How it all Began

I am hoping next week to be putting some pictures on here.  Pictures of us, pictures of Jane's finished projects, etc.  Husband, Marty, is off all next week and so we have a LONG list of projects we are excited to be doing.  We shall see how that affects our work here.

I thought I'd take a minute to address the questions I've gotten regarding how we came to be homeschoolers.  It was a seed planted years before we had children.  I worked with a guy whose wife homeschooled their four kids and thought that was very interesting.  I wasn't closed to it; nor was Marty.  I did think that I was not "qualified" to teach my kids at home.  Once our oldest came on the scene, a friend of mine told me (at a Tupperware party of all places) that she planned to homeschool her kids.  Again, interesting.

When Martin, our oldest, was ready for kindergarten, another friend told me about a woman she knew through her job that was homeschooling her three little ones.  At this point, I really admired that choice, but felt "unqualified" to do that myself.  Over the next several years, our family was growing.  I even explored the idea by calling some of these friends I knew that homeschooled and "picking their brains."  I went so far as to get peoples names, perfect strangers, of people who homeschooled and their kids were now in college.  Because I wondered if the kids were happy with the choice.  Also, MANY times, I would be out with the kids and someone would approach us and ask if I homeschooled.  It kind of bothered me.  Why do people ask me that?  Of'course, the people who asked me were, themselves, homeschoolers.  They could never tell me why they thought I was also a homeschooler; something about the way I interacted with my kids? 

Then, in fall of 2000, my uncle was very ill.  My dad visited him in Michigan where he lived with his daughter, my cousin.  My dad came back from the visit and was telling me about my cousin homeschooling her four kids.  The way I remember it, he was going on and on about how impressed he was by it.  All I kept thinking was how I wished I was doing that. 

That night and for a couple weeks after, Marty and I kicked the idea around.  Should we....should we not?  I finally decided that I would miss all the friends I had made up at the school so we decided not to.  At the time, my oldest was in 3rd grade, his brother was in 2nd grade, their little brother was in preschool and the baby (Jane) was two.  Now, Marty and I both felt we had kept our conversations private.  These talks about whether or not to homeschool were "bedroom" talks or "out to dinner" talks.  Shortly after deciding not to homeschool, our oldest, Martin, told his dad that he wished we would homeschool.  Now, he probably did overhear us, but the important thing to me was his reason.  NOT to have perpetual recess or to not have homework, but because he hated recess.  What??  What kid hates recess?  He told his dad that all they ever do is fight and argue over the ball and what to play.  That got us thinking and talking again, but again concluded not to homeschool.

Now, we get to the climax of the story.  At the time, Marty was a consultant and his company had a Xmas party.  We went and ran into the lady from the Tupperware party, all those years ago and her husband.  They were still homeschooling and loving it and she spent time trying to convince me that I could do it.  I told her that what I really needed was to talk to a young adult who had been homeschooled to hear their take on it.  Right at those words, the dinner bell rang.  There were about 200 people there and the tables were set up for 4 couples each.  So, Marty and I and my old friend and her husband picked a table and pretty soon two other couples joined us.  One of the couples explained that his wife had taken ill at the last minute and knowing that there would be a plate for her, he brought his college age daughter, who (can you guess?) was homeschooled all the way through highschool!  I couldn't believe it.  Nor could Marty.  We looked at each other, and we both knew that God had just knocked us on the head and we better take a serious look at this choice. 

Well, a lot of praying followed, talking to people (even strangers), and googling.  We read books on homeschooling from the library and we talked to family and friends.  We both felt like God was calling us to homeschool, but we wanted some kind of reassurance about it.  Finally, in February of 2001, we decided that the only thing to do was to try it.  We've been homeschooling ever since. 

I'd like to say that I wish we had always homeschooled, but that seems like a challenge to God's timing.  His timing is perfect so I try not to ask why.  Each child has been given the choice of whether to homeschool high school or go to high school.  All of the boys chose to attend an area Catholic high school.  Now, you are up to date.  Here we are embarking on this new adventure of homeschooling high school!

Next time I blog, I'm going to talk a little about the disappointments of sending my boys to high school and what I think Jane and I can do better.  - Mary