’s all been such a blessing to us. I feel more sure of myself and my calling as a mother/teacher than ever before. I see my children becoming who they are meant to become and I am so thankful that God lead me here. It is my greatest obligation and honor to teach my kids. Next year I will be teaching all 4 of the tots and that will have its own challenges coordinating everyone's needs I’m sure, but I know that when we are doing the Lord’s work he will help us succeed and I can’t wait!