How We Decided to Homeschool Our 3 Kids This Year

For 2 years God has been putting it on my heart to homeschool our kids. We switched schools last year in hopes to curb this feeling. The girls attended a charter school and we LOVED it. The school was everything we could have hoped for. The teachers were incredible, the families were amazing, and the curriculum was challenging and aligned with what we wanted for our kids. But God continued to tug at my heart to bring the girls back home. The more I thought about it and prayed about it, homeschooling just felt right. Here are some of my thoughts and reasons as we head into our first year of homeschooling 3 kids.

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What made us decide to Homeschool

Honestly, there are a lot of reasons Homeschooling is the right choice for us. I won’t get into each of those, but the main reason we pulled the plug on traditional school was the “TIME”. The more I thought about our days during the school year the more concerned I became. We woke up in the morning. We ate breakfast, I rushed the kids around to get ready for school, we rushed out the door to get to school on time and then I dropped them off. They were gone for 7 hours. Then I picked them up, we had about an hour to do homework and catch up from their day, I made dinner while they relaxed and then they went to bed. This cycle repeated 5 out of 7 days. When I did the math. I was only getting about 3 solid, quality hours with my girls in 24 hours. The more and more I thought about this, the more this made my heart ache. I want that time; THEY want that time. If we all want that time for our family, then why not say YES to homeschool?

Was making the decision hard?

Yes and No. I knew in my heart that homeschool was the right thing to do. I also knew that the hardest part of the decision was making the very first step in unenrolling the girls. But once that step was done, I knew that I would completely dive in and 100% be ready for it. And you know what happened? Exactly that! Rex and I prayed and prayed about homeschool. We went over difference scenarios and talked about pros and cons. We talked with the girls to see what their thoughts were, because of course they get a say as well. We talked more about what our fears were and what we were excited about. The more we talked about it, the more obvious our answer was. The morning we unenrolled the kids and sent our letter of intent to homeschool the kids to the school district I was overwhelmed with peace. We made the right decision.

What I think our first year of homeschool will look like?

At first, I think our first year is going to look like a HOT MESS. Finding a rhythm that works for all of us will be the hardest part. I have found some amazing curriculum that we plan to use for Language Arts and Science. And 2 different Math curriculums each with different styles that I think will appeal to each girl and their different personalities. As for History we plan to do a completely different tactic. We will be using living books instead of textbook style learning. We will read stories about different people and places in history and then end the “study” with a road trip relating to it. I am most excited about this. I will get to create our own history curriculum and teach it in the most WHIMsical way by immersing them in storytelling and visually and physically being able to step into each place. We will learn life skills like gardening, cooking, sewing, crafting, writing letters, and survival skills. We will spend as much time as we can outside and in nature. We will learn alongside of each other, and it will be beautiful.

What I am most excited about?

Homeschooling gives us ultimate freedom. We can create our WHIM Academy however we would like. I love that the girls can focus on what they are passionate about. The kids will each get to work at their own pace. If one of them wants to do 2 lessons in math that day, awesome! If the other needs some extra attention to master a new skill, I will be there. They will get one on one attention from me. It will be the ultimate bonding experience with my kids. I will get to witness all the glorious achievements they conquer; I will get to be the one to encourage them through each challenge.

We will be free to travel whenever we want. If we decided to take our marine biology study to FL we can. If we decide to road trip to Mount Rushmore after learning about it, we can. If we decide to skip studies on an epic snow day to go skiing, we can. We will be able to seize the day however we like.

What I plan to share about our Homeschool Journey.

I am so thankful for all the homeschool moms that helped answer all my thousands of questions when deciding to homeschool. It was intimidating to take the jump when everyone else seemed to be a seasoned homeschool mom of 15 kids or more. I want to share my journey for anyone who has been in the same boat that we were in. I will share what works and what ends up being an epic fail. I hope that our journey will help guide you to make the right decision for your family if you have been thinking to homeschool. I’m a total beginner, and maybe that will give you the confidence to join us. If I can do it, then you can too! Make sure you are following me on Instagram. I will be going over the curriculum we settled on for this year, how I plan to stay organized for homeschooling and what our daily rhythm will look like.

If homeschooling isn’t your thing, no worries. You might still enjoy all the creative activities, handicrafts, road trip themes and many more things I plan to share.

If you are thinking of homeschooling, then I highly recommend the book Call of the WILD + FREE (reclaiming wonder in your child’s education). It was a wonderful read and helped give me a beautiful perspective of what Homeschooling could be!

TAG ME on Instagram @projectwhim if you try anything from the blog! I love to see and share! For more inspiration make sure you are following along on Instagram. You can find fun video tutorials and get a sneak peek into our daily lives