The why

I thought I would put my thoughts together of the reasons I am homeschooling.  Before I get started I just want to say that you may or may not agree with the things I say and that's ok. I don't expect everyone or anyone to have the same opinion as mine. That being said here it is.

When I had my first baby, Miss E, everything terrible in this world terrified me. But more than that I was terrified for my daughter to grow up in the craziness. So it got me thinking about how I could help her and teach her and give her that foundation to have the best shot at life. I don't think anyone else has different thoughts when they have children but I wanted to have a say.  So what did that mean for me? Well at that point I wasn't sure. 

I have a cousin that he and his wife had decided that they were going to homeschool their kids.  I thought it was fantastic. And empowering. There isn't a whole lot you can control in this life except your choices. And that is the only way you can make things in your life turn out the closest to how you want it to. There are things that are out of our control and those things are what our Heavenly Father wants for us. But for the most part we make the decisions that shape our lives. My point is that I didn't want to leave the welfare of my children up to anyone but me. I know them and their needs better than anyone else. So I started reading about homeschooling. Blog after blog. Website after website. I asked my cousins what type of homeschool model they were using. She referred me to a Jeffersonian Education. She told me to check the book out at the library. I went ahead and ordered a used copy off Amazon. I love Amazon. Anyway, the principles in that book made sense to me. If you are interested check the website here http://www.tjed.org. This is their basic model for education but the website and book go into more detail.

1. Classics, Not Textbooks
2. Mentors, Not Professors
3. Inspire, Not Require
4. Structure Time, Not Content
5. Simplicity, Not Complexity
6. Quality, Not Conformity
7. You, Not Them

When I sat and thought about that I was like...YEAH! This is what I want for my kids. To learn to think for themselves and not be swayed by others. To love to learn and always continue to learn and become the person they were born to be. 

But there were some things I didn't totally agree with. I didn't feel comfortable not "educating" until they were older. But as I continue to learn about homeschooling making a custom fit is the whole point and the idea behind homeschooling. Applying what does and doesn't work for your family. In any case I kept searching. 

I kept reading about Montessori. So I started to dive in and get familiar with it. Montessori struck a chord with me. It was a kind of ah-ha moment for me. I felt like this was it. So then my mission became how do I do this. I started reading everything I could on Montessori. Books, websites, blogs, everything. The process was a lot more complicated for me than it needed to be. I thought I could learn everything I needed to without purchasing any manuals or recommended books. Boy I was so dead wrong. I eventually bought all the recommended reading. And I lucked out and found some free manuals. But if I would have just done that to begin with all the information that's out there would have made sense a lot faster than it did. But I finally have a solid foundation in all things Montessori.

During all my Montessori research and reading I stumbled across another type of education called Waldorf. I instantly fell in love. It spoke to me on so many levels. It was just as magical as Montessori but in different aspects. They spoke the same language but in different ways I knew the two would marry perfectly. It's still a work in progress and will always be a work in progress but I feel really confident and satisfied with my decision to homeschool and in my choices of education.  There are some instances where I feel I am in over my head and feel overwhelmed and there are others where I see the fruits of my labor and I know down in the deepest part of me that it was the right decision.

Until we meet again
Meg