I love being at home. I love being with my kids. I love my life.

My kids asked first thing Monday morning if we could start school. Yeppers! They love school. Which is something I want and it makes me feel joyful that they are so ready. I was however hoping for a couple more weeks before I really had to have a routine and be disciplined. I love summer for that reason, no school on the brain. We all sleep in. Okay I am the only one who sleeps in at this point, but I dream of the day that there are more that do. My brain gets to relax and just kick back and not think.

I had been praying to know what to do for curriculum this year now that I will have three in school. I wanted something that I could use for everyone and supplement for the older ones. Who knew that a salesman would show up the day I had been pondering on it most, with the perfect thing. So I purchased two different sets of books. Aspen has already started "studying". She will know it all before I even start school I fear.

I didn't always plan on homeschooling. In fact my only opinion of it 10 years ago was that it was weird and the families that did it were even weirder :) When Aspen was 7 months old we were visiting family in Utah, we lived in PA at the time. There were these kids who were about to perform on the piano and violin. Their ages ranged from 11 to 5. I mentioned how incredible that was and how articulate they were, and someone says "yeah AND they are HOMESCHOOLED". That seemed so strange to me. Weren't they supposed to be dressed in flooded pants with awkward hair do's? and shy and just weird? But they weren't. And then I was introduced to Ray's Aunt LaRee, the mother of these incredible children. I asked lots of questions. I loved her answers.

She started homeschooling because her of oldest Auroa. She was a busy bee, what we call a spirited child. One with more energy, insight and creativity than your average bear. LaRee after much prayer and thought realized that this child would not make it in the traditional school system. Auroa needed to be able to move at her pace, not to be confined to boundaries defined by a system set up for the general population. I was inspired by LaRee has I heard her speak of the books she read, what she learned about how children really learn, and the importance of providing an inspiring atmosphere that would encourage the love of learning.

I had her write down the books she read and I went home and promptly purchased them all. I read them and could not get enough of what I was reading. I wanted to homeschool. I prayed about it and felt like it would be the right thing. Now mind you Aspen was at this point 9 months old when I determined to do this. Ray was not sure how he felt about it, telling me to wait until she was 5 before get ahead of myself. His Dad especially thought the whole thing to be ludicrous, he had very strong opinions against the whole thing. But I KNEW what I felt and I knew I was going to homeschool.

When Aspen was about 13 months old something happened :) She began throwing herself from her crib. Climbing everything. Dumping everything. Nothing was safe. She ran away from us soon as her feet touched the ground. She was spirited. LaRee sent me the book "Raising Your Spirited Child", to help me see Aspen in a more positive light. I knew she was not going to be a boxable kid.

I continued to move forward with my hopes of homeschooling. Purchasing puzzles, books, games and such to build my homeschool library. When she was three we started "preschool". And the rest is history really.

The fall of 2006 I was pregnant with Alexa and very sick. One day I knelt in prayer about something and felt a very strong impression to send Aspen to public school. My heart sank. Why would the Lord have me do this? I had Ray give me a blessing and the Lord said my impression was right and that I needed to follow it. So I did. I cried when I registered her. It was the last week in October, so school had well been underway. I remember the lady at the desk remarking that so many try to homeschool and do the same as me and realize that the public school is just better. No crazy lady!!! You are wrong, I am only doing this because the Lord told me to. I couldn't really say that, especially in Boston, so I just cried hoping to one day understand the purpose of this request. I met with the teacher who told me that teaching was not meant to be done by parents.....???????????? DON'T even get me started on that one. Again I kept my mouth shut and stuck to yes or no answers. Aspen was only in for six weeks. She cried everyday. She felt that all she did was stand in line and have to wait her turn. She couldn't ask questions like she wanted to and she had to wait for everyone else before moving on to the next thing. When I went in for the parents conference meeting thing the teacher asked me what I had been doing with Aspen. Uh, teaching her, why? Well apparently Aspen was ahead of the class. She knew her numbers well passed 20, could write her whole alphabet and read some words. The class was on the number 15 let's say, and had just begun the word ending "at". She felt Aspen to be bored and discouraged because she already knew what was being taught and wanted to draw instead. Thank you very much! Now what was that about you knowing better how to teach my child, Miss Teacher lady?

At some point Aspen got the flu and had to stay home from school for several days. She remarked to me how she never wanted to go back. So I prayed and asked the Lord if I could keep her home. She has been homeschooled since. Ray loved the part about Aspen being ahead of the class and never again has a had a negative thing to say about homeschooling.

I have a very strong opinion about homeschooling. So many say to me how they could never do it because they don't have the patience, or their kids don't listen or they couldn't stand to be with their kids all day. I don't homeschool because I am patient, or because my children always listen, or because it never gets hard being on call 24/7. I homeschool because I prayed about it. I wanted to know if this was what the Lord wanted for my family. I knew and I know everyday that he will give me the tools and perspective I need to accomplish this. It is not easy, but anything worthy having or learning or experiencing is not easy. When I am done with my journey here in this earth life, I want to be able to look back and see that I got in it and I lived. I don't want to look back see how comfortable I was here on earth, I want to see my blood, sweat and tears surrounded by the joy of working really hard.

If you have had thoughts about homeschooling I would encourage to pray about it. Read about it and be willing to do what the Lord might need you to do for your children. It isn't requisite for everyone. But know that if it is the path the Lord would have you take, he will not leave the path unprepared, and the he will give you the strength necessary to accomplish it.