I get asked a lot about how I decided to homeschool. It was a definite walk on a sunny day. Then it was worked out over many years. I am not sure how I heard about homeschooling in the late 90’s. It could have been from a radio program like Focus on the Family — I listened to those a lot, but I just don’t remember. I remember researching homeschooling when my oldest was about 3 years old.
I had a little file folder of research that was shoved into our regular bookcase. My husband was not sold on the idea, he was worried about socialization issues and about sports. How would our son play sports if he wanted to? My friend put all her kids in an in-home preschool program that was supposed to be really good. I looked into it, but just couldn’t fill out the application. I decided that since my daughter was only 3 we could wait another year until she was 4 to think about preschool. I used Sesame Street magazine and did little lessons about 3 times a week.
Silly me — I didn’t realize how many better things I was already doing. We would go to library story times every week. I read aloud to my children on a daily basis. We would listen to music together a lot. We listened to Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens and tried to act out all the animals as we heard them. My son loved listening to Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. We did craft projects together and we walked a lot. We walked around our little city and visited farmer’s markets and community orchestra performances. We went to zoos and county fairs and local festivals. I really didn’t need a preschool at all, but I didn’t know that.
We were out on one of our walks one day and we walked right past the local Christian school. I realized that if I put my oldest in school, she might go there. I imagined my son and I walking her to the door and turning to walk back home. I spent the rest of our walk choking back tears. I wanted to take them home like this every day. I couldn’t imagine leaving her behind at a school. That moment of time is when my homeschooling journey took root.
When my daughter turned 4 and my son was 2 1/2 my husband decided that we could try homeschooling. We might continue if we tried this preschool year and things went fine. We figured that if it was awful our daughter could enroll in Kindergarten and we wouldn’t feel like she missed anything — not every kid went to preschool right? I was so excited I ordered a traditional school box of materials for K4 and off we went.
We have never looked back. Those shaky beginnings were the start of our epic nearly 30 year adventure in homeschooling. I wish I had nailed my “Why” down more than I wanted them to be at home. I wish I had known back then that a school box of materials wasn’t necessary to start. Those loving moments of music, walking, fairs, and zoos were an abundant education. I wish I knew how much they were learning in their own imaginative play – “Star Board crew” was full of homemade hats and titles for everyone — I was always “cooker”.
What about allaying the original fears that my husband and many others had about socialization? Same as that silly preschool idea I had. Living life with your children is socialization. We went to the library, grocery store, and church. We attended live plays and took local art classes for kids. We hung out in the park and had family friends over often. Eventually, we also got involved in nursing home ministry, community 5k’s and some of my kids played on the public school sports teams. When I look back I see that my kids were able to speak to the lady in the wheelchair at the nursing home as easily as they chatted with their peers.
I can not really believe that 30 years have passed since that moment I realized I did want to keep them at home. I am glad I didn’t know all that the next years would hold. Six more children, adoption processes, trauma issues, and our home being the landing spot or transition location for a few family members. We took care of my dying mom in her last years and I flew off to help care for my brother in his last weeks. Kids graduated, kids got married, various pets came and went, we took vacations, participated in sporting events, and kept involved at our local church. In the process of time, homeschooling just kept plugging along.
It started with a little walk on a nice day, and a mama’s desire to spend time with her children. All those fears of socialization melted away as we saw what God was doing in the life of our family as we stayed faithful. My homeschooling journey took root in a moment of time and has been worked out in the process of time.
Coffee with Titaw 
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