After much prayer and consideration, we've changed our original plan of sending Rachel to kindergarten at our church and we're going to homeschool instead!! There are a myriad of reasons so I'm only going to highlight the 3 major ones which really encompass the rest.
First, we were a little nervous breaking the news to her. She's been excited to go to kindergarten at our church since like March. We fully planned on sending her there and then my husband lost his job...What?! When? What happened? I'll be starting a new series under the "my husband lost his job journey" category soon.
So back to Rachel, we prayed before we told her and of course, she was totally fine with it. She's actually very excited especially since I'm getting boxes in the mail. She wants to do everything now. (:
Our Reasons for Homeschooling:
Money
I really wish $ didn't make the world go round, but it does. We just don't have the $ this year. I feel badly for Christian schools this year because the economy is hitting them really hard. Please pray for these institutions to press on and for the teachers who will be struggling. Perhaps in a few years we can send both girls to school when we can get back on track financially.
Flexibility
I work per diem as a sr. data analyst for a hospital. Since our finances are less than stellar right now, I need to continue to work at least once a week for a while. I can't really do this if Rachel is going to half-day kindergaren. I need to get Emma to my parent's house, get Rachel either to or from school, then what? Bring Rachel to my parent's house in the middle of the day and when do I work exactly? It's too complicated. Homeschooling allows me to plan out our days and be able to work once a week (sometimes more) and bring both girls to my parent's house and be together. This leads me to my third point.
Sibs
We want the girls to be together longer. They're about 4 1/2 years apart and we want them to be together during the day for as long as we can do it. I can't imagine Rachel being gone all day for school next year and Emma being here alone missing Rachel at the tender age of two. So yes, this means, we'll probably be homeschooling next year too.
All and all, I am confident and at peace with our decision. I am excited and getting materials in the mail is like Christmas morning to me. I am a teacher, it's what I studied in college and I'm loving this part of me emerging again, it's been a long time. I'm learning the laws of our state and what I need to do and fortunately I've found a few folks from our church who are doing it and are great resources.
Let the adventure begin!!
4 comments:
woohoo!!! i have to say, getting all those boxes sure made us all excited too. i had to hide the stuff from my rachel or she would have read through everything already. and yes, re-emerging as a teacher is also something i'm excited about.
holy moly, mb! i am SO sorry about adam's job loss! yikes. i can't even imagine.
but...i am totally stoked that you are homeschooling!! yea! i think rachel will just love it, and you will be such an awesome teacher. i love that we are both doing this - on opposite sides of the country! :)
ps - def. keep us posted on adam's job situation!
velvet-I know, the whole job thing is a shocker, isn't it? The good news, he now has a job, started a few weeks ago but it's still not enough $ yet. I'll be sharing more later but we did go several months with practically nothing. It's a great testimony of God's goodness to us getting through it.
wow, I'm excited for you. As I told Velvet too though, I bit jealous as well. You are going to have so much fun homeschooling.
I too am worried for the Christian schools.
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