So, You Might Be Homeschooling This Fall

Hey friends! Long time no see. I'm dusting off the blog
because so many families are facing a school change for the fall and I thought I'd do what I can to encourage them.

If you're new here, Hello!

I'm Katie, homeschool mom to 4 kids; ages 6, 8, 9 and 11. I've been homeschooling for six years now,  and we're about to head into a new school year with a First grader, Third grader, Fourth grader and Sixth Grader. I have always homeschooled my kids and I. LOVE. IT.

If you've found your way here I assume that you're looking into options because virtual school wasn't a great fit, or sending your kids to school isn't a good option for you, and you've concluded that homeschooling might be your last resort. That's awesome!

Maybe homeschooling will be hard every single day and you'll send your kids right back where they came from when things "go back to normal" or maybe you won't ever want to go back to 'normal". Either way, I'd love to help assuage any fears, dial down the intimidation factor, and help you figure out how to survive.

Here's a list of all some homeschool posts from my archives for your viewing pleasure. I'll be on IG a lot this week responding to your DMs and posting about our daily routine, the tools we use and what our experience has been like, so follow me over there for videos and short posts. I'll keep longer content here on the blog.

If you've reached out or DMd me, know that I'm praying for you as you make the right choice for your family this fall!

xo,
Katie


Back to the Beginning (When Our Oldest Entered Kindergarten)

How Do I Read Aloud to a Mixed Age Group?

Homeschool Plans for a 1st Grader (with a 4 year old, 3 year old and baby tornado in the mix)

My First Day of Homeschooling Alone

What We Learned The First Month of Homeschool

Day in the Life of a Homeschooler (1st Grade, Pre-K, 3 year old, baby tornado)

A Good Reminder on Days When You Don't Even Open a Book

End of Year Wrap Post, Year Two

Homeschool Plans for a Kindergartner & 2nd grader (with a toddler and an infant thrown in for fun)

The Wheels Have Fallen Off The Bus, Friends

Hard is Okay Sometimes

When It's All Too Much to Handle

Reflections on the 3rd year of Homeschooling

(Psst: Read this one when you feel like you're really not cut out for this)

How We Get Started in the Morning

The Last Homeschool(ish) Update of 2019

Dog Paddling

The last two weeks I've felt like our labrador Dakota whenever she gets the chance to go for a swim.

We don't live near the water, so opportunities are few and far between, but when we head to the lake for the weekend, Dakota is entirely predictable. She bounds unabashedly across the sand, tongue hanging wildly from her open mouth and splashes down into the water without inhibition. Once her legs can no longer touch bottom she begins the rhythm of the dog-paddle. It's only once she's begun swimming that we can see she was bred specifically for this. To be able to swim confidently and competently. Her motions are fluid, her usually heavy frame taking on an uncharacteristic litheness. She looks fully engaged - intent on keeping her head above water - and fully energized - intent on reaching whatever drew her out into the deep.

But after a minute or two, she invariably loses confidence. Swimming is something she doesn't do much of and in addition to being out of practice, she's always a bit out of shape. We'll watch her scan the horizon for B Daddy or myself. If she catches our eye, she'll fiercely paddle for her life and reaching us, she'll cling like a child, all four paws and twenty too-long nails digging into our flesh.

If she can't find us, she'll turn towards the shore and escape back to the beach. It's known there.

Safe.

Comfortable.

A few weeks back I read 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and it wrecked me a bit. Then I read Love Does and found myself being drawn out into the deep.

Yesterday I read Ann Voskamp's post about visiting her Compassion-sponsored child in Haiti and I agreed. I was angry.

I have seen poverty. I have seen need. I don't know what to do. 

In moments of unrestrained passion I convince myself we need to move. Move somewhere where poverty is unavoidable. Move where need is tangible and God moves big. Move to the south-side where the homeless sleep on the street. Move where we're stretched so far and so thin God has to move to sustain us. Move out of the bubble of upper-middle class insulation and excess.

Then I think of my family. This extended family that I want my children to know like I never did and  I think we should stay here. I think there is a ministry and a purpose within my suburban life.

So then I want to give so much of 'our' money that it hurts. I want to be forced to consider the poor each time we make a purchase, to truly LOVE my neighbor as myself - with my money and the line items on my budget. And I wonder if having a diamond on my hand is okay when children are dying every day for lack of clean water...one diamond could dig a well or two couldn't it?

I think it is wise to save for the future. I remind myself that money is not evil. It's the motives of the heart that matter to God. I remember that mommies at MOPS need Jesus and how can I tell them if I'm not there alongside them?  And didn't God use a queen "for such a time as this?"

I resolve to do small things with great love. Mother Teresa believed that was enough. God can bless and sustain a ministry of small things. The laundry. The dishes. The bottoms wiped and babysitting offers extended. It's about your heart after all. Right? ...right?

And I turn back to shore...dog paddling once again. I'm not sure how we're supposed to live anymore.