I was terrified when I first considered homeschooling, many years ago. My boys loved their Adventist school, and I loved my job at the Adventist hospital. We loved our little house where the three of us lived. But after two years of long-distance dating, Conrad and I decided to get married in July, 1996. The boys were all supportive of this decision and were involved in the wedding. Brent, 6, was flower boy. Brandon, 9, was Bible bearer. Juddy and Josh were Conrad's best men. A couple of months later, I sold my house, quit my job, bought a house with Conrad, and moved across the state into our new house with my new husband and his two boys, who decided to live with us instead of return to Hawaii with their mom. What a life change! We were all probably scared, but I was sure love for each other and faith in God would see us through. (It has.) We put all four of our boys into the local Adventist school. They were 13, 12, 9 and 6 years old. The two teachers each had four grades in each room, so my boys were in the same room. Their teacher was horrible! She screamed at my youngest, who was in first grade, punished him almost daily by making him sit with his head on his desk during recess, she never taught him a thing and he was bringing stacks of papers home to finish every night, and my continual conferencing with her were fruitless. She lied to me about so many things that were easily checked out. I've never met a teacher like her before in my life, but I can thank her today for being the reason we decided to homeschool. I pulled my boys out after two months and put them in public school for the remainder of the school year. It was much better, but they were not happy. I felt like I was running out of options.
In May, 1997 I went to a statewide homeschool conference in Orlando, which gave me all the information I could ever want, and after weighing all the information and choices, decided to homeschool. Scary! I was still working on projects for the hospital across the state, so I quit my job. I made a plan of subject area, found books, and we started school in August. Then I found out I was pregnant. Soon afterwards I went to the hospital, where they told me I had miscarried. After mourning that experience, a few weeks later we discovered I had not miscarried after all. I did spend some time in bed though. Our two older boys were in public school and my two younger boys at home with me, homeschooling, while I went through an eventful pregnancy. In April, to our joy we added to the family our new baby boy, Jacob. That was our first year of homeschooling.
I decided to continue homeschooling a second year, and juggled a baby, two teenagers in school, and homeschooling 3rd and 6th grades. Life was definitely busy! The house was never clean enough, but the important things were done, and life moved forward. When Jacob was around two years old, Conrad's teenage boys had had enough of our rules and moved back with their mom, who had moved locally from Hawaii very soon after we were married. We didn't see them very often after that, but life at home definitely got quieter.
I found each and every year of homeschooling was completely different. The boys were different ages, which changed the dynamics of home life, and we found different activities to participate in every year. I was busy driving all three boys to their activities and trying to find time to teach them at home. I would spend the summer researching interesting ways to teach subjects that I thought they should be acquainted with, and always felt excited to start another school year, anticipating it to be the best year yet.
The internet has been just wonderful to me. We can research any subject at any time. My e-mail is important for planning my day or week. Also, I'm part of a local homeschool online group, which has been very useful for connecting me with others, participating in field trips, and keeping me informed of laws or educational opportunities.
High school terrified me as much as taking the initial homeschool plunge had. I gathered information and thought long and hard before I decided to put the boys into an "umbrella" school, Indian River Academy, upon entering high school. We could have managed fine without it, but it worked well for us. When Brandon was in 9th grade, I found a homeschool co-op, where classes were taught once a week. For the next three years he took many classes offered at the co-op until he started dual enrollment classes at the local community college. Before I knew it, he graduated in 2005, had a scholarship, and was driving himself to classes. He forged the way and I learned a lot from homeschooling Brandon. I seemed just as busy driving Brent, who is 3 years younger, to co-op and college classes, and that time flew by as well. Brent graduated in 2008 with a scholarship, and is driving himself to college classes.
This year, I'm only homeschooling our baby, who is now 10. Jacob is in a homeschool band playing 1st year trumpet and 2nd year bass clarinet. He is on a swim team at the YMCA. The classes have been wonderful because he enjoys this form of exercise and his swimming has improved dramatically. He's been taking karate since he was 5 years old, and is a black belt. He is taking some co-op classes this year, musical drama and art. We go on field trips as often as possible. I have been involved in the same homeschool group since I was pregnant with him.
Now that the older boys are grown and Jacob is getting more independent, I'm finding I have more time for myself. Discovering what I want to do, separate from the children, is often a struggle, and I am making baby steps in that area. I am finally able to pay more attention to the house, and have enjoyed making changes here and there. I teach piano, and have been able to take on more students, which is very fulfilling. I play piano for our church and the choir, and have more time to practice. We'll see what the future holds!
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