Piggyback Post:Home Improvement

Over the past few weeks, I have been talking with my friend Jenny about her homeschooling choices. In preparation for homeschooling in the fall, she has created five goals for her family and will be focusing on one of these goals a week for the next five weeks.

I have mixed feelings about homeschooling my own children. On one hand, Aiden is extremely excited about attending kindergarten and has already started fantasizing about what it will be like and pretending to go to school even though it is a whole year away. On the other hand, I have studied education in my own educational career, I have worked as a preschool teacher, a behavioral therapist, a Sunday School teacher, and a children's worship leader for many years now. I am very seriously contemplating what my resistance is in making the commitment to homeschooling.

I would like to use Jenny's enthusiasm as inspiration to make some beneficial changes in my own family's lifestyle. My goals are to make my home a more peaceful, predictable place, and to establish a daily rhythm that will really ignite my children's curiosity and cater to their strengths, even if that means relinquishing some of the things I enjoy.

Jenny thoughtfully contemplated the goals that would make her family more successful and homeschooling an enriching and enjoying experience for each member of her family. She used Oak Meadow's book The Heart of Learning  to guide her in her choices.

Over the next week, I plan to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider ways to improve our family life and I plan to post here next week so hopefully my family can begin our own metamorphosis.

In the mean time, I could use your help. If you homeschool, or are planning to, what are some of the things that influenced your decision to do so? If not, what made you decide against it? Also, what are your daily rhythms and goals for your family life? Or, what things would you like to change?

Hibernation

I'm happy at home with my kids. I'm happy out in my garden or my hammock or swinging my kids on their swings. I'm happy meandering along creeks and through trees and leaves and brush. I'm happy sitting and watching them eat sand and splash in the water until it's so late in the day that we just go home and go straight to bed. We love to be alone, our little clan of three. This is what gives us peace. And joy. This is where we belong.