A Day in the Life of a Homeschool Family

Hey friends!!

Wow! It’s been a while! A lot has happened since my last post- both in my personal life and in our world. But you know about the world changes so let’s get down to the life changes!

For those who don’t know, I’ve been homeschooling my girls this year. No, I didn’t choose to homeschool because of recent world events as I’m often asked. It was actually a decision I made before that fateful day in March 2020. 

Anyway, so we are homeschooling now because we believe it is what God has called us to do. If you want to know more about that story of how we recognized the call to homeschool, please feel free to email me!

At the moment, we are on summer vacation (shameless homeschool plug - I get to choose which 180 days to teach my kids! I create my own school calendar and can choose when and for how long we take a break during the year. 😜) We have also been attending another church for the past year,  and I am so blessed to be able to help out in various ways there.

I want to answer a few questions you might be asking as you scratch your head about homeschooling:

1. Why do you homeschool? Well, there is a lengthy answer here, but in short, I started to notice some things that I didn’t like over the last few years, and then as I researched the idea of homeschooling, it became clear that the Lord was calling me to it and had prepared me for it.

2. How do you handle being with your kids all the time?! I LOVE IT! Well, of course there are times when I need to send them to their room so we can all have some quiet time. 😀 But truly, any concerns about this much time together has melted away. I have seen them develop some good character traits and get rid of some bad traits in the absence of negative peer pressure, and I am so grateful! Plus, we are called to train up a child in the way he should go and our best chance at that is homeschooling!

3. Are you worried about your kids’ social skills? No. The things is that they are getting a lot of quality socialization while homeschooling and avoiding perhaps some negative experiences. They socialize with each other, us, church friends, homeschool friends, and other friends and family. Sure those peer opportunities are not everyday (with the exception of the time they spend with each other), but who says that’s a good thing? Homeschool is actually a very old concept, and it’s the way that children through the centuries have been educated so this idea of needing to be around their age group everyday is not necessarily accurate. I see the value in it, but I’ve also seen the problems with it. I understand completely when people ask this question, but some of the most respectful, intelligent, well mannered kids I have met were homeschooled!

4. Aren’t you worried their academics will suffer without the rigorous public school curriculum? There’s a lot I could say about how to choose a good homeschool curriculum, the importance of lesson planning for every homeschool day, the need to prepare for national testing, etc., but I’ll just keep it short with this- they have a class ratio of 1 teacher to 2 students. 🥰

5. How can you AFFORD to homeschool?! Well, now, that was my number one issue at the beginning. We went from a two income household to one. I teach online but it’s just a small supplement compared to what I made before. Here’s how we made it work and are making it work: budget, TRY to stick to budget, cut costs (we sold a more expensive house before starting homeschooling), get creative with income, and number one TRUST GOD. He called us to this so He will help us through it. Check this out: “I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm‬ ‭37:25‬ ‭This verse encouraged me about finances long before homeschooling came into the picture. The Lord is faithful.

Just a quick testimony before I close. The Lord has been so faithful to us this year in many areas including providing for our needs, giving me the ability to homeschool, allowing us to see the benefit of homeschooling in our children, and much more. But one thing I had not considered when we started was the opportunities He would open up for me to use my skills in other ways for His kingdom. Being a homeschool Mom has freed up my time to do those things. That has been a tremendous blessing. 

Thanks for reading! Please check back soon. Finally, remember this: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John‬ ‭14:6‬ If you don’t know Christ as Savior, please email me and I’d be happy to share the truth with you. What you do about Jesus has eternal consequences. God bless you my friend.