Hello, again

Hello, again! It's been a while...like 3 years!! When I woke up this morning and thought "I'm going to start blogging again", I was under the impression it had been about a year. Wow, was I mistaken! It's crazy how time slips through your fingertips when your life becomes a whirl wind of classes, homeschooling and just taking care of a family of six. So now I have to decide where to start, I mean restart. I guess I will do a quick recap of where I was when I started blogging. I had decided to go back to college, which I did. I enjoyed it very much but then I started feeling called to follow a different path. Massive life change was in my future! Two of my daughters were struggling in school, not with the academics but with the social aspects. So much so that it was beginning to effect their grades, friendships and family life. The praying started and the waiting started and the praying continued. Then from every corner of my world people that were homeschooling their children came out of the woodwork. It was fascinating and terrifying. As I began to think seriously about it I was faced with a major obstacle, my husband. My husband is a very well educated and structured man; third in his high school graduating class, top 10% in his college graduating class and top 10% in his Masters program. The concept of homeschooling was a rather ridiculous radical thought to him. Honestly, I was just plain worried that I would be a failure at teaching my children the things needed to make them successful members of society. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. I prayed that I was really doing what was best for my kids, I prayed that my hubs would be in support of this crazy endeavor, I prayed that I would find the support I would need from those around me. Finally in July, Greg decided we would give it a try. I was elated and freaked out at the same time. And so the journey began! Over the course of the last two years we've had success and failure in the land of homeschooling. The first failure was my college classes. I was under the impression that I could be a full time student and be a full time homeschooling teacher and a full time mom and a full time church/community volunteer. Maybe some women out there can be all of those things will full on perfect success...but not me. Hard to admit at the time but now I own it! I realized that I actually enjoyed being with my kids more than I thought I would. Weird! I guess that could be considered a success as well. Another failure was our choice of curriculum. Thinking it would be better for our soon to be freshman daughter, we enrolled her in an online academy. It was like a traditional high school without all the pesky social aspects. She would work on her computer, with real time classes and teachers available to help and answer questions. The downside, our artistic, creative, free-spirit child was overwhelmed with the amount of work and began to struggle. At the end of the year, I chose not to re-enroll her. So far the best success story is the relationships that have been built during these two years. Girls that once would snarl and growl at each other like territorial dogs now read to each other, crafted together, and began to see their similarities. It's been a beautiful blessing! So here we are, nearing the end of another school year and I'm reflecting on the things I want to keep and the things I want to change. I'm changing up the curriculum again! I love change, so this exciting. We had a less structured way of learning this year which I plan to make more scheduled but I will still give the girls plenty of time for their creative outlet needs. I think I may even re-enroll in a class or two, strictly online though. I also want to keep up with this blogging thing. I'm happy to be pouring out my soul, maybe it will be the therapy I've needed but can't squeeze into my life!