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<\/p>\nBefore I really begin with part 2 and the 1st-grade year of my oldest, I wanted to take a moment and share something else.\u00a0 Over the years, I have seen the homeschool movement really explode.\u00a0 Back in 2007, we weren’t in the pioneering generation of the modern movement, but we really were the odd ones out in a lot of ways, at least in my family and, for the most part, my community.\u00a0 There were a few others around, and just knowing we weren’t alone on this journey was a blessing.\u00a0 This was before most of our modern social media.\u00a0 A few email loops and forums were a help, though. Some of our family really didn’t like the idea, and some of those still don’t.\u00a0 Some have been vocal about it over the years. Some never said much about it or seemed to care one way or another.\u00a0 Some, like my mom, who passed away a few years ago, may not have really understood it, but she never was critical about it.\u00a0 I find it funny that in my small town, I still am considered a bit odd.\u00a0 A few months ago, I was in line at the funeral home, and an older lady who has known me all my life and I really respect, asked me if I was still homeschooling.\u00a0 I told her, yes, I’ve graduated 2, and one of those is in college, with the other probably going to start vocational training soon.\u00a0 Also, I have two in 10th grade.\u00a0 I don’t think it was the answer she was expecting, but the conversation was fine.\u00a0 We just look at the situation differently, but I can respect her point of view.<\/p>\n
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Moving right along, when we started our school year in the fall of 2008, my oldest was 6 and starting 1st grade.\u00a0 My next son was 3 and getting into everything like a 3-year-old boy does.\u00a0 My twins would have been about 8 months old.\u00a0 We were trying to do a lot with the A Beka curriculum because, well, honestly, I didn’t know much about anything at the time.\u00a0 I didn’t realize there were different educational philosophies or even more than just a handful of curriculum publishers.\u00a0 I thought we had to do all the bells and whistles in the curriculum, and there was so much seatwork because it is designed (at least was) primarily for Christian schools.\u00a0 Trying to get a little boy who was very smart but getting more reluctant to do his work (especially math) on task, keep the second son occupied, and the twins nursed, changed and napped, and keep up with the house.\u00a0 Well, as you expected, none of this was going very well!\u00a0 After several months of this, and with several of us in tears by the end of the day, I knew there had to be a better way.\u00a0 There were people (somewhere) who successfully homeschooled.\u00a0 Before that spring, I really began to dig and look and research every chance I got about how to make this homeschooling thing work for us.\u00a0 I knew that my only other option would be the local school, and I really didn’t want to go that route.<\/p>\n
That’s when I found Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Online.\u00a0 \u00a0What a breath of fresh air!\u00a0 I really tried to get a handle on the concepts, and I’m sure we didn’t do everything right, but 2nd grade looked a whole lot different than 1st.\u00a0 It honestly was a happier year.\u00a0 We read some really great books, did some cool projects, and made real progress.\u00a0 \u00a0This continued on through 3rd grade, but as I was adding my second as a kindergartener that year, it did get a little more complicated.\u00a0 After that year, I tried adapting a few things and adding and such.\u00a0 It was during this time I found My Father’s World, Mystery of History and Story of the World, and so many other great curricula.\u00a0 For several years, we frequently used My Father’s World as something of a guide and altered as needed or as supplies demanded.\u00a0 It gave us something to shoot out from as my second son did more, and the twins got older and started schooling as well.\u00a0 For other subjects, we did so many things!\u00a0 We did Math U See, Teaching Textbooks, and Christian Light for math, we did Rod and Staff, All About Spelling, and many other things for Language Arts.\u00a0 Though I tended to weave in out Charlotte Mason a bit, we could be considered more of an electric mix at that point.\u00a0 A few times, we tried Lifepacs for various subjects as well.\u00a0 That all lasted for most of my oldest son’s early years. As he got closer to high school, we changed things up a little more.\u00a0 \u00a0We occasionally met with other homeschool families in the area for a while, but that kind of ran its course, I guess, with our family.\u00a0 When my oldest was about 4th or 5th grade, he started doing 4H.\u00a0 This gave us a monthly outing and was helpful.\u00a0 The other boys started 4H as they got old enough to.\u00a0 I had wanted to get involved in a co-op, but life was crazy, and I just didn’t feel like we could commit to a weekly activity at the time.\u00a0 At least in the early years, and then co-op got put on the back burner for a different reason.<\/p>\n
On a more personal note,\u00a0 daily life was a struggle in the twins’ first few years.\u00a0 As they neared their 4th birthday, I began to feel like we were pulling out of survival mode.\u00a0 About that time, though, my mom was diagnosed with dementia.\u00a0 \u00a0This started about a 4-year journey of her staying with us at first a lot, then all the time.\u00a0 Also, this included her stopping driving and usually me taking her to appointments and such.\u00a0 For a while, we just really had our hands full.\u00a0 As mom got considerably worse, we had to transition her first to an assisted living, then her health decreased, and she had to go into a nursing home.\u00a0 It was not the best of situations, but I was there often.\u00a0 The facility was only about 5 minutes away, so I was there probably 5 days at least a week.\u00a0 She passed away a few years ago, and let me just say that dementia is such a sad disease.<\/p>\n
So those years were challenging.\u00a0 We all have our struggles, and I have come to the conclusion long ago that there is no perfect situation when it comes to homeschooling.\u00a0 It is a home first, and we have to deal with whatever comes up.\u00a0 During those years especially, I probably felt like I could be doing more, something better.\u00a0 I’m not saying I have it all together now, but I guess I’ve just come to accept some things.\u00a0 \u00a0 Also, something else that I haven’t really focused on is how God has been with us through all our ups and downs.\u00a0 Sometimes I have felt so overburdened, but God is there to turn to.\u00a0 I’m going to try to make a part 3 to this series to bring us up from about the time my oldest started high school to the present time.\u00a0 If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I really begin with part 2 and the 1st-grade year of my oldest, I wanted to take a moment and share something else.\u00a0 Over the years, I have seen the homeschool movement really explode.\u00a0 Back in 2007, we weren’t in the pioneering generation of the modern movement, but we really were the odd ones out in a lot of ways, at least in my family and, for the most part, my community.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeschoolblogger.com\/2moremade4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}